OSS Tanbou
View on GitHubProject website

Zulip — organize high-volume team chat with topic-based threading

OSS scale score 321.3OSS health 96Update pace 208 commits/30d
About these scores

OSS scale score is an unbounded metric that log-compresses and weights Stars, Watchers, Forks, and Contributors. Discovery score is the current OSS scale score minus the score at discovery. Update pace is commits in the last 30 days, growth momentum is the OSS scale score difference within the recent observation window, and OSS health is a 0–100 rating based on available recency, Community Health, and release data.

Stars
25,931
Primary language
Python
License
Apache-2.0
Repository last updated
Sep 21, 2026

Overview

Zulip is an open-source team chat system that organizes messages into topics within streams, designed to support both real-time conversation and asynchronous follow-up in the same structure.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Organize conversations by topic inside streams

Messages are divided into topic threads beneath streams, making multiple simultaneous discussions easier to revisit.

Sources: [2][3]

Choose between self-hosting and managed cloud

Zulip can be installed on Linux or through Docker, while Zulip Cloud provides a managed option.

Sources: [2][4]

For teams with high message volume that need both live and asynchronous communication

It fits open-source communities, remote teams, and engineering organizations that need to return to many parallel discussions.

Sources: [2]

Make topic usage part of team communication habits

Because topic organization is central to the product, agreeing on naming and threading practices improves the experience.

Sources: [3]

Official sources

  1. [1]zulip/zulip repository(2026-09-21)
  2. [2]Zulip README(2026-09-21)
  3. [3]Why Zulip / topic-based threading(2026-09-21)
  4. [4]Zulip self-hosting(2026-09-21)
  5. [5]Zulip Apache-2.0 license(2026-09-21)
Supplemental curator note

Zulip's core distinction from channel-only chat tools is that conversations are organized into topics inside streams. This helps high-volume teams return to specific discussions later, but teams should align on topic usage so the organizational model remains useful.

Try it in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Get the source

    git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zulip/zulip.git
  2. 2

    Enter the repository

    cd zulip
  3. 3

    Check the official steps

    Continue with the commands in the README Installation, Quick Start, or Getting Started section.

    find . -maxdepth 1 -iname 'README*' -exec sed -n '1,220p' {} \; -quit
Check the official README

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

25,931 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
208
Open PRs
857

Development activity is still being collected.

Built with

Categories and tags

Categories

Tags

GitHub data

GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
View on GitHub

GitHub Topics

  • zulip
  • python
  • python3
  • chat
  • javascript
  • collaboration
  • slack
  • foss
  • free
  • apache
  • react-native
  • electron
Stars
25,931
Forks
10,271
Watchers
363
Open issues
1,162
Contributors
403
Primary language
Python
License
Apache-2.0
Repository last updated
Sep 21, 2026
Write a related article

Share a guide or use case for this OSS in Markdown. Articles are published after administrator approval.

Report incorrect information

Tell us if any listing information is incorrect or outdated.