February 10, 2026
Values vs billions: fight night
Zulip.com Values
Zulip promises forever and no investors—fans swoon, skeptics shout “janky”
TLDR: Zulip laid out its values—100% open source, self-hostable, and no venture capital—aiming to be a long-term, reliable chat app. The crowd split: fans praise the thoughtful design and indie ethos, while skeptics drag the mobile experience and doubt any company resists a giant check, making this a trust-versus-reality showdown.
Team chat app Zulip just posted its big “we’re built to last” values: 100% open source (you can run it yourself), zero venture capital (VC) money, and a mission to mentor newcomers—all propped up by careful software craft and some U.S. government SBIR grants (Small Business Innovation Research). But the community? Oh, it split fast. One camp is lighting candles; the other is lighting torches.
On the hype side, a new user called it the “best thought out” chat they’ve used, praising the way it organizes conversations and wishing only for more keyboard magic and a better mobile “recent” view. Another commenter dreams of a real Slack/Discord alternative. The feel-good vibes around “no investors” and “free forever” had people rooting for the little guy.
Then came the roast. A frustrated user slammed Zulip as “janky” and “ugly,” claiming the phone app’s header is broken—instant mood killer. The cynics piled on, warning that values can vanish once a company gets hot, name-dropping Big Tech’s flip-flops and asking who keeps anyone honest. The breakout meme: “Everyone has values… until the billion-dollar check shows up.” Cue the popcorn—the idealists and the skeptics are officially at war.
Key Points
- •Zulip commits to long-term, reliable development, citing uninterrupted service since 2013.
- •Zulip is 100% open source, with full feature parity for self-hosted deployments.
- •The project invests heavily in community mentorship, with 185K words of contributor documentation and over 100 interns since 2016.
- •Zulip’s development is stewarded by Kandra Labs, pursuing sustainability without venture capital, supported by NSF SBIR grants.
- •Zulip sponsors Cloud Standard hosting for open-source, research, education, non-profits, and community groups, with program growth noted.