Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Apify VS Zulip

Compare Apify VS Zulip and see what are their differences

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Apify logo Apify

Apify is a web scraping and automation platform that can turn any website into an API.

Zulip logo Zulip

Chat for distributed teams. Zulip combines the immediacy of real-time chat with an email threading model. With Zulip, you can catch up on important conversations while ignoring irrelevant ones.
  • Apify Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30

Apify is a JavaScript & Node.js based data extraction tool for websites that crawls lists of URLs and automates workflows on the web. With Apify you can manage and automatically scale a pool of headless Chrome / Puppeteer instances, maintain queues of URLs to crawl, store crawling results locally or in the cloud, rotate proxies and much more.

  • Zulip Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21

Apify features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Apify provides a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users of all technical levels to create and manage web scraping tasks.
  • Scalability
    Apify is built to handle tasks of various sizes, from small-scale projects to enterprise-level operations, making it a scalable solution.
  • Integration and API Support
    It offers extensive API support, allowing for seamless integration with other tools and systems to enhance automated workflows.
  • Customizability
    Users can customize their scraping bots (actors) with different settings and scripts to fit specific needs and requirements.
  • Cloud-based
    Being a cloud-based platform, Apify allows users to run their scraping tasks without needing local resources, which is convenient and efficient.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    Apify provides thorough documentation and tutorials, which help users get started quickly and solve issues efficiently.
  • Community and Support
    Apify has an active community and solid customer support to assist users with their needs and enhance their overall experience.

Possible disadvantages of Apify

  • Learning Curve
    While the interface is user-friendly, there may still be a learning curve for those new to web scraping and automation.
  • Cost
    Apify can be expensive compared to other web scraping tools, particularly for extensive use cases that require high volumes of data.
  • Dependency on External Factors
    Web scraping often depends on the stability of the target websites. Changes in website structures can break scripts, requiring ongoing maintenance.
  • Performance Limitations
    The performance of cloud-based scraping tasks can be affected by network latency and other external factors beyond user control.
  • Potential Legal Issues
    Web scraping can raise legal concerns, particularly when scraping data from websites that restrict such activities in their terms of service.
  • Resource Intensity
    Complex scraping tasks can be resource-intensive, potentially requiring higher-tier subscriptions and more computing resources, driving up costs.

Zulip features and specs

  • Threaded Conversations
    Zulip's unique approach to messaging allows users to conduct separate threaded conversations within the same channel, making it easier to follow and manage multiple discussions simultaneously.
  • Open Source
    Zulip is open-source software, meaning you can modify and self-host it, providing greater flexibility and control over your communication environment.
  • Powerful Search
    Zulip offers a robust search functionality that allows users to quickly find messages, files, and details across channels and threads, improving efficiency.
  • Integrations
    Zulip supports a wide variety of integrations with other tools and services, enhancing productivity and ensuring seamless workflows.
  • Cross-Platform
    Zulip is available on multiple platforms, including web, desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), and mobile (iOS, Android), ensuring accessibility and convenience.
  • Granular Notification Settings
    Users have comprehensive control over notification settings, allowing them to manage their time and focus better by receiving only the alerts they need.
  • Scalability
    Zulip is designed to handle a large number of users and messages, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes.
  • Security
    Zulip offers robust security features, including end-to-end encryption, two-factor authentication, and compliance with various industry standards.

Possible disadvantages of Zulip

  • Steeper Learning Curve
    New users may find the interface and the concept of threaded conversations initially challenging to grasp compared to more traditional chat apps.
  • Limited Market Adoption
    Zulip is not as widely adopted as other chat platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, which might limit its support ecosystem and community resources.
  • Less Familiar UX
    Users accustomed to mainstream chat applications may find Zulip's user experience less intuitive, requiring time to adapt.
  • Integration Complexity
    While integrations are a strong point, implementing and managing these integrations can sometimes be complex and require additional technical expertise.
  • Mobile App Experience
    Some users report that the mobile app experience is less polished compared to the desktop or web versions, which can be frustrating for heavily mobile-dependent users.
  • Feature Volume
    The abundance of features can sometimes be overwhelming for users who only need basic chat functionality, potentially leading to a cluttered interface.

Analysis of Apify

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Apify is considered a good choice for web scraping and automation needs due to its comprehensive features, user-friendly interface, and strong community support. It is especially beneficial for those who require efficient, large-scale data extraction and workflow automation.

Why this product is good

  • Apify is an established platform known for its robust web scraping and automation capabilities. It provides a powerful API, pre-built actors for common tasks, and allows you to create custom web scrapers with ease. The platform is scalable, supports a variety of programming languages, and offers features like scheduling, proxies, and data storage solutions. This versatility makes it a valuable tool for businesses and developers needing efficient data retrieval and workflow automation.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking for a versatile web scraping solution.
  • Businesses needing to automate data collection processes.
  • Researchers and analysts requiring extensive data from the web.
  • Marketers seeking competitive analysis through data scraping.
  • Tech enthusiasts interested in exploring web automation tools.

Analysis of Zulip

Overall verdict

  • Zulip is a solid option for teams looking for a more structured and organized communication platform, especially if threading and open-source flexibility are priorities.

Why this product is good

  • Zulip is considered a good choice for team communication due to its unique threading model, which allows for more organized discussions. It helps prevent conversations from getting jumbled together, as often happens in other chat platforms. Additionally, Zulip is open-source, providing more control and customization options for users, and it integrates with numerous tools to enhance productivity. Its user-friendly interface and robust search capabilities also contribute to a positive user experience.

Recommended for

    Zulip is recommended for organizations and teams that value open-source software, require structured threading for discussions, and want to maintain organized communication channels. It's also ideal for remote teams or any group that engages in complex, multi-topic dialogues.

Apify videos

Apify product news - 2019/01/30

Zulip videos

Zulip - a Free, Open Source, Self Hosted Alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams Chat