Chanty
Team chat and collaboration with channels, audio/video calls, and task management
Zulip
Threaded team chat that blends email clarity with real‑time speed
Zulip offers topic‑based threading for live and asynchronous conversations, enabling large organizations and open‑source projects to stay organized, productive, and focused on collaboration.
Overview
Overview
Zulip is a team collaboration platform that blends the clarity of email with the immediacy of chat through topic‑based threading. It serves distributed engineering groups, open‑source communities, and large enterprises that need both live discussion and asynchronous follow‑up without losing context.
Features & Deployment
Each conversation is organized into topics, allowing multiple threads to coexist in a single stream. The system scales to thousands of users, is backed by an active community of over 1,500 contributors, and includes extensive documentation. Teams can run Zulip on‑premises using Ubuntu/Debian packages, Docker images, or pre‑built droplets for Digital Ocean and Render, or they can adopt the managed Zulip Cloud Standard service. The Apache‑2.0 license ensures freedom to modify and integrate the platform with existing workflows.
Highlights
Topic‑based threading keeps conversations organized
Supports both live chat and asynchronous discussion
Self‑hostable via Ubuntu/Debian packages, Docker, or cloud images
Backed by a large, active open‑source community and extensive docs
Pros
- Threaded view reduces noise and improves context
- Scales to large organizations and open‑source projects
- Flexible deployment options (self‑hosted or managed cloud)
- Apache‑2.0 license allows unrestricted modification
Considerations
- Self‑hosting requires server management expertise
- Learning curve for topic‑based threading
- UI may feel unfamiliar to users accustomed to linear chat
Managed products teams compare with
When teams consider Zulip, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.
Fit guide
Great for
- Distributed teams that need organized async communication
- Large enterprises or open‑source projects with high message volume
- Organizations that prefer self‑hosted, customizable solutions
- Teams that value extensive documentation and community support
Not ideal when
- Small groups seeking instant, linear chat only
- Companies without resources to maintain a server
- Users who require a highly polished native mobile app out of the box
- Teams that need a minimalist interface with few features
How teams use it
Cross‑functional project coordination
Threads keep each feature discussion separate, preventing information overload.
Open‑source community support
Contributors can catch up on discussions asynchronously, improving onboarding.
Compliance‑heavy enterprise communication
Threaded records provide clear audit trails for regulatory review.
Remote education or study groups
Students follow specific lecture topics without losing the broader conversation.
Tech snapshot
Python58%
TypeScript18%
JavaScript9%
CSS4%
HTML4%
MDX3%
Frequently asked questions
What is topic‑based threading?
Messages are grouped under a topic within a stream, allowing multiple conversations to run in parallel while staying in the same channel.
Can I run Zulip on my own server?
Yes, Zulip provides Ubuntu/Debian packages, Docker images, and pre‑built droplets for Digital Ocean and Render for self‑hosting.
Is there a hosted version of Zulip?
Zulip Cloud Standard offers a managed service for organizations that prefer not to maintain infrastructure.
How can I contribute to Zulip?
You can contribute code, report issues, translate, or join outreach programs like Google Summer of Code; extensive documentation guides new contributors.
What license does Zulip use?
Zulip is released under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing free use, modification, and distribution.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 24,273
- Watchers
- 24,273
- Forks
- 9,381
LicenseApache-2.0
Repo age10 years old
Last commit11 hours ago
Primary languagePython
Last synced 3 hours ago