# Page 5 | Zulip Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra

> Page 5 - 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 5 - Reviews of Zulip

## Showing most helpful reviews

Showing 101-125 of 196 Reviews

Sort by:

Most Helpful

Rating

Company Size

Reviewer's Role

Length of Use

Frequency of Use

EV

Evelien V.  
Chair  
Hospital & Health Care  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Much better than email or other chat apps"

March 10, 2023

5.0

It has been great. Our team uses it all the time. We can certainly recommend Zulip.

Pros

Zulip is much better than email for our team conversations. It is much more organized and makes it easier to find old but relevant messages. I like the stream/topic way of organizing things. The search history is great and it is convenient that the 'all messages' screen offers a chronological overview of all messages. You can choose who can follow which stream, it has great third-party integrations (Tweets show up quite nicely).

Cons

The app no longer shows badges when there are new messages. The desktop version is great but the app has some small issues (for example if you select on the topic, sometimes the message box disappears).

Alternatives considered

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

Reason for choosing Zulip

Zulip has a better message organization structure with streams and topics. It supports research and non-profits and it is open-source.

Review Source

MP

Miguel P.  
Associate Professor  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Zulip for a CS department in a University"

March 14, 2023

5.0

Our main use of Zulip is to have forums of discussions for each subject and also for collaborating between the faculty members and between students. It's a more lively environment than that of the forum in Moodle.

Pros

It's really nice to have streams (channels) for each subject/research groups/student groups; each stream is self-administered by the teachers or by the students themselves. I also like the organization in Topics inside each stream and the possibility to focus in just one topic. It's handy to be able to direct message with a group of others users. Being a CS department it's handy to have syntax highlighting (as I write this review I discovered code playgrounds!)

Cons

I'd like to have the possibility to use topics inside Direct Messages; it'd be nice to have separate conversations in parallel with some other person(s) having the ability to focus on this or that topic.

Alternatives considered

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

We voted between all the alternatives and the winner was Zulip. The possibility of using an instance of Zulip hosted in (and maintained by) Zulip was a very important point for us.

Switched from

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

We had a limited account on Slack and we lost the history after two or three months after reaching some quota. Therefore we considered various alternatives (see below).

Review Source

Stephen B.  
Associate Professor  
Research  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Great alternative to Slack"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Pros

Running a small academic research group (~10 active users), it's convenient to have a chat software, but it's crazy to pay Slack prices. Zulip is much better for pricing and gives options to host your own, or (for academics) free cloud hosting. It has all the features you'd expect, and even has builtin latex support. The style of the threads/topics is different than slack -- I think it has both advantages and disadvantages, but basically it's good enough.

Cons

The only issue is that many people already have other apps (Slack, etc.) so asking them to use a new service is sometimes a big ask, and your less engaged users might not use the desktop client, so unless they check the web-version often, they don't notice messages unless you mention them (so that they get an alert).

Switched from

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

The free version of Slack doesn't save your message history, and that's simply a deal-breaker. As a small group, we're not willing to pay Slack prices.

Review Source

TL

Tom L.  
PhD Student  
Research  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Find what matters faster"

March 9, 2023

5.0

All in all, we have had a great experience since switching to Zulip. Especially, the organization of messages helps us to stay on top of things in times when there's a lot to handle at the same time.

Pros

The absolute highlight of Zulip is the organization of messages into streams and topics. Streams allow us to pursue individual projects, and topics help us to have focused discussions. This way, we always keep track of what's going on at the beginning of each day and don't get lost in the flood of news from the night before. Zulip also enables the integration of video chat functionality, which is especially helpful for remote collaborations.

Cons

As nice as the streams and topics are, they quickly get out of hand over time and in larger teams. A function to hide old streams and topics until a new message might be posted in them would be a good addition to tidy up one's list of threads. Also, navigation in the mobile app is still a bit cumbersome.

Alternatives considered

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

Review Source

BT

Betty T.  
Team manager  
Sports  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Great for organised communication!"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Overall, Zulip does exactly what I need. It's a place to post important information and organised in such a way that no messages get lost.

