Productivity

What are the best open source alternatives to Slack?

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Matrix vs Element (formerly Riot) vs Rocket.Chat

 vs Mattermost vs IRC vs Shout vs Zulip vs Discord vs PrivMX Fusion

Specs

Platforms

Mac/Windows/Linux/Android/Browser/iOS/and more

VoIP

Yes

Price

FREE

Open source

Yes

Decentralized

Yes

Service integrations

-

License

-

Audio recording

-

Message history

-

File Sharing

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

-

DIY integrations

-

Screensharing

-

Videoconferencing

-

Private Channels

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Platforms

MacOS, Windows, Linux, Android, Browser, iOS

VoIP

Yes

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

Yes

License

Apache License 2.0

Audio recording

Yes

Message history

Yes

File Sharing

Yes

Publisher

New Vector Ltd

End-to-end encryption

Yes (optional)

Media

All File Types

Hosting options

-

DIY integrations

-

Screensharing

-

Videoconferencing

-

Private Channels

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Platforms

Web iOS Android OSX Windows Linux

VoIP

-

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

Yes

License

M.I.T.

Audio recording

-

Message history

Unlimited

File Sharing

Yes

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

On premises & On Rocket.Chat

DIY integrations

Yes

Screensharing

Yes

Videoconferencing

Yes

Private Channels

Yes

iOS Client

Yes

Mac OS Client

Yes

Real-time collaboration

Yes

Push Notifications

Yes

Integrations

Unlimited

Support

Yes

IRC Gateway

Yes

Public Channels

Yes

Custom Domain

Yes

Live Streaming

Yes

LDAP / Active Directory

Real Time Sync

LiveChat

Yes

Migration Assistance

Yes

Social Network Login

Yes

Audio to Text Conversion

Yes

High Scalability cluster

Yes

Omni-channel Integrations

Messenger, Twillio, Whatsapp, Slack, Telegram

Discussion

Yes

Analytics Reporting

Yes

White Label

Yes

Customizable User Permission

Yes

Multi-language Interface

Yes

Audit Logs

Yes

Multifactor Authentication

Yes

Desktop App

Windows, MacOs, Linux

Threads

Yes

Broadcast Channel

Yes

Read Receipt

Yes

Auditing Panel

Yes

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Platforms

Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux

VoIP

-

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

Yes - Atlassian, Webhooks, Chatbots, Extensions

License

MIT

Audio recording

-

Message history

-

File Sharing

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

Self-hosted

DIY integrations

Yes - API Library, OAuth 2.0 Apps, Zapier App with over 700 Integrations

Screensharing

-

Videoconferencing

-

Private Channels

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Platforms

Web iOS Android WP OSX Windows Linux

VoIP

-

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

No

License

-

Audio recording

-

Message history

-

File Sharing

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

Hosted & self-hosted

DIY integrations

Yes

Screensharing

No

Videoconferencing

-

Private Channels

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

No

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Platforms

-

VoIP

-

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

-

License

-

Audio recording

-

Message history

-

File Sharing

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

-

DIY integrations

-

Screensharing

-

Videoconferencing

-

Private Channels

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Platforms

Web, iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, terminal

VoIP

-

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

Yes

License

Apache 2

Audio recording

-

Message history

-

File Sharing

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

Hosted and Self-hosted

DIY integrations

Yes

Screensharing

-

Videoconferencing

-

Private Channels

-

iOS Client

Yes

Mac OS Client

Yes

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Platforms

Web, Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android

VoIP

-

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

-

License

-

Audio recording

No

Message history

-

File Sharing

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

-

DIY integrations

-

Screensharing

Yes

Videoconferencing

Yes

Private Channels

Yes

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

Yes

Groups

Yes

Video recording

No

Open-Source

No

User Groups

