Mattermost is self-hosted team chat for organizations with IT staff: you run the server, prices come by quote, and Mattermost's own docs say a HIPAA deployment needs a team trained on HIPAA requirements. Yodl is managed for you, costs $10 a month for five people, and signs the BAA. Pick Mattermost if you have an IT team and want control of the server; pick Yodl if you are a small clinic with nobody to run one.
At a glance
Mattermost is built for security-conscious organizations, government, defense, healthcare and life sciences that want to host their own chat. Yodl is managed team chat for small healthcare teams. In the table, BAA means Business Associate Agreement, the contract in which a vendor agrees to protect patient information. The comparison comes down to one question: do you want to run a server?
| What matters | Yodl | Mattermost |
|---|---|---|
| Price for a 5-person office | $10 a month (5 users and one location included) | Contact sales; no published per-user prices; a free limited-use evaluation edition exists |
| How it is priced | Flat per location; $2 per extra user; $10 per extra location | Per activated user on a prepaid annual subscription (Professional, Enterprise, Enterprise Advanced); each server needs its own license |
| Signs a BAA, and on which plans | Yes, every plan, including the $10 plan | No BAA statement found on Mattermost's pricing, HIPAA docs or healthcare pages |
| Free tier or trial | No free plan or trial | Free limited-use edition of Enterprise Advanced for technical evaluation |
| Built for | Staff-to-staff chat in small healthcare teams and small businesses | Security-conscious organizations that self-host: government, defense, healthcare, life sciences |
| File storage | 20 GB per location | Not published; you supply the server |
| API | $20 a month per workspace (REST API, webhooks, bot users) | Yes: REST API, webhooks, slash commands and an MCP Server |
| Apps and devices | Any browser on phone or computer; Mac app; iPhone app (beta) | Not recorded in our research; check Mattermost's site |
Pricing in detail
As of November 2026, Mattermost publishes no per-user prices. Professional is contact sales, priced per activated user on a prepaid annual subscription, and described as channel-centric for team collaboration. Enterprise shows a Get Pricing button and is for secure collaborative workflows; a single-tenant hosted option, Mattermost Cloud Enterprise, is available through sales. Enterprise Advanced is Request Quote, for multi-domain secure operations. There is a free, limited-use edition of Enterprise Advanced for technical evaluation, with community support. Each server needs its own license. Prices change and none are published, so get a quote and verify on Mattermost's site.
Self-hosting has costs the quote does not include: the server it runs on, backups, updates, and the hours of whoever keeps it running. For an organization with IT staff those are normal. For a five-person clinic they are the whole budget.
Yodl is $10 a month for one location, with 5 users and 20 GB of file storage included. Extra users are $2 each per month. Each additional location is another $10 a month with 5 more users and 20 more GB. API access is $20 a month per workspace. Enterprise is custom pricing with a dedicated instance, custom retention and legal hold, and invoice billing. There is no free trial, and you can cancel any month.
HIPAA and the BAA
HIPAA requires a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) before a vendor handles protected health information (PHI). PHI is any health information tied to a person: a patient's name next to a question about their visit, a photo of a chart, a note about a refill. The BAA is the contract in which the vendor agrees to protect that information and accept its share of responsibility.
We found no BAA statement on Mattermost's pricing page, its HIPAA documentation or its healthcare page. The docs say that deploying Mattermost as part of a HIPAA-compliant IT infrastructure requires a deployment team trained on HIPAA-compliance requirements and standards. The healthcare page calls Mattermost a self-sovereign platform that satisfies requirements like HIPAA, with self-hosted and air-gapped deployment options. Read together, the message is clear: when you self-host, the responsibility and the controls sit with your IT team, and Mattermost may never touch your PHI. If you are considering the hosted Cloud Enterprise option, ask Mattermost whether it signs a BAA for it; its site does not say.
Yodl signs a BAA with every customer on every plan, including the $10 plan. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest on HIPAA-eligible infrastructure with subprocessor BAAs. Yodl is not end-to-end encrypted, by design, the same model as Slack and Microsoft Teams, so that search, retention, the audit viewer and admin controls can work.