Pros

The topics feature allows communications to be organised within a channel. The web version of Zulip is very intuitive and all the settings are easily adjusted.

Cons

The home page of the mobile app appears blank if all new notifications have been read. It would be good to have something there to say "no new notifications", or some quick action buttons to write a new post.In the mobile app, if I post something with topic X, then post something with topic Y, and then later on pay something with topic X again, the topic X messages aren't grouped together unless I specifically choose to see topic X only. I think it would be good if the new topic X message could be placed directly after the latest topic X correspondence so that all messages of the same topic are grouped together, without having to filter for that topic only.

Alternatives considered

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

Reason for choosing Zulip

On Slack, messages auto-delete after 90 days unless you pay to upgrade.

Review Source

NB

Nicholas B.  
CEO  
Human Resources  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The most important communication tool for our team and community"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Zulip is excellent, and serves two critical functions for our company:- It's the core of our 10-person team's communications, both in-office \*and\* remote- It's the heart of our online community (2,000+ people distributed globally)I've used Zulip for over a decade now and in that time it has been extremely reliable, useful, and continually improved.

Pros

Zulip's threading model is the best. It's also clearly built for people who use it constantly: good keyboard shortcuts, reliable and fast even with loads of messages, and thoughtful UI choices.

Cons

The mobile client has improved a lot but is still less polished than the desktop experience.

Alternatives considered

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

Reason for choosing Zulip

\- Zulip's threading and general support for substantive discussions is \*way\* better than Slacks- Slack makes it impossible to read all your messages or see if someone has responded

Review Source

HE

Harold E.  
Postdoctoral fellow  
Research  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Best discussion platform for researchers"

March 10, 2023

5.0

I am using Zulip for different research groups, both for collaborating with colleagues, but also to send information within our organizations.

Pros

Zulip is just amazing for researchers with regards to all aspects. It is the only discussion platform which supports Latex natively, and it also has the best way to organize messages and topics. It can be fine-tuned very easily (for example, by automatically linking arxiv number to the website). I like the fact that markup is done with markdown, and that it contains useful tools such that timezone-aware times and dates. Being open source is another major advantage, and the community is very supportive.

Cons

I don't see any major problem with Zulip, except maybe the possibility to create sub-instances within a given organization.

Alternatives considered

[Mattermost](https://www.capterra.com/p/170524/Mattermost/)[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Zulip is overall the best and the only one to include Latex, and all other products are badly designed.

Switched from

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

Slack is awful to use, slow, and it became very expensive.

Review Source

Angel D.  
Research Software Engineer (Supercomputing & BigData)  
Research  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "Zulip is a great chat/asynchronous communication tool."

April 12, 2023

5.0

Zulip is the best chat/asynchronous communication tool that I have tried so far. It is not perfect, but for an organization with many members and generating hundreds of messages per day, it is the best option to keep things organized.We have been using Zulip at our institution only for ~1 month, but despite the inertia to change from previously used tools, we are now ~60 members, with more than ~4500 messages, and most people seem to be very happy with the change and not looking back.

Pros

\+ open source (https://github.com/zulip)+ Cloud Standard Plan free for Research (https://zulip.com/plans/) + messages do not get deleted after a certain period of time.+ Unique topics feature that helps keeping conversations together (invaluable when a large number of members and conversations. Much better than threads in Slack/Discord/etc).+ Several interfaces: Web, Desktop (Mac, Linux, Windows), Mobile (ios, Android)+ strong and very active developing community https://zulip.com/development-community/+ rich formatting of messages: https://zulip.com/help/format-your-message-using-markdown+ integration and bots: https://zulip.com/integrations/

Cons

\+ Mobile app not too polished yet + Not easy to create sub-organizations at the moment (but the Team is working on that)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Mostly because of its open-source nature, its free cloud plan for Research and it unique topic feature.

Review Source

JH

James H.  
Lead, Computational Support  
Research  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Zulip is great!"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Pros

I had used Slack before, and found it to be incredibly noisy, distracting and a productivity sink rather than a source. Zulip OTOH is designed to give the user fine grained control over what they choose to pay attention to. Streams and topics keep conversations organized, searchable and allow users to ignore things that would be distracting or irrelevant.