Yes

Security Score

15/20

Server Stored Messages

Permanent

Channel Settings

Yes

Jurisdiction

United States

Peer-to-Peer

No

Animated Profile

Only with Discord Nitro

Upload File Size

8 MB free, 50 or 100 MB paid

Platforms

-

VoIP

-

Price

-

Open source

-

Decentralized

-

Service integrations

-

License

-

Audio recording

-

Message history

-

File Sharing

-

Publisher

-

End-to-end encryption

-

Media

-

Hosting options

-

DIY integrations

-

Screensharing

-

Videoconferencing

-

Private Channels

-

iOS Client

-

Mac OS Client

-

Real-time collaboration

-

Push Notifications

-

Integrations

-

Support

-

IRC Gateway

-

Public Channels

-

Custom Domain

-

Live Streaming

-

LDAP / Active Directory

-

LiveChat

-

Migration Assistance

-

Social Network Login

-

Audio to Text Conversion

-

High Scalability cluster

-

Omni-channel Integrations

-

Discussion

-

Analytics Reporting

-

White Label

-

Customizable User Permission

-

Multi-language Interface

-

Audit Logs

-

Multifactor Authentication

-

Desktop App

-

Threads

-

Broadcast Channel

-

Read Receipt

-

Auditing Panel

-

Native videoconferencing

-

Search

-

Groups

-

Video recording

-

Open-Source

-

User Groups

-

Security Score

-

Server Stored Messages

-

Channel Settings

-

Jurisdiction

-

Peer-to-Peer

-

Animated Profile

-

Upload File Size

-

Pros + Cons

Pro
 Built on an open standard

Matrix is an open standard, defining simple HTTP APIs so that devs can easily write their own clients, bots, bridges or servers. You're not locked into a specific set of implementations.
Comment

Pro
 Bridges other networks into a single decentralised network

Matrix has bridges to IRC (freenode, moznet, oftc, snoonet etc), Slack, Gitter, Rocket.Chat, XMPP, SMS, SIP and others. The point is to 'matrix' all the different networks out there into one single decentralised network.
Comment

Pro
 Has an easy to use client called Riot

Riot.im is the easiest way to use Matrix, with great clients for Web, iOS and Android (and Fdroid).
Comment

Pro
 Does not require a centralized server to establish a connection between two users

Matrix is decentralized, there's no one central point that the information goes through and so no once central point of failure or control.
Comment

Pro
 Matrix prioritizes direct messaging with people the same as Slack-style groups

Matrix aims to "provide an analogous ecosystem to email - one where you can communicate with pretty much anyone, without caring what app or server they are using" using a neutral identity system.
Comment

Pro
 Supports different kinds of communication

Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling (voice and video) and Internet of Things communication.
Comment

Pro
 Has an app store for 3rd party integrations & bots

Riot.im includes an app store with integrations for Github, JIRA, Jenkins, Giphy etc - and anyone can add more via Matrix.
Comment

Pro
 Offers choice of clients

Which can be found here.
Comment

Pro
 Maintains full conversation history

Comment

Pro
 Has an active community behind it

Comment

Pro
 Can be integrated with existing communication services

Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling and Internet of Things communication and allows cross-communication between those services. Meaning one person could be using IRC and another Slack for IMs, or one person could be using Skype and another Google Hangouts for videoconferencing.
Comment

Con
 Keys cannot be checked automatically

You cannot automatically check keys of your recipients. Only manually.
Comment

Pro
 End-to-end encryption

Matrix features end-to-end encrypted chats which are syncronized accross all your devices. E2E is implemented in the matrix-js-sdk library and Riot.im client.
Comment

Con
 User Interface of stable clients not easy to learn for "non-IT-people"

The user interface of the most popular clients can confuse the test-users in your company (even devs or sysadmins) with lots of verification requests, too many buttons.
Comment

Con
 Can only "redact" a posted message but neither "delete" nor "edit" it

The ability to edit a posted message is a powerful feature that has come to be expected since the rise of social media. Several other major chat platforms include this feature. Matrix.org's protocols enable you to "redact" a message (mark it as redacted whereas it is removed from view), but not truly delete or edit it. Deletion and editing are in the works, but in the meantime... CON.
Comment

