Open-source alternative
Replace Slack with Rocket.Chat
The best open-source alternative to Slack is Rocket.Chat, self-hosted on Railway. Self-host team chat, huddles, and apps without Slack's per-seat meter.
Estimated save $2,100 a year.
Open the stack Deploy on Railway
How Slack compares
| Slack | Rocket.Chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per-user subscription | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | $8.75/user/mo Pro, billed monthly source | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Rocket.Chat
Open-source team chat, voice, and apps
FAQ
- Is it free?
- The Rocket.Chat licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no Slack seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from Slack?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Rocket.Chat stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old Slack links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Rocket.Chat stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Placeholder: Rocket.Chat + MongoDB (or the project's bundled DB) as a Railway service with a volume. Point WEBHOOK/ROOT_URL at the public domain.
- What does this replace?
- Slack. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $2,100 a year.
Related pages
Stack of the Week
Get one stack a week that replaces a SaaS bill.