vioscale
Comparison

Discord vs Zulip

On the evidence we track, Zulip leads this comparison with a composite score of 71/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Discord full profile →Zulip full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Discord53
★Zulip71
Score
Vioscale score
Discord53 / 100medium · 54%
Zulip71 / 100medium · 73%
Pricing
Free tier
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Model
Discordfreemium
Zulipfreemium
Price level
Discordlow
Zulipfree
Transparent
Discord✗
Zulip✓
Integrations
Count
Discord32
Zulip130
Security
Disclosure policy
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Gdpr
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Hipaa
Discord–
Zulip✓
Reliability
Status page
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Market
Availability

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for collaboration software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Modality
Messaging
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Video meetings
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Whiteboard
Discord-
Zulip-
Meetings
Screen sharing
Discord✓
Zulip✗
Recording / transcription
Discord-
Zulip-
Security
End-to-end encryption
Discord-
Zulip✓
SSO / SCIM
Discord-
Zulip✓
Access
Guest / external access
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Compliance
Compliance controls
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Deployment
Hosting
DiscordCloud only
ZulipCloud + self-hosted
Scale
Max participants
Discord-
Zulip-
Ecosystem
App marketplace
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Public API / bot framework
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Commercial
Free tier
Discord✓
Zulip✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Discord

A service that enables people to create digital spaces where they can communicate via voice channels, video calls, text messages, and share media while playing games or hanging out together.

Independently observed

Zulip

Leader

Zulip is an open-source team chat platform featuring topic-based threading to organize conversations. It supports both synchronous and asynchronous workflows and offers flexible deployment options including cloud hosting or self-hosted infrastructure.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Discord

HybridFree tier

Free tier available. Nitro is a paid subscription tier.

  • Nitro-
as of verify ↗

Zulip

Leader
from $-20/moSubscriptionFree tier

From free to $12/user/month (Cloud Plus). Self-hosted from $3.50/user/month.

  • Zulip Cloud FreeFree
    • 10,000 messages search history
    • 5GB total file storage
    • Complete team chat solution
    • Hundreds of integrations
    • Advanced roles and permissions
    • +1 more
  • Zulip Cloud Standard$6.67/user/month billed annually or $8/month
    • Unlimited search history
    • 5GB per user storage
    • Custom permission groups
    • Message retention policies
    • Custom branding
    • +2 more
  • Zulip Cloud Plus$10/user/month billed annually or $12/month (minimum 10 users)
    • All Standard features
    • 25GB per user storage
    • SAML SSO (Okta, OneLogIn)
    • SCIM sync
    • Custom domain
    • +1 more
  • Self-hosted FreeFree
    • All Zulip features
    • Mobile notifications (limited)
    • 100% open-source
  • Self-hosted Basic$3.50/user/month, $20/month off first year
    • All features
    • Unlimited mobile notifications
    • Supports open-source development
  • Self-hosted Business$6.67/user/month billed annually or $8/month (minimum 25 users), $20/month off first year
    • All features
    • Email and chat support
    • SSO (SAML, Entra ID)
    • AD/LDAP sync
    • Configurable guest access
    • +2 more
  • Self-hosted EnterpriseContact sales
    • All features
    • Phone, email and chat support
    • OpenID Connect SSO
    • SCIM sync
    • Implementation consulting
    • +2 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Discord✓
Zulip✓
iOS
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Android
Discord✓
Zulip✓
macOS
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Windows
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Linux
Discord✓
Zulip✓
CLI
Discord✗
Zulip✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Discord✓
Zulip✓
Self-hosted
Discord✗
Zulip✓
On-premise
Discord✗
Zulip✓
Hybrid
Discord✗
Zulip✓
Air-gapped
Discord✗
Zulip✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Discord

32 total
  • Wordle
  • Roll20
  • Rythm
  • Watch Together
  • Whiteboard
  • Chess In The Park
  • Codenames Online
  • Farm Merge Valley
  • Farm Merge Valley
  • Poker Night
  • Blackjack
  • ERTH Poker
  • BattleTabs
  • Hideout
  • Lofi
  • Letter League
  • Daily Sudoku Together
  • Daily Word Wheel
  • Death by AI
  • Banana of Doom
  • The Last Show
  • MergeVille
  • Mergest Kingdom
  • Solitaire Home Story
  • +8 more
Independently observed

Zulip

Leader
50 total
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Discord
  • Mattermost
  • Rocket.Chat
  • Matrix
  • IRC
  • Email
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • Bitbucket
  • Asana
  • Jira
  • Linear
  • Trello
  • Basecamp
  • Jenkins
  • CircleCI
  • GitHub Actions
  • Travis CI
  • TeamCity
  • Heroku
  • Netlify
  • Docker
  • +26 more
Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.