Con
 End-to-end encryption is in beta

E2E beta landed in Nov 2016 with the most popular Matrix client having already implemented E2E. It should be out of beta by February-March 2017. The big remaining limitations are: 1. bad UX when verifying devices, 2. inability to share E2E history to new devices, 3. various annoying bugs where E2E messages aren't decryptable, but these are almost all fixed now.
Comment

Pro
 Cross-platform

Web browser, Linux, OSX, Windows, Android, and iOS.
Comment

Pro
 Self-hosting and federated network

Comment

Pro
 Search

Search messages in your current room, or all the rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack.
Comment

Pro
 Large existing community

With public rooms for many people, and you can create your own and let people from the community join.
Comment

Pro
 Bridges to other networks

You're not confined within Riot's or even Matrix garden, and you don't have to make users of other networks switch to Matrix.
Comment

Pro
 Decentralized

An open network for secure, decentralized communication.
Comment

Pro
 Free/libre and open source software

Comment

Pro
 Supports encryption

Riot allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting.
Comment

Pro
 Widgets support

Want to watch that flick at YouTube and discuss it at the same time? Have Grafana graphs stacked above your DevOps team chat? Collaboratively edit Google Docs and chat over without switching applications? This is possible with Riot.
Comment

Pro
 Simple interface

Riot has a very simple interface, adding the ability for more unexperienced users to use it.
Comment

Pro
 VOIP and videoconferencing

Comment

Pro
 Supports text, voice, video

Comment

Pro
 File sharing

Comment

Pro
 Etherpad real-time document collaboration

An easy to activate integration that allows multiple authors to edit a document simultaneously.
Comment

Pro
 Libre/open source

Comment

Pro
 Supports encryption

Element allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting.
Comment

Pro
 Markdown support

Code snippets in chats can be highlighted with Markdown.
Comment

Pro
 Native apps for all major desktop and mobile platforms 

Rocket.Chat has native apps for OSX, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
Comment

Pro
 Free and open source

Rocket.Chat is available for free. It's licensed under the MIT license with source code available on GitHub.
Comment

Pro
 Live Chat widget

Easily embed chat on your website and talk to guests
Comment

Pro
 Supports a wide variety of authentication methods 

In addition to the usual email / username + password combination, Rocket.Chat supports authenticating via facebook, github, gitlab, google, linkedin, meteor and twitter accounts.
Comment

Pro
 Available as a hosted version

Avoid having to setup servers and install the codebase through RocketChatLauncher (https://rocketchatlauncher.com)
Comment

Pro
 Video conferencing support

Rocket.Chat supports video calls.
Comment

Pro
 Customizable UI (colors, logo & more)

Comment

Pro
 Record multimedia using your computer's camera and mic - instantly add these to any chat

Comment

Pro
 Threading

Threaded conversations are now supported along with the full stream.
Comment

Pro
 Rapid develoment progress

The Rocket.Chat community is adding and improving capabilities rapidly.
Comment

Pro
 Will allow for anonymous use 

Comment

Pro
 Trusted steward for community collaboration data

Communities running Rocket.Chat can host their community's collaborative history with someone they trust (even members of their community) and not be beholden to a 3rd party.
Comment

Pro
 Very active and helpful community

Comment

Pro
 Members can press a button to instantly embed their location as a flat map linked to their actual coordinates on Google Maps

Comment

Con
 Poor iOS applications

The iOS applications are not really native, being just a browser container. This means that they UX is quite poor, slow, buttons hard to press. At this moment they do not provide a decent experience.
Comment

Con
 Features not available out of the box

Comment

Con
 Web client loses images

In chat rooms with images, before very long, images start to become empty boxes. Useless to pass around visual information
Comment

Con
 Developer support is non-existent

Can't even create a clean Ubuntu VM with a working developer install. Unresolved dependencies; fails to build. Docs are terrible; actual devs don't respond to questions; error messages are near-opaque. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
Comment

Con
 No way to block new registrations

Without the ability to disable registrations, there's no way to control access to the chat.
Comment

Con
 Email required for registration

Comment

Pro
 Understands markdown better than Slack does.

