Review · Community & social
Zulip review
An open source team chat app that organizes every channel into named topics, available in the cloud or self-hosted.
By the DBotMaker research desk · Updated November 10, 2026
- Capabilities (40%)
- 8.6
- Ease of setup (30%)
- 7.8
- Value (30%)
- 8.6
Zulip suits communities where conversations are long and asynchronous rather than live. Every message sits in a named topic inside a channel, so members can catch up on one thread without scrolling through everything else, and topics can be moved, linked or marked resolved. The free cloud plan keeps 10,000 messages of search history and 5 GB of storage. Standard costs $6.67 per user a month billed annually or $8 monthly, and Plus $10, but Zulip says it sponsors over 1,500 organizations with a free Standard plan, including open source projects, academic research and most communities when the free plan is not enough. Self-hosting is free and fully open source. Zulip lists 130+ native integrations, bridges to Slack, Teams and Matrix, and calls through Zoom, Jitsi or BigBlueButton. It has no Discord-style voice channels, so it fits text-first groups better than gaming groups.
Who it is for
Open source projects, research groups and large communities that need busy threads to stay readable.
Price
Free cloud plan; Standard $6.67 per user per month billed annually or $8 monthly; free self-hosting; free Standard for many communities.
$ 6.67 /user/month billed annually or $8 billed monthly
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 10, 2026.
Key features
- Topic-based threading inside every channel
- 130+ native integrations plus Zapier and IFTTT
- Chat bridges with Slack, Microsoft Teams and Matrix
- Voice and video calls through Zoom, Jitsi or BigBlueButton
- Free self-hosting with export and import between cloud and server
Strengths and weaknesses
- Strength: Topics keep large, async discussions readable
- Strength: Sponsored free Standard plan for many communities and open source projects
- Strength: Fully open source, cloud or self-hosted
- Weakness: No built-in voice channels; calls go through a provider
- Weakness: The topic model takes new members time to learn
- Weakness: Standard plan is per user, which adds up for open communities that do not qualify for sponsorship
Key facts
- Free cloud plan: 10,000 messages of search history
- Standard: $6.67 per user per month billed annually
- Plus: $10 per user per month billed annually
- Self-hosted: Free
- Sponsorships: Over 1,500 organizations
Where it ranks
Zulip is No. 5 in our Best Discord Alternatives verdict.
Alternatives we scored
Visit zulip.com · Questions or corrections: editorial@dbotmaker.io