SlackVault and Zulip: History Limits, Plans and Self-Hosting

SlackVault and ZulipAn open-source team chat offered as a cloud service or self-hosted, with history limits set out plainly per plan.Last checked November 7, 2026. Check Zulip for yourselfSlackVault is not affiliated with or endorsed by Slack.Which one suits youChoose Zulip if you are open to a different chat model and want a free self-hosted option where every feature is included and your history stays on your server.Choose SlackVault if the team is staying in Slack and you want its channel and DM messages kept in your own Firebase project.What each one costs

SlackVault: Forever Free

Zulip Cloud Free

$0 / month

10,000 messages of search history; 5 GB file storage total

Their page

Zulip Cloud Standard

$6.67 / month

per user, billed annually; $8 billed monthly; unlimited search history; 5 GB per user

Their page

Zulip Cloud Plus

$10 / month

per user, billed annually; $12 billed monthly; 25 GB per user

Their page

Self-hosted Free

$0 / month

all Zulip features included

Their page

Self-hosted Business

$3.50 / month

per user, billed monthly

Their page

Side by side

Saves public channel messages

Yes

Not stated on the pages we checked

Saves private channel messages

Yes

Not stated on the pages we checked

Saves direct messages and group DMs

Yes

Not stated on the pages we checked

Saves thread replies

Yes: A thread that fails to save is skipped, not retried

Not stated on the pages we checked

Saves shared files

Yes: File details always; copies only at a public link on our storage, when switched on

Not stated on the pages we checked

Runs on its own on a schedule

Yes: Every 15 minutes, while the browser runs

Not stated on the pages we checked

Copy lives in storage you control

Partly: Messages in your Firebase project; file copies are not in your storage

Yes: self-hosting on your own servers Their page

Search across the saved history

Yes: The most recent page of messages, up to 50 per query

Partly: Cloud Free: 10,000 messages of search history; Standard and above unlimited Their page

Export to open file formats

Yes: JSON, CSV, HTML and Markdown

Yes: export and import tools to move between cloud and self-hosting Their page

Works without workspace admin rights

Partly: No admin scopes, though a workspace can require approval for new apps

Not stated on the pages we checked

Puts records back into Slack

No: No way yet to send records back into Slack

Not stated on the pages we checked

Free plan with no time limit

Yes

Yes Their page

What SlackVault does today, and what it does not

Messages, channels, members and file records go to your own Firebase project. Supabase is not supported yet.

Files do not go to your Google Drive or your Firebase project. When file copying is switched on in our extension build, each file uploads to our file storage with its visibility set to public: the link is hard to guess, but anyone holding it can open the file without signing in. Where no storage key is set in the build, no copy is made, and your archive keeps the file’s details and Slack’s link, which works only while Slack serves that file.

There is no way yet to send records back into Slack.

The sync runs in a browser extension, every 15 minutes, only while that browser is running.

SlackVault can copy only what Slack’s API still returns, so anything older than your plan’s window is out of reach unless an earlier sync already saved it.

If saving one thread fails, the sync logs it and moves on without retrying those replies.

Search checks the most recent page of messages, up to 50 per query, not the whole archive.

The extension and the Android app have no store listing yet, and the source code is in a private repository.

Moving acrossRead the guideAll comparisons