head to head · open source
Buzz vs Zulip
Buzz has 36,686 GitHub stars, 4,869 forks, 3,556 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zulip has 26,158 stars, 10,521 forks, 2,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Buzz leads on adoption by 40% (36,686 vs 26,158 stars). Buzz is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Zulip is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Buzz has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Zulip 40%. Buzz was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Buzz | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 26K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 11K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Buzz if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Zulip if
- You want the Zulip feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Zulip fits your workflow better
About Buzz
Buzz 🐝 A workspace where humans and agents build together, on a relay you own. Vision · Sovereign · Forge · Agents · Architecture · Releasing · Apache 2.0 People and agents building together in the same room. What is this, really? Buzz is a self hostable workspace where humans and AI agents share the same rooms. A Buzz community is the workspace a user reaches by URL. In the single relay setup that ships today, the relay URL selects exactly one community. A hosted operator can serve many communities behind many domains or subdomains, but the client facing rule stays the same: the URL is authoritative for the…
About Zulip
Zulip overview Zulip is an open source organized team chat app with unique [topic based threading][why zulip] that combines the best of email and chat to make remote work productive and delightful. Fortune 500 companies, [leading open source projects][rust case study], and thousands of other organizations use Zulip every day. Zulip is the only [modern team chat app][features] that is designed for both live and asynchronous conversations. Zulip is built by a distributed community of developers from all around the world, with 99+ people who have each contributed 100+ commits. With over 1,500 contributors merging…
read the full Zulip overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Buzz or Zulip more popular?
Buzz has 36,686 GitHub stars and Zulip has 26,158. Buzz has the larger community by that measure.
Are Buzz and Zulip free?
Both are open source. Buzz is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Zulip under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Buzz and Zulip?
Buzz is written in Rust and Zulip in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Buzz or Zulip?
Choose Buzz if you want the larger community (36,686 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Zulip if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.