Chat vs Zulip
Chat and Zulip are both team chat software. Chat is open source under GPL-3.0, with 14k GitHub stars. Zulip is open source under Apache-2.0, with 26k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Chat when
- You want to embed or run your own messaging service with ready clients.
- Pick Zulip when
- Your team finds Slack threads chaotic and wants organised, asynchronous conversations, self-hosted or hosted.
Side by side
An instant messaging server in Go with web, Android and iOS clients, group chats and a chatbot API.
A team chat server and web app built around topic-based threads within channels, with desktop and mobile clients.
Still pre-1.0 after many years, with a small team.
The topic model takes adjustment, and self-hosted push notifications go through Zulip's paid service for larger teams.
Usable
Production-ready
Self-hosted server and mobile app
Self-hosted server, cloud service, desktop app and mobile app
Go, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB
Python, Django, TypeScript, PostgreSQL and Redis
Open source, GPL-3.0 (strong copyleft)
Open source, Apache-2.0 (permissive)
Use inside your business is unrestricted, but anything you distribute that includes it must be released under the same license.
You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.
14k GitHub stars
26k GitHub stars
Established: started 12 years ago, latest release v0.25.3.
Established: started 11 years ago, latest release 12.3.
Other comparisons
More team chat apps
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from each project's README and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.