Are you looking for a communications solution for your team, organization, or enterprise? If so, Hipchat and Mattermost are likely on your radar. Similar to our review of Mattermost vs. Slack a few weeks ago, here we will break down the editions, features, and pros and cons of both options. Figure out if one is a better choice for you, based on your needs.

First up is Hipchat.

About Hipchat

One of Hipchat’s offerings was a SaaS service for internal private instant messaging and online chatting. It debuted in 2010, was acquired by Atlassian in 2012, and was replaced by Stride (a new cloud product) earlier this year. Stride aims to go beyond just messaging by integrating video and voice conferencing as well as collaboration tools. The basic service is free, and the Stride Standard version is $3 per user, per month. A part of Hipchat still exists which is the Hipchat Data Center. It’s a self-hosted communication platform for large enterprises that need to keep their data on-site. Pricing for the Data Center is on an annual basis and depends on how many users you have.

Features Overview

Stride Free Version:

“Stride empowers teams to talk less and do more.”

  • Group and topic-based chat
  • One-on-one messaging
  • Cloud-based file storage and sharing (5GB)
  • Searchable message history
  • Inline-image viewing
  • Guests can access a chat by sharing a URL
  • Inline GIF playback
  • Custom emoticons
  • Available as a mobile client, web client, and downloadable native application
  • Collaboration tools (Actions and Decisions)
  • Unlimited users, group chat rooms, direct messaging, group video meetings, and voice meetings
  • Ten apps or bots
  • Message history up to 25,000 messages
  • Identity Manager can be added for $3 per user per month to enhance authentication via two-step verification, SAML SSO, etc.

Stride Standard Version:

  • Free version features
  • Unlimited file storage and sharing
  • Unlimited apps and bots
  • Unlimited message history
  • User management
  • Remote desktop control
  • Group screen sharing
  • Advanced Meetings functionality

Hipchat Data Service:

“Self-hosted team communication, built for the enterprise”

  • 24/7 technical support
  • Active-active clustering
  • Multiple options for deployment (VMware or Amazon Web Services)
  • Technical account management
  • Integrations with Atlassian’s products as well as services such as GitHub, Heroku, and MailChimp.
  • Ability to bring in users via SAML 2.0 directories or native authentication
  • One-to-one chat histories are available to administrators

Now let’s take a look at the pros and cons.

Hipchat/Stride Pros

  • Hosted and self-hosted plans available
  • Eliminate silos and fosters strong cross-functional communication
  • Available for small to enterprise-scale deployment
  • Stride is easy for users without technical knowledge
  • Integrates with internal systems, existing Atlassian products, and 3rd party products in the Atlassian marketplace and using the Atlassian API
  • Free version is available for an unlimited amount of users
  • Use your own data management with Hipchat Data Center’s externalized data stores
  • Clients for all major platforms (Web, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

Hipchat/Stride Cons

  • Security concerns: In May of this year Hipchat fell victim to a major security breach in which users of the SaaS service had their private messages accessed by an unknown intruder. The self-hosted solution also had a security-related issue with its file sharing which wasn’t fixed for a period of two years
  • Not open source
  • Limited on integrations

Next, let’s breakdown Mattermost’s offerings.

About Mattermost

Mattermost enables enterprise communications through its open source private cloud messaging solutions. Three editions are available. The first is the Open Source Team Edition dubbed “The Virtual Office” which is designed for teams composed of dozens of users. It is free to use under MIT license. Second is the Enterprise Edition E10, called the “Virtual Campus,” which is designed to work for thousands of users. It requires an annual subscription fee. Lastly, is the Edition Enterprise E20, or “The Virtual City,” which extends the Mattermost open source platform to tens of thousands of users while retaining corporate-grade security, redundancy, compliance, and control. This also has an annual subscription fee.

‍Mattermost Features Overview

Open Source Team Edition

“The Open-source, self-hosted, Slack alternative.”

  • One-on-one messaging
  • Group messaging
  • File sharing
  • Unlimited search history
  • Unlimited integrations
  • Archiving
  • Custom emojis
  • Web, mobile, and PC apps
  • Multi-language interface
  • Webhooks and commands

Enterprise Edition E10

  • All Team Edition features
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Custom branding tools
  • Commercial support
  • Advanced access control
  • AD/LDAP single-sign-on and sync

Enterprise Edition E20

  • All E10 features
  • Compliance reporting
  • Performance monitoring
  • Horizontal scaling
  • Okta, ADFS, SAML, SSO

Mattermost Pros

  • Fosters cross-functional communication within enterprises
  • Enhances security and privacy as you can run Mattermost where you feel comfortable with the security parameters; i.e., in an existing private cloud, in your hybrid cloud, etc.
  • Data sovereignty: Mattermost deployment continues to work with the features of the open source version if you discontinue your subscription
  • Users have the ability to create a solution to fit their growing business needs
  • The solution is easy to customize due to open source code
  • Complete white-labeling is available
  • Integrations are available that are vendor agnostic; alerts, Slack-compatible integrations, bots, and 3rd party clients
  • Discussion forum available

Mattermost Cons

  • No audio or video conferencing
  • No screen sharing
  • May be more than a small organization needs

Mattermost vs. Hipchat Verdict

So which will better serve the needs of your business? It depends. Stride offers a cloud solution with new features such as the built-in video and audio conferencing and their new “Actions and Decisions,”, to enhance collaboration. No need to integrate Skype or another conferencing service and you’ll be able to isolate important decisions or tasks from your chat thread so they can be found easily. Also, being a SaaS, deployment will be easier and cheaper than a self-hosted solution. However, for those working in a highly regulated industry like finance or healthcare, and for those who just prefer running self-hosted software, you’ll want to look into Mattermost and the Hipchat Data Center. While Hipchat’s Data Center released an update this year that steps up its availability, scalability, security, and privacy measures, it is under a proprietary license which is limiting in terms of how much you can customize and scale your solution. On the other hand, for those who need full customizability and control, along with security, privacy, and scalability; Mattermost will deliver on all fronts.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Mattermost and how you can integrate it into your business, contact us today. Our experts can help you build a chat solution finely tailored to your unique needs.