We’ve built a self-hosted team workspace that keeps chat, forum and kanban on one Windows or Linux server

Disclosure: I work for the MyChat team. We’ve been building self-hosted communication software for many years, and we wanted to share what we’ve built with the self-hosting community. The basic idea is simple: instead of scattering team communication, discussions, and task tracking across several cloud services, we wanted to keep the core workflow on one server the organization can fully manage and control. The problem we were trying to solve Team communication eventually turns into one endless stream of messages. Someone posts a question. Then a file. Then a decision about a project. Someone replies two hours later. A few days later, you need to find that decision again - somewhere among hundreds of other messages. At the same time, teams often add separate tools for discussions, tasks, file sharing, and other parts of their workflow. We wanted to approach this differently. MyChat combines team chat, forum (knowledge base), and a Kanban board (project management) in one self-hosted workspace, so conversations can stay conversational while longer discussions and project tasks have their own places. What is MyChat? MyChat is a self-hosted team workspace with its own server. You can run the server on Windows , or install it on Linux using Docker . The important part for us is that the server and the data remain under the organization's control. Messages, files, user accounts, and other workspace data are stored on your own infrastructure rather than in the cloud. preview.redd.it/1cnhujmcauth1.png This can be useful for organizations that: want direct control over where their data is stored; need to keep communication inside their own infrastructure; don't want their internal communication tied to a third-party cloud service; prefer managing their own server; want communication and project-related tools in one system. Chat, forum (knowledge base), and Kanban We wanted to avoid putting every kind of communication into the same chat timeline. For example, a quick question can stay in chat, while a longer topic can have its own forum discussion. preview.redd.it/ob1udp1eauth1.png Project tasks can then be tracked separately in Kanban. preview.redd.it/p6bs3g6fauth1.png The current version includes: Team chat - private and group conversations. Forums - separate spaces for longer discussions. Kanban - create, assign, and track project tasks. File sharing - share files directly in conversations. Search - find information in communication history. Voice and video calls (including group calls and screen sharing) . Remote access . User and permission management . Windows server support and Linux deployment via Docker . Self-hosted storage - the workspace runs on your own infrastructure. We're not trying to claim that every team needs all of these things in one application. The reason we put them together is to reduce the number of separate systems a team has to maintain and switch between. Installation MyChat is available to download now. Download: mychat.software/download The Free Edition supports up to 20 simultaneous users with no time limit . For Windows, the download page provides the MyChat Server installer. For Linux, the server can be installed using Docker . Documentation: nsoft-s.com/en/mcserverhelp/about.html The documentation covers installation, administration, and the different parts of the system. preview.redd.it/dnmr61nkauth1.png We'd especially appreciate feedback from people who deal with self-hosted software and are used to installing and maintaining services themselves. If the installation feels unnecessarily complicated, that's something we'd like to know. What about the data? One of the main reasons we made MyChat self-hosted is data ownership. You install the server yourself, choose the infrastructure, manage access to it, and control the data stored there. This also means that self-hosting comes with the responsibilities that self-hosting always brings: server administration, backups, access control, updates, and keeping the infrastructure secure. Free edition and licensing MyChat has a Free Edition for up to 20 simultaneous users with no time limit . Download: mychat.software/download MyChat is closed-source/proprietary software . We know this is an important distinction in a community where open-source software is a major part of the self-hosting ecosystem. We're not presenting MyChat as an open-source alternative. The value proposition is different: you can run the software on your own infrastructure and retain control over your data without having to maintain the application's source code yourself. Our paid licensing is based on server capacity/connections rather than a per-user monthly subscription . Pricing: mychat.software/pricing The current pricing starts at $80 for 10 connections, with one year of updates and support included. The Free Edition remains available without a time limit but with some usage limitations: nsoft-s.com/mychatforum/viewtopic.php We're particularly interested in hearing whether this licensing model makes sense from a self-hosting perspective. Why we're posting here We're not expecting everyone in this subreddit to need another team communication platform. Many good self-hosted projects already exist, and we know people here have very different preferences, from lightweight open-source tools to full collaboration suites. We're posting because self-hosting is one of the core decisions behind MyChat , and we'd like feedback from people who actually care about running software themselves. In particular, we'd love to hear your thoughts on three things: 1. Installation Does the Windows installation or Linux/Docker deployment make sense to you? Are there steps or requirements that you would expect to be documented differently? 2. Admin UX Once the server is running, does the administration experience make sense? Are there settings or controls you would expect to have that are currently missing or difficult to find? 3. Pricing For a proprietary self-hosted product, does the capacity-based pricing model seem reasonable compared with the alternatives you use or would consider? We're happy to answer questions about the deployment, administration, licensing, and product decisions in the comments. Thanks for taking a look - especially to those who take the time to test it and give us critical feedback.