Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020.
The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls.
The…
$0
Zulip
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Zulip is a team chat app that is designed for both live and asynchronous conversations. Zulip topics create a separate space for each discussion, so different conversations will never get in each other's way. Teams of all sizes can use Zulip, and Zulip is 100% open-source enterprise-grade software, self-hosted or in the cloud.
$0
per month per user
Pricing
Slack
Zulip
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Zulip Cloud Free
$0
per month per user
Zulip Free
$0
per month per user
Zulip Basic
$3.50
per month per user
Zulip Cloud Standard
$8
per month per user
Zulip Business
$8
per month per user
Zulip Cloud Plus
$12
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Slack
Zulip
Free Trial
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
*Per active user, per month, when paying once a year.
Pro is $8.75 USD per active user when paying month to month. Business+ is $15.00 USD per active user when paying month to month.
Discount available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Features
Slack
Zulip
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Slack
8.2
Ratings
6% above category average
Zulip
10.0
Ratings
26% above category average
Task Management
8.20 Ratings
00 Ratings
Gantt Charts
6.90 Ratings
00 Ratings
Scheduling
7.90 Ratings
00 Ratings
Workflow Automation
8.40 Ratings
00 Ratings
Mobile Access
9.40 Ratings
10.00 Ratings
Search
8.70 Ratings
10.00 Ratings
Visual planning tools
8.00 Ratings
00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Slack
8.8
Ratings
11% above category average
Zulip
10.0
Ratings
23% above category average
Chat
9.80 Ratings
10.00 Ratings
Notifications
9.10 Ratings
10.00 Ratings
Discussions
9.50 Ratings
10.00 Ratings
Surveys
8.10 Ratings
00 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase
7.80 Ratings
00 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting
8.90 Ratings
00 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts
8.70 Ratings
00 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook
8.90 Ratings
00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Slack is really effective for smaller teams to use as an internal communication platform. I think that it's still suitable even for companies of up to 500-1000 employees, but for larger teams it's less appropriate (or would require more aggressive organization, e.g. keeping channels protected and on an invite-only basis). It's really helpful for small team-to-small team communication too (like in our case where we create external channels to support POCs/business partnerships). It's not great for direct collaboration (e.g. it's hard to iterate on a project spec or a document together, directly in Slack) but it's well suited for conversational coordination, like planning meetings or asking informational questions.
Zulip is great at what it does, and I enjoy using this product every day, but to me it serves as an alternative to the bigger names in instant communication. If they had more features and offered a simpler profile layout that was easier to look at, my rating would be higher.
Undoubtedly Slack’s search function is powerful but sometimes it is difficult to find specific messages or files in very active channels with high message volumes. This needs an improvement.
I have experienced notification issues on my phone. I am not receiving notifications and have missed important updates as a result. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but the problem still persists.
The Business Plus plan does not include support for data loss prevention or offline backup providers.
Slack sitll lacks in functionality. It's better than Skype for Business in many ways, but it is still another chat/message board app. It has limits in free version and paid versions. Also Windows app has errors that bother me, for example, I see number on one of my team's icons. It suggests that one of channels has unread messages; I check all channels - no unread messages, but that "1" still appears
Again, I would like to see more personalized features pertaining to the quick view you get when you click on someone's profile within the software. I do like how it offers a desktop app as well as web browser support. I also like the customizing of notification sounds, there's a lot to choose from which is ideal.
Yes, the app works 24/7. I don't even recall having any period that we could not use since the implementation. Even the maintenance periods are barely noticeable and our work is not impacted by it when it happens.
Slack is a soft app, we don't have many issues with it. I recall one or two people complaining about something during our usage period, but I didn't have a bad experience. When the app is slow, usually the problem is with my computer or my internet. The app works just fine.
Whenever I've had to troubleshoot an issue with Slack (which, to be honest, has not happened very often), their online documentation has been easy to locate, easy to understand, and effective in resolving my issue. Slack's ever-growing popularity also means that there's a large community of practice out there that can be depended upon.
I like Slack better than ClickUp, because I would spend 30-60 minutes a day updating my ClickUp tasks. The way ClickUp was used was very micromanaging. I billed by the hour, so I was willing to put in the time to alert the boss what tasks I was working on.
One of my jobs used Hive - I mostly just ran it in the background in case anyone messaged me. I did not use it often.
I did not have a say in my company choosing Zulip as their main communication channel, but I can understand why they chose Zulip over any other program. It does house different discussion topics better than Teams does in my opinion, and you're able to easily add subtopics underneath them.
Slack has been incredibly helpful in connecting various tech apps and ecosystems, creating a more streamlined and responsive process.
Slack has made it significantly easier to communicate with our team members across multiple time zones, creating a more engaging environment for our all-remote team.