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Comparison · Comms
Rocket.Chat vs Roundcube
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Rocket.Chat and Roundcube — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Rocket.Chat vs Roundcube: at a glance
What is Rocket.Chat?
Rocket.Chat's fifth 9.0 candidate is about load: notifications, presence and startup.
The 9.0 candidate line opened on 27 October with a licensing change: LDAP, SAML and Custom OAuth now require a premium plan, and seven login providers are removed. rc.3 moved REST refusals to a single 403 shape, and rc.4 on 3 November is a performance and reliability batch: push and email notifications no longer stall under load, presence stops writing on every heartbeat, and a failed startup step now exits instead of hanging. 8.9.0 LTS remains supported until 31 October 2027.
What is Roundcube?
Roundcube's October release patches 13 more holes on both branches at once.
Roundcube shipped 1.7.5 and 1.6.20 on 19 October, again as a matched pair, fixing IMAP command injection via the _uid parameter, mail header injection in bounce and reply paths, a session object-injection primitive, ImageMagick limits bypasses, an SSRF filter bypass via NAT64 and several remote-content blocking bypasses. It is the fifth paired security release since June.
Rocket.Chat vs Roundcube: editorial side-by-side
Rocket.Chat
6.3COMMS
Rocket.Chat's fifth 9.0 candidate is about load: notifications, presence and startup.
◆ 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, and seven login providers are removed. rc.3 moved REST refusals to a single 403 shape, and rc.4 on 3 November is a performance and reliability batch: push and email notifications no longer stall under load, presence stops writing on every heartbeat, and a failed startup step now exits instead of hanging. 8.9.0 LTS remains supported until 31 October 2027.
◆ Where it's heading
The candidates have moved from what 9.0 removes to whether it holds up on busy workspaces. The rc.4 fixes target large deployments, the same customers the premium SSO requirement is aimed at, and one of them fixes SAML login after a restart.
◆ Prediction
The fixes in rc.4 read like final hardening, so a 9.0.0 release is the next likely entry, carrying the licensing change from rc.0 unchanged.
Roundcube
5.0COMMS
Roundcube's October release patches 13 more holes on both branches at once.
◆ Current state
Roundcube shipped 1.7.5 and 1.6.20 on 19 October, again as a matched pair, fixing IMAP command injection via the _uid parameter, mail header injection in bounce and reply paths, a session object-injection primitive, ImageMagick limits bypasses, an SSRF filter bypass via NAT64 and several remote-content blocking bypasses. It is the fifth paired security release since June.
◆ Where it's heading
Monthly security releases on both the 1.7 and LTS 1.6 lines have become the product's main output, driven by outside researchers. Several fixes revisit earlier ones, such as CSS-escape blocking bypasses fixed 'again', which suggests the content-sanitising code is still being mapped.
◆ Prediction
Another paired 1.7.x and 1.6.x security release in about a month is the pattern; feature work isn't visible in these entries.
Alternatives to Rocket.Chat and Roundcube
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 Rocket.Chat or Roundcube.
Stoat
Stoat moves to release candidates and Gerrit, and gives server admins more control.
Element
Element 1.12.34 RC pops calls into picture-in-picture and lets modules shut off public rooms.
Synapse
Synapse 1.164 advertises Matrix v1.16 and v1.17 amid a run of dependency security patches
Subsplash
Subsplash gives church staff notes on every person and every Workflow card.
Maddy
maddy's latest release is a security fix, five months after its last feature work.
See all Rocket.Chat alternatives → · See all Roundcube alternatives →
Recent activity from Rocket.Chat and Roundcube
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.4: notifications, presence and startup fixed under load
- 4d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.3: REST refusals become 403; /hooks status codes change
- 5d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.2: version bump only
- 7d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.1: noise cancellation choice for LiveKit calls
- 8d agoRocket.Chat9.0 rc.0: LDAP, SAML and Custom OAuth become premium-only ⚡
- 16d agoRoundcubeRoundcube Webmail 1.7.5
- 16d agoRoundcubeRoundcube Webmail 1.6.20
- 27d agoRocket.Chat8.9.0 LTS: 12-month support, Deno removed, hybrid AI Search
- 1mo agoRoundcubeRoundcube Webmail 1.7.4
- 1mo agoRoundcubeRoundcube Webmail 1.6.19
- 2mo agoRoundcubeRoundcube Webmail 1.7.3
- 2mo agoRoundcubeRoundcube Webmail 1.6.18
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Rocket.Chat and Roundcube?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Rocket.Chat is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 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 Rocket.Chat better than Roundcube?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Rocket.Chat is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to Roundcube?
Top Roundcube alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Roundcube alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/roundcube for the full list with editorial commentary on each.