The features a small practice actually uses
Mattermost is strong where developers and operations teams live: self-hosted channels, direct messages and threads; calls, at about 50 concurrent users per self-hosted server; Playbooks and boards for runbooks and tasks; a REST API, MCP Server, webhooks and slash commands; data retention, eDiscovery and legal hold on enterprise tiers; air-gapped and on-prem deployment; and guest accounts. If your IT team wants to wire chat into other systems, that list is the attraction.
Yodl keeps the list short and the setup shorter:
- Public and private channels, direct messages, group DMs, threads, reactions, @mentions and saved messages.
- Channel roles: Manager, Member and Viewer, so the front desk can read the clinical channel without posting in it.
- File previews for images, PDFs, spreadsheets and voice notes, a team files library with 20 GB per location, and full-text search scoped to your rooms.
- An audit viewer with CSV export, retention controls and legal hold, passkeys (Face ID or Touch ID), a 15-minute inactivity lock, and a 13-gate HIPAA readiness checklist in the admin panel.
- Any browser on a phone or computer, a Mac app, an iPhone app in beta, and an optional AI teammate from PhiClaw that is a separate product, not part of the $10 plan.
Yodl is not self-hostable and has no voice or video calls. Enterprise customers can get a dedicated instance, but Yodl runs it for you.
Where Mattermost is the better choice
Mattermost is the right buy when you have the people to run it and a reason to own the server.
- You have IT staff who want to self-host and own the server, the backups and the updates.
- You need air-gapped or on-prem deployment for policy or contract reasons.
- Your developers want a REST API, webhooks, slash commands, Playbooks and boards to automate work, or you need calls inside the chat tool.
- You are a hospital, health system, government or defense organization buying through procurement with an annual prepaid license.
Where Yodl is the better choice
Yodl is the right buy when there is no IT department, only an office manager with a long list.
- You are a small clinic with no one to run a server, and no wish to hire one.
- You want a vendor that signs the BAA and takes on the hosting and the controls, instead of a tool that leaves HIPAA to your deployment team.
- You want a published, flat price: $10 a month for five people, $2 per extra user, $10 per extra location.
- You want staff to sign in with Face ID or Touch ID and work from any phone browser, with roles, an audit log, retention and legal hold ready on day one.
Who should choose which
| Team type | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 5-person clinic with no IT staff | Yodl | Managed, BAA included, $10 a month |
| Health system with an IT department | Mattermost | Self-hosted, annual license, integrations |
| Organization that must keep chat on its own servers | Mattermost | On-prem and air-gapped options |
| Multi-location practice watching cost | Yodl | $10 per location with 5 users and 20 GB each |
| Developer-heavy team automating chat | Mattermost | REST API, webhooks, slash commands, Playbooks |
| Office that wants a bot or webhook without a server | Yodl | API access for $20 a month per workspace |
If nobody on your team wants to run a server, see Yodl pricing: $10 a month for 5 people, a signed BAA.
Mattermost is self-hosted, quote-priced chat for organizations with IT staff, and its site does not state a BAA. Yodl is managed, $10 a month for five people, and signs the BAA, which is the better fit for a small clinic.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mattermost HIPAA compliant?
Mattermost can be part of a HIPAA-compliant setup if you self-host it correctly: its docs say that requires a deployment team trained on HIPAA requirements. We found no BAA statement on its site, so the compliance work sits with your IT team.
How much does Mattermost cost for 5 users?
Mattermost publishes no per-user prices. As of November 2026, Professional and Enterprise are contact sales, priced per activated user on a prepaid annual subscription, and there is a free limited-use evaluation edition. Ask for a quote and verify on Mattermost's site. Yodl is $10 a month for 5 users.
Is Mattermost free?
There is a free, limited-use edition of Enterprise Advanced for technical evaluation, with community support. Running it still means supplying and maintaining your own server.
Does Mattermost sign a BAA?
Its pricing, HIPAA docs and healthcare pages do not say. If you want the hosted Cloud Enterprise option, ask Mattermost directly before putting PHI in it.
Can a clinic self-host Yodl?
No. Yodl is managed by Yodl. Enterprise customers can get a dedicated instance with custom retention, legal hold and invoice billing, but Yodl runs it.
Does Yodl have an API like Mattermost?
Yes, for $20 a month per workspace: a REST API, webhooks and bot users. Mattermost's API is broader and includes slash commands and an MCP Server.