Twake vs Zulip (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Zulip grades higher than Twake: 2.8 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Zulip grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Twake
Open-source workplace suite with chat, mail and drive
Zulip
Open-source team chat that organizes channels by topic
Which one is for you
Pick Twake if
- Fits if you want data kept in France and an option to host the suite yourself
- Works for a small group that wants chat, mail and files from one open-source vendor
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need video calls inside chat today, as the Chat page marks Jitsi as coming soon
- Tight if you stay on the free plan: 5 GB of storage and 100 emails a day
- Pricey if you want the Office document editor, which starts on Standard at €4 a month
- Watch out: the plans page was readable only in French and in euros, and no annual or business seat prices are shown
Pick Zulip if
- Fits if your team is spread across time zones and reads chat hours after it happened
- Works for open-source projects and research groups, which can apply for a free Standard plan
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want voice and video calls built in, as they depend on an outside provider
- Tight if you stay on Cloud Free and need to search old messages, since it covers the latest 10,000 and 5 GB in all
- Not for you if you need SAML on Cloud with under 10 people, because Plus has a 10-user minimum
- Watch out: free self-hosting sends phone push notifications to 10 users only, unless you qualify as a community
- Pricey if you self-host with single sign-on for a small team, as Business has a 25-user minimum
How we grade them
| 2.6GPATwakeGood | 2.8GPAZulipGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BFree plan at €0 with 5 GB of storage and a 1 GB mailbox; Standard is €4 a month and Premium €12, against a category whose cheaper quarter starts at $3.50. | BSelf-hosted Basic is $3.50 a user a month, in the cheapest quarter of team chat, and Cloud Standard is $6.67 billed annually, under the $7 middle. Open-source projects, research groups and small nonprofits can apply for Standard free, and schools pay from 67 cents a user. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe free plan has instant messaging, notes and unlimited devices. The caps are 5 GB of storage and 100 emails a day. | BSelf-hosting is free with every feature. Two catches: mobile push notifications stop at 10 users unless you register as an eligible community, and Cloud Free searches only the latest 10,000 messages with 5 GB in total. |
| Features | CChat, drive, mail, calendar and video in one account, but the Office editor is not on the free plan and Chat's video is marked coming soon. | CTopics you can rename, move and mark resolved, code highlighting, LaTeX, polls, reminders, 130-plus native integrations and a terminal app. The gap is calls. Zulip builds none, handing voice and video to Zoom, Jitsi or BigBlueButton. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and the listing shows apps to install across several products plus bridges to set up for Telegram, Discord or Signal. | CNo App Store rating on record, and the topic model is a habit to learn: every message needs a topic, and a team that doesn't keep them tidy ends up worse off than with plain channels. Self-hosting, if you go that way, is a server to run as well. |
| Platforms and integrations | BMac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, with Matrix bridges and OnlyOffice. The listing shows no web version or API. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android and a terminal app. More than 130 native integrations with thousands more through Zapier and IFTTT, a REST API, custom webhooks, and bridges that pass messages to and from Slack, Microsoft Teams and Matrix. |
| Best for | chat, mail and files from one open-source vendor | chat you can catch up on hours later |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Twake and Zulip. How we grade
Price against what you get
Twake starts at about $4.47 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zulip starts at $3.50 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
Zulip scores higher and starts $0.97 a month lower. Of the other team communication apps on the chart, 11 score higher than Twake for less, and 3 score higher than Zulip for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Twake also covers calendar.
At a glance
| Twake | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | €4.00 per month | $3.50 per user / month self-hosted (billed monthly); Cloud from $6.67 billed annually |
| Free plan | Free plan with 5 GB of cloud storage, a 1 GB mailbox with 100 emails a day, instant messaging, notes and unlimited authorized devices; not a promotion. | Zulip Cloud Free: 10,000 messages of search history and 5 GB of file storage in total. Self-hosting is free with all features, with mobile notifications for up to 10 users. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | LINAGORA | Kandra Labs, Inc. |
| Price read from | twake.app | zulip.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Twake
- The plans page was readable only in French, with prices in euros; storage and mailbox size, not chat, differ between plans.
- The Office document editor is not included on the free plan.
- No annual prices or business seat prices are shown; the company plan is quoted on request.
- Video conferencing inside Twake Chat is marked coming soon on the Chat page.
Zulip
- Zulip Cloud Free searches only the most recent 10,000 messages and has 5 GB of file storage for the whole organization.