Links work properly, for instance, with square brackets followed by parentheses.
Comment

Con
 Centralized

Rocket.Chat is a centralized server which is able to integrate or connect other servers and even other chat solutions with webhooks, bridges and many integrations like SlackBridge, Zapier, WhatsApp (Twilio).
Comment

Con
 No chat audit for enterprise

Comment

Con
 Works extremely bad comparing to riot

Comment

Con
 Multiple Android apps (was: "Poor Android application")

The Android application was just a badly wrapped webview which did not perform well and had no form of offline caching whatsoever. But that's really outdated. You have multiple options and the recommended client app is written in React Native.
Comment

Pro
 Allows configuration and customisation

You have a very complete administration backend with a huge amount of options. No fiddling in config files necessary.
Comment

Con
 Requires e-mail for registration

Comment

Con
 No theme customization

Comment

Con
 Poor security implementations / protocols

Comment

Con
 Privacy settings are absent

Privacy settings for the server are absent, for instance, you don't have the ability to disable registrations, there's no way to control access to the chat.
Comment

Con
 No web browser support

Comment

Pro
 Can be self-hosted

You don't need to rely on someone else's servers, you can host Mattermost on your own server.
Comment

Pro
 One-line Docker install 

With Docker set up, you can install Mattermost with the following command: docker run --name mattermost-dev -d --publish 8065:80 mattermost/platform For other cases, installation instructions can be found here.
Comment

Pro
 Similar to Slack

Almost all features of Slack are available in Mattermost.
Comment

Con
 No easy End-to-End Encryption setup

Comment

Pro
 Free - OpenSource

You can download and use it as free for self-hosted server.
Comment

Con
 Features not available out of the box

Difficult to setup the many features it offers. The easy docker installation is for the application only, not it's feature sets. Requires a license for full-set of features.
Comment

Pro
 Mobile apps for android and iOS

Comment

Pro
 You can change theme

Comment

Pro
 Desktop app for MacOS, Linux and Windows

Comment

Pro
 Browser notifications

Comment

Pro
 Mark-Down support

Yes, it supports markdown.
Comment

Con
 Centralized

Comment

Con
 Poorly made iOS app

Built natively using React it suffers from unresponsiveness, input lag, and sometimes broken services. Coupled with a bad user experience.
Comment

Con
 Poorly made Android app

The Android application is just a badly wrapped web-view which does not perform well and has no form of offline caching whatsoever.
Comment

Con
 Self-Hosted

This doesn't work for every type of company. Mainly great for those concerned with privacy, security, compliance and control of your data/information.
Comment

Pro
 iOS and Android Apps

Comment

Con
 Poor Android application

Mattermost's Android application is thus far (2017-01-10) still just a poorly wrapped webview with the usual performance problems and a lack of offline functionality.
Comment

Con
 No official desktop apps

Mattermost has official apps for Android and iOS, but there are no official apps for any of the desktop OSs. There are, however, unofficial apps that can be found here.
Comment

Pro
 Open protocol

The IRC protocol is public and open, it is mature and stable, and has been implemented in numerous projects. This means that it can be used freely, for both open-source and commercial projects.
Comment

Pro
 Less distracting

Compared to other common solutions, IRC can be ignored when you are occupied doing something else. Most clients don't pester you with sounds or distracting visuals.
Comment

Pro
 Solid

IRC is tried and tested.
Comment

Pro
 Familiar to lots of developers

Comment

Pro
 Mentions

Every notable IRC client supports mentions - notifying you when your name is mentioned in the chat.
Comment

Pro
 Robust management of channels

Many server side scripts can be implemented for Bots, and other command activated and automatic control of channels and users, and authority. It is also possible to use scripts to mute the channel for announcements, screen messages for abusive language and kicking abusive users from the channel as a punishment, or handling moderators, sub operators.
Comment