Cons

We now have 4 years of communication in Zulip which makes searching very important to revisit past conversations. I sometimes find it challenging to utilize the search functionality well. And if and when I find a message from the conversation that I want to review, it's non-intuitive to navigate from the search results to that full conversation. It's a minor inconvenience though.

Alternatives considered

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

Reason for choosing Zulip

While we currently use the cloud version of Zulip, it was important for us to have the option to self-host and to be able to extract our own data. And with Zulip being open source, we're less prone to vendor lock-in.

Review Source

AH

Ana H.  
Professor  
Research  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "Best value for money option you could find - go for it"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Great! Go for it and love it. I just wish I knew how to integrate Zulip into other people's daily routines. However, low adoption of new technologies is a common issue, not exclusive to Zulip.

Pros

Zulip does everything useful that Slack does, with a plus: channels / streams can be better organized within topics instead of an endless chronological flow of messages. Great support. Open-source.

Cons

Zulip is not that pretty, could self-extend to fit the entire screen, and could provide file previews. But other than that it provides a clean view, is not chaotic like Discord and

Alternatives considered

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Mattermost](https://www.capterra.com/p/170524/Mattermost/)[Rocket Matter](https://www.capterra.com/p/82112/Rocket-Matter/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

I tried several, all of them had limitations. Zulip was the best option, with all Slack features and a plus (organization by topics). Open-source, and free for research organizations. Great.

Switched from

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

Slack changed the rules and chose to hide the history of old messages in the free version. Can't afford the pricing.

Review Source

JP

James P.  
Facilitator  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The best real-time chat app"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Zulip is indispensable for us, and is the primary written communication tool we use in our ~10 person company, as well as in the much larger ~2,000 person community we manage. It's honestly shocking to me that other tools haven't adopted Zulip's threaded conversation model, it's just obviously that much better than anything else out there.

Pros

The most important thing about Zulip is its two-level nested chat model, with streams and topics. It sounds like a small thing, but it makes using Zulip a completely different (and dramatically more useful/productive) experience than any other real-time chat tool I've ever used. On Slack, Discord, etc. there's always multiple conversations happening in a single channel, so things get mixed up, and if you're not present for a fast-moving conversation there's no way to catch up. With topics, Zulip makes catching up incredibly easy, even if you're gone on vacation for weeks. This enables it to more-or-less completely replace email, which those other tools can't come close to.

Cons

Some people don't like the mobile app very much, but I don't use it much so I can't really comment.

Review Source

SM

Scott M.  
Researcher  
Research  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "We use zulip for manage a large open source community"

March 10, 2023

5.0

Our zulip instance ties the whole community together, from new users to core developers, as well as associated communities (e.g. user groups in specific localities, and research collaborations).

Pros

Zulip has excellent organisation: conversations are divided up into streams and threads and direct messages, and you can focus on the parts that matter. We have everything from open, all-purpose streams for new users, down to private streams for core developers.

Cons

The mobile app is not quite as good as the desktop app; particularly I often find myself wanting to go back to message I read 10 minutes earlier, and not being able to find it.

Review Source

AV

Antonio V.  
Lecturer  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Best tool to communicate in a research group"

March 11, 2023

5.0

Best communication tool to run my research group. Highly recommended to all (small and big) labs in computer science, machine learning and AI.

Pros

Zulip offers the most logical and practical way to arrange threads and conversations into semantic streams. It offers the perfect integration with LaTeX which is fundamental to write math and hence to support scientific discussion in my team.

Cons

Zulip on the smartphone is still not as polished as the web or desktop app. It would be great to have the same fluid interface at your thumb disposal.

Reason for choosing Zulip

Slim, faster and with beautiful information hierarchies

Switched from

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

Slack is overpriced, but most crucially offers a non-sensical way to organize information and communicate. Math is not fully supported from day zero.

Review Source

MK

Martin K.  
CEO  
Non-Profit Organization Management  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Great features for structured async conversations"

March 9, 2023

5.0

it's good, we have no complains

Pros

We really love threading model which is main difference over slack we used before. "Recent conversations" and "Public streams" are great features I didn't saw elsewhere.

