head to head · open source
Plane vs Zulip
Plane has 59,546 GitHub stars, 5,776 forks, 1,103 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zulip has 25,921 stars, 10,247 forks, 2,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Plane leads on adoption by 130% (59,546 vs 25,921 stars). Plane is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Zulip is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Plane has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Zulip 40%. Plane 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
| Plane | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 60K | ★ 26K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 10K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Plane if
- You weight community size — 60K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 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 Plane
Plane is an open source project management platform for teams that need to track issues, run cycles, and manage product roadmaps without handing their data to a proprietary SaaS vendor, and it is aimed at engineering, product, and operations teams that would otherwise pay for Jira, Linear, ClickUp, or Asana.
read the full Plane overview →
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 Plane or Zulip more popular?
Plane has 59,546 GitHub stars and Zulip has 25,921. Plane has the larger community by that measure.
Are Plane and Zulip free?
Both are open source. Plane is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Zulip under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Plane and Zulip?
Plane 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, Plane or Zulip?
Choose Plane if you want the larger community (59,546 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Zulip if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.