OJSvsZulip
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| OJS | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62/100 | 82/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 2 in Publishing | #1 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 1 046 | 26 134 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +7 | +184 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 6 |
| Latest release | — | 12.3 · 21 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | PHP | Python |
Which one should you pick?
Zulip scores 82/100 against 62/100 for OJS, so it is the safer default.
Zulip ships more often: 6 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for OJS.
If you want the quickest setup, Zulip is easier to run; OJS needs more configuration.
Zulip is growing faster right now (+184 stars in 30 days).
Swap a project
Keep OJS, compare it with
Keep Zulip, compare it with