Zulip
zulip.com · Team chat
Open-source threaded team chat.
60 items · 57 source threads · 2 source types · updated 2026-08
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Pain points 30
| Item | Area | Severity | Support | Last seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zulip install script wants a whole server, pushing Docker users into poor docs A user spent about seven hours installing Zulip because the supported script takes over the whole machine and the Docker route is thinly documented. Affects: self-hosting admin |
Self-hosting & upgrades | Blocks work | 2 sources | 2026-02 |
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| Zulip web app never loads on an older smartphone A user on an old Android phone says the Zulip web client fails to load at all, even though other heavy pages work. This blocks them from joining a community that lives on Zulip. Affects: user on an older smartphone |
Performance | Blocks work | 2 sources | 2024-10 |
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| Zulip UI hard to recommend to non-technical users A long-time community participant says Zulip's interface is a major weakness and that requests for UI redesign have met resistance. They expect only small tweaks. Affects: teams with non-technical users |
UI & usability | Blocks work | 2 sources | 2022-10 |
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| Zulip communities hide discussion behind a login A visitor sees Zulip mostly used by open source projects that put their community discussion behind a login, which leaves a poor first impression. Affects: visitor to open source communities |
Permissions & security | Annoyance | 2 sources | 2025-12 |
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| Missing E2EE and push notification independence blocks some adopters The commenter notes that for many people the lack of end-to-end encryption and of fully independent self-hosting, due to push notification relay issues, is a deal breaker. Affects: privacy-conscious organizations |
Permissions & security | Causes churn | 1 source | 2026-02 |
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| Reverse proxy in front of Zulip Docker causes endless HTTPS redirect loop Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Self-hosting & upgrades | Blocks work | 1 source | 2026-02 |
| Joining self-hosted Zulip orgs needs yet another account and SSO setup Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Setup & onboarding | Blocks work | 1 source | 2024-07 |
| Free plan message search limited to 10,000 messages Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Pricing & plans | Blocks work | 1 source | 2023-05 |
| GoCD integration guide omits a required URL parameter and bot stays silent Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Documentation | Blocks work | 1 source | 2022-02 |
| Cannot adopt Zulip because deploy platforms lack Zulip integrations Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Integrations | Blocks work | 1 source | 2021-11 |
| Expanding a collapsed long message wipes the text in the compose box Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Reliability & bugs | Blocks work | 1 source | 2020-07 |
| Muting a thread by keyboard is slow and leaves popups covering messages Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Blocks work | 1 source | 2019-11 |
| Easy to accidentally mark messages as read Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Blocks work | 1 source | 2018-11 |
| Search does not match words inside URLs Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Blocks work | 1 source | 2018-04 |
| Old and new Zulip mobile apps feel slow Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Mobile | Blocks work | 1 source | 2018-04 |
| Early Zulip too unfinished to replace HipChat Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Reliability & bugs | Blocks work | 1 source | 2014-03 |
| Zulip mobile web lacks web push while its app is weaker Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Mobile | Annoyance | 1 source | 2026-08 |
| Zulip UI felt sluggish and unpolished Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Performance | Annoyance | 1 source | 2026-03 |
| Compose box flips to edit mode while a message is still sending Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Reliability & bugs | Annoyance | 1 source | 2025-01 |
| Self-hosted push notifications moved behind a paid plan Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Pricing & plans | Annoyance | 1 source | 2023-12 |
| Dragging rows in dark theme leaks light theme colors Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2023-08 |
| Deleted file links give a confusing error Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2022-12 |
| Add-channels tooltip is hidden behind its own menu Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2022-01 |
| Server-side markdown renderer converts tabs in code blocks to spaces Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Reliability & bugs | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-02 |
| Users reply in the wrong topic after reading another one Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2020-12 |
| Delete confirmation gives no details about which message is deleted Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2020-09 |
| Email notifications repeat the same message several times Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Reliability & bugs | Annoyance | 1 source | 2020-07 |
| Long email subjects are cropped to 60 characters in the email gateway Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Integrations | Annoyance | 1 source | 2018-09 |
| Overlapping alert words show a double highlight Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2018-04 |
| Users do not understand why their password is rejected as too weak Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Setup & onboarding | Annoyance | 1 source | 2017-06 |
