head to head · open source
Mattermost vs certstrap
Mattermost has 39,097 GitHub stars, 9,006 forks, 1,012 open issues and last shipped yesterday. certstrap has 2,454 stars, 212 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Mattermost leads on adoption by 1,493% (39,097 vs 2,454 stars). Mattermost is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; certstrap is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Mattermost has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, certstrap 9%. Mattermost was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (golang), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Mattermost | certstrap | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-02-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 212 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mattermost if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick certstrap if
- You want the certstrap feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and certstrap fits your workflow better
About Mattermost
Mattermost is an open core, self hosted collaboration platform for teams that need secure chat, workflow automation, voice calling, screen sharing, and AI integration while keeping the deployment under their own control.
read the full Mattermost overview →
About certstrap
certstrap is a simple certificate manager written in Go that bootstraps a private certificate authority and public key infrastructure, aimed at operators and developers who need to issue TLS certificates without wrestling with openssl.
read the full certstrap overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mattermost or certstrap more popular?
Mattermost has 39,097 GitHub stars and certstrap has 2,454. Mattermost has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mattermost and certstrap free?
Both are open source. Mattermost has no licence declared in this registry, and certstrap is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Mattermost and certstrap?
Mattermost is written in TypeScript and certstrap in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Mattermost or certstrap?
Choose Mattermost if you want the larger community (39,097 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose certstrap if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.