Huly vs Zulip: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Slack. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| Huly | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| GitHub stars | ~11k | ~21k |
| Tech stack | Rust, React, MongoDB | Python, Django, PostgreSQL |
| Replaces | Linear, Notion, Slack | Slack |
Zulip has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
Huly
Projects + chat + docs in one, an alternative to Linear/Notion/Slack.
ℹ️ This single-container docker-compose doesn't match how Huly is actually deployed: the hardcoreeng/huly image doesn't exist, and the real project is ~10 independent microservices orchestrated by the official installer. Use huly-selfhost (github.com/hcengineering/huly-selfhost) for a deployment that actually works — we aren't rewriting that topology here without being able to verify it service by service.
Pros
- Replaces three different SaaS tools with a single deployment
Things to consider
- Young project, integration ecosystem still limited
- This catalog's docker-compose isn't deployable as-is (see note above) — use the official huly-selfhost installer
Zulip
Team chat organized by threads, an alternative to Slack.
Pros
- Much less noise than Slack in very active channels
Things to consider
- The topic-thread model has a learning curve
Key features
Huly
- Linear-style issues and projects
- Team chat and channels
- Collaborative documents
Zulip
- Topic threads within each channel
- Powerful search across the whole history
- Native cross-platform apps
Already know which one you prefer?
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