When you want to communicate with colleagues over a distance – whether between offices or between cities – email is always an option, but not the best if you just need a quick answer to a simple question or need some face time. Most companies have established real-time communication through the use of some kind of chat service, and employees often use these same systems for chatting with customers.

Two services have become particularly popular in recent years: HipChat [1] and Slack [2]. Although they are easy to use, your data resides on the hosts' servers in the US, which does not have a good record of digital privacy and security. In this article, I present three alternatives to Slack and HipChat: InspIRCd [3], Mattermost [4], and Rocket.Chat [5]. A test team set out to discover whether you need your own client software with these three alternatives and to determine how well each candidate accommodates business use.

Basics

HipChat and Slack are successful for many reasons. First, they are easy to use within a web browser, which means it isn't necessary to install a client (although HipChat does have a desktop client if you want it). Second, the software provider normally hosts both services, so you don't have to run your own infrastructure, and there's no need for troubleshooting. Finally, both systems also provide useful additional features, such as formatting for code, automatic link previews, or the integration of photos in ongoing chat sessions.

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