- SAML single sign-on and SCIM on Zulip Cloud need the Plus plan, which has a 10-user minimum; self-hosted Business has a 25-user minimum.
- Voice and video calls depend on an outside provider such as Zoom or Jitsi.
- Self-hosted Free limits mobile push notifications to 10 users unless the organization registers as an eligible community.
Key features
Twake
- Matrix-based chat
- Twake Chat runs on the Matrix protocol, with direct and group chats, channels, and optional extra end-to-end encryption.
- Bridges to other messengers
- The Matrix protocol lets Twake Chat send and receive messages on networks such as Telegram, Discord and Signal.
- Drive, Mail and Calendar
- The same account opens Drive for file storage with Office-format editing, Mail for email and Calendar for scheduling.
- Video conferencing
- Twake Visio is a video conferencing product, and the Chat page lists Jitsi videoconferencing as coming soon.
- Hosted in France
- The site says all data is stored in France under GDPR rules, with SSL/TLS and WebSocket communication enabled.
- On-premise installation
- Twake Chat, Drive and Mail can be installed on your own servers using Docker, according to the site.
Zulip
- Topic-based threading
- A new conversation starts by giving it a brief topic inside a channel, and replies stay in that context. Messages can be moved between topics, and topics marked as resolved.
- Cloud or self-hosted
- The same 100% open-source software runs on Zulip Cloud or on your own server, and export and import tools let an organization move between them.
- Apps for every platform
- Zulip has a web app for any modern browser, desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and a terminal app.
- Calls through a provider
- 1:1 and group voice and video calls open in a configurable call provider such as Zoom, Jitsi or BigBlueButton.
- Integrations and API
- More than 130 native integrations, thousands more through Zapier and IFTTT, custom webhooks, a REST API, and chat bridges to Slack, Microsoft Teams and Matrix.
- Formatting and lightweight workflows
- Messages support code syntax highlighting and LaTeX, plus polls and to-do lists, scheduled sends, reminders and extensive keyboard shortcuts.
Plans
Twake
Découvrir€0.00
5 GB cloud storage, 1 GB mailbox with 100 emails a day, instant messaging and collaborative notes.
Standard€4.00
per month
50 GB cloud storage, 15 GB mailbox with unlimited emails a day, and an Office document editor.
Premium€12.00
per month
1,000 GB cloud storage, a 500 GB mailbox with unlimited emails a day, and an Office document editor.
EnterpriseCustom
Offer for companies and local authorities, with a personal cloud for each user. Contact the company.
Zulip
Free$0
On Zulip Cloud: 10,000 messages of search history and 5 GB of storage in total. Self-hosted: every feature, with mobile notifications for up to 10 users.
Self-hosted Basic$3.50
per user / month, billed monthly
Self-hosted server with all Zulip features and unlimited mobile notifications.
Cloud Standard$6.67
per user / month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly)
Unlimited search history, 5 GB of file storage per user, message retention policies, custom groups and priority commercial support.
Self-hosted Business$6.67
per user / month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly)
25 users minimum. Email and chat support for SAML and Entra ID single sign-on, AD/LDAP user sync, compliance exports and retention policies.
Cloud Plus$10
per user / month, billed annually ($12 billed monthly)
10 users minimum. Adds 25 GB of file storage per user, SAML single sign-on, SCIM user and group sync, and a custom domain.
Self-hosted EnterpriseCustom
Email, chat and phone support, OpenID Connect single sign-on, group sync, implementation consulting and custom feature development.
Ways to pay less
Twake
No public discounts listed.
Zulip
- Annual discount
About 17% less with annual billing
Cloud Standard and self-hosted Business cost $6.67 per user / month billed annually against $8 billed monthly, and Cloud Plus is $10 against $12.
- Other savings
$20 a month off self-hosted plans in year one
The plans page advertises $20 per month off the self-hosted Basic and Business plans for the first year.
- Nonprofit
Free Standard plan for eligible organizations
Open-source projects, academic research, non-profit events and non-profits with no paid staff are generally eligible for a free Zulip Cloud Standard plan, by application.
- Education
Education pricing from $0.67 per user
Standard for Education costs $0.67 per user / month for non-profit institutions and $1 for for-profit ones with annual billing, or $0.80 and $1.20 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Twake or Zulip?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Twake starts at €4.00 per month, and Zulip starts at $3.50 per user / month self-hosted (billed monthly); Cloud from $6.67 billed annually. One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Twake or Zulip?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Twake and Zulip have a free plan.
Which platforms do Twake and Zulip run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Zulip lists a web app. Both list macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.