Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)¶

Why was Mattermost created?¶

Mattermost was created to offer an alternative to proprietary SaaS services. For more information, please see the article Why we made Mattermost.

Why does the open source repository contain code specific to the commercial version of Mattermost?¶

The commercial version of Mattermost is designed to never lock-in your data. Portions of the commercial version are shared with the open source version to ensure upgrade and downgrade across editions happens without data loss.

Does Mattermost support 508 Compliance?¶

Yes, please see our VPAT form for details. Mattermost Enterprise Edition has been purchased by multiple US public sector organizations, including US federal agencies and the Department of Defense.

Are push notifications free?¶

Yes, push notifications are free if you compile your own push-proxy service. Push notifications are also free if you use the hosted Test Push Notification Service (TPNS) provided by Mattermost, Inc.

TPNS, hosted at http://push.mattermost.com, doesn’t offer transport-level encryption or production-level service level agreements (SLAs), so if you choose this option we recommend you configure your system to not include message contents in push notifications and not reply on the service for vital functions.

If you need encrypted transport or production-level SLAs for push notifications, you can either compile your own push-proxy service, with your own key, or you can use a paid option and become a Mattermost Enterprise Edition E10 subscriber agreeing to our Conditions of Use, which enables you to use a production-level Hosted Push Notification Service (HPNS) at https://push.mattermost.com, offering transport-level encryption.

Learn more about our mobile apps and push notification service.

What support is available for video and audio calling and screen sharing?¶

In all editions, open source one-on-one video and audio calling is currently available in beta using the WebRTC standard.

After many conversations with users and customers we realized:

1. Most people using Mattermost need top quality video/audio/screen sharing solutions, which are predominantly proprietary.
2. Integrating an organization’s choice of video/audio/screen sharing solution is paramount.

Today, you can neatly link video/audio/screen sharing solutions, like Zoom and Skype for Business, to channels by using markdown formatting the header (Example: [Click for video call](https://link_to_solution)).

In future, we plan to add:

• A plug-in option for user profiles to connect directly to a person using 3rd party video/audio/screen sharing products, including custom and phone-based solutions.
• A plug-in option for linking channels and teams to on-demand video/audio/screen sharing solutions
• A default, open source one-on-one video and audio calling plug-in based on WebRTC
• A directory of 3rd party video/audio/screen sharing solutions that plug-in to Mattermost

The timeline for these additions would not be before the second half of 2017.

What is Mattermost Enterprise Edition?¶

Mattermost Enterprise Edition is a commercial workplace messaging solution for large organizations operating under compliance and security requirements that is built on top of the open source Mattermost Team Edition.

How can I be assured that my data will not be locked in to commercial software?¶

Users of Mattermost Enterprise Edition can downgrade to the open source version without losing any data. Moreover, you always have control over your server and database, where the entirety of your Mattermost deployment is stored.

How does Mattermost scale from teams to enterprises?¶

Growing your Mattermost installation from supporting a team to supporting an enterprise requires two types of scaling:

1. Technical scaling - maintaining system responsiveness as large quantities of new users are added
2. Functional scaling - adding advanced features to support the increased complexity of large organizations

Technical Scaling - Whether used for teams or enterprises, the Mattermost platform is designed to support tens of thousands of users on a single server with appropriate hardware. The platform is built using Golang, the language developed by Google to create internet-scale applications, and supports highly scalable databases like MySQL, which is used extensively by Facebook. Beyond tens of thousands of users, Mattermost Enterprise Edition can offer high availability/horizontal scaling configurations using multiple servers to support even larger organizations.

Functional Scaling - Scaling from a team to an enterprise is like going from a “virtual office” to a “virtual campus”. Advanced features like enterprise authentication, granular permissions, compliance and auditing, and advanced reporting become increasingly important as organizations grow beyond teams. Organizations needing this flexibility can easily upgrade from Mattermost Team Edition to Mattermost Enterprise Edition, as well as downgrade without data loss, should their needs change.

For more information on how Mattermost scales, technically and functionally, please contact the Enterprise team and read about scaling for Enterprise.

Do I need to pay for deactivated users?¶

No. If you deactivate a user that user is not counted as an active user during your annual renewal process. You can deactivate users manually via System Console and also via Active Directory/LDAP synchronization, the CLI tool and the server APIs.

If you choose to pull SQL reports from the database to monitor individual activity to make deactivation decisions, and you are running under high user load, we recommend the reports are pulled from a read replica of the database.

Can I use Mattermost to add messaging functionality to my proprietary SaaS service?¶

Mattermost is an open source, self-hosted alternative to proprietary SaaS services that lock in the data of users and customers.

