Best Self-hosted Team Chat & Messaging tools in 2026

Self-hostable community discussion platform combining Q&A, forums, team chat, ideation/upvoting, and Disqus-style embedded blog comments.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Stack Overflow+19

Self-hosted, lightweight federated messenger with end-to-end encrypted threads and optional WebRTC audio/video calling across independently hosted nodes.

Apache-2.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Signal+19

InspIRCd is a modular, lightweight Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server with a flexible module system, designed for stable and performant IRC network deployments.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

Convos is a multiuser web IRC client with a built-in persistent bouncer, chat history, theming, rich formatting, and optional video chat.

Artistic-2.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

Kiwi IRC is a web-based IRC client you can self-host as static files, with multi-network support, runtime JSON configuration, themes, plugins, and embeddable web widgets.

Apache-2.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+2

Glowing Bear is a browser-based WeeChat client that connects to WeeChat via the relay plugin, providing a modern interface for IRC from any device.

GPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

Open-source self-hosted real-time location sharing backend with in-memory storage, temporary share links, a Docker image and companion mobile clients.

Apache-2.0Likely dormant

Alternative to:

Glympse+2

Modern, cross-platform IRC client with a detachable core for persistent connections, multi-client access, and searchable chat backlogs.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

Self-hosted, privacy-respecting pictionary game (skribbl.io alternative) with real-time drawing, guessing, and multiplayer lobbies—no accounts or ads required.

Lightweight, customizable Discord music bot in Python. Supports YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, Twitch, Lavalink playback, playlists, lyrics, slash commands and Docker.

MITActively maintained

Alternative to:

FredBoat+2

ngIRCd is a free, portable and lightweight IRC server for small/private networks, supporting IPv6, TLS, server linking, and optional PAM authentication.

GPL-2.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

Self-hosted, open-source XMPP-based messaging server providing end-to-end encryption, multi-device sync, federation, secure backups, and integrated WebRTC audio/video calling.

Apache-2.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

WhatsApp+17

Decentralized, browser-first chat focused on privacy and peer-to-peer interactions. Supports end-to-end encryption, WebRTC file sharing, voice/video calls, mixed-reality spaces and a webtop environment.

GPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Slack+10

Tracim is an open-source collaboration suite offering threaded conversations, file sharing with versioning, collaborative pages, tasks and workspace organization.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Microsoft SharePoint+19

Community-focused server for private photo/video backup, albums, chat and audio/video calls with mobile app support and S3-compatible storage.

MITActively maintained

Alternative to:

Google Photos+10

An IRC network implementation in Go that uses the Raft consensus algorithm to eliminate netsplits and provide transparent client failover via a bridge.

BSD-3-ClauseActively maintained

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

SAMA is a Node.js-based open-source chat server using uWebSockets.js, MongoDB and Redis, providing WebSocket/HTTP APIs, E2EE, clustering, and web/mobile clients.

GPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Sendbird+19

Atria is an AGPL-3.0 open-source platform for managing hybrid events, sessions, sponsors, and real-time attendee networking with chat and discovery tools.

AGPL-3.0Slowing down

Alternative to:

Whova+16

Python-based Discord bot that lets authorized users list and control Docker containers and images via Discord commands, using the host Docker socket.

GPL-3.0Likely dormant

Alternative to:

Carl-bot

Citadel is an open source groupware and messaging server providing email, calendars, contacts, and a web interface with room-based collaboration.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Microsoft Exchange Online+19

A single-binary, low-resource Matrix homeserver in Rust; simple setup, RocksDB (default) or SQLite backends, built with axum and Ruma.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+19

Continuwuity is a fast, lightweight Matrix homeserver written in Rust, focused on stability, performance, and improved Matrix specification compliance for federation.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+6

Jami is a distributed communication platform for private messaging, audio/video calls, and conferencing, designed to work without central servers and with end-to-end encryption.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Signal+19

Libervia is a modular XMPP-based communication suite offering chat, microblogging, file sharing, and other social features across web, desktop, and CLI interfaces.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+19

Prosody IM is a modern, resource-efficient XMPP (Jabber) server written in Lua, designed to be easy to configure and extend for private messaging and federation.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Cisco Jabber+19

Salut à Toi (SàT) is a self-hostable, XMPP-based communication suite with web, desktop, and CLI frontends, supporting chat and collaborative features via plugins.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+13

u-wave is a self-hosted social music room with DJ-style queueing, chat, and browser-based playback for listening together in real time.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Plug.dj+3

Self-hosted collaborative music room app with DJ queues, real-time chat, and YouTube/SoundCloud-style playback for shared listening sessions.

Activity unknown

Alternative to:

Turntable.fm+3