Mattermost vs. Zulip
Side by side, with sources. Checked Oct 3, 2026.
Mattermost
Open source
Zulip
Open sourcePrice
Free self-hosted Team Edition (open source) and Entry (free, limited). Professional and Enterprise are annual per-seat plans with no public price.Source: mattermost.com
Free to self-host with every feature. Zulip Cloud has a free plan; Standard is US$6.67 per user per month billed annually (US$8 monthly).from $6.67/user/monthSource: zulip.com
Pricing model
Open source · Free plan available
Open source · Free plan available
License
Open core · AGPL-3.0-onlyMattermost-built binaries are MIT, the source is AGPL-3.0 or commercial, and enterprise features are commercial. The desktop app is Apache-2.0.
Open source · Apache-2.0The server and the desktop app are Apache-2.0 open source.
Works on
- ✓ Windows
- ✓ Mac
- ✓ Linux
- ✓ iPhone & iPad
- ✓ Android
- ✓ Web browser
- ✓ Your own server
- ✓ Windows
- ✓ Mac
- ✓ Linux
- ✓ iPhone & iPad
- ✓ Android
- ✓ Web browser
- ✓ Your own server
Where your data lives
On the server your organisation runs, on its own premises or cloud.
On Zulip Cloud (run by the core Zulip team) or on your own server; you can move between the two.
Getting started
Difficulty: Advanced There is no public sign-up: either you join a server your organisation already runs, or someone has to run a Linux server for you.
Difficulty: Easy A free Zulip Cloud account plus official installers and app stores; no server needed unless you choose to self-host.
Hosted version
NoneThe only hosted option, Mattermost Cloud Enterprise, is sold to enterprises through sales.
Zulip CloudFree plan with 10,000 messages of search history and 5 GB of file storage.