Zulip
CommunicationA self-hostable team chat app that organizes every conversation into topics inside channels.
Open-source alternative to:
Slack
What the free edition leaves out
We have not been able to confirm enough from official sources to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | The self-hosting docs list SAML, OpenID Connect, LDAP and others as supported auth methods and do not say any need a paid plan. The plans page lists SAML under the Cloud Plus plan, so the Cloud and self-hosted pictures differ. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Not confirmed | The self-hosted Free plan is described as including all Zulip features. Roles and permissions are not itemized on that page. The Cloud Standard plan lists 'Flexible permissions with custom groups'. The plans page also lists SAML under Cloud Plus. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Not confirmed | The plans page grid mentions a detailed audit log of administrative actions, but the page text read does not show which plans include it. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Free | Self-hosting is free. Mobile push notifications through Zulip's service are limited to 10 users for most organizations on the free plan; eligible communities get unlimited. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Free | The server has a built-in backup tool, daily database snapshots, optional wal-g archiving, and a logical export/import command. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Free | The plans grid lists a REST API and custom webhooks, but the page text read does not show per-plan assignment. Not confirmed as free. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Paid | Priority commercial support is listed on paid plans, and the Enterprise self-hosted plan lists email, chat and phone support. The page mentions no SLA. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Teams and communities that follow many parallel conversations and want a chat tool they can host themselves.
Why choose it over Slack
Every message belongs to a topic inside a channel, so busy channels stay readable and you can catch up on a topic later instead of scrolling a single stream. The server is Apache-2.0, self-hosting is free, and the self-hosting docs list SAML, OpenID Connect and LDAP sign-in, a built-in backup tool and a data export/import command.
Where it falls short
Self-hosting means running and upgrading a server (Ubuntu or Debian script install, or Docker). The topic-per-message habit takes some getting used to for people coming from Slack. Mobile push notifications on the free self-hosted plan are capped at 10 users for most organizations unless you qualify for an exemption or pay. Commercial support is a paid plan.
Open-source alternative to
- Slack — Zulip is an open-source team chat you can run on your own server, with topic-based threading in place of Slack's channel-and-thread model.
Category
CommunicationTopics
Tech stack
Python
TypeScript
JavaScript
CSS
HTML
DockerLanguages as reported by GitHub for the repository.
