head to head · open source
Mattermost vs SAMA
Mattermost has 39,093 GitHub stars, 9,000 forks, 1,012 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SAMA has 158 stars, 14 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Mattermost leads on adoption by 24,642% (39,093 vs 158 stars). Mattermost is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; SAMA is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. Mattermost has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, SAMA 9%. Mattermost was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | SAMA | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 158 |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 14 |
| 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 SAMA if
- You want the SAMA feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and SAMA 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 SAMA
SAMA is a self hostable, GPL 3.0 chat server written in JavaScript and powered by uWebSockets.js, aimed at developers and teams who want to run their own real time messaging backend instead of adopting XMPP.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mattermost or SAMA more popular?
Mattermost has 39,093 GitHub stars and SAMA has 158. Mattermost has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mattermost and SAMA free?
Both are open source. Mattermost has no licence declared in this registry, and SAMA is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Mattermost and SAMA?
Mattermost is written in TypeScript and SAMA in JavaScript. 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 SAMA?
Choose Mattermost if you want the larger community (39,093 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose SAMA if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.