Matrix vs Mattermost: Which Should You Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

Mattermost is the better choice for most self-hosters who want a team chat platform. It installs in minutes, has a polished UI that feels like Slack, and requires half the resources of a Matrix deployment. Matrix (Synapse + Element) wins if you need federation — communicating across independent servers, bridging to other chat networks, or giving users decentralized identity. But federation adds real complexity. If your use case is “replace Slack for my team,” pick Mattermost and move on.

Overview

Matrix is a decentralized, federated communication protocol. Synapse is the reference homeserver implementation, and Element is the most popular client. Matrix lets independent servers talk to each other (like email), supports end-to-end encryption by default, and has bridges to connect with Slack, Discord, Telegram, IRC, and more. The protocol is governed by the Matrix.org Foundation. Self-hosting Synapse means running a homeserver that participates in (or stays isolated from) the wider Matrix network.

Mattermost is a centralized team communication platform — a direct Slack alternative. The Team Edition is open source (MIT + AGPL) and free to self-host with no user limits. It provides channels, threads, direct messages, file sharing, full-text search, and integrations. There is no federation — your server is a standalone island, which is exactly what most teams want.

Both run on Docker, use PostgreSQL for storage, and serve a web UI. The architectural difference is fundamental: Matrix is a protocol first (with Synapse as one implementation), while Mattermost is a product.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Matrix (Synapse + Element)	Mattermost (Team Edition)
Architecture	Decentralized, federated protocol	Centralized, single-server
Federation	Yes — servers communicate across domains	No
End-to-end encryption	Yes (Megolm, on by default in DMs)	No (Enterprise Edition only)
Chat bridges	Extensive — Slack, Discord, Telegram, IRC, WhatsApp, Signal via mautrix	Limited — webhooks and plugins only
Threads	Yes	Yes
File sharing	Yes	Yes (with configurable size limits)
Full-text search	Requires separate search backend	Built-in (Bleve)
Voice/video calls	Via Element Call (Jitsi or built-in)	Built-in Calls plugin (WebRTC)
Mobile apps	Element (iOS, Android)	Mattermost (iOS, Android)
Desktop apps	Element Desktop (Electron)	Mattermost Desktop (Electron)
SSO/LDAP	OIDC, SAML, LDAP via modules	LDAP, SAML, OIDC (some Enterprise-only)
Webhooks/integrations	Widgets, bots, bridges, Application Services	Incoming/outgoing webhooks, slash commands, plugin API
Spaces/teams	Spaces (hierarchical room grouping)	Teams and channels
Admin UI	Synapse Admin (third-party), Element Admin	Built-in System Console
License	Apache 2.0 (Synapse), AGPLv3 (Element)	MIT + AGPL (Team Edition)
Primary language	Python (Synapse), TypeScript (Element)	Go (server), TypeScript (web)

Docker Compose: Matrix (Synapse + Element)

A Matrix deployment requires three services: Synapse (homeserver), PostgreSQL (database), and Element Web (client UI). You also need to generate a Synapse configuration before first start.

Generate the initial config:

mkdir -p ./synapse-data
docker run --rm \
  -v ./synapse-data:/data \
  -e SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME=matrix.example.com \
  -e SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS=no \
  matrixdotorg/synapse:v1.147.1 generate

This creates homeserver.yaml inside ./synapse-data. Edit it to configure the PostgreSQL database connection:

# In synapse-data/homeserver.yaml, replace the default sqlite database section with:
database:
  name: psycopg2
  args:
    user: synapse
    password: change_this_db_password
    database: synapse
    host: synapse_db
    port: 5432
    cp_min: 5
    cp_max: 10

Create a docker-compose.yml:

services:
  synapse:
    image: matrixdotorg/synapse:v1.147.1
    container_name: synapse
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8008:8008"     # Client-Server API (behind reverse proxy)
      - "8448:8448"     # Server-Server federation (optional)
    volumes:
      - ./synapse-data:/data
    environment:
      TZ: "UTC"
    depends_on:
      synapse_db:
        condition: service_healthy
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8008/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 30s

  synapse_db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: synapse_db
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: synapse
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: change_this_db_password   # Must match homeserver.yaml
      POSTGRES_DB: synapse
      POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: "--encoding=UTF-8 --lc-collate=C --lc-ctype=C"
    volumes:
      - synapse_pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U synapse -d synapse"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  element:
    image: vectorim/element-web:v1.12.10
    container_name: element
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"       # Element Web UI
    volumes:
      - ./element-config.json:/app/config.json:ro

volumes:
  synapse_pgdata:

