Mattermost vs Zulip (2026): self-host requirements, licence and pricing
Both tools publish a small starting server. Mattermost starts at 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM [S1]. Zulip starts at 1 CPU and 2 GB RAM with 2 GB of swap [S3]. Figures were fetched 28 Oct 2026.
Mattermost vs Zulip at a glance
| Mattermost | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | AGPL-3.0-only. Source is AGPL-3.0, official builds are MIT, admin tools, config files and the web app (webapp/) are Apache-2.0 [S2] | Apache-2.0 [S4] |
| Latest release | v12.0.1, 22 Oct 2026 [S2] | 12.3, 22 Sep 2026 [S4] |
| Small server | 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, up to 1,000 users [S1] | 1 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 2 GB swap [S3] |
| Larger server | 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 1,000 to 2,000 users [S1] | 2 CPU, 4 GB RAM, 100+ users [S3] |
| Disk | No figure published; S3 compatible storage, local storage or NFS [S1] | At least 10 GB [S3] |
| Stack | Docker, PostgreSQL 15.0+ [S1] | Ubuntu or Debian with PostgreSQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, memcached, nginx [S3] |
| Install | Docker recommended on Linux [S1] | Official Docker image, a DigitalOcean droplet, or Zulip Cloud [S6][S7] |
| Paid plan | No list price published; free Entry edition [S5] | "$ 6.67 /user/month billed annually" [S5] |
When to choose each
Mattermost suits you when you want a Docker install [S1].
Zulip suits you when you run Ubuntu or Debian, or its official Docker image, and want an Apache-2.0 licence [S3][S4][S6].
Self-host guides
Sources (fetched 28 Oct 2026 unless a date is given)
- [S1] https://docs.mattermost.com/deployment-guide/software-hardware-requirements.html
- [S2] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattermost/mattermost/master/LICENSE.txt ; https://api.github.com/repos/mattermost/mattermost/releases/latest
- [S3] https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/production/requirements.html
- [S4] https://api.github.com/repos/zulip/zulip and /releases/latest
- [S5] https://mattermost.com/pricing/ ; https://docs.mattermost.com/product-overview/editions-and-offerings.html ; https://zulip.com/plans/
- [S6] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zulip/docker-zulip/main/README.md
- [S7] https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/production/install.html
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