head to head · open source
Zulip vs mirotalk
Zulip has 25,921 GitHub stars, 10,247 forks, 2,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mirotalk has 4,739 stars, 773 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Zulip leads on adoption by 447% (25,921 vs 4,739 stars). Zulip is written in Python under Apache-2.0; mirotalk is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. Zulip has attracted 40% as many forks as stars, mirotalk 16%. Zulip was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (collaboration, javascript), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | mirotalk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 773 |
| 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 mirotalk if
- You want the mirotalk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and mirotalk 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 mirotalk
MiroTalk P2P is a free, open source, self hosted video conferencing platform that connects participants through direct peer to peer WebRTC links, aimed at teams and organisations that want browser based meeting rooms running on their own infrastructure.
read the full mirotalk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zulip or mirotalk more popular?
Zulip has 25,921 GitHub stars and mirotalk has 4,739. Zulip has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zulip and mirotalk free?
Both are open source. Zulip is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mirotalk under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zulip and mirotalk?
Zulip is written in Python and mirotalk in JavaScript. 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 mirotalk?
Choose Zulip if you want the larger community (25,921 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mirotalk if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.