GitHub vs Mattermost: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of GitHub and Mattermost to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
GitHub
6.9/10
GitHub is a code hosting and collaboration platform that also offers issue tracking and GitHub Projects boards, tables and roadmaps for software teams.
Mattermost
6.7/10
Self-hostable, open-source team messaging and workflow platform with playbooks, kanban boards and AI agents, built for security-conscious and regulated organizations.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 6.7/10 |
| Analytics | 3/10 | 3/10 |
| Cost | 9/10 | 5/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 9/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 10/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $4/user/mo Team | $10/user/mo Professional |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free | Free Team Edition |
| Features | ||
| App integrations | ||
| Collaboration tools | ||
| Docs | Not listed | |
| File sharing | ||
| Kanban boards | ||
| Knowledge base | Not listed | |
| Reporting | Not listed | |
| Spreadsheet interface | Not listed | |
| Task lists | ||
| Task management | Not listed | |
| Timeline view | Not listed | |
| Workflow automation | ||
| Time tracking | Not listed | |
| Team messaging | Not listed | |
| Client collaboration | Not listed | |
GitHub vs Mattermost cost by team size
GitHub and Mattermost cost the same at every team size we checked.
| Team size | GitHub | Mattermost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree | FreeTeam Edition |
| 5 users | FreeFree | FreeTeam Edition |
| 10 users | FreeFree | FreeTeam Edition |
| 25 users | FreeFree | FreeTeam Edition |
| 50 users | FreeFree | FreeTeam Edition |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose GitHub
- Higher Cost score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Integration score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for freelancers (7/10 vs 2/10)
- Better fit for startups (9/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Mattermost
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Security score (10/10 vs 8/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for it teams (8/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
GitHub
Pros
- Projects sits next to issues, pull requests and commits, and items can move to Done automatically when linked pull requests merge.
- Projects is included in every plan, and paid plans start at 4 USD per user per month.
- Table, board and roadmap layouts, with custom and iteration fields, cover basic sprint planning.
- One project can pull issues from multiple repositories.
- The GraphQL API, GitHub Actions and the Marketplace make it highly extensible.
Cons
- There are no built-in burndown, velocity, cumulative flow or cycle-time reports.
- Boards have no WIP limits, and there is no workload or capacity planning.
- Reviewers say it has a steep learning curve and is unfriendly for non-technical stakeholders.
- Projects is limited to 50 fields, and the roadmap view does not handle dependencies or critical paths.
Mattermost
Pros
- Can be fully self-hosted or air-gapped, which suits defense, government and regulated industries
- Enterprise tiers include strong compliance tooling: FIPS 140-3 builds, legal hold, compliance export and granular RBAC
- Playbooks give incident and DevOps teams repeatable checklists with automated triggers inside chat
- Built-in Jira, GitHub and GitLab integrations, plus an open API for custom bots
- Open-source core under MIT and AGPL licenses avoids full vendor lock-in
Cons
- The Boards kanban plugin is in maintenance mode and has been removed from the in-product marketplace
- Since v11 the free Entry plan shows only the last 10,000 messages and Team Edition is capped at 250 users, which drew community criticism
- The vendor publishes no prices, licenses are annual prepaid only, and every server needs its own license
- No Gantt charts, time tracking or project reporting, so it cannot replace a dedicated project management tool
- Self-hosting requires admin time and server upkeep
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
GitHub scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 6.9/10 against 6.7/10 for Mattermost. The largest gap is in Cost: 9/10 for GitHub and 5/10 for Mattermost.
Both are free for 10 users.
Yes, both GitHub and Mattermost have a free plan.
GitHub is the better fit for freelancers: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 2/10 for Mattermost.
