# Page 2 | Zulip Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra

> Page 2 - Is Zulip the right Team Communication solution for you? Explore 196 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice.

Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/197945/Zulip/reviews

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Zulip

4.9 (196)

[View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/197945/Zulip/alternatives/)

Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/)

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Last updated March 13th, 2026

# Page 2 - Reviews of Zulip

## Showing most helpful reviews

Showing 26-50 of 196 Reviews

Sort by:

Most Helpful

Rating

Company Size

Reviewer's Role

Length of Use

Frequency of Use

FB

Felipe B.  
CEO  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Great alternative to $lack"

November 1, 2025

5.0

It's a great alternative to Slack, but cheaper and more stable, and it scale with you if you are a startup

Pros

The possibility to organize the different conversation based on topics and channels, so you never missed anything.

Cons

The UI isn't beautiful but really functional. All the rest I think is well though and offers what's needed.

Alternatives considered

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Zulip covers all our needs in its free version.

Switched from

[Huly](https://www.capterra.com/p/10022383/Huly/)

We were not able to organize the different conversation happening.

Review Source

MC

Madison C.  
Parts Manager  
Automotive  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Highly Recommended"

October 31, 2025

5.0

It's been great! Teams crashed, wouldn't open properly and had to manually boot up the "old" version for it to work, it would randomly close in the middle of the work day or fail to show a notification so messages were missed. Zulip has none of these issues.

Pros

Easy to set up and easy to use. Microsoft Teams was giving me and my coworkers nothing but headaches until I found Zulip as an alternative. UI is great and straightforward, and works seamlessly with my phone. The search function is great and saves me a lot of time when looking for a specific keyword. I would recommend Zulip to anyone!

Cons

No cons from me. Works exactly how I hoped it would and has made internal communications simple and reliable.

Switched from

[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)

Teams was unreliable; would close itself or fail to display notifications leading to missed communications.

Review Source

TK

Toby K.  
Engineer  
Computer & Network Security  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Simple, effective and not overloaded"

October 31, 2025

5.0

Pros

Simple, effective, and not overloaded. Zulip is the perfect solution for us with a lot of control, while keeping it easy to organize. The self-hosting options are great if you want more control.

Cons

Creating bots might be a bit confusing at first as there are many different options and docs. But ultimately it worked great.

Review Source

RK

Rudo K.  
Director, Indigenous Guardianship Program  
Environmental Services  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Excellent threaded communications app"

October 31, 2025

5.0

We started to use Zulip to have threaded conversations about many different subjects after finding that things were getting lost on Chat, and it worked super well for our purposes. Highly recommended for dynamic remote teams.

Pros

Intuitive UI to have threaded conversations. Searchability and findability. Ease of use, minimal onboarding.

Cons

Nothing comes to mind, really! It's a great application (both web and mobile), and it does exactly what it needs to.

Switched from

[Google Chat](https://www.capterra.com/p/175800/Chat/)

Threaded conversations and findability / indexing

Review Source

WT

William T.  
Scientific Researcher  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Improve my scientific communication"

November 2, 2025

5.0

Pros

I find very useful to group all possible topics that currently I'm working on with my team and mark as resolved the ones which seem to be done. For the latter it is quite nice that one can always revisit what was done in the past, even if it was resolved. Likewise, typing of equations using LaTex commands works pretty well!

Cons

When discussing various topics, it would be nice to be able to reply comments in a separated box. At the moment, I reply comments by using the option "quote". Probably, the Zulip team could improve in that.

Review Source

MC

Meredith C.  
Director of Learning and Administration  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Safe and Reliable - Zulip is invaluable"

December 6, 2024

5.0

Our overall experience with Zulip has been amazing. During Covid we were suddenly forced into a situation where teens who had been seeing each other on a regular basis were isolated and we needed a safe reliable way for them to communicate. We started using Zulip at that point, and even when restrictions were lifted have continued to use it - it's a fabulous tool, great for communication, keeping users safe and apart from unwelcome external influences.

Pros

Zulip is safe and secure for all users - especially for minors who need to contact each other in a safe environment, without the worry of external influences Zulip has been invaluable. For both for administrators and users the desktop product is easy to manage and the layout is intuitive and attractive. Being able to customize it is an added bonus. Users can create individual discussions, or join together easily.

