Comparison

Gather vs Zulip

On the evidence we track, Gather leads this comparison with a composite score of 68/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★Gather68
Zulip62
Score
vioscaleAI score
Gather68 / 100medium · 73%
Zulip62 / 100medium · 72%
Pricing
Free tier
Gather✓
Zulip✓
Model
Price level
Gatherlow
Zulipfree
Starting price
Gather$12
Zulip$3.50
Transparent
Gather✓
Zulip✓
Integrations
Count
Gather4
Zulip130
Security
Certifications
Zulip–
Disclosure policy
Gather✓
Zulip✓
Gdpr
Gather✓
Zulip✓
Hipaa
Gather–
Zulip✓
Soc2
Gather✓
Zulip–
Reliability
Status page
Gather✓
Zulip✓
Content
Faq
Gather7 items
Zulip6 items

Capabilities

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

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

What each one is

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

Gather

Leader

A web-based platform that enables remote teams to interact, meet, and work together as if co-located, without constant formal meeting scheduling. Users can see colleague availability, initiate instant conversations, and customize their shared digital workspace.

Independently observed

Zulip

An open-source team collaboration application that organizes conversations into topic-based threads, blending instant messaging with email-style threading to support both real-time and delayed communication patterns.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Gather

Leader
from $12/member/moSubscriptionFree tier30-day trial

From $12/member/month. Free 30-day trial. Custom plans available.

  • Essential Plan$12/member/month (or $9.60/member/month when billed annually with -20% discount)
    • Unlimited audio & video calls
    • Unlimited chat messages
    • Meeting recordings
    • AI meeting notes and transcriptions
    • Google Calendar sync
    • +8 more
  • Custom PlanContact sales
    • All Essential Plan features
    • Custom pricing
    • Custom onboarding
    • Custom, larger offices
    • Hybrid solutions
    • +3 more
as of verify ↗

Zulip

from $3.50/seat/moHybridFree tier

From $6.67/user/month (cloud annual), free open-source self-hosted option, or $3.50/user/month for commercial self-hosted support. Free tier available.

  • FreeFree
    • Message history search (10,000 limit)
    • File storage up to 5 GB total
    • Complete team chat solution
    • Hundreds of integrations
    • Advanced roles and permissions
    • +1 more
  • Standard$6.67/user/month billed annually or $8/month
    • Unlimited search history
    • File storage up to 5 GB per user
    • Flexible permissions with custom groups
    • Message retention policies
    • Brand Zulip with your logo
    • +2 more
  • Plus$10/user/month billed annually or $12/month
    • All Standard plan features
    • File storage up to 25 GB per user
    • SSO with SAML (Okta, OneLogIn)
    • SCIM user and group sync
    • Custom domain
    • +1 more
  • Self-hosted (Open Source)Free
    • Complete team chat solution with all Zulip features without limitation
    • 100% open-source software
    • Retain full control over your data
  • Self-hosted Basic$3.50/user/month (with $20/month first-year discount)
    • Unlimited support
    • Email and chat support
    • SSO with SAML and Microsoft Entra ID
    • AD/LDAP user sync
    • Full compliance
    • +2 more
  • Self-hosted EnterpriseContact sales
    • Email, chat and phone support
    • SSO with OpenID Connect
    • AD/LDAP, SAML and OpenID Connect group sync
    • Implementation consulting
    • Custom feature development
    • +1 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
Gather✓
Zulip✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Gather✓
Zulip✓
Self-hosted
Gather✗
Zulip✓

Integrations

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

In common (2)
  • Google Calendar
  • GitHub

Gather

Leader
7 total - 5 not shared
  • Spotify
  • Google Chrome Extension
  • Outlook (planned)
  • Google Chrome
  • Outlook
Independently observed

Zulip

63 total - 61 not shared
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Discord
  • Mattermost
  • Rocket.Chat
  • Matrix
  • IRC
  • Email
  • GitLab
  • Bitbucket
  • Asana
  • Jira
  • Linear
  • Trello
  • Basecamp
  • Jenkins
  • CircleCI
  • GitHub Actions
  • Travis CI
  • TeamCity
  • Heroku
  • Netlify
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • +37 more
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Gather or Zulip: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

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