While you’re welcome to use the Mattermost source code under its open source license, Mattermost, Inc. does not offer support or technical advice for proprietary SaaS projects that result in customers potentially being paywalled from their data should they stop paying SaaS fees.

To learn more about why we strongly believe that users and customers should always have access to their data, please read why we created Mattermost

Does Mattermost support external guests?¶

Not yet. Guest accounts are a feature planned for Enterprise Edition. A pricing model proportional to a fraction of the value this new feature provides is expected.

Can I use Mattermost for customer service?¶

You are welcome to use the open source Mattermost Team Edition and its extensive API library to build your own solution.

Mattermost Enterprise Edition is designed for self-hosted, enterprise-grade communication. It is not recommended for primarily providing customer service or customer support, and does not currently offer a licensing model nor technical advice for this use case.

If you’d like to create an open source derivative version of Mattermost using the /platform source code to support your use case please see below.

Does Mattermost have an official website-based plug-in to offer anonymous chat to visitors?¶

Not yet. You can upvote the feature proposal online to add your support. If you create such a plug-in, we would love to see it open sourced and made available to the community.

How can I create an open source derivative work of Mattermost?¶

If you’re looking to customize the look and feel of Mattermost, see documentation on customization.

If you’re looking to change the Mattermost /platform source code and compile your own version of Mattermost, here are some considerations:

Security

• If you run a fork of Mattermost we highly recommend you only deploy the system securely behind a firewall and to pay close attention to Mattermost security updates. Mattermost Team Edition and Mattermost Enterprise Edition release security update patches when reports of new attacks are received and verified. Mattermost waits until 14 days after a security patch is released before publicly detailing its nature, so that users and customers can upgrade before the security vulnerability is widely known. A malicous user can potentially make use of Mattermost security disclosures to exploit a fork of Mattermost if the security upgrade is not promptly incorporated into the forked version.

Enterprise Edition partnership

• To build your own commercial solution reselling Mattermost Enterprise Edition please contact our commercial team and let us know what you’re considering. Strategic partnerships that won’t confuse customers are the most favored.

Re-branding

• When you create a derivative version of Mattermost and share it with others as a product, you need to replace the Mattermost name and logo from the system, among other requirements, per the Mattermost trademark policy.
• In Enterprise Edition you can re-brand your system using convenience tools for custom branding.
• For advanced whitelabelling, and to whitelabel in Team Edition under MIT license without Enterprise Edition branding tools, you can manually update files on the Mattermost server per product documentation.

Using /platform open source code

• Creating a solution using the open source Mattermost /platform repo requires a) compliance with licenses in the repo, including NOTICE.txt, and b) the compiled version of the /platform source code should have the same open source license as the source code, per our licensing policy.

Other considerations:

• Mattermost has a default Conditions of Use agreement for the Terms of Service link at the bottom of login screen that should be incorporated into any additional Terms of Use you may add.
• The Mattermost copyright notices on the user interface should remain.
• There may be additional legal and regulatory issues to consider and we recommend you employ legal counsel to fully understand what’s involved in creating and selling a derivative work.

Will Mattermost complete questionnaires requiring confidential data without an NDA?¶

No, Mattermost will not complete questionnaires requiring confidential data without a non-disclosure agreement. You can find Mattermost’s standard mutual non-disclosure agreement online.

Why does Mattermost have a discount for certain kinds of non-profits but not for others?¶

While we welcome anyone to use the open source version of Mattermost Team Edition free of charge, Mattermost, Inc., like any software company, has specific discounting programs for its commercial Mattermost Enterprise Edition based on business objectives. Objectives of the discounting programs include the suitability of potential case studies, references, word-of-mouth promotion as well as public promotion of solutions, among many other factors.

Learn more about our non-profit discount program at https://about.mattermost.com/mattermost-mondays/

Will Mattermost, Inc. offer the ability to resell Mattermost software without a reseller agreement?¶

No.

If there is a case where the reseller agreement is under review and an order is urgently needed by a customer, Mattermost may, with internal approvals, accept a reseller purchase order with the following language:

Any statements, clauses, or conditions included on or referenced by buyer’s purchase order forms, which forms modify, add to, or are inconsistent with Mattermost’s standard terms and condtions are expressly rejected. Such orders will only be accepted by Mattermost upon the condition and with the express understanding that despite any such statements,clauses, or conditions contained in any order forms of the buyer are void and have no effect.

EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY AGREED BY THE PARTIES IN WRITING, MATTERMOST MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WITH RESPECT TO ANY MATTERMOST PRODUCTS, DOCUMENTATION OR SUPPORT, AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER EXPRESS AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.