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+Zulip connects communities of all kinds by making it easy to chat real-time or
+async. Why are communities choosing Zulip over Discord, WhatsApp, Slack,
+Facebook, and other apps you might consider? Zulip provides:
+
+- A platform that helps [community members to
+  connect](#encourage-all-community-members-to-connect-real-time-or-async) and
+  [communities to grow](#grow-your-community).
+- A comprehensive [moderation
+  toolkit](#a-moderation-toolkit-that-offers-everything-you-need).
+- Control over [how to sign up](#as-public-as-you-want-it-to-be), and a [public
+  access option](#as-public-as-you-want-it-to-be).
+- [An open-source platform](#open-source-platform-where-your-data-is-yours),
+  where your data is yours.
+- [A free version, discounted pricing, and full
+  sponsorships](#free-version-discounted-pricing-and-full-sponsorships-available).
+
+> The core of the Recurse Center is the community, and the core of our online
+> community is Zulip… Switching to Zulip has turned out to be one of the best
+> decisions we’ve made, and it’s impossible to imagine RC today without it. No
+> other tool has a user experience that scales to a community of our size.
+>
+> — Nick Bergson-Shilcock, founder and CEO, [Recurse
+> Center](https://www.recurse.com/); [learn how the Recurse Center uses
+> Zulip](/case-studies/recurse-center/)
+
+If you're considering Zulip for [an open-source project](/for/open-source/) or
+[research collaboration](/for/research), check out our dedicated guides.
+
+## Encourage all community members to connect, real-time or async
+
+When people are online at the same time, a lightweight real-time chat experience
+encourages active participation, and makes interactions feel more personal.
+
+![](/static/images/landing-page/research/interactive_messaging_day_2.png)
+
+But community participants are often online only for a short while each day, or
+they drop by every week or two to check on what's happening. A forum-style
+experience makes it easier for them to participate async.
+
+<div class="text-image-in-row">
+  <p class="text-image-in-row-text">
+    With conversations organized by topic, Zulip combines the best of both worlds.
+    You get seamless real-time communication, with a chronological feed of messages
+    in each conversation, typing notifications, presence indicators, status emoji
+    — everything you might expect from a modern chat experience.
+<br/><br/>
+    At the same time, community members can read one conversation at a time, so
+    it's easy to circle back to a topic hours later, the next day, or next week.
+  </p>
+  <img class="text-image-in-row-image" src="/static/images/landing-page/research/streams_and_topics_day.png" alt="Illustration of channels and topics list in Zulip">
+</div>
+
+> When we made the switch to [@zulip](https://twitter.com/zulip) a few months
+> ago for chat, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it was going to become
+> the beating heart of the community, and so quickly. It&#39;s a game changer.
+> 🧑‍💻🗨️👩‍💻
+
+> — Dan Allen (@mojavelinux), [June 29,
+2021](https://twitter.com/mojavelinux/status/1409702273400201217) &nbsp;
+
+## A moderation toolkit that offers everything you need
+
+Zulip's [moderation toolkit](/help/moderating-open-organizations) lets you:
+
+- Skim the [combined message feed](/help/combined-feed) or [browse
+  conversations](/help/recent-conversations) to find where moderator attention
+  is needed.
+- Keep discussions organized by [moving](/help/move-content-to-another-channel)
+  conversations, or [splitting](/help/move-content-to-another-topic) them when
+  they digress.
+- Address bad behavior, for example by
+  [banning](/help/deactivate-or-reactivate-a-user) the offender and
+  [deleting](/help/delete-a-message) their messages.
+- Fight spam in an open community, for example by [prohibiting disposable email
+  addresses](/help/restrict-account-creation#dont-allow-disposable-domains).
+- [Restrict permissions](/help/restrict-permissions-of-new-members) for new
+  users.
+
+Community members can [mute](/help/mute-a-user) anyone who's bothering them.
+
+### Delegate moderation responsibilities
+
+Permissions in Zulip can be granted to any combination of
+[roles](/help/user-roles), [groups](/help/user-groups), and individual
+[users](/help/introduction-to-users), so trusted community members can help
+moderate. In larger communities, different people can
+[administer](/help/configure-who-can-administer-a-channel) different channels.
+
+## Grow your community
+
+### Lots of activity, but no chaos
+
+On Zulip, dozens of discussions can happen in parallel,
+without getting in each other's way: Zulip's
+[channels](/help/introduction-to-channels) and
+[topics](/help/introduction-to-topics) create dedicated spaces for each
+conversation.
+
+Participants can ask a question or kick off a new discussion without having to worry
+about interrupting.
+
+> Zulip helped the FHIR community grow from a tiny group of dreamers to 500
+> active users sending 6000 messages per month, all driving the creation of
+> better healthcare standards. Zulip’s topic-based threading helps us manage
+> simultaneous discussions with clarity, ensuring the right people can pay
+> attention to the right messages. This makes our large-group discussion far
+> more manageable than what we’ve experienced with Skype and Slack.
+
+> — Grahame Grieve, founder, FHIR health care standards body
+
+### Occasional participants welcome
+
+Community members often have just a bit of time to participate, and folks
+with the deepest expertise might also be the most busy. To stay connected with your
+group, they need to quickly discover conversations that are interesting to them
+when they drop by.
+
+With traditional chat tools like Discord or WhatsApp, occasional participants
+usually skim just the last few messages. If those messages don't spark interest,
+they'll bounce for the day, and eventually stop coming by altogether.
+
+Zulip's list of [recent conversations](/help/recent-conversations) offers a
+quick overview of what's been happening in your community. It's easy to scan the
+list of topics to find which ones you want to dive into.
