Rocket.Chat vs Zulip

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

Rocket.Chat

MIT

The communications platform that puts data protection first.

Apache-2.0

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

	Rocket.Chat	Zulip
License	MIT	Apache-2.0
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	45,034	24,935
Forks	13,463	9,728
Open Issues	3,630	2,040
Last Commit	Mar 28, 2026	Mar 27, 2026
First Released	May 19, 2015	Sep 25, 2015
Categories	Team Chat & Messaging Tools	Team Chat & Messaging Tools
Tags	#chat #collaboration	#chat #messaging #collaboration

Simple, open source team messaging platform

Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle..

A platform for community discussion. Free, open, simple.