head to head · open source
Zulip vs Campfire
Zulip has 25,921 GitHub stars, 10,247 forks, 2,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Campfire has 4,629 stars, 792 forks, 37 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Zulip leads on adoption by 460% (25,921 vs 4,629 stars). Zulip is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Campfire is written in Ruby under MIT. Zulip has attracted 40% as many forks as stars, Campfire 17%. 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
| Zulip | Campfire | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 4.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 792 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zulip if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Campfire if
- You want the Campfire feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and Campfire fits your workflow better
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 →
About Campfire
Campfire is a web based group chat application in the Business Software / Collaboration & Communication category. It is written in Ruby, released under the MIT license, and presented as a self hosted service that avoids recurring subscription fees. The project lives in the Ruby and Docker self hosting ecosystem, with its homepage at https://once.com/campfire and its published Docker image at ghcr.io/basecamp/once campfire:latest.
read the full Campfire overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zulip or Campfire more popular?
Zulip has 25,921 GitHub stars and Campfire has 4,629. Zulip has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zulip and Campfire free?
Both are open source. Zulip is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Campfire under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zulip and Campfire?
Zulip is written in Python and Campfire in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zulip or Campfire?
Choose Zulip if you want the larger community (25,921 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Campfire if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.