Create element-config.json alongside the Compose file:

{
  "default_server_config": {
    "m.homeserver": {
      "base_url": "https://matrix.example.com",
      "server_name": "matrix.example.com"
    }
  },
  "brand": "Element",
  "default_theme": "dark",
  "room_directory": {
    "servers": ["matrix.example.com"]
  }
}

Start the stack:

docker compose up -d

Create your first admin user:

docker exec -it synapse register_new_matrix_user \
  http://localhost:8008 \
  -c /data/homeserver.yaml \
  --admin

Docker Compose: Mattermost

Mattermost is a single application container plus PostgreSQL. Far simpler than Matrix.

Create a docker-compose.yml:

services:
  mattermost:
    image: mattermost/mattermost-team-edition:10.11.0
    container_name: mattermost
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8065:8065"           # Web UI and API
      - "8443:8443/udp"       # Calls plugin (WebRTC)
      - "8443:8443/tcp"       # Calls plugin (WebRTC)
    environment:
      TZ: "UTC"
      MM_SQLSETTINGS_DRIVERNAME: "postgres"
      MM_SQLSETTINGS_DATASOURCE: "postgres://mmuser:change_this_password@mattermost_db:5432/mattermost?sslmode=disable&connect_timeout=10"
      MM_BLEVESETTINGS_INDEXDIR: "/mattermost/bleve-indexes"
      MM_SERVICESETTINGS_SITEURL: "https://chat.example.com"
    volumes:
      - mattermost_config:/mattermost/config
      - mattermost_data:/mattermost/data
      - mattermost_logs:/mattermost/logs
      - mattermost_plugins:/mattermost/plugins
      - mattermost_client_plugins:/mattermost/client/plugins
      - mattermost_bleve:/mattermost/bleve-indexes
    depends_on:
      mattermost_db:
        condition: service_healthy
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8065/api/v4/system/ping"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 60s

  mattermost_db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: mattermost_db
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: mmuser
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: change_this_password
      POSTGRES_DB: mattermost
    volumes:
      - mattermost_pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U mmuser -d mattermost"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

volumes:
  mattermost_config:
  mattermost_data:
  mattermost_logs:
  mattermost_plugins:
  mattermost_client_plugins:
  mattermost_bleve:
  mattermost_pgdata:

Start the stack:

docker compose up -d

Open http://your-server:8065 and create the first admin account through the web UI. That is the entire setup.

Installation Complexity

This is where the gap is most visible.

Mattermost deploys in under five minutes. The Docker Compose file is self-contained. Environment variables configure everything. The first-run wizard walks you through admin account creation and team setup. No config files to hand-edit. No pre-generation steps.

Matrix (Synapse + Element) requires significantly more work:

Generate homeserver.yaml before first start (separate Docker command)
Edit the generated config to switch from SQLite to PostgreSQL
Create and configure a separate element-config.json for the web client
Configure .well-known delegation if your Matrix server name differs from the hostname
Set up federation (port 8448 or .well-known discovery) if you want cross-server communication
Register admin users via CLI — there is no web-based first-run wizard

The reverse proxy configuration is also more involved for Matrix. You need to proxy both the client API (port 8008) and federation endpoint (port 8448), with correct .well-known responses. Mattermost needs a single proxy to port 8065 plus a WebSocket upgrade rule. See our reverse proxy guide for both configurations.

Winner: Mattermost. The installation experience is not close.

Performance and Resource Usage

Resource	Matrix (Synapse)	Mattermost
RAM (idle, small server)	~500 MB (Synapse) + ~100 MB (Element) + ~200 MB (PostgreSQL)	~300 MB (Mattermost) + ~200 MB (PostgreSQL)
RAM (50 active users)	1.5-2 GB total	800 MB - 1 GB total
CPU (idle)	Low-medium (Python process)	Low (Go binary)
Disk (application)	~500 MB	~400 MB
Database growth	Fast — federation metadata and state resolution data accumulates. Expect 1-5 GB/month on active federated servers	Moderate — primarily messages and file metadata. ~500 MB-1 GB/month for active teams
Startup time	15-30 seconds	5-10 seconds

Synapse is written in Python, which means it is inherently more resource-hungry than Mattermost’s Go backend. The real problem is federation: if your server federates with large rooms on matrix.org (like #matrix:matrix.org), state resolution events can spike CPU and memory significantly. A federated Synapse server joining popular public rooms can easily consume 2-4 GB of RAM.

