# directus vs Zulip

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | directus | Zulip |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79/100 | 82/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #3 of 13 in Headless CMS | #1 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 38 705 ✓ | 26 133 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +749 ✓ | +190 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 18 ✓ | 6 |
| Latest release | v12.6.0 · 27 Oct 2026 ✓ | 12.3 · 21 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Other | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

Zulip scores 82/100 against 79/100 for directus, so it is the safer default.

directus ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 6 for Zulip.

directus is growing faster right now (+749 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [directus](https://selfhost.directory/project/directus) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/directus.md)
- [Zulip](https://selfhost.directory/project/zulip) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/zulip.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/directus-vs-zulip