+
+> I had never engaged with the Changelog podcast community in Slack because I
+> always got too overwhelmed with the linear flow of conversations. Topic based
+> systems are such a fresh breath of air.
+
+> — [Siddhartha Golu](https://www.siddharthagolu.com/),
+>   [Changelog](https://changelog.com/podcast) community member
+
+### Many ways to participate
+
+You can use Zulip from the browser, a [desktop app](/apps), and Android and iOS
+mobile devices. If you prefer a [Terminal
+app](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-terminal#readme) or just want to use it
+[from your email](/help/using-zulip-via-email), you can do that too.
+
+Zulip's apps offer lots of ways to customize your experience, including [dark
+and light themes](/help/dark-theme), flexible [font size](/help/font-size) and
+[line spacing](/help/line-spacing), configurable [notification
+options](/help/channel-notifications), and much more. There are convenient
+[keyboard shortcuts](/help/keyboard-shortcuts) for all the common actions.
+
+Zulip's UI is translated into over two dozen [languages](/help/change-your-language).
+
+## As public as you want it to be
+
+Your community can require an invitation to join, or you can [allow anyone to
+create an
+account](/help/restrict-account-creation#set-whether-invitations-are-required-to-join).
+You can use:
+
+- [Private channels](/help/channel-permissions#private-channels) for
+  conversations only some community members should have access to (e.g.,
+  discussions among organizers).
+- [Public channels](/help/channel-permissions#public-channels) for
+  conversations all community members can see.
+- [Web-public channels](/help/channel-permissions#web-public-channels) for
+  discussions anyone on the internet should be able to read without logging in.
+  Posting always requires log in.
+
+## Open-source platform, where your data is yours
+
+Zulip is [100% open-source software](https://github.com/zulip), so you always
+know what you're running. There are no ads, and we [don't sell your
+data](https://zulip.com/policies/privacy#how-we-share-your-personal-data), or
+[feed it to AI
+models](https://blog.zulip.com/2024/05/23/self-hosting-keeps-your-private-data-out-of-ai-models/).
+
+If you're looking for a simple, reliable SaaS solution, it only takes
+a minute to [sign up for Zulip Cloud](https://zulip.com/new/). It's
+professionally operated and is always up to date with the latest
+features.
+
+For full control over your data, follow our simple [installation
+instructions](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/production/install.html) to
+host Zulip yourself. If you like, you can develop [custom
+integrations](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/webhooks/incoming-webhooks-overview.html)
+and [features](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/production/modify.html). If
+your needs change, you can always move [from self-hosting to Zulip
+Cloud](/help/move-to-zulip-cloud) or [the other
+way](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/production/export-and-import.html#import-into-a-new-zulip-server).
+
+> We just moved the Lichess team (~100 persons) to <a
+> href="https://twitter.com/zulip">@zulip</a>, and I&#39;m loving it. The topics
+> in particular make it vastly superior to slack &amp; discord, when it comes to
+> dealing with many conversations. Zulip is also open-source!
+
+> — <a href="https://twitter.com/ornicar">Thibault D (@ornicar)</a>
+
+## Free version, discounted pricing, and full sponsorships available
+
+We sponsor over 1,500 organizations, and most non-business uses of Zulip are
+eligible for discounted pricing or full sponsorship.
+
+- **Zulip Cloud:** Many communities that are working towards the public good are
+  eligible for a fully sponsored [Zulip Cloud Standard plan](/plans/#cloud).
+  Other community groups pay a highly discounted rate, or use [Zulip Cloud
+  Free](/plans/#cloud). [Learn
+  more.](/help/zulip-cloud-billing#free-and-discounted-zulip-cloud-standard)
+
+- **Self-hosting**: Communities and personal organizations (clubs,
+  groups of friends, volunteer groups, etc.) are eligible for our
+  [Community plan](/help/self-hosted-billing#free-community-plan) for
+  self-hosted organizations.
+
+## Other apps you might consider
+
+We’ve talked to hundreds of people about their experiences with
+community chat. Here are some reasons why folks choose Zulip over
+other apps you might consider for hosting your community.
+
+> Zulip makes all my Slack and Discord communities feel tedious by comparison.
+>
+> — AJ Kerrigan, [Changelog](https://changelog.com/podcast) community member
+
+### Group chat apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Messenger, etc.)
+
+Group chat apps can be convenient for small or low-activity groups,
+but managing an active community quickly becomes unwieldy. Having more
+than one conversation at a time in a single group chat feels chaotic,
+and membership management is a big pain if you try to solve that by
+using several group chats.
+
+### Discord
+
+In Discord, only the latest messages are easy to read and reply
+to. Many less frequent participants will miss much of what's
+happening in an active community.
+
+You're also subjecting community members to intrusive in-app
+advertising, even if they purchase Discord's paid plans.
+
+### Slack
+
+Like Discord, Slack doesn't work well for less frequent participants in an
+active community. Additionally, on Slack's free plan, messages are hidden after
+90 days, and are permanently deleted after a year. Slack's paid plans are
+generally unaffordable for community use.
+
+### Facebook
+
+On Facebook, your relationship with your community is mediated by
+algorithms: even replies to a user's own post are by default resorted
+and partially hidden from them. From Meta's perspective, advertisers
+are the customers, and your attention is the product being sold.
+
+> I highly recommend Zulip to other communities… Slack is a no-go for many due
+> to not being FLOSS, and I’m concerned about vendor lock-in if they were to
+> stop being so generous. Slack’s threading model is much worse than Zulip’s
+> IMO. The channels/topics flow is an incredibly intuitive way to keep track of
+> everything that is going on.
+>
+> — RJ Ryan, Mixxx Developer