Files, Sync & Collaboration
Deploy Nextcloud Hub to store attachments and collaborate on documents.
Explore Nextcloud Storage →
Real-Time Communications
Encrypted Team Messaging & Voice Huddles
Without Per-Seat Penalties.
Open Stack Forge deploys and manages hardened Mattermost, Matrix/Element, and LiveKit/Jitsi communication clusters. Reclaim complete ownership of your team's chat archives, eliminate 90-day message retention paywalls, and stop paying $8 to $15 per user each month to Slack or Microsoft Teams.
The Cost of Proprietary SaaS
Why Proprietary Chat Platforms Threaten Business Continuity
Team chat has become the central nervous system of modern business operations. Yet commercial providers exploit this central role by locking chat histories behind steep paywalls.
When Slack restricted its free tier to a 90-day rolling message window, thousands of growing companies lost critical project decisions, code snippets, and customer notes overnight unless they agreed to pay $8.75 to $15 per employee every month. For a 40-person company, that represents $4,200 to $7,200 annually purely for an internal message bus.
Furthermore, proprietary platforms continuously analyze customer conversations for AI product training and reserve the right to alter data export privileges. When you operate Mattermost on infrastructure you own, you retain permanent, unalterable access to every single conversation and attachment.
Messaging Stack Comparison
Single-Tenant
Mattermost + Matrix/Element Architecture
Platforms Replaced
Slack · Microsoft Teams · Discord
Core Open Stack
Mattermost · Matrix Synapse · LiveKit
Message History
Permanent Private SQL Store (You Own the Data)
Audio / Video Huddles
Encrypted Low-Latency Voice Channels
Need help planning your cutover?
Consult With Our Systems Architect →
Intuitive Team Adoption
Compatibility-First Design: The Workflows Your Staff Already Know
Mattermost was engineered specifically as an enterprise drop-in replacement for Slack. Your staff will feel immediately at home from day one.
Identical Keyboard & Channel UI
Channels, threads, direct messages, custom emojis, and markdown shortcuts function identically. Users navigate channels using the same Ctrl+K / Cmd+K quick switcher.
Desktop & Mobile Applications
Official cross-platform clients for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android ensure push notifications, audio alerts, and badge counts work reliably across all devices.
Webhook & Bot Compatibility
Mattermost natively supports incoming and outgoing webhooks compatible with Slack formats. Connect your CI/CD alerts, monitoring bots, and custom scripts without rewriting code.
Interactive Incident Playbooks
Built-in Mattermost Playbooks allow technical and operational teams to orchestrate standard operating procedures and incident response checklists directly within chat channels.
Chat Migration Process
How We Move Your Team Chat to Mattermost
Your team keeps talking the whole way through. Mattermost is set up, loaded with your chat history and tested before anyone is asked to switch apps.
1
Map Channels, Members & Integrations
We review your Slack or Teams workspace: channels, private groups, guest accounts, bots and integrations, plus any message retention rules you need to keep.
2
Build Your Private Mattermost Server
We deploy a dedicated Mattermost server with PostgreSQL, full-text search and TLS, recreate your channel structure, and connect sign-in to your existing accounts.
3
Import Chat History & Switch Over
We import past conversations and files, check that attachments came across intact, and move the team over on an agreed day with desktop and mobile apps ready to go.
4
Updates, Search Tuning & Support
We keep Mattermost patched and its database and search index healthy, and add or remove users and integrations as your team changes, backed by a stated response time.
Information Security & Compliance
Defend Internal Conversations Against Commercial Snooping
Internal team chat contains your company's most sensitive discussions—unreleased product plans, customer grievances, and financial data.
- ✓Single-Tenant Isolation: You own the accounts, the data and the keys. Your chat database runs on an isolated instance in Canada. No shared multi-tenant database risks or cross-tenant leaks.
- ✓Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Enforce granular team permissions, channel archiving policies, and guest account sandboxing.
- ✓Encrypted Data in Transit & At Rest: All channels, direct messages, and uploaded attachments are encrypted in transit, with disk encryption on hosting you control.
- ✓Audit Logging & Compliance Exports: Maintain verifiable audit trails of channel activities and export complete compliance archives on demand.
Predictable Investment
Mattermost Deployment & Migration Scope
$750 CAD add-on tool
Mattermost team chat and Jitsi video are add-on tools at $750 each, added to any Big Tech Escape package (one add-on is included in Growth). Every package includes Nextcloud, Fastmail email and Vaultwarden: Starter $1,500 (1-5 users), Core $2,500 (6-10), Growth $4,500 (11-25). BookStack and n8n are also $750 each. 26-50 users: custom quote. Hosting billed at cost to your own account.
- Hardened single-tenant Mattermost server on Canadian cloud nodes
- Slack historical archive ingestion (channels, users, threads, media)
- Jitsi voice and video conferencing available as a second $750 add-on
- Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) setup
- 30-day fix-it period included and post-migration architectural support
Recommended ongoing support: Pair with Escape Care Basic ($299/mo) or Standard ($549/mo) for ongoing managed maintenance.
Scope Honesty & Transparency
What Is Included & What Is Explicitly Excluded
We believe in transparent architectural boundaries. Here is exactly what we deliver in our fixed-scope engagements, and what lies outside our scope.
Full Delivery Scope
What Is Included
- Deployment and hardening of dedicated Mattermost production node
- Slack workspace data export ingestion and user account reconciliation
- Voice and video huddle engine integration (LiveKit / Jitsi Meet)
- Desktop and mobile client setup guides and notification profile verification
- Daily encrypted database dumps and automated offsite backup replication
- 30-day fix-it period included covering defect resolution
Clear Boundaries
What Is NOT Included
- Building custom proprietary Discord-to-Mattermost custom bridge bots
- Purchasing commercial Mattermost Enterprise proprietary feature add-on licenses
- Moderating ongoing employee chat room behavior or HR dispute investigations
- Structured cabling (coordinated with licensed installers and quoted separately)
Complementary Infrastructure
Unify Communication with Storage You Own
Integrate your team chat with file collaboration and central knowledge management.
Documentation & SOP Engine
Turn chat decisions into structured company SOPs using BookStack.
Explore Documentation Engine →Escape Care Plans
Ensure your real-time chat infrastructure is protected by continuous telemetry monitoring.
Explore Managed Care →Expert Technical Guidance
Frequently Asked Questions
Clear, direct answers about compatibility, migration timelines and ongoing operations.
Can we import our existing message history and channels from Slack?
Yes. Mattermost includes a robust Slack import engine. We export your full Slack workspace data—including public channels, private channels, direct message threads, user accounts, and file attachments—and ingest it into your dedicated Mattermost instance, preserving historical project context and searchability.
How does Mattermost compare to Slack for daily team use?
Mattermost matches the Slack workflow almost identically. Your team gets channel lists, threaded discussions, markdown formatting, emoji reactions, multi-account mobile apps, desktop notifications, and slash commands. The interface is clean, familiar, and requires zero staff retraining.
How are voice huddles and video conference calls handled?
We integrate dedicated LiveKit or Jitsi Meet engines directly into your communication hub. Team members can start ad-hoc voice huddles in any channel with screen sharing, low-latency audio, and encrypted video without paying Zoom or Teams add-on licensing fees.
Can we invite external contractors and clients into specific channels?
Yes. Mattermost includes granular guest account controls. You can invite external stakeholders into designated single channels or multi-channel groups while restricting their visibility into internal company discussions and directories.