Best Self-hosted Team Chat & Messaging tools in 2026

Stoat (formerly Revolt) is an open-source chat platform for communities and teams with channels, direct messages, roles/permissions, moderation tools, and bot support.

Alternative to:

Discord+11

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

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.

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.

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

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.

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.

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+2

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

Alternative to:

Glympse+2

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

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.

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

Alternative to:

IRCCloud+3

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

Alternative to:

FredBoat+2

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

Alternative to:

WhatsApp+17

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

Alternative to:

Microsoft SharePoint+19

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...

Alternative to:

Slack+10

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alternative to:

Carl-bot

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.

Alternative to:

Cisco Jabber+19

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

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.

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+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.

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+13

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

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 encr...

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.

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+19

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

Alternative to:

Turntable.fm+3

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

Alternative to:

Plug.dj+3