Best self-hosted communication - custom communication systems

[Communication software](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_software) used to provide remote access to systems and exchange files and messages in text, audio and/or video formats between different computers or users, using their own custom protocols.

We track 46 self-hosted communication - custom communication systems projects. The median health score in this category is 70, against 20 projects rated healthy or better and 6 showing little recent activity. The table below is ordered by health score, not popularity — the most starred project in a category is frequently not the best maintained one.

#	Project	Health	Stars	Built with	Last release
1	Rocket.Chat Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).	Thriving · 92	46k	Nodejs, Docker	23 Sept 2026
2	Novu Notification infrastructure for developers.	Thriving · 92	40k	Docker, Nodejs	7 Sept 2026
3	Chatwoot Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).	Thriving · 92	37k	Ruby, Docker	18 Sept 2026
4	Mattermost Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alter	Thriving · 91	39k	Go, Docker	25 Sept 2026
5	Element Fully-featured Matrix client for Web, iOS & Android.	Thriving · 91	14k	Nodejs	23 Sept 2026
6	One Time Secret Share sensitive information securely with self-destructing links that are only viewable once.	Thriving · 91	2.9k	Docker, Ruby	23 Sept 2026
7	Zulip Zulip is a powerful, open source group chat application.	Thriving · 86	26k	Python	21 Sept 2026
8	Tuwunel High-performance and feature-rich chat server for Matrix, and the successor to conduwuit (fork of Conduit).	Thriving · 86	2.6k	deb, Docker	25 Sept 2026
9	WorkAdventure Virtual office / virtual conference application presented as a 16-bit RPG video game.	Thriving · 84	5.8k	Docker	18 Sept 2026
10	Fluxer Instant messaging and VoIP platform built for friends, groups, and communities (alternative to Discord).	Thriving · 83	10k	Docker	28 Sept 2026
11	ntfy Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and G	Thriving · 82	34k	Go, Docker	27 Aug 2026
12	Synapse Server for Matrix, an open standard for decentralized persistent communication.	Healthy · 80	4.7k	Python, deb	22 Sept 2026
13	SimpleX Chat The most private and secure chat and applications platform - now with double ratchet E2E encryption.	Healthy · 78	19k	Haskell	26 Sept 2026
14	GlobaLeaks Whistleblowing software enabling anyone to easily set up and maintain a secure reporting platform.	Healthy · 78	1.5k	Python, deb	26 Jul 2026
15	Gotify Notification server with Android and CLI clients (alternative to PushBullet).	Healthy · 76	16k	Go, Docker	15 Sept 2026
16	Mumble Low-latency, high quality voice/text chat software.	Healthy · 75	8.3k	C++, deb	19 Jul 2026
17	OTS One-Time-Secret sharing platform with a symmetric 256bit AES encryption in the browser.	Healthy · 72	799	Go	27 Sept 2026
18	Typebot Conversational app builder (alternative to Typeform and Landbot).	Healthy · 71	10k	Docker	14 Sept 2026
19	Centrifugo Language-agnostic real-time messaging (Websocket or SockJS) server.	Healthy · 70	11k	Go, Docker	14 Sept 2026
20	Apprise Apprise allows you to send a notification to almost all of the most popular notification services available to us today	Healthy · 68	17k	Python, Docker	26 Sept 2026
21	Live Helper Chat Live Support chat for your website.	Steady · 67	2.2k	PHP	18 Sept 2026
22	Tinode Instant messaging platform. Backend in Go. Clients: Swift iOS, Java Android, JS webapp, scriptable command line; chatbot	Steady · 66	14k	Go	4 Jul 2026
23	AnyCable Realtime server for reliable two-way communication over WebSockets, Server-sent events, etc.	Steady · 62	2.4k	Go, Docker	24 Sept 2026
24	Hyphanet Anonymously share files, browse and publish freesites (web sites accessible only through Hyphanet) and chat on forums.	Steady · 60	1.2k	Java	4 Sept 2026
25	WBO Web Whiteboard to collaborate in real-time on schemas, drawings, and notes.	Steady · 57	2.7k	Nodejs, Docker	—
26	SAMA Next-Gen self-hosted chat server and clients.	Steady · 53	158	Nodejs, Docker	10 Sept 2026
27	Tox Distributed, secure messenger with audio and video chat capabilities.	Steady · 52	2.7k	C	25 Sept 2026
28	RetroShare Secured and decentralized communication system. Offers decentralized chat, forums, messaging, file transfer.	Slowing · 51	2k	C++	30 Nov 2023
29	Screego Screego is a simple tool to quickly share your screen to one or multiple people via web browser.	Slowing · 49	11k	Docker, Go	27 Sept 2026
30	Chitchatter Peer-to-peer chat app that is serverless, decentralized, and ephemeral.	Slowing · 45	2.3k	Nodejs	—
31	Shhh Keep secrets out of emails or chat logs, share them using secure links with passphrase and expiration dates.	Slowing · 38	418	Python	22 Jan 2026
32	Stoat Stoat is a user-first chat platform built with modern web technologies.	At risk · 35	2.7k	Rust	24 Nov 2025
33	Spectrum 2 Spectrum 2 is an open source instant messaging transport. It allows users to chat together even when they are using dif	At risk · 27	421	C++	12 Jun 2023
34	Notifo Multichannel notification server with support for Email, Mobile Push, Web Push, SMS, messaging and a javascript plugin.	At risk · 26	882	C#	30 Nov 2022
35	Databag Federated, end-to-end encrypted messaging service for the web, iOS, and Android, supporting text, photos, video, and Web	At risk · 23	1.5k	Docker	20 Jun 2024
36	Tiledesk All-in-one customer engagement platform from lead-gen to post-sales, from WhatsApp to your website. With omni-channel li	At risk · 16	322	Docker, K8S	29 Nov 2021
37	PushBits Notification server for relaying push notifications via Matrix, similar to PushBullet and Gotify.	At risk · 10	369	Go	29 May 2025
38	Conduit A simple, fast, and reliable chat server powered by Matrix.	Unrated	—	Rust	26 Sept 2026
39	Continuwuity Community-driven Matrix homeserver, the continuation of conduwuit focusing on user experience and new features (fork of	Unrated	—	Rust, Docker	—
40	GNUnet Software framework for decentralized, peer-to-peer networking.	Unrated	—	C	—
41	Groupboard Online whiteboard, audio/video conferencing, screen sharing, shared code editing and optional session recording/playback	Unrated	—	Unknown	—
42	Jami Universal communication platform which preserves the user's privacy and freedoms.	Unrated	—	C++	—
43	OpenWA WhatsApp API gateway exposing messaging as REST endpoints, with a web dashboard, multi-account sessions, and webhook eve	Unrated	—	Docker	—
44	PrivMX WebMail Web-based, end-to-end encrypted email platform that uses an independent PKI.	Unrated	—	PHP	—
45	TrueConf Platform for your corporate communications, based on the advanced architecture, with support for UltraHD video conferenc	Unrated	—	Docker, deb	—
46	Virola Messenger Instant messaging and collaboration tool with private and group chat rooms, continuous voice and video meetings, files s	Unrated	—	C++	—

Which one should you run?

If you want the safest bet on longevity, Rocket.Chat is the best-maintained project in this category right now at 92/100. Novu is the closest runner-up (92/100) — see the side-by-side comparison.

A health score measures whether a project is alive and shipping. It does not measure whether it has the feature you need. Use it to rule options out, then compare on features.