head to head · open source
Huly vs Zulip
Huly has 27,700 GitHub stars, 2,155 forks, 849 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zulip has 25,921 stars, 10,247 forks, 2,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Huly leads on adoption by 7% (27,700 vs 25,921 stars). Huly is written in TypeScript under EPL-2.0; Zulip is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Huly has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Zulip 40%. Zulip 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
| Huly | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 26K |
| License | EPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 10K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Huly if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the EPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- 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 Huly
Huly is an open source, EPL 2.0 licensed, TypeScript built all in one work platform that folds project management, issue tracking, chat, CRM, HRM and applicant tracking into one system teams can run on their own servers, aimed at organisations that want the ground Jira, Linear, ClickUp, Slack and Notion cover without renting it from five separate vendors.
About Zulip
Zulip is an open source organized team chat application built on topic based threading, aimed at distributed teams that need live and asynchronous conversation in one place, and it is positioned as an open alternative to Slack.
read the full Zulip overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Huly or Zulip more popular?
Huly has 27,700 GitHub stars and Zulip has 25,921. Huly has the larger community by that measure.
Are Huly and Zulip free?
Both are open source. Huly is licensed under EPL-2.0 and Zulip under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Huly and Zulip?
Huly is written in TypeScript 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, Huly or Zulip?
Choose Huly if you want the larger community (27,700 stars) or its EPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Zulip if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.