Choosing between Zulip Cloud and self-hosting

Whether signing up for Zulip Cloud or self-hosting Zulip is the right choice for you depends on the needs of your organization.

If you aren’t sure what you need, our high quality export and import tools (cloud, self-hosted) ensure you can always move from our hosting to yours (and back). No matter which option you go with, free or heavily discounted pricing is available for most non-business uses.

Advantages of Zulip Cloud

  • Simple managed solution, with no setup or maintenance overhead. Sign up with just a few clicks.
  • Always updated to the latest version of Zulip.
  • Anyone can start with Zulip Cloud Free.

Advantages of self-hosting Zulip

  • All self-hosted plans offer the same 100% open-source software. Organizations that do not require support with their installation can always use Zulip for free with no limitations.

  • Retain full control over your data and simplify compliance by self-hosting Zulip behind your firewall.

  • We work hard to make it easy to install, back up, and maintain a self-hosted Zulip server. Self-host Zulip directly on Ubuntu or Debian Linux, in Docker, or with prebuilt images for Digital Ocean and Render.

  • Customize Zulip for all your needs. It's easy to develop and maintain custom integrations and features.

Learn more about self-hosting Zulip.