Discord
Mattermost
| Feature | Discord | Mattermost |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $9.99/mo | Free / from $10/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | communities, gaming-teams, developers, creators, study-groups | devops-teams, security-conscious-orgs, government, enterprise |
| Founded | 2015 | 2015 |
| Text Chat | ✓ | ✗ |
| Voice Channels | ✓ | ✗ |
| Video Calls | ✓ | ✗ |
| Screen Sharing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bots | ✓ | ✗ |
| Threads | ✓ | ✗ |
| Forum Channels | ✓ | ✗ |
| Messaging | ✗ | ✓ |
| Channels | ✗ | ✓ |
| Playbooks | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Hosting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Compliance | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Discord Pros
- Completely free for most features
- Excellent voice chat quality
- Huge bot and integration ecosystem
- Server organization with channels and roles
✗ Discord Cons
- Can be distracting with many servers
- Not designed for formal business use
- Message search can be slow
✓ Mattermost Pros
- Self-hostable
- Open source
- DevOps integrations
- Secure
✗ Mattermost Cons
- Smaller ecosystem
- Fewer integrations than Slack
- Self-hosting complexity
The Verdict
Discord is built for communities and gaming teams, with a focus on text-chat and voice-channels. Mattermost targets devops teams and security conscious orgs and leads with messaging and channels.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($9.99/mo for Discord, $10/mo for Mattermost), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Discord offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Mattermost takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Bottom line: Discord has a slight overall edge — but if self-hostable matters most to you, Mattermost may still be the right call.