Feature requests 29
| Item | Area | Severity | Support | Last seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy third-party SSO login for Zulip A user evaluating Zulip for an open source project asks how easy it is to connect Zulip login to a third-party SSO server like Discourse, wanting a single registration point. Affects: open source project admin |
Integrations | Blocks work | 2 sources | 2018-04 |
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| Better video call link generation from the call button The user wishes Zulip could generate video call links more flexibly from the video call button, noting it works well with Jitsi. |
Integrations | Annoyance | 2 sources | 2025-10 |
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| Redesign the interface around channels and threads for beginners A user says UI and ergonomics are the biggest barrier to wider adoption and asks for a redesign that is friendlier to newcomers, noting many people turn away or use Zulip like Slack. Affects: organizations onboarding non-expert users |
UI & usability | Blocks work | 1 source | 2026-02 |
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| Make public channels web-public by default without config edits Making a Zulip organization web-readable takes several manual steps, including editing server config and opting in each channel. The user asks for a simple option that makes public channels web-public by default. Affects: open-source community admins |
Permissions & security | Blocks work | 1 source | 2024-07 |
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| Guest users that cannot see or message other users For use cases like customer support, teams want a more limited guest role whose members cannot message or see users outside shared channels. Affects: teams with customer support guests |
Permissions & security | Blocks work | 1 source | 2018-12 |
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| Jump to a date in message history Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Blocks work | 1 source | 2018-08 |
| End-to-end encryption for group chat Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Permissions & security | Blocks work | 1 source | 2017-08 |
| Add an inbox instead of ephemeral notifications Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2026-02 |
| Tiered channel priorities instead of only muting Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2026-02 |
| Show a clear banner when the API rate limit is exceeded Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2026-01 |
| Visual status cues in the GitHub integration messages Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Integrations | Annoyance | 1 source | 2025-12 |
| Notify message authors about emoji reactions Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2023-10 |
| To-do widget lacks features such as sorting and editing Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Collaboration | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-11 |
| Track who invited whom in a team channel Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Permissions & security | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-10 |
| Copy buttons for bot email and API key Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
API & developer experience | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-10 |
| Filter the stats page charts by channel Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Reporting & analytics | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-09 |
| Slack-compatible outgoing webhook should separate command and text Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
API & developer experience | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-08 |
| Pin topics or messages within a channel Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-08 |
| Make it easy to find org admins Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Permissions & security | Annoyance | 1 source | 2021-05 |
| Clicking an open channel should collapse its topics Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2020-10 |
| Keyboard shortcuts in Zulip cannot be customized Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Customization | Annoyance | 1 source | 2019-11 |
| Add a Grafana integration Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Integrations | Annoyance | 1 source | 2019-08 |
| Setting to increase default font size Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Customization | Annoyance | 1 source | 2019-06 |
| Voice messages like WeChat Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Collaboration | Annoyance | 1 source | 2018-10 |
| Inline previews for audio, video, PDF and docs Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2018-04 |
| Show last online time for users Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
UI & usability | Annoyance | 1 source | 2018-03 |
| Read receipts for messages Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Collaboration | Annoyance | 1 source | 2017-02 |
| Join and leave notifications for private channels Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Collaboration | Annoyance | 1 source | 2016-12 |
| Federation between Zulip servers Locked: summary and evidence are part of Sprint Pass and Pro |
Integrations | Annoyance | 1 source | 2015-12 |
Workarounds 0
Nothing recorded in this category yet.
Switching reasons 1
| Item | Area | Severity | Support | Last seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team chose Slack after Zulip's learning curve and mobile gaps A team liked Zulip's threading but found the learning curve steep for non-technical members and the mobile app missing key features such as share sheet integration. They ended up on Slack instead. Affects: team with non-technical members |
UI & usability | Causes churn | 1 source | 2022-06 |
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