Dropbox Paper
Mattermost
| Feature | Dropbox Paper | Mattermost |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $11.99/mo | Free / from $10/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | small-teams, startups, dropbox-users, creative-teams | devops-teams, security-conscious-orgs, government, enterprise |
| Founded | 2015 | 2015 |
| Collaborative Editing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Task Lists | ✓ | ✗ |
| Timelines | ✓ | ✗ |
| Media Embedding | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Presentations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Messaging | ✗ | ✓ |
| Channels | ✗ | ✓ |
| Playbooks | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Hosting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Compliance | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Dropbox Paper Pros
- Clean interface
- Good for teams
- Embedded media
- Free with Dropbox
✗ Dropbox Paper Cons
- Limited formatting
- Tied to Dropbox
- Basic features
✓ Mattermost Pros
- Self-hostable
- Open source
- DevOps integrations
- Secure
✗ Mattermost Cons
- Smaller ecosystem
- Fewer integrations than Slack
- Self-hosting complexity
The Verdict
Dropbox Paper is built for small teams and startups, with a focus on collaborative-editing and task-lists. Mattermost targets devops teams and security conscious orgs and leads with messaging and channels.
Pricing is close: Mattermost starts at $10/mo versus $11.99/mo for Dropbox Paper — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.