Mattermost vs Mural: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Mattermost and Mural to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
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.
Mural
7/10
Mural is a visual collaboration whiteboard for teams that run workshops, brainstorms, agile planning and retrospectives, with facilitation tools and enterprise security controls.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.7/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Analytics | 3/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 10/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $10/user/mo Professional | $12/user/mo Team+ |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Team Edition | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Team messaging | Not listed | |
| File sharing | ||
| Client collaboration | ||
| App integrations | ||
| Task lists | Not listed | |
| Workflow automation | Not listed | |
| Kanban boards | ||
| Collaboration tools | ||
| Gantt charts | Not listed | |
| Task management | Not listed | |
| Time tracking | Not listed | |
| Whiteboards | Not listed | |
Mattermost vs Mural cost by team size
Mattermost and Mural cost the same at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Mattermost | Mural |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeTeam Edition | FreeFree |
| 5 users | FreeTeam Edition | FreeFree |
| 10 users | FreeTeam Edition | FreeFree |
| 25 users | FreeTeam Edition | FreeFree |
| 50 users | FreeTeam Edition | FreeFree |
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 Mattermost
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Scalability score (9/10 vs 8/10)
Why choose Mural
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Integration score (8/10 vs 7/10)
Pros & Cons
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
Mural
Pros
- Facilitation features and LUMA frameworks make it strong for running structured workshops.
- Free visitors can view or edit individual murals, so external participants do not need a paid seat.
- Enterprise security includes SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, SCIM, audit logs, data residency and BYOK.
- Broad integrations with Teams, Zoom, Jira, Azure DevOps, Asana and Confluence.
- Reviewers on G2 and Capterra rate it highly for ease of use, with about 4.5 to 4.6 stars.
Cons
- It is not a project or task manager, so there are no Gantt charts, no time tracking and no task assignment.
- Reviewers complain that menus and functions move around often between releases.
- The Free plan caps editable murals at three.
- The Business plan is annual-only, and SSO is not available on cheaper tiers.
- Large boards with many collaborators can feel cluttered.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Mural scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7/10 against 6.7/10 for Mattermost. The largest gap is in Customization: 8/10 for Mattermost and 6/10 for Mural.
Both are free for 10 users.
Yes, both Mattermost and Mural have a free plan.
