Discourse vs Zulip

Comparing two open source alternatives to Discord and Slack. Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

Discourse

GPL-2.0

Open source community forum platform combining long-form discussion, real-time chat, and strong moderation. Self-host it or use managed hosting.

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Zulip

Apache-2.0

Open-source team chat with a unique topic-based threading model that makes it easy to follow multiple conversations.

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Side-by-side comparison

	Discourse	Zulip
License	GPL-2.0	Apache-2.0
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	47,893	25,944
Forks	9,017	10,285
Open Issues	242	2,027
Last Commit	Sep 24, 2026	Sep 23, 2026
First Released	Jan 12, 2013	Sep 25, 2015
Categories	Team Chat & Messaging Tools	Team Chat & Messaging Tools
Tags	#forum #chat	#chat #messaging #collaboration

GitHub stars over time

Discourse47,893

Zulip

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