Cons

Zulip UI could be more polished. It's not so attractive as Twistapp or Slack. Especially mobile version need changes.

Alternatives considered

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

Reason for choosing Zulip

Becouse it's streams/threads model and support for non-profit organizations

Switched from

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

Becouse channel model for us wasn't good. Slack forces you to be online all the time to not miss messages. Zulip is more asynch (email like) platform.

Review Source

Olivier J.  
Principal architect  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "A powerfull tool to communicate"

March 15, 2023

5.0

Pros

Organizing content with topics is so powerful.

Cons

The mobile app isn't dealing well with multiple accounts.

Switched from

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

Because channel/thread paradigms in Slacks are not appropriate for getting a meaningful organization of the conversations.

Review Source

AB

Adam B.  
Director  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Slack? Not a chance. Use Zulip."

August 24, 2022

5.0

It does everything we need and more and its better than the rest.

Pros

Zulip is the best team chat software there is. The threading system which underpins the entire app is out of this world, making holding multiple conversations and absolute dream. What seems impossible in Slack, is second-nature to Zulip. It is also open source which means its trustworthy, and if there's a bug its quickly fixed, if you want a new feature, if a member of the large community doesn't add it (which they mostly do), you can.

Cons

The only con is that they aren't as a big as Slack so not as many companies integrate with it and its up to the Zulip community to build those integrations, although there are now hundreds.

Switched from

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

With Slack it is next to impossible to hold multiple conversations in the same channel.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Software Engineer  
Consumer Services  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "A Powerful and Efficient Team Communication Tool"

October 21, 2023

5.0

Zulip has benefited me significantly improving our communication and collaboration processesIt has made it easier to manage our projects, communicate effectively, and locate critical information quickly.

Pros

Zulip enables the categorization of discussions into specific topics, ensuring that conversations remain laser-focused and easy to track. This feature improves productivity and reduces the clutter often associated with group chats. If you're seeking for a communication platform that improves productivity and simplifies teamwork, Zulip is undoubtedly the way to go.It's easy to navigate, and the organized conversation threads (called "streams") and topics help to keep discussions structured and accessible.our experience with Zulip has been exceptionally positive. the organization of messages helps us to stay on top of things in times when there's a lot to handle at the same time.

Cons

While Zulip's interface is generally user-friendly, the concept of streams and topics may require a bit of a learning curve, especially for new users. Complex to use for non daily users It may take some time for teams to fully adapt to the platform.

Review Source

BZ

Beta Z.  
Professor  
E-Learning  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The only chat that got threads right"

March 12, 2023

4.0

We use Zulip for communications in our CS department, totaling at the moment 1k users. The experience is mixed: people active in Zulip love it, but some students do not take the most out of it because they prefer the more shiny Discord. In my experience, a voice chat option and a more modern look would help keep those people in.Overall, as a professor, the structure of threads makes communication seamless in the subjects I teach. As such, I'm very happy with the tool.

Pros

I find the thread model of Zulip to be unbeatable. In my experience, people feel at lost for the first couple of days, but once they get it, they see the value of having every message belonging to a thread. This makes topics and messages very easy to search just by scrolling.

Cons

What is currently missing is the easy voice chat that Discord or Slack provide. Some people complain about the interface, for not being easy enough to use and/or for having a retro-style (I like it actually, but I transmit what I've heard).

Alternatives considered

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Google Workspace](https://www.capterra.com/p/247901/Google-Workspace/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

The infinite history and the threaded model of the chat.

Review Source

KW

Keith W.  
Associate Professor of Computer Science  
Research  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Great for coordinating a research group (and being able to find information later)"

March 14, 2023

5.0

We've found it great at coordinating our research group.

Pros

The best part of Zulip is the way that every conversation is tagged with a lightweight "topic" (so we can always find information later) and the ability to quickly catch up with everything threaded in one chronological view. You don't have to click around to different "rooms" and you don't end up with everything jumbled together and unfindable. The threading works vastly better than Slack or Discord.

