A free, open-source Donut alternative for Slack
Random introductions from a channel, a time both people actually pick, and the meeting booked at that hour. Plus standups and kudos in the same app.
Add to Slack installs Morgenruf on the free hosted instance CloudDrove runs. Self-hosting is the same MIT code.
Morgenruf is a free, open-source (MIT) Donut alternative for Slack coffee chats. It pairs people from a channel, suggests hours both can make, and books the Zoom meeting. Donut has a free plan and paid plans from about $74 a month (checked 2026-09-26); Morgenruf is free at any size, hosted or self-hosted.
Last reviewed September 26, 2026
| Morgenruf | Donut | |
|---|---|---|
| Random pairings from a channel | Yes | Yes |
| Avoids repeat matches | Yes | Yes |
| Suggests a time both people can make | Yes, voted on in the message | Varies |
| Creates the meeting | Zoom, at the agreed hour | Varies by plan |
| Async standups in the same app | Yes | No |
| Peer recognition in the same app | Yes | Shoutouts |
| Birthdays and work anniversaries | Yes, around your working days and holidays | Yes |
| Runs on your own servers | Yes | No |
| Source you can read | MIT | Closed |
| Your pairing data lives in | your database | their cloud |
| Microsoft Teams | In progress | Yes |
| Price | Free, any team size | Free plan; paid plans from about $74 a month |
Prices checked 2026-09-26 against Donut's pricing page. Their plans change; if something here is out of date, please tell me and I will fix it.
The honest version
Donut is a good product and the one that made this category. It has years of polish, a Teams version that works today, and a wider surface than this: journeys for onboarding, channel prompts, video facilitation.
Where they win. If you need Microsoft Teams today, or onboarding journeys, or a video facilitation layer, Donut is the better answer and you should use it.
Where this is different
It is one app, not three subscriptions
Most teams that pay for pairing also pay for standups and recognition. Morgenruf runs all three against one database, which is also what makes the cross-signal questions possible: who answers every standup and is thanked by nobody.
Birthdays and work anniversaries, too
Donut celebrates birthdays and anniversaries, and so does Morgenruf: posted in a channel you pick, grouped into one message per kind a day, and moved to the last working day before a weekend or a company holiday on your own list. Only the day and month of a birthday are kept, and anyone can opt out with one checkbox. Donut imports dates straight from an HRIS; here HR uploads a CSV export instead. Celebrations has the details.
The introduction carries a meeting
Two people being told to meet is the easy part. This proposes hours that fall inside both working days, each of them presses one, and a matching pair becomes a Zoom meeting at that hour, hosted on the account of whoever connected theirs.
Your data stays yours
Self-hosted, who met whom and who quietly opted out lives in Postgres you control. The install talks to Slack only, plus Zoom, email (Resend), an AI provider or PostHog analytics if the operator turns those on. Leaving is not a migration because the data is already yours.
The price
Free for every seat, at any size: on the free hosted instance, or self-hosted, where a thirty person team pays for a small server and a database instead of a subscription that grows with hiring.
For people teams: nothing to install on a server
Add to Slack puts Morgenruf on the free hosted instance, so a people ops lead can start coffee chats without anyone running a server. Each round closes by asking whether the pair met, and the answer is recorded four ways: met, did not meet, never replied, and never delivered. If your company needs the data in-house, this is the line to forward to engineering: "Morgenruf is one container and a Postgres, MIT licensed, about twenty minutes to set up: morgenruf.dev/setup/".
Switching
There is no importer, and pairing history is the one thing worth not losing, so the sensible move is to run both for a fortnight: point Morgenruf at the same channel with a different cadence, see whether the introductions land, then turn Donut off. Nothing here needs a contract to be cancelled.
Morgenruf and Donut
Is Morgenruf a drop-in Donut replacement?
For random pairings from a Slack channel, yes. For Teams, journeys or Gatheround's video facilitation, no, and pretending otherwise would waste your afternoon.
Can I import our Donut history?
No. Run both for a couple of weeks instead and let the new pairings build their own history.
Does Morgenruf do birthdays and work anniversaries like Donut?
Yes. Celebrations posts both in a channel, on the last working day before any weekend or company holiday, from dates people add themselves or HR imports as a CSV. Birthdays are day and month only. It has no weekly or monthly roundups.
Does it need Zoom?
No. Without it a pairing uses whatever room link you set on the programme, or none. Zoom only adds a real meeting at the agreed hour.
What does it cost for 200 people?
Nothing per seat. On the hosted instance, nothing at all. Self-hosted, the server and database you run it on, which for 200 people is a small instance.