Rspamd
Rspamd 4.3 fixes SPF evaluation order and rejects weak DKIM keys, with results that change.
Comparison · Comms
Maddy vs Rocket.Chat
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Maddy and Rocket.Chat — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hosted
Maddy vs Rocket.Chat: at a glance
What is Maddy?
maddy's back-to-back security releases close DMARC bypasses and IMAP storage bugs.
maddy is an all-in-one Go mail server for SMTP and IMAP. Its last two releases are security fixes: 0.9.6 in October required explicit trust for PROXY headers and closed an auth misconfiguration, and 0.9.7 fixes two DMARC verification bypasses that let attackers spoof domains with p=reject, plus long-standing IMAP storage bugs. Malformed MIME messages are now stored as a single part instead of being lost.
What is Rocket.Chat?
Rocket.Chat 9.0 reaches rc.8 with a migration fix as candidates shrink to single patches.
The 9.0 candidate line opened on 27 October with a licensing change: LDAP, SAML and Custom OAuth now require a premium plan. Since rc.4 the candidates have been fixes, and rc.8 on 7 November carries a single one: servers that started during another server's database migration no longer keep stale settings until restart. On 6 November 8.9.1 LTS backported the 9.0 load fixes plus a security hotfix.
Maddy vs Rocket.Chat: editorial side-by-side
Maddy
2.5COMMS
maddy's back-to-back security releases close DMARC bypasses and IMAP storage bugs.
◆ Current state
maddy is an all-in-one Go mail server for SMTP and IMAP. Its last two releases are security fixes: 0.9.6 in October required explicit trust for PROXY headers and closed an auth misconfiguration, and 0.9.7 fixes two DMARC verification bypasses that let attackers spoof domains with p=reject, plus long-standing IMAP storage bugs. Malformed MIME messages are now stored as a single part instead of being lost.
◆ Where it's heading
Feature work stopped after the 0.9 line in spring; recent releases are driven by reported vulnerabilities. The project is fixing correctness in mail authentication and storage rather than adding capabilities.
◆ Prediction
Further security point releases look more likely than a 0.10.0 feature release, though 0.9.1 flagged libdns provider removals for 0.10.0.
Rocket.Chat
6.3COMMS
Rocket.Chat 9.0 reaches rc.8 with a migration fix as candidates shrink to single patches.
◆ Current state
The 9.0 candidate line opened on 27 October with a licensing change: LDAP, SAML and Custom OAuth now require a premium plan. Since rc.4 the candidates have been fixes, and rc.8 on 7 November carries a single one: servers that started during another server's database migration no longer keep stale settings until restart. On 6 November 8.9.1 LTS backported the 9.0 load fixes plus a security hotfix.
◆ Where it's heading
9.0 is in stabilization: each candidate is smaller than the last, and the load fixes are being carried to the LTS line rather than held for the major. Native LiveKit video is being promoted step by step, from alpha to beta and now as the named default provider option.
◆ Prediction
With rc.7 down to a handful of fixes, 9.0.0 GA is the next likely release, followed by further 8.9.x LTS patches carrying the same fixes.
Alternatives to Maddy and Rocket.Chat
Other Comms products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Maddy or Rocket.Chat.
Twilio
Twilio's voice AI stops cutting callers off mid-sentence, using its own turn-taking model.
Salesmsg
Salesmsg adds call-back requests and a one-click Emergency Stop for all outbound texts.
Element
Element 1.12.35 follows the call picture-in-picture release with one desktop storage fix.
Krisp
Krisp moves call transcripts and live captions to cloud transcription in KrispCX 2.84.4.
Misskey
Misskey 2026.11 ships: a leaner start script, and Node.js 22 no longer boots.
See all Maddy alternatives → · See all Rocket.Chat alternatives →
Recent activity from Maddy and Rocket.Chat
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 7d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.8: settings refresh after concurrent migrations
- 8d agoRocket.Chat8.9.1 LTS: load fixes from 9.0 plus a security hotfix
- 8d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.7: client memory leak fixed, LiveKit video moves to beta
- 8d agoMaddymaddy 0.9.7 fixes two DMARC bypasses and IMAP storage bugs
- 9d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.6: Matrix federation auth header fix
- 9d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.5: removed-license features shut off, OAuth codes redacted
- 10d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.4: notifications, presence and startup fixed under load
- 1mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.6 fixes PROXY trust and auth bypass misconfig
- 5mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.5 fixes nested pipeline logging and systemd reload reporting
- 6mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.4 removes the maddyctl symlink and implicit run command
- 7mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.3 patches an LDAP injection flaw in auth.ldap
- 7mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.2 fixes an rspamd panic on unspecified tls_client
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Maddy and Rocket.Chat?
Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Comms. Rocket.Chat is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Maddy better than Rocket.Chat?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Rocket.Chat is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Comms products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Maddy?
Top Maddy alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Maddy alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/maddy for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Rocket.Chat?
Top Rocket.Chat alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Rocket.Chat alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rocketchat for the full list with editorial commentary on each.