Cons

New users often find it a bit unfamiliar if they're used to Slack.

Review Source

SK

Suresh K.  
Prof  
Research  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Lifesaver, amazing service."

November 8, 2023

5.0

Excellent. Does exactly what it is for. There are other tools for other things. I could never use Slack again !

Pros

It is exactly what we need for our research lab, and does not have superfluous features or bloat that makes the app unusable. We totally rely on it, and have yet to encounter any problems.

Cons

Nothing. This is excellent software and i hope it remains available as is.

Alternatives considered

[Discord](https://www.capterra.com/p/240238/Discord/)[Mattermost](https://www.capterra.com/p/170524/Mattermost/)[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)[Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)[monday.com](https://www.capterra.com/p/147657/monday-com/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Better and cheaper !!! Open-source. No barriers. Super-responsive Zulip team, easily accessible on the chat.

Review Source

PR

Pat R.  
Systems Admin  
Public Safety  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Zulip in Public Safety"

February 13, 2022

5.0

Sans the above issue this is incredible software that has solved the inter-agency communication problem. End users love it and from a system standpoint it is rock solid. Can’t say enough about that point.

Pros

From a maintenance and stability perspective it is rock solid. It is the most reliable application in our extensive software stack.

Cons

There are a couple of issues with media uploads in the IOS application that present usability challenges for end users. These are slated to be fixed in upcoming releases but have been on the list for awhile.

Alternatives considered

[Mattermost](https://www.capterra.com/p/170524/Mattermost/)[Microsoft Viva Engage](https://www.capterra.com/p/227175/Yammer/)[Microsoft Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/168668/Microsoft-Teams/)[Discourse](https://www.capterra.com/p/207184/Discourse/)

Reason for choosing Zulip

Product fit. Compliance with CJIS policy. Completely open source.

Review Source

MM

Micha M.  
Product Manager  
Research  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "An amazing chat app with a killer feature to keep things organized"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Pros

Zulip is an easy to use chat app similar to Slack or Mattermost. The single best feature is that it has a two level categorization of messages: the traditional channel (called a "stream") that people can subscribe to, but also an additional "topic", more similar to an email subject. This allows to use zulip also for more long-lived discussions, as it is easy to find messages much later by referring to the topic.Additionally, it is easy to use and supports everything that is expected from such a chat app (standard and custom emoji, reaction gifs, markdown formatting, bots, integration with other tools, etc.)

Cons

The UI is not as pretty as its competitors, but its functionality more than makes up for it.

Reason for choosing Zulip

Better organization thanks to streams + topics

Review Source

VR

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

### "Best chat solution, completely replaced our internal emails."

March 9, 2023

5.0

Zulip is our primary internal communication tool.

Pros

Channels, topics, search. It's like a chat-based email.

Cons

There is really nothing annoying about Zulip.

Review Source

JP

Jonathan P.  
Assistant Professor  
Research  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Unreal option for the price"

March 9, 2023

5.0

Great product with an exceptional value.

Pros

Zulip is a full on Slack replacement for a fraction of the cost. I really prefer the topic threading to the freeform nature of Slack as well. Truly an ideal replacement.

Cons

My biggest issue is the lack of a scheduled message feature. I schedule messages/emails to my team all the time to help things pop up at appropriate times and ease anxiety if I am working on something off hours. I can use the terminal client to schedule a message, but I really want it in the main software.

Alternatives considered

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

Reason for choosing Zulip

Had everything I wanted for the best price.

Switched from

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

Cost

Review Source

JL

Jiri L.  
Researcher  
Research  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Great tool for academic collaboration"

March 10, 2023

4.0

Pros

Zulip is easy to use, and easy to deploy and admin. I really like the idea of channel topics - it is very useful for keeping a channel organized. I like that Zulip serves the core purpose without adding many extra functions you rarely need and you often have other processes to handle them.

Cons

Although I am very happy with the product, I can see a space for some improvement:1) ability to \_archive\_ channels2) it is not clear when the mentioned person is notified (depending on the channel subscription)3) unread count on iOS

Review Source

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