Mattermost is unusual among chat platforms in that self-hosting is not the exception but the default: its pricing page, checked on 1 November 2026, describes every paid tier as a prepaid annual seat licence for a server you run, with a single-tenant cloud option for Enterprise. This guide covers what that means for a team that wants the free edition on its own server, what the server needs, and what the Mattermost package on MassiveGRID PaaS, built on Virtuozzo Application Platform (formerly Jelastic), costs per month.
How Mattermost is licensed
The pricing page lists three paid tiers, Professional (channel-centric team collaboration), Enterprise (adds real-time communications, federation, compliance and high availability, "supporting up to 50,000 concurrent users and beyond") and Enterprise Advanced (air-gapped and zero-trust deployments, "up to 200,000 concurrent users"), and publishes no per-seat price: each tier leads to a sales contact. Professional and Enterprise are "prepaid annual subscriptions based on the number of annual seat licenses purchased", with mid-term growth handled by quarterly "true forward" seat purchases.
Two details matter for hosting. Self-hosted is the default: each server needs its own licence, and a high-availability setup counts as one server. And the only cloud offering named is Mattermost Cloud Enterprise, a single-tenant service hosted by Mattermost for the Enterprise tier. The page mentions a free, limited-use edition of Enterprise Advanced for technical evaluation and refers to Mattermost Free in passing; the free, open-source edition that most self-hosting teams run is what the marketplace package installs, with no licence needed.
Mattermost on MassiveGRID PaaS: one-click install, about $59.04 a month for the Starter configuration (Mattermost server, 2 GiB; Database, 1 GiB) at $0.003372 per cloudlet-hour, before volume discounts, in New York, London, Frankfurt or Singapore. 14-day free trial, no credit card. See the sizing table.
What a Mattermost server needs
Mattermost's hardware guidance was not readable in text form when this guide was written (the documentation site renders in the browser), so the figures here are the package's own, not Mattermost's. A Mattermost server has three components with different appetites. The server is a single Go binary that is light per user but holds websocket connections for everyone online; a few dozen users fit in 2 GiB and a few hundred in 4 GiB. The database, PostgreSQL, holds messages, which grow forever, and wants a buffer pool sized to the hot history. File storage is where the bytes go: screenshots, attachments and, with the calls feature, recordings; it is billed per gigabyte and is the real variable.
The pricing page gives one capacity figure worth keeping: group calls support up to approximately 50 concurrent users per self-hosted server. Calls run through Mattermost's own real-time service and are the one feature that turns a quiet chat server into a busy one.
The three configurations on PaaS and their cost
The Mattermost package installs the Mattermost server, a database and file storage with a certificate. Cloudlets are 128 MiB RAM plus 400 MHz CPU at $0.003372 per cloudlet-hour, $2.46 per cloudlet-month; the free edition carries no licence fee.
| Configuration | Mattermost server | Database | Cloudlets | Per month (730 h) | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 2 GiB | 1 GiB | 24 | $59.04 | Up to a few dozen users |
| Standard | 4 GiB | 2 GiB | 48 | $118.08 | A few hundred users |
| Production | 2 × 4 GiB behind a load balancer | 3 GiB | 92 | $226.32 | Large teams, heavy file sharing |
Put the Starter row beside any per-seat chat subscription for a 40-person team and the arithmetic is short; the Slack replacement post does it for 200 users. The figures are ceilings for an always-on server before volume discounts; file storage is per gigabyte on top. The PaaS pricing calculator prices other layouts.
Where the cost actually goes
Files, not messages. A team that pastes screenshots all day and records calls fills storage at a rate that dwarfs the message database; set a retention policy for files in the system console from the first week, and point the file store at a separate volume so it can grow without resizing the server.
The database over time. Message history is never deleted by default. A year of a busy 200-person team is a few gigabytes, which is fine, but the PostgreSQL node's RAM should keep pace with the hot part of it; the Standard row's 2 GiB is sized for that.
Calls. If the team adopts Mattermost calls, the server's CPU becomes the constraint at the 50-user ceiling the pricing page mentions, and the Production row's second server node behind the load balancer is the answer, with the calls service on its own.
Running it well
Three things decide whether a self-hosted Mattermost is a relief or a chore. TLS and a public address: the package attaches a certificate; the mobile apps and push notifications need the server reachable on a real domain, which is one Let's Encrypt add-on. Backups: the Database Backup/Restore add-on dumps PostgreSQL nightly to a Backup Storage node, and the file store is included in an environment clone. Upgrades: Mattermost ships monthly; a clone of the environment lets you upgrade a copy first. The production hardening post walks through all three, and the ChatOps post connects the server to GitLab and the platform's alerts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mattermost free to self-host?
The free, open-source edition is, and it is what the MassiveGRID PaaS package installs. Mattermost's paid tiers (Professional, Enterprise, Enterprise Advanced), as listed on its pricing page on 1 November 2026, are prepaid annual seat licences with no public per-seat price; they add compliance, high availability and other enterprise features on top of the same server.
How much server does Mattermost need?
Mattermost's own hardware guidance could not be read in text form when this guide was written, so the figures are the package's: a 2 GiB server with a 1 GiB database serves a few dozen users, 4 GiB and 2 GiB a few hundred, and two 4 GiB servers behind a load balancer larger teams. Group calls are limited to about 50 concurrent users per self-hosted server.
What does self-hosted Mattermost cost per month?
About $59.04 for the Starter configuration, $118.08 for Standard and $226.32 for the Production layout on MassiveGRID PaaS, at $0.003372 per cloudlet-hour before volume discounts, plus file storage per gigabyte. There is no per-user fee.
Team chat with no seat licence
The Mattermost package on MassiveGRID PaaS installs the server, database and file storage with a certificate in one click, in the region you choose, from about $59.04 a month for a few dozen users. 14-day free trial, no credit card.
Mattermost on PaaS