Compare Mattermost and ZNC on pricing, features, platforms, and ratings — both Team Chat tools, Freemium vs open-source pricing to decide which fits your team.
At a Glance
Mattermost
ZNC
Primary category
Team Chat
Team Chat
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Freemium
open-source
Starting price
Free (Starter, self-hosted); Professional from $10/user/month
Free
Free plan
Yes
Not documented
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows
Not documented
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Not documented
Public API
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Mattermost
Starter — Free N/A
Professional — $10/user/month annual
Enterprise — Custom annual
ZNC
Open Source — Free n/a
Pros & Cons
Mattermost
Pros
Fully open-source core with self-hosted and air-gapped deployment options
Strong fit for regulated industries, government and defense customers
Playbooks provide built-in workflow automation not native to Slack
Deep integrations with developer and DevOps tooling
Lightweight architecture (single Go binary) makes self-hosting comparatively simple
Cons
Smaller app/integration marketplace than Slack or Microsoft Teams
Enterprise pricing is custom-quoted and not publicly transparent
Self-hosting requires ongoing server maintenance and updates
UI and mobile experience is generally considered less polished than Slack
Annual prepaid billing only for official Professional and Enterprise licenses, no monthly option
ZNC
Pros
Completely free and open source with no licensing costs
Mature, stable project with two decades of active development
Extensible module system supports several programming languages
Lets multiple devices share one persistent IRC presence
Lightweight enough to run on a small self-hosted server
Cons
Requires self-hosting and basic server administration skills
No official managed or hosted version
Configuration and module setup can be technical for non-developers
Built specifically for IRC, so it has no relevance outside that protocol
Use Cases
Mattermost
Incident response and DevOps workflows — Engineering teams use Playbooks to coordinate incident response with automated checklists and dedicated channels.
Regulated and government communication — Public-sector and financial-services organizations need self-hosted or air-gapped messaging to meet compliance requirements.
Secure internal team chat — Organizations that want Slack-like messaging while keeping full control of where data is stored.
ZNC
Persistent IRC presence — Staying connected to IRC channels around the clock even when a personal device or client is offline.
Multi-device IRC access — Connecting to the same IRC identity from a phone, laptop, and desktop without losing message history.
Self-hosted messaging infrastructure — Running a lightweight, self-controlled bouncer service for a team or community instead of relying on a third-party host.