Mural
Rocket.Chat
| Feature | Mural | Rocket.Chat |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $12/mo | Free / from $4/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.1 / 5 |
| Best For | design-teams, facilitators, consultants, enterprise | security-conscious-organizations, government, self-hosters, enterprises |
| Founded | 2011 | 2015 |
| Sticky Notes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Facilitation Tools | ✓ | ✗ |
| Voting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Timers | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Channels | ✗ | ✓ |
| Direct Messaging | ✗ | ✓ |
| Video Calls | ✗ | ✓ |
| Federation | ✗ | ✓ |
| E2e Encryption | ✗ | ✓ |
| Marketplace | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Mural Pros
- Great facilitation tools
- Extensive templates
- Design thinking focus
- Enterprise ready
✗ Mural Cons
- Expensive
- Can be slow
- Learning curve
✓ Rocket.Chat Pros
- Fully open-source and self-hostable
- End-to-end encryption
- Federation support between instances
- Highly customizable
✗ Rocket.Chat Cons
- Self-hosted requires maintenance
- Mobile apps less polished than Slack
- Smaller app ecosystem
The Verdict
Mural is built for design teams and facilitators, with a focus on sticky-notes and templates. Rocket.Chat targets security conscious organizations and government and leads with channels and direct-messaging.
On pricing, Rocket.Chat is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $4/mo compared to $12/mo for Mural. That $8/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
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.