Cons

The mobile app is less intuitive, but still useable.

Alternatives considered

[Google Chat](https://www.capterra.com/p/175800/Chat/)[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

The other products were managed by large commercial companies, and did not allow the same customization, and concerns for privacy. Also, there were ads placed, the content and images of which the admins had no control over, meaning you wouldn't know what is going to be displayed next to your messages.

Review Source

AG

August G.  
CEO  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Zulip is fantastic, but has some painpoints"

December 6, 2024

4.0

I love Zulip, it is lightweight and functional and has all the essential features. I would love for it to be easier to organise larger teams, e.g. with documents and/or a clearer and more concise overview of chats and channel data.

Pros

LaTeX support, markdown editing, Free hosting, simple yet functional.

Cons

It is hard to keep channels and chats organized. Replying on messages copies the entire message -- this should be some kind of expandable I think. The delay in image uploads behaves strangely. If sending a message with an image, it is possible to send the message before the image is uploaded, but then the image will never appear in the message. The final thing I am missing is a better setup for customizing the UI, and integrating addons. A calendar function and/or a todo-list support would be great!

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Slack was too corporate and lacked good markdown support. Particularly, it had no LaTeX support!

Review Source

VP

Vincent P.  
Inspector  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "An organized and fun workspace"

December 6, 2024

5.0

I used to be a teacher and I now manage the maths teachers in a French region (2000 math teachers) with 5 other colleagues. I have been using Zulip for years with different work groups (teachers and education managers). Each time I join a new group I present Zulip and it often gets adopted. I currently have three Zulip groups, in each group I have many projects to work on with collaborators. It's very simple to create a Zulip space with a custom name. I can easily switch accounts on my phone and get alerts for each group. I mostly work on my computer, and always have Zulip tabs open, it's really an efficient way of interacting on several projects. For some projects only a sub-group follows the thread so it doesn't anoy the other members of the group. I'm a big fan of markdown and often use the 'spoiler' function. It allows to paste a long mail or text without ruining the experience of short message chats. Thanks to the threads and discussions, we can also use Zulip for some fun small talk on some subjects like we did on WhatsApp (gif and emojis) without cluttering the serious work space. As a bonus we can write maths using LaTeX :)

Pros

Free, simple, with markdown. Allows my team to be much more organized than when we just had a WhatsApp group and a cloud ! Even non-geeks manage to use it properly.

Cons

I'd like to have a place with folders and enough space to save files on Zulip instead of using a cloud. I could link to a file directly in Zulip and comment on it.

Switched from

[WhatsApp](https://www.capterra.com/p/180345/WhatsApp/)

Older discussions were lost in a unique thread. Light chats cluttered the work discussions.

Review Source

SK

Sebastian K.  
Lead dev  
Program Development  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Best tool to manage non-trivial projects."

December 6, 2024

5.0

I have been using Zulip to manage https://github.com/pdf-rs/pdf and related projects for many years now. By far the best tool available to manage medium and large projects efficiently.

Pros

It is a very effective tool to manage and track many concurrent conversations with specific topics each.

Cons

My only complaint is that people are not using it enough. One reason I heard for a company to not use it, was problems with data retention certification.

Switched from

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Discord is unusable. Totally inefficient screen space usage. Conversations get lost quickly. Slack is conversations without threads are not powerful enough. And with threads they are just confusing.

Review Source

MG

Malvin G.  
Assistant professor  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "A serious tool for research and education"

December 6, 2024

5.0

I have used it in small research groups around five people to coordinate joint writing and programming projects, in university courses I teach with a larger number of students, and in a large research community with thousands of members.

Pros

Zulip is an efficient and tool for communication and coordination in groups of any size. It encourages users to structure discussions into topics so that chat messages naturally evolve into knowledge bases. And if users are not systematic at the start then as a moderator one gets excellent tools to restructure topics, move them to different channels etc. Zulip is fast and efficient. Compared to MS Teams or Slack it uses a lot less resources and the application reacts quickly/instantly. This holds for the desktop and the mobile app. Last not least, Zulip is stable both in the sense that it basically never crashed for me, and in the sense that the interface has looked the same for a couple of years now. It is a pleasure that the developers are NOT changing things for the sake of changing.

