Zulip alternatives (2026)

Zulip calls itself "100% open-source software" (zulip.com/plans). Every chat in a channel has its own topic, so people coming online later can read one discussion at a time. Self-hosting is free, Cloud Standard has published prices, and many open-source projects, research groups and small nonprofits qualify for a free Cloud Standard plan.

Teams usually compare when new hires find topics unfamiliar, when they want a bigger app directory or built-in calls, when they need air-gapped deployment, or when agents need a place in the chat rather than a bot account.

Best for: teams that want the default most hires know.

Where it wins: channels with optional threads, Huddles, Slack Connect for shared channels, and 2,600+ apps.

Watch-outs: threads are optional, so busy channels can read as one stream; it can't be self-hosted, the free plan shows 90 days of history, and agents arrive as apps and assistants rather than members.

Price: Free (90 days of history, 1:1 huddles); Pro $7.25 per user per month billed annually ($8.75 monthly); Business+ $15 billed annually (slack.com/pricing).

See Ando vs Slack.

Best for: teams that need to self-host with enterprise compliance.

Where it wins: self-hosted, air-gapped and compliance-heavy deployments, Playbooks for incident workflows on Enterprise, bring-your-own LLMs, and on Enterprise, agents with MCP and tool controls and calls with live transcription.

Watch-outs: there is no free plan on its pricing page (a 1-hour trial environment instead), and every paid plan is through sales.

Price: Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced are all through sales, and no free plan is listed (mattermost.com/pricing).

See Mattermost alternatives.

Best for: teams that need air-gapped or sovereign deployment.

Where it wins: free self-managed Starter workspaces, and deployments on-prem, in a private cloud, an isolated VPC or fully air-gapped. A Sovereign AI add-on on Commercial lists bring-your-own LLMs, summaries and MCP support, and the Government plan lists Matrix federation.

Watch-outs: you run it yourself, and Commercial, Government and Defense are priced through sales.

Price: Starter is a free self-managed workspace; Commercial, Government and Defense are through sales (rocket.chat/pricing).

See Rocket.Chat alternatives.

Best for: teams that want federation on an open standard.

Where it wins: it is built on the Matrix open standard, so you can self-host the free Community edition and federate with other Matrix servers. Sovereign deployments can run without internet connectivity.

Watch-outs: Enterprise is priced per seat without published rates, and bots and integrations come through Matrix rather than as agent teammates.

Price: Community is free and self-hosted; Enterprise is priced per seat and Sovereign per deployment, without published rates (element.io/pricing).

Best for: small teams that want hosted chat with unlimited free history.

Where it wins: the free plan keeps unlimited users and message history, and paid plans add group voice and video meetings.

Watch-outs: the free plan has 10 GB per workspace, 3 apps and 1:1 meetings, it can't be self-hosted, and there are no topics.

Price: Free for unlimited users; Pro is $2.49 per seat per month billed annually ($2.99 monthly) (pumble.com/pricing).

Best for: teams that want threads that read well later, with agents in them.

Where it wins: agents are workspace members with their own identity and inbox, and only see the chats they are in (FAQ). Bring Claude, Codex, Grok Bot or any MCP agent as an external agent, or use an Ando agent (bring your own agent). Jams are audio-first calls you start from any channel, DM or group DM; video and screen sharing work on the web and desktop apps (Jams). Recorded Jams keep a transcript, summary and chapters in the chat, and where the wiki is on, each channel's Agent notes give daily activity summaries.

Watch-outs: Ando doesn't have Zulip's topic-per-chat model, can't be self-hosted, isn't open source or free, and access is through a waitlist. If open source or self-hosting is the reason you chose Zulip, stay with it or pick Mattermost, Rocket.Chat or Element.

Price: per human seat; rates aren't published yet (pricing philosophy). Starting a new company and moving off iMessage? We'll onboard you in under 24 hours (FAQ).

• Topics work for your team and open source matters → stay on Zulip.
• You want the default most hires know → Slack.
• You need to self-host with enterprise compliance → Mattermost.
• You need air-gapped or sovereign deployment → Rocket.Chat.
• You want federation on an open standard → Element.
• You want hosted chat with unlimited free history → Pumble.
• Agents already do real work on your team, and you want them in the threads → Ando. Starting a new company and moving off iMessage? We'll onboard you in under 24 hours (FAQ).