Mattermost is written in Go, compiles to a single binary, and does not carry the overhead of federation. It scales predictably with user count.

Winner: Mattermost. Go is simply more efficient than Python for this workload, and the absence of federation overhead keeps resource usage predictable.

Community and Support

Metric	Matrix (Synapse + Element)	Mattermost
GitHub stars (Synapse)	~40,000+	~31,000+
First release	2014 (protocol), 2019 (Element)	2015
Governance	Matrix.org Foundation (non-profit)	Mattermost, Inc. (VC-backed)
Development pace	Active — multiple releases/month	Active — monthly releases
Documentation	Good but scattered (protocol docs, Synapse docs, Element docs are separate)	Excellent — single, well-organized docs site
Community chat	Matrix rooms (using its own protocol)	Mattermost Community server + forums
Third-party ecosystem	Extensive bridges, bots, clients, homeserver implementations	Plugins, integrations, webhooks
Alternative implementations	Dendrite (Go), Conduit (Rust) — lighter homeservers	None (single implementation)

Matrix has the larger open-source ecosystem and a more active community around the protocol itself. Mattermost has better official documentation and a more focused support experience. If you run into trouble with Synapse, you may need to piece together answers from protocol docs, Synapse-specific docs, and Element docs. Mattermost’s docs are one source of truth.

Use Cases

Choose Matrix If…

Federation matters. You need users on your server to communicate with users on other Matrix servers, or with people on Slack, Discord, Telegram, or IRC via bridges.
End-to-end encryption is non-negotiable. Matrix has mature E2EE built into the protocol. Mattermost does not offer E2EE in the Team Edition.
You are building a community, not a team. Matrix’s public room directory and federation make it better for open communities where anyone can join from any server.
You want protocol-level interoperability. Matrix bridges let you consolidate Telegram, Discord, IRC, and Signal into a single client. This is a killer feature that Mattermost cannot match.
You prioritize open governance. The Matrix.org Foundation ensures the protocol stays open. Mattermost is controlled by a single company.

Choose Mattermost If…

You need a Slack replacement for an internal team. Mattermost’s UX is designed for exactly this. Channels, threads, emoji reactions, file sharing, integrations — it works like Slack from day one.
You want minimal ops overhead. Deploy in five minutes. Upgrade by bumping the image tag. No federation edge cases, no state resolution issues, no config file generation.
You have limited server resources. Mattermost runs comfortably on 1 GB of RAM for small teams. Synapse will struggle with that.
You need built-in voice and video calls. Mattermost Calls works out of the box with the included plugin. Matrix calls require Element Call configuration and often a TURN server.
Your team is non-technical. Mattermost’s onboarding is self-explanatory. Matrix requires understanding servers, rooms, federation, and key verification — concepts that confuse non-technical users.
You value polish over flexibility. Mattermost has a more refined, consistent UI. Element has improved significantly but still feels less cohesive.

Final Verdict

Mattermost wins for most self-hosters. If you need a team chat platform — channels, threads, file sharing, search, calls — Mattermost delivers all of it with a fraction of the setup effort and resource consumption. The onboarding experience is polished, the admin console is comprehensive, and the Go backend is fast and memory-efficient. It does one thing well: team communication.

Matrix wins if federation is the point. If you need cross-organization communication, bridges to other chat networks, end-to-end encryption, or participation in the wider decentralized Matrix ecosystem, there is no alternative. The complexity is the price of decentralization, and it is worth paying if decentralization is what you actually need.

The mistake most self-hosters make is deploying Matrix because it sounds more impressive, then running it as an isolated server with no federation — which gives you all of Synapse’s complexity with none of its advantages. If you are not going to federate, use Mattermost. You will have a better experience.

Quick Verdict

Overview

Feature Comparison

Docker Compose: Matrix (Synapse + Element)

Docker Compose: Mattermost

Installation Complexity

Performance and Resource Usage

Community and Support

Use Cases

Choose Matrix If…

Choose Mattermost If…

Final Verdict

Related

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