Cons

There are minor bugs sometimes, my favorite one is that the go-back mouse button in the desktop app is broken. (This issue is tracked on GitHub and shall eventually be fixed.) The strong focus on topics can also irritate new users, and the user interface can be overwhelming for users who are more used to being hand-held by competing systems.

Alternatives considered

[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Faster, less chaotic, more efficient. Open source.

Review Source

KB

Karin B.  
Operations Manager  
Retail  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Good alternative for remote communication among independent contractors"

December 6, 2024

4.0

Our small business needed a remote communication solution for a collaborative team of independent contractors. We were looking for an app that stood independently of other software systems to eliminate a need for the contractors to need to use their personal accounts and allow them to communicate freely and privately without corporate oversight since they are not employees. We also wanted something that would allow for voice and video calling and file sharing, and the ability to post your status so that each user can see at a glance who is available. The biggest negative feedback we receive using the product is that it is up to the user to manually update a custom status, and custom statuses cannot be saved as a preset. The short list of presets do not include a "lunch" status, for example. And, it's difficult to see who is on or off duty unless they remember to specifically post that. We place a high importance on a healthy work-life balance and do not want to message contractors who are not actively working, and Zulip is less than ideal for accomplishing that. Closing out the app does not change the status. When a user is invisible we don't know if they are not currently working or whether they are just immersed in work in another window and the Zulip app has gone idle. We would prefer it if closing the app automated an "off-duty" status to make it easy to tell who is OK to disturb or not. We love that it works across PC and Mac and across all desktop and mobile devices our contractor team uses, perfect for remote work.

Pros

Open source and cross-platform functionality

Cons

Can't save customized status posts and does not automate an off-duty status when user closes app.

Alternatives considered

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

open source, private messaging and independent of other means of communication

Switched from

[Othership](https://www.capterra.com/p/266602/Othership/)

Other - not listed - ICQ. ICQ is no longer available, we were forced to make a change

Review Source

JG

Jon G.  
Developer  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Excellent all around"

December 9, 2024

5.0

Excellent, zero complaints. I recommend it to anybody who needs a chat client for work.

Pros

Huge fan of the customisation options, the very functional UI and especially the topics system makes information way better organised than my time on Slack and Teams.

Cons

Not much to hate. I had a few features I missed from Slack when we moved but I put feature requests on GitHub and they were all implemented.

Alternatives considered

[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

I trust open source software over Microsoft generally and Teams in particular has been awful every time I've been forced to use it.

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Massive price increase prompted us to look at other options.

Review Source

JC

Jean-Noël C.  
Creative and Tech cofounder  
Computer Games  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Best chat app for remote and async teams"

December 12, 2024

5.0

Colleagues who were skeptical at first are now convinced by how Zulip is structured regarding threads.

Pros

How discussions are structured, it allows me to navigate between multiple subjects / teams without being lost. It simplifies async work between team members. Basically it's an hybrid between a forum and a chat.

Cons

Onbaording colleagues can be hard because of the UX a bit different from other apps. For instance the lack of a WYSIWYG message editor. Also lacks the ability to create categories to put channels in it.

Alternatives considered

[Rocket.Chat](https://www.capterra.com/p/161575/Rocket-Chat/)[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Thread model, No vendor lock-in, open source

Switched from

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Slack too confusing (lack of proper thread model) and too pricey. Discord is a very bad text chat if you need to do actual work / async work and go back to old threads.

Review Source

MM

Marius M.  
Personal  
Entertainment  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "The best collaboration platform"

May 6, 2025

5.0

It's always been fantastic, from documentation to the community chat and open-source code, as well as implementing integrations.

Pros

Ease of use, mature and stable software, attentive support team, high quality code and experienced developer/product team!

Cons

A few nice-to-have features have not matured, such as widgets.

Switched from

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Switched for better privacy, easier integration, and simpler yet more effective features.

Review Source

NS

Nazmus S.  
CEO  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "A great Business application , would recommend. "

November 5, 2025

5.0

Seamless experience. A great business centered application. Probably having some official videos about the usage of the application would have been nice.

