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This is well written, but it doesn’t really explain how or why Zulip will maintain its free plan forever. However, the existence of this post also makes Zulip c

This is well written, but it doesn’t really explain how or why Zulip will maintain its free plan forever. However, the existence of this post also makes Zulip committed deeper to not pull the rug on the free plan. Whenever that happens, I’d like to believe that there would be grandfathering for existing users on the free plan (unlike the rug pull that Google attempted with its free GSuite/Workplace offering and decided to not do it after a lot of backlash and bad press). One thing I dislike about these chat platforms is limited message history. The 10,000-messages or 90-day message search history limits are arbitrary as well as too short to be useful for any group that has more than a few members on a specific topic/area. For some (or many?) people, this will be a practical and annoying limitation that makes the platform useless for anything other than trivial chats where history doesn’t matter (except for “this is what you said two days ago”). Instead, they could consider offering very small (?) teams unlimited history. Platforms like Telegram (and Discord too, not sure?) are offering more and more features for free. Enterprise application integrations may be one area where Slack/Mattermost/RocketChat/Zulip may have an advantage for the time being.

alsobrsp 3y ago
I have been using a free plan for over two years. Zulip is awesome and, in my opinion, way better that slack. I use both on a daily basis.
- usr1106 3y ago
  I agree. If I ever have to leave my current job (which could be soonish, startup and runway you know...) one of the things I'll miss most is the clean messaging experience provided by zulip. Everyone who likes the HN UX should be comfortable with zulip, even if it's quite a bit richer in details. We run our zulip on a smallish EC2 instance. It's probably less than a Euro/month/employee.
  - dijit 3y ago
    We pay zulip for their hosted version, which works out cheaper than slack and in any event I would like to support the development. I have had pushback from non-technical staff (and pushback from tech workers for a week, but now they seem to be very happy aside from UX bugs esp with the mobile app). If you're ever looking for work, we are hiring across the board, fully remote in Sweden or Germany. (due to tax!)
    - usr1106 3y ago
      Sponsoring their development is a good point. Thanks for the hint. As a German speaking Swedish that could be a great fit. I have coded a component for Lamborghini but not a part of my career I am particularly proud of. There should be smarter things to do than ruining the planet. So don't expect an application despite of zulip ;)
      - dijit 3y ago
        > There should be smarter things to do than ruining the planet. Hopefully my sim racing game that I am building will be good enough that we can stop wasting so much fuel on real cars. :)
        usr1106 3y ago
        Yeah, the game is not the problem. But customers admiring fast cars wouldn't really inspire me. Not my world, sorry.
- Jill_the_Pill 3y ago
  Fully agree -- professor hosting college classes on Zulip after leaving Slack
sigstoat 3y ago
> This is well written, but it doesn’t really explain how or why Zulip will maintain its free plan forever. i don't see anywhere zulip has made that claim, merely that it is currently free. in fact, it explains that they're careful about what promises they make, so that they don't end up having to break them.
- CUViper 3y ago
  In the conclusion: > We fully expect to continue offering the Zulip Cloud Free plan indefinitely,
  - tormeh 3y ago
    That merely says that there is no plan that the writer knows of to pull the plug on you. And indefinitely is a duration of currently undefined length, not infinite length.
  - sigstoat 3y ago
    which isn't a promise that it will be "free forever". in the context of the rest of the article, it's not even an attempt to mislead you into thinking it will be free forever. though it is apparently enough to base willful misunderstanding on.
  - TheCleric 3y ago
    And their broader thrust in the post is less the forever and more of the "own your mistakes". Don't pretend like you never had a free forever plan. Their promise seems to be less "we'll ACTUALLY be free forever" and more "we're free right now, but if that's going to change, we'll communicate with you".

alsobrsp 3y ago

I have been using a free plan for over two years. Zulip is awesome and, in my opinion, way better that slack. I use both on a daily basis.

usr1106 3y ago
I agree. If I ever have to leave my current job (which could be soonish, startup and runway you know...) one of the things I'll miss most is the clean messaging experience provided by zulip. Everyone who likes the HN UX should be comfortable with zulip, even if it's quite a bit richer in details. We run our zulip on a smallish EC2 instance. It's probably less than a Euro/month/employee.
- dijit 3y ago
  We pay zulip for their hosted version, which works out cheaper than slack and in any event I would like to support the development. I have had pushback from non-technical staff (and pushback from tech workers for a week, but now they seem to be very happy aside from UX bugs esp with the mobile app). If you're ever looking for work, we are hiring across the board, fully remote in Sweden or Germany. (due to tax!)
  - usr1106 3y ago
    Sponsoring their development is a good point. Thanks for the hint. As a German speaking Swedish that could be a great fit. I have coded a component for Lamborghini but not a part of my career I am particularly proud of. There should be smarter things to do than ruining the planet. So don't expect an application despite of zulip ;)
    - dijit 3y ago
      > There should be smarter things to do than ruining the planet. Hopefully my sim racing game that I am building will be good enough that we can stop wasting so much fuel on real cars. :)
      - usr1106 3y ago
        Yeah, the game is not the problem. But customers admiring fast cars wouldn't really inspire me. Not my world, sorry.
Jill_the_Pill 3y ago
Fully agree -- professor hosting college classes on Zulip after leaving Slack

sigstoat 3y ago

> This is well written, but it doesn’t really explain how or why Zulip will maintain its free plan forever. i don't see anywhere zulip has made that claim, merely that it is currently free. in fact, it explains that they're careful about what promises they make, so that they don't end up having to break them.

CUViper 3y ago
In the conclusion: > We fully expect to continue offering the Zulip Cloud Free plan indefinitely,
- tormeh 3y ago
  That merely says that there is no plan that the writer knows of to pull the plug on you. And indefinitely is a duration of currently undefined length, not infinite length.
- sigstoat 3y ago
  which isn't a promise that it will be "free forever". in the context of the rest of the article, it's not even an attempt to mislead you into thinking it will be free forever. though it is apparently enough to base willful misunderstanding on.
- TheCleric 3y ago
  And their broader thrust in the post is less the forever and more of the "own your mistakes". Don't pretend like you never had a free forever plan. Their promise seems to be less "we'll ACTUALLY be free forever" and more "we're free right now, but if that's going to change, we'll communicate with you".