Pro
 Flexible

IRC offers choice. Choice in clients (mobile, desktop, web), in scripts those clients run, in servers and features those servers have. You can even set up your own server.
Comment

Pro
 Multiple frontends available

IRC has clients for practically all platforms. It has clients on Windows, Linux, OSX, Android, iOS, etc.
Comment

Pro
 Great historic importance

Twitter hashtags came from IRC channel names.
Comment

Pro
 Versatile

IRC offers choice. Choice in clients (mobile, desktop, web), in scripts those clients run, in servers and features those servers have. You can even set up your own server.
Comment

Pro
 Hundreds of avaliable clients

IRC has been around since 1988, so there is a ton of existing software to work with it. Everything from clients, to chat bots, to bouncers is already built.
Comment

Pro
 User-friendly

IRC is user friendly if you use something like hexchat or kiwi webchat.
Comment

Con
 No way to catch up on messages that were sent while you were disconnected

Comment

Con
 Can't edit messages after they've been sent

Comment

Con
 Fragmented identity model

Comment

Con
 Poor multimedia support

Sending anything besides text is not easy or intuitive and depends on the client. You can't send files to a channel and sending files between two users requires making sure that both have dcc (or xdcc for larger files) set up and enabled in their respective clients. There are no link previews and files aren't kept track of.
Comment

Con
 Convoluted setup

The server isn't exactly a walk in the park to set up, and there are lots of options to choose from.
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Con
 Scary for newcomers

If you've never used IRC before, it's hard to find your bearings. More time is spent understanding how it works than actually using it.
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Con
 Advanced functionality is client-dependant

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Con
 Assumes some level of prior knowledge

The features are not discoverable the way they are in other apps and services. You will need at least basic knowledge of IRC commands, and you will need to read through documentation of your client to find to if certain actions are possible and how to perform them.
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Con
 Doesn't manage presence

Users have to manually set away messages or away nicks to notify other users that they are not currently available. However, there are certain server types that can be configured to automatically set a user's presence status.
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Con
 Lacks searchable history

Beyond the client, unless you are running a special server based "BNC" or bouncer, you will have no access to history. There is a solution to this, but it is not easy to configure or use as a side service.
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Con
 Lacks searchable history

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Pro
 Always connected

Unlike most other web IRC clients, Shout will stay connected even when you close the browser. It will allow you to see conversations that happened while you were away.
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Con
 No native apps

It's only available as a webapp.
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Con
 Doesn't manage presence

Users have to manually set away messages or away nicks to notify other users that they are not currently available.
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Con
 Pressing escape will disconnect you

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Con
 Can't send files

You can only share links to files, no way to share files directly between users.
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Con
 This service isn't available.

in the browsers Chrome and Firefox
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Pro
 Open source

Released under the Apache License 2.0.
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Pro
 Fine-grained control over notifications

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Pro
 Really nice power user reading experience

Zulip's saves me a ton of time catching up and responding to hundreds of messages, even if I'm online for many hours at a time.
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Pro
 Topic-based threading

Messages are threaded by topics, helping you have long-running, organized conversations. Also makes it easier for people not always on chat (like managers, remote team members, contractors, part-time workers, etc) to weigh in on questions and decisions, and for people in different timezones to effectively communicate. Also makes it really easy to catch up on 100s of messages, since they are organized into threads, and you can skip the threads that aren't relevant to you.
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Pro
 Great search

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Pro
 Keyboard shortcuts

The workflow is very smooth.
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Pro
 Ability to link to conversations

Means you can refer to conversations later, in Zulip or other places (email, github, docs, etc).
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Pro
 Helps keep track of different conversations

Instead of rooms or channels, Zulip is built around topics. This allows you to have multiple conversations at the same time without conversations interfering with each another. It also allows you to reference conversations without clutter.
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Pro
 Easy asynchronous conversations

Its threaded model helps people working in different timezones communicate effectively.
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