Pros

\- Ability to create additional folders and topics under a channel. - Security and user assignment - Haven't used the bot but i can imagine the use of it. - Mobile APP for easy access. - Ability to invite user outside the organization.

Cons

\- Sometimes takes time to load on mac after inactivity. Have to restart to make it work. - Sound notification is not easy to setup on windows.

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Open source, Cost effective, more advanced than slack.

Review Source

JF

Jeff F.  
Producer  
Media Production  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Great Long-term Service "

December 6, 2024

4.0

Our group has had nothing but good experiences with Zulip, and the consistent upgrades and updates make us confident that it's a good long-term product/service for us.

Pros

Their ties to the open source community and secure, private servers.

Cons

The interface still has a few elements that aren't simple or elegant.

Alternatives considered

[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)[Basecamp](https://www.capterra.com/p/56808/Basecamp/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Price, security, dissociation from the sketchy behaviors of big tech

Switched from

[Google Chat](https://www.capterra.com/p/175800/Chat/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

We used Google Allo for years, until Allo ended, and then switched to Slack. When Slack began to get negative press regarding security issues, we decided to go elsewhere

Review Source

DF

Dušica F.  
Professor  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Great tool for organizing team work (topics within streams!)"

December 6, 2024

5.0

I am very content with this application. I have organised my team not only in separate projects, but also topics within projects, and stored all the content for unlimited time. Now I have everything in one place which makes life much easier.

Pros

It is an open (free) platform that allows users to store their content for unlimited time. I particularly like having topics within streams, which enables me to group content within projects.

Cons

I can not think of anything... Maybe not having the possibility to have topics within topics...

Alternatives considered

[Pumble](https://www.capterra.com/p/218055/Pumble/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Zulip has the possibility of organizing the content in topics within streams

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

they started charging the unlimited time storage of content (messages)

Review Source

AS

Adam S.  
CTO  
Political Organization  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "A breath of fresh air after Slack, Telegram, Discord etc.!"

December 7, 2024

5.0

I love Zulip and wish I never had to use Slack or Telegram again.

Pros

Zulip’s unique topic-based threading model is a complete game-changer in terms of being able to prioritize attention to discussions which matter the most. In contrast, Slack's anonymous threading model is about as sensible as if email was designed without any Subject header. Imagine if your email inbox was full of messages none of which you were able to know what they were about without opening up and reading each one individually! Being able to move messages between topics to keep conversation threads clean and easy to follow is magical. Furthermore, the fact that it's Open Source guarantees long-term freedom to use and enhance however anyone wants.

Cons

Zulip doesn't enjoy the same network effects as Slack and Discord, therefore there are a lot fewer third party integrations. Also there are one or two gaps in the keyboard shortcuts, e.g. switching between channels should be easier, but it should be easy to fix these.

Alternatives considered

[Telegram](https://www.capterra.com/p/180347/Telegram/)[Rocket.Chat](https://www.capterra.com/p/161575/Rocket-Chat/)[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Mattermost](https://www.capterra.com/p/170524/Mattermost/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Zulip’s unique topic-based threading model makes communication much more efficient and stress-free.

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Zulip’s unique topic-based threading model makes communication much more efficient and stress-free.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Tech Lead  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Highly recommended"

December 11, 2024

5.0

We have been using it successfully at work for some years now, I'm very glad we chose Zulip instead of Slack or Teams.

Pros

Most organized communication/"chat" tool. Easy to catch up on conversations. Solves the problem of "cross-talking" in channels. Also the most programmer-friendly tool, the syntax highlighting, markdown and LaTeX support are extraordinary.

Cons

Doesn't have an integrated video meeting + screen sharing tool, but it can integrate with other tools.

Switched from

[Rocket.Chat](https://www.capterra.com/p/161575/Rocket-Chat/)

Rocket chat was getting "old" and harder to maintain.

Review Source

JP

Joshua P.  
Practice Manager  
Hospital & Health Care  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Zulip is Great!"

December 6, 2024

5.0

Excellent. Thank you to \[sensitive content hidden\] & the Team @ Zulip

Pros

Functionality. Communication well organized in one place. Efficiency with team communication.

