Alternatives to Zulip
Team chat organised by topic inside each channel, so conversations stay readable when you come back hours later. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Zulip
Team chat organised by topic inside each channel, so conversations stay readable when you come back hours later.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Zulip.
Mattermost
A self-hosted team chat platform with a desktop client, aimed at organisations that want Slack without the cloud.
Mattermost is self-hosted team chat with channel-based conversations instead of topics, plus Boards and Playbooks, with some features reserved for paid editions.
Rocket.Chat Desktop
Connect to Rocket.Chat workspaces from a desktop client.
Rocket.Chat Desktop connects to Rocket.Chat workspaces under an MIT-licensed client, with server access and licensing handled separately.
Element
The reference Matrix client: end-to-end encrypted chat on a network you can host yourself.
Element brings end-to-end encrypted, federated Matrix rooms with bridges to Slack and IRC, and mobile and web clients, but uses more memory.
Microsoft Teams (free)
The free edition of Microsoft Teams for chat, file sharing and video meetings.
Microsoft Teams (free) combines chat, file sharing and meetings, but is proprietary, cannot be self-hosted and requires a Microsoft account.
Stoat
An open-source group chat app with servers, channels, voice chat and role-based moderation for communities.
Stoat offers servers, channels, voice chat and role-based moderation aimed at communities, with apps on desktop, mobile and web.
Wire
End-to-end encrypted messaging, calls and file sharing for organisations.
Wire provides end-to-end encrypted messaging and calls for organisations with a self-hostable server, focusing on paid business plans.
Slack
A team chat platform organized into channels, with huddles, file sharing, app integrations and AI features.
Slack is a closed source hosted chat with channels, huddles and many integrations, but lacks per-channel topics and puts many features behind paid plans.
Huly
An open-source team platform combining project tracking, chat, documents, planning and video meetings.
Huly is open source and self-hostable, combining chat with project tracking, documents and video meetings, which may be more than a chat-only team needs.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Zulip as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Campfire
A self-hosted group chat system from 37signals with rooms, direct messages and @mentions.
Zulip organises chat by topic inside each channel and can be self-hosted or hosted, though the topic model takes getting used to and needs team discipline.
Chanty
A hosted team chat workspace for organizing internal and external communication, with a free plan.
Zulip is open source with topic-based threading inside channels, and can be self-hosted or hosted, with free plans for open-source communities.
Flock
A team messaging app with channels, voice and video calls, screen sharing and file sharing.
Zulip is open source with topic-based threads inside channels, and you can self-host it or use the hosted version, including free plans for open-source communities.
Google Chat
Google's team messaging app with spaces, direct messages and threaded conversations.
Zulip is open source with topic-based threading inside channels, and can be self-hosted or hosted, unlike Google Chat's Google-only hosting.
Nextcloud Talk
Chat, video calls and webinars that run on your own Nextcloud server.
Zulip is a self-hostable or hosted team chat organised by topic, replacing the Nextcloud file integration with threaded channel conversations.
Pumble
A team messaging app with channels, threads, direct messages and voice and video calls.
Zulip is open source with topic-based threading inside channels and can be self-hosted or hosted, with free plans for open-source communities.
Twist
An asynchronous team messaging app that organizes conversations into threads inside channels.
Zulip organises chat by topic inside channels, is open source Apache-2.0 and can be self-hosted, though the topic model needs team discipline.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Matrix Hookshot
A self-hosted Matrix bot that bridges GitHub, GitLab, Jira, feeds and generic webhooks into rooms.
Zoho Workplace
An online suite from Zoho combining mail, team chat, meetings, file storage and office editors.
Google Workspace
Google's online office suite with Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, Drive and Meet in one account.
Ferdium
Combines your messaging and web services into one window with workspaces, as a community fork of Franz with the restrictions removed.
Discord
A voice, video and text chat app for communities and friends, organised into servers and channels.
Webex
Cisco's collaboration suite for video meetings, calling, team messaging, webinars and whiteboarding.
