As you may be aware, the deadline is fast approaching when Atlassian will discontinue support for Stride and HipChat, on February 15th 2019.

Get your own Modular Hosted Homeserver now

Atlassian's advice, for customers still using the platform is simply to migrate over to Slack, but is this the right choice for you? Modular brings you your own hosted Riot: a cheaper and more privacy-preserving alternative to Slack which lets you keep control of your data, without locking you in a closed system. Beware: freedom inside!

So here are a few things you might want to consider before going through moving your whole company / organisation / family over to a new communication system.

Price

Slack is 4 times more expensive than HipChat. While by choosing Modular you will be saving 25% of your previous costs. That's a $78 saving per user per year between Atlassian’s recommended route and the Modular one!

Privacy

Modular allows you to enable end-to-end encryption. This means that only the users participating in the conversation can read it. I.e. we don’t have access to your content. It sounds obvious but not many other apps can guarantee that.

Control

Modular is built on the Matrix open standard. This means that by migrating to Modular, you’re migrating to a whole ecosystem of apps, integrations and service providers. Today we are providing you the messaging service, but tomorrow you might just as well host it yourself, or choose another Matrix hosting provider, completely transparently for your users. Besides, with Modular your data is hosted in a standalone server, operationally independent from our other customers, reducing the risk of downtime.

Openness

Not only does Modular let you bridge to other apps and networks like Slack, IRC and XMPP, but it also lets you interact with millions of other Matrix users, if you choose to enable federation.

And there is more! Riot is open source, cross-platform and doesn’t compromise on features or user experience. Check the table below for a full feature comparison between Riot hosted by Modular, HipChat Cloud and Slack!

Seamless migration

Convinced? Continue all of your conversations where you left off using our seamless migration tools…

How to export your data from HipChat Cloud, HipChat Server, or Stride:

How to export your data from HipChat Cloud

Export of your group's data must be performed by a group administrator.

1. Log in at https://yourdomain.hipchat.com/admin
2. Click on the Data Export tab.
3. Select the data to export.
4. In the Password and Confirm Password fields, create a password to protect your exported data.
5. Click Export, and once the export has completed, the export will be available in your admin console.

How to export your data from HipChat Server / Data Center

Upgrade to the latest version of Hipchat Server to ensure you have access to the Group Export Dashboard.

From the web UI:

1. Log in at the domain name for your Hipchat Server (e.g. hipchat.yourcompany.com).
2. Click on Server Admin > Export.
3. Select the data to export.
4. In the Password and Confirm Password fields, create a password to protect your exported data.
5. Click Export, and once the export is complete you will receive an email with a link to download the export file.

Alternatively, you can export from the Command Line Interface (CLI):

1. Go to CLI.
2. Enter: hipchat export --export -p your_password
3. Once the export is complete you will receive an email with a link to download the file.

How to export your data from Stride

Export of your group's data must be performed by a group administrator.

1. Navigate to the admin panel at https://yourdomain.atlassian.net/admin. Alternatively, from within Stride select Settings, then the Admin tab, and then View all admin settings.
2. Click on Stride in the bottom left in Application Settings.
3. Click Create Export.
4. Select the data you would like exported.
5. In the Passphrase and Confirm Passphrase fields, create a password to protect your archive files.
6. Click Export. Once the export has completed, it will be available from your admin panel.

Import your HipChat / Stride data in to your Modular Hosted Homeserver.

In order to use the HipChat to Modular migration tool you must first be signed in to your Modular account. You must also have set up your hosted homeserver before you can begin the migration.

If you have not done so already, set up your hosted homeserver now:

Get started

Once your new Modular Hosted homeserver is up and running you can import your data in just a few easy steps:

1. Visit the HipChat migration tool.
2. Choose the Modular host that you would like to import data to (from the dropdown list) and click the "Select Host" button.
3. Select the file containing your HipChat data and enter the passphrase used to encrypt your export (if you specified one when exporting). Then click the "Upload migration file" button.
4. Once the file upload is complete you can select rooms and users you would like to import into your homeserver. You may also choose to import files and PMs, if you wish. When you have finished selecting the items to import, click 'Start Migration'.
5. Once the migration process has completed all of your users will be emailed with their new user IDs, (temporary) passwords and links to your new Riot instance, so you can pick up your conversations right where you left off, in HipChat.

As always, we are here to help. Please come and have a chat if you have any questions about Modular, or if you need a hand getting started. You can also email any questions to support@modular.im.