Cons

Slack has a more crisp UI. The interface for Zulip doesn't look great. The backend is good though.

Alternatives considered

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

It's better. It's free. I like the company's ethos. Slack burnt another business I worked with their 90d history change. I like that Zulip have said they won't do this kind of thing. That was what prompted me to recommend Zulip over competitors, when I saw it had all the functionality we needed and a good team behind it. Without me recommending and pushing for it though, and implementing it, training people and encouraging them to use it, without that impetus it would not have happened, and we'd be doing many more meetings and meeting minutes. Zulip has saved us money and time.

Review Source

MM

Manuel M.  
CEO  
Airlines/Aviation  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Genius tool at the core of our internal communication"

December 6, 2024

5.0

Zulip is that nerdy, super-smart friend who might take a minute to warm up to, but you're impressed once you get to know them. It's not trying to be like every other messaging app out there but taking a new approach to internal communications. It might take a little patience to get started, but trust me, it's worth the effort. Think of it like learning to use a sophisticated coffee machine - once you get the hang of it, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it!

Pros

The way they organize conversations into streams and topics is genius. I don´t have to search the conversations; I know exactly where everything is. This avoids turning everything into a chaotic mess. What sold me is that it's open-source. It's like the Swiss Army knife of team communication.

Cons

Zulip has a short learning curve, but you must change how you manage conversations as a company. The streams and topics take some getting used to. The GUI isn´t the prettiest, but it is very functional.

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

The functionality at free tier is crazy different, just the fact that you can search beyond 1 month in the past makes it a no brainer.

Review Source

R-

Rihards -.  
Community member  
Non-Profit Organization Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Zulip makes chat actually useful"

December 10, 2024

5.0

Pros

The chat functionality in the web client is awesome for distributed teams - well, for any team, actually. Splitting in topics, all the formatting options, integration of automation really great. If somebody has only used, let's say, MSTeams chat, Zulip will blow them out of water. From excitement.

Cons

The mobile app didn't seem to be as polished - for example, the recent topic view could not be found anywhere.

Alternatives considered

[Telegram](https://www.capterra.com/p/180347/Telegram/)[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Other solutions were much worse functionally or very closed, proprietary.

Switched from

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Ease of access, great organisation in topics, very easy to follow conversations in real time and jumping in every now and then, public archive, opensource.

Review Source

SW

Sebastian W.  
University Professor  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Zulip: Geek-compatible open-source Slack with genuine improvements"

December 9, 2024

5.0

Zulip is a tool I use daily and would miss horribly. I use it alongside other communication forms with most people (for ephemeral chats), but it became my key source of preserving process and technical knowledge in shared & distributed projects.

Pros

Compared to Slack or MS Teams, Zulip is much easier to keep organized using the topics (filters for topic within a channel). Moreover, proper and clean formatting using Markdown and full LaTeX formula support (like with Mathjax) makes this my preferred tool for coordinating research collaborations.

Cons

The clients are very slightly less polished compared to big business alternatives (but they do work reliably)

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

No math support in Slack, plus the aggressive prizing model updates

Review Source

CP

Christina P.  
Assistant Professor  
Research  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The best there is!"

January 8, 2025

5.0

I have used Zulip for 7 years and whenever I have to use another platform it always results in frustration. I always use Zulip for groups and organizations needing an online infrastructure to communicate.

Pros

I use and recommend Zulip for all organizations and groups. The organization and storage of messages has enhanced the productivity of myself and colleagues for years.

Cons

There isn't anything I would change about Zulip.

Switched from

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

It was too expensive to view messages, Zulip storing messages for free is wonderful.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Executive Director  
Non-Profit Organization Management  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "We really like it!"

December 6, 2024

5.0

Radically improved my team's communication.

Pros

You can move conversations between topics. Totally a game-changer for us.

Cons

This is a really small thing, but the "follow this topic" thing is something I'd like to turn off – I just want to follow all topics. Also, it would be nice if you could use check boxes to select message that you'd like to move (as opposed to just "all following" or "only this one").

Alternatives considered

[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Moving threads was a cool feature that we wanted to try.

Review Source

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