Compare
Smack next to the usual suspects.
Slack, Microsoft Teams and Mattermost are good products. Here’s where Smack differs, and where it doesn’t do what they do, based on their public pages in October 2026.
| Smack | Slack | Microsoft Teams | Mattermost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | ||||
| Runs on your own servers | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Where messages are stored | Your Postgres | Slack’s cloud | Microsoft’s cloud | Your servers (self-hosted) |
| Cost model | ||||
| How you pay | Flat yearly licence per install | Per user, per month | Per user, in Microsoft 365 | Per user, per year (quote) |
| Features held back for higher tiers | None | Some (e.g. audit logs, data residency) | Some (e.g. Teams Premium) | Some |
| Talk and meet | ||||
| Channels, DMs, threads | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Calls with screen share | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes(Calls plugin) |
| Recordings stored in your storage | Yes | No | No | Depends on setup |
| Meetings with outside guests, no account | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Whiteboards | Yes | Canvas (documents) | Yes | No |
| Share | ||||
| Large file transfers with password and expiry | Yes | No | Through OneDrive | No |
| Direct LAN transfer between computers | Yes | No | No | No |
| Control | ||||
| Sign in with your own IDs, no email | Yes | No | No | No |
| Per-person IP access policies | Yes | Enterprise plans | Through Entra ID | Yes |
| Audit log | Yes | Enterprise plans | Yes | Yes |
| Single sign-on | Not yet | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Clients | ||||
| Desktop apps | macOS, Windows | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Mobile apps | Not yet (mobile web) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Slack’s comfort, without the rent.
Smack keeps the parts of Slack people like: channels, threads, reactions, huddles. The difference is where it runs and how it’s priced: on your server, for a flat licence, with every feature included.
Choose Smack if…
- you need messages and recordings on your own servers
- you’d rather not count seats
- you send big files to clients
Choose Slack if…
- you need SSO, mobile apps or a large app marketplace today
- you don’t want to run a server
- you work in Slack Connect with many outside companies
Chat and meetings outside the Microsoft stack.
Teams is the default when a company lives in Microsoft 365. Smack is for companies that want chat, meetings and transfers in one install they host, without buying a suite.
Choose Smack if…
- your data must stay on your hardware
- you want guest meetings on your own domain
- you want one licence for the whole company
Choose Teams if…
- you already run Microsoft 365 and Entra ID
- you need deep Office integration
- you need mobile apps
Self-hosted, built for running a company.
Mattermost is a strong self-hosted choice for defence and regulated engineering teams. Smack aims at growing companies: guest meetings, transfers, LAN sharing and employee-ID sign-in out of the box, with no per-seat pricing.
Choose Smack if…
- you want transfers, recordings and guest meetings without plugins
- you sign people in without email
- you prefer a flat licence
Choose Mattermost if…
- you need certifications such as FedRAMP-aligned deployments
- you need SSO and mobile apps now
- you want an open-source edition
Compared against public product pages in October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Tell us if something here is out of date: hello@wolfiz.com.
SAME COMFORT. YOUR SERVER.
Docker Compose · Postgres · your S3 bucket · your domain