Rocket.Chat is a team chat platform you can run on your own servers, in a dedicated cloud that Rocket.Chat manages, or in a network cut off from the internet. The vendor sells it as Secure CommsOS, and its store listings describe it as built for “governments, defense, and critical infrastructure organizations”; the plans page adds a Commercial plan for “commercial enterprises”. Every paid plan is quoted individually. Small businesses and non-profits are pointed to Starter, and anyone can deploy a free self-managed workspace to try it.
Quick verdict
If your company has to keep chat data on its own infrastructure, Rocket.Chat’s plans page lists the controls you’d expect for that: SSO through SAML, OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect, Active Directory and LDAP, audit trails, retention policies and optional end-to-end encryption. You’ll need to talk to sales for a price, since no plan has a published rate. A small team can try the free self-managed workspace first, as long as someone is ready to run the server. The Android app has 4.5 stars and the iPhone app 4.4. In recent Android reviews, several people use it at work or on their own server and like it, while several others say notifications don’t arrive or the app crashes.
Rocket.Chat at a glance
| Vendor | Rocket.Chat |
|---|---|
| What it does | Team messaging, voice, video and file sharing on infrastructure you control |
| Price | Not published; contact sales (Commercial, Government and Defense plans) |
| Free plan | Free self-managed workspace to try it. The plans page also points small businesses and non-profits to Starter, without stating its price or terms |
| Integrations | Open API, Marketplace apps, Apps Engine for custom apps and bots, Jitsi, Google Meet and Zoom video, Microsoft Teams bridge, Matrix and XMPP federation |
| Self-hosting | Yes: on-premises, private cloud, isolated VPC or VPN, or air-gapped |
| Apps | Web and desktop; Android (4.5 stars, 16,178 ratings); iPhone (4.4 stars, 3,748 ratings) |
| Data checked | October 23, 2026 |
Features
These come from the home page and plans page on rocket.chat and from the vendor’s post on version 8.5. The plans page doesn’t say which features belong to which plan beyond each plan’s highlights.
- Messaging: direct and group messages, threads, read receipts, full-text search, file sharing, automatic message translation, audio and video messages, and an interface in 64 languages.
- Voice and video: voice calls with screen sharing are an add-on, and so are native video meetings. Without them, you can start meetings in Jitsi, Google Meet or Zoom from inside Rocket.Chat, or use Pexip.
- Deployment: on your own servers, a private cloud, an isolated VPC or VPN, or fully air-gapped. Rocket.Chat also offers dedicated cloud hosting it manages, and the home page mentions an EU-hosted sovereign cloud.
- Sign-in and access: Active Directory and LDAP, single sign-on (SAML, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect), multi-factor authentication, LDAP and SAML group mapping, role-based access, custom roles and admin-forced logout across devices.
- Governance: admin action logs, audit trails for messages, files and sessions, login logs, retention policies by workspace, channel or room, data loss prevention, optional end-to-end encryption, and exports for audits.
- Outside partners: federation lets your team share channels with other organizations while each keeps its own server, using the Matrix and XMPP standards. A Microsoft Teams bridge connects Teams users.
- Extending it: Marketplace apps, embeddable chat through APIs, SDKs or an iframe, custom apps and bots with Apps Engine (TypeScript), white labeling and custom themes.
- AI (add-on): thread summaries, Q&A on your own data and search by meaning, with a large language model you bring and run yourself.
- Compliance claims: the vendor says Rocket.Chat is ISO 27001 certified and has completed a SOC 2 Type 2 audit. It calls the product HIPAA-supportive with a Business Associate Agreement available, FINRA and MiFID II ready, and says version 8.5 conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA on web, iOS and Android. These are the vendor’s statements; we didn’t check them.
Several items on the plans page, such as post-quantum encryption and hardware-key MFA, are marked as planned for release in 2026, so they aren’t listed above.
Plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | Main additions |
|---|---|---|
| Free self-managed workspace | Free | Core collaboration and security features, on a server you run |
| Starter | Not on the plans page | Suggested for technical evaluation, small businesses and non-profits |
| Commercial | Not published; “Get pricing” | Self-hosted or dedicated cloud, high availability and disaster recovery, HIPAA, FINRA, MiFID II, NIS2, DORA, GDPR and CCPA claims, federation with partners, mobile apps, open API |
| Government | Custom quote | Sovereign cloud or air-gapped deployment, role-based access, end-to-end encryption, SSO, LDAP, SAML 2.0 and AD, tamper-evident audit logs, retention policies, AI that runs on your own infrastructure, Matrix federation; the vendor claims accessibility certification |
| Defense | Contact sales | Air-gapped and SCIF-ready deployment, clearance-based access, XMPP and Matrix federation; the vendor claims DoD authorization up to IL6 and FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography |
Rocket.Chat doesn’t publish prices, so your business needs to contact its sales team for a quote. The plans page shows no per-user rates, user limits or trial length. Standard support is included with all plans; mission-critical support and professional services are add-ons. The FAQ says many organizations start with a Starter deployment and move to a paid plan without losing data, and that eligible non-profits can get a reduced-price Commercial plan.
Mobile apps
Both apps are free and connect to a Rocket.Chat workspace, hosted by Rocket.Chat or on your own server. On Android it’s version 4.77.2, updated October 15, 2026, with 1,000,000+ downloads and no ads. On iPhone it’s also version 4.77.2, updated October 16, 2026, and needs iOS 15.1 or later. Both store listings describe free audio and video conferencing, guest access, two-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption, SSO, and unlimited users, channels and messages, and call the software open source under an MIT license. Today’s plans page lists voice calls and native video meetings as add-ons, so check what your plan includes. It also says the mobile apps can require a PIN, fingerprint or Face ID, encrypt data stored on the device, and send push notifications without message content.
Web vs. mobile apps
| Feature | Web | Android and iPhone apps | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Channels, direct messages, file sharing | Yes | Yes | Plans page, store listings |
| Voice calls | Add-on | Add-on (mobile voice for iOS and Android) | Plans page |
| SSO and two-factor authentication | Yes | Yes; one reviewer says the app shows only 3 OAuth sign-in methods | Plans page, store listings, reviews |
| Push notifications | Not on the plans page | Yes; several reviewers say they don’t arrive | Plans page, reviews |
| Biometric app lock | Not on the plans page | Yes | Plans page |
| Pinning chats, muting single channels | Not on the plans page | Reviews only: one reviewer each says they’re missing | Reviews |
Pros (from app reviews)
These come from Android reviews from the last two years. The written iPhone reviews in our data are from 2021 and 2022, so they aren’t counted. The reviews we read include more low ratings than the store as a whole, where 80.1% of the Android ratings in the breakdown are 5 stars.
- Running it at work: several use it for their company or team. One says they “run my company on rocket”, and another likes that it keeps conversations for later review.
- Self-hosting: several like running it on their own server. One calls it “great solution for small business” in September 2025.
- Smooth and easy: several call the app smooth, fast or easy to use. Two others find it slow. A few dislike the interface.
- Cost: one reviewer in June 2025 says it’s “definitely not Slack” but “much cheaper”.
Cons (from app reviews)
- Notifications: several say push notifications don’t arrive, two of them after an update. One more gets notifications without the message text.
- Crashes and bugs: several report crashes, including one stuck in a login and crash loop every couple of weeks. Several mention other bugs, such as taps that only work sometimes after a March 2026 update.
- Messages that don’t load: several say new messages don’t show up or the chat doesn’t refresh. One says chats won’t load unless they clear the cache.
- Connecting and signing in: several couldn’t sign in or connect to their workspace, including a self-hoster whose server worked everywhere except in the app.
- Self-hosting upkeep: two self-hosters mention work. One says every app update threatens to stop working with a server that’s only 6 months old, so the server needs constant upkeep.
- Support and settings: two say support didn’t help; one, during a trial, was told to buy a support contract. Two want a way to turn off vibration.
Rating breakdown
These are Android app ratings. The data we collected doesn’t include a star breakdown for the iPhone app.
| Stars | Ratings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 12,940 | 80.1% |
| 4 | 1,407 | 8.7% |
| 3 | 100 | 0.6% |
| 2 | 100 | 0.6% |
| 1 | 1,608 | 10.0% |
The breakdown covers 16,155 ratings; the listing shows 16,178 in total. One and two star ratings make up 10.6%.
Who it’s for
A good fit if:
- Your organization must keep messages on its own servers or in an air-gapped network.
- You work in a regulated field and need audit trails, retention policies and SSO with LDAP or Active Directory.
- Your team needs shared channels with partner organizations without moving onto their system (Matrix or XMPP federation).
- You have someone who can run a server and want to try it free with a self-managed workspace.
Look elsewhere if:
- You want a published per-user price before talking to sales.
- Your staff rely on phone notifications: several Android reviewers say they don’t arrive.
- You don’t want to run or update a server and aren’t ready for a quoted hosted plan.
FAQ
How much does Rocket.Chat cost?
Rocket.Chat doesn’t publish prices. The Commercial, Government and Defense plans are all quoted by its sales team. You can try it for free with a self-managed workspace, and eligible non-profits can get a reduced-price Commercial plan.
Can you self-host Rocket.Chat?
Yes. The plans page lists on-premises, private cloud, isolated VPC or VPN and fully air-gapped deployments. Rocket.Chat can also run a dedicated cloud for you if you’d rather not manage servers.
Does Rocket.Chat support single sign-on?
Yes. The plans page lists SSO through SAML, OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect, plus Active Directory and LDAP sign-in and group mapping. Multi-factor authentication can be required per user or across the organization.
Does Rocket.Chat have voice and video calls?
Voice calls and native video meetings are add-ons on the plans page. You can also start video meetings in Jitsi, Google Meet or Zoom from Rocket.Chat. The store listings describe audio and video conferencing as free.
How this review was put together
We did not test Rocket.Chat. This review is based on public information from official sources: the vendor’s own website (its features, pricing and policy pages) and, where the product has mobile apps, its Google Play and App Store listings, ratings and user reviews. Features, prices and claims are the vendor’s own descriptions; what users like and dislike comes from store reviews, when there are any. Everything was checked on October 23, 2026. Prices and features change, so check the vendor’s site before you buy.
