Comparison

Zulip vs Tokenly

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Zulip

This team chat application allows users to read and respond to messages within their original context, helping maintain focus. It supports teams of all sizes, from small groups to large organizations, and is 100% open-source.

Highlights
  • Contextual message reading and responding
  • Topic-based organization
  • Focus maintenance
  • Supports teams of all sizes
  • 100% open-source
  • Cloud or self-hosted options
Features
Read full description

Zulip (https://zulip.com/) helps teams of all sizes be more productive together, from a few friends hacking on a new idea, to globally distributed organizations with hundreds of people tackling the world's hardest problems. Unlike other chat apps, Zulip lets you read and respond to every message in context, no matter when it was sent. Maintain your focus and then catch up on your own time, reading the topics you care about, and skimming or skipping the rest. Like everything Zulip, this official Zulip mobile app is 100% open-source software: https://github.com/zulip/zulip-flutter . Thank you to the hundreds of contributors who have made Zulip what it is! Zulip is available as a managed cloud service or a self-hosted solution. Please send questions, comments, and bug reports to support@zulip.com, or tweet @zulip.

About

Tokenly

Features
Read full description

Tokenly shows how much of your AI plans you have actually used — subscription limits, extra credit packs and API spend — in one calm dashboard. HOW IT WORKS Tokenly runs on your Mac or PC, where you connect the AI accounts you already pay for: your Claude.ai session, your ChatGPT account, an OpenAI billing key, an Anthropic admin key. It reads the usage numbers straight from each provider, on your own machine. Nothing routes through our servers, and your prompts and conversations are never read, stored or relayed. This iPhone and iPad app is the companion. It mirrors that dashboard from your desktop over your local Wi-Fi, end-to-end encrypted, so the numbers are on your phone while your keys never leave the desktop. The Mac and Windows apps are free — you need one of them to feed this app. Not set up yet? Tap "See a demo" to explore Tokenly with sample data before pairing anything. WHAT YOU SEE • Subscription usage — the Claude.ai 5-hour window, ChatGPT plan caps, weekly limits, reset countdowns • Extra credits — top-ups and pay-as-you-go pools that sit on top of a subscription • API spend — month-to-date cost per key, and a projection for the rest of the month • Budgets — set a monthly budget per provider and get told at 50%, 80% and 100% • Widgets and a Lock Screen Live Activity and Dynamic Island, so the number is one glance away • History charts of usage and spend, recorded on your device • Confidence labels on every gauge — official, estimated or stale. Tokenly tells you when it does not know something instead of guessing. PRIVACY • No inference proxy. Your prompts never travel through us. • No prompt or completion storage. Ever. • Credentials stay in the system keychain of the device you entered them on. • Privacy Mode hides your numbers on lock-screen widgets and notifications. PRICING • The Mac and Windows apps are free, unlimited and ad-free. You only need one of them. • On iPhone and iPad, Tokenly starts with a 7-day free trial of Premium, with everything unlocked. • After the trial, a free tier keeps working; Premium turns desktop sync back on. • Premium is your choice: Lifetime $34.99 one-time, Monthly $2.99, or Yearly $14.99. • No ads on any platform. No account needed. Restore Purchases is always one tap away. Built on a Mac. Rust core, native SwiftUI on Apple platforms. Every connector documents the exact endpoints it calls and the data it reads. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Zulip3 screens
Tokenly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Zulip at none against Tokenly's 3. Zulip also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Tokenly's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Tokenly sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Zulip asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Zulip ships an update monthly, Tokenly every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Zulip versus Tokenly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZulipTokenly
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (16 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews39.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings16 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB40 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperKandra Labs, Inc.Maciej Sieminski

In-app purchases

None

Zulip

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Tokenly

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Tokenly Premium Lifetime$34.99

Questions

Is Zulip free?
Zulip is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tokenly free?
Tokenly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Zulip or Tokenly have ads?
Neither Zulip nor Tokenly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Zulip or Tokenly?
Zulip ships an update monthly, and Tokenly every 9 days. Most recently, Zulip was updated on November 2, 2026 and Tokenly on October 31, 2026.

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