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The original was posted on /r/selfhosted by /u/zofox2 on 2025-04-02 18:12:07+00:00.
What are the current technologies y'all are using for groupchats. In the past used BBS's and IRC/ventrillo, mumble, since then both family and friends chatgroups have moved over to slack and discord.
Between privacy issues and constant downgrading of features been looking at alternatives, have a pretty strong network and homelab and not opposed to hosting one. The biggest issue is getting friends to adopt it, so want to make sure pick the option before we migrate. Been testing a few options
- Mattermost - Nearly identical to slack easy customization. Was about to pull the trigger on this option but I got worried when I saw how they were limiting the unlicensed version. I'd like this to also take over discord, and it wouldn't. Did like I could host familychat and friendchat on same server without crosstalk.
- Zulip - Gave off a real corporate vibe. Woulda been a bit of a switch might investigate further.
- Matrix - This was a can of worms, seems a lot like discord which was nice. Got it working nicely with video, setup for new users was confusing for some testing with me. Despite that I still think this may be best option.
- RocketChat - Next on the list to try, have not launched this one yet but I see a lot of features I like.
Looking forward to hearing your experiences, and if there is service I'm missing from my list.