Productivitydocker-readypermissive-license
Zulip: the best Open Source alternative to Slack in 2026
Zulip organizes team conversations into topic threads within each channel, cutting down on noise compared to Slack in large teams with heavy message volume.
Technical profile
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Category
- Productivity
- Replaces
- Slack
- Tech stack
- PythonDjangoPostgreSQL
Preview
Public image provided by Zulip on its own website.
Key features
- Topic threads within each channel
- Powerful search across the whole history
- Native cross-platform apps
Zulip vs. Slack
Pros
- Much less noise than Slack in very active channels
Things to consider
- The topic-thread model has a learning curve
Quick Docker installation guide
Copy this docker-compose.yml, adjust the example passwords and run docker compose up -d on your server. See the full step-by-step guide →
docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"
services:
zulip:
image: zulip/docker-zulip:latest
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- "80:80"
environment:
- SETTING_EXTERNAL_HOST=localhost
- SECRETS_email_password=""
volumes:
- zulip_data:/data
volumes:
zulip_data: