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Zulip vs Mattermost: catalog facts
Zulip	Mattermost
Freemium The server and clients are free and open source and can be self-hosted at no cost. Zulip…	Freemium The desktop client is free and open source. The Mattermost server has a free self-hosted…
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android	Windows, macOS, Linux
Topic-based threading inside channels, which makes catching up genuinely practical Self-hostable, or hosted, with free plans for open-source communities	The server is self-hosted, so message data never leaves your infrastructure Server dropdown lets one client connect to several Mattermost instances
The topic model takes getting used to and needs team discipline to work The desktop client shares most of its code with the web app, so it inherits its quirks	Needs a Mattermost server, which is real infrastructure to run Electron, so memory use is high for a chat client
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: Apache-2.0
Account needed	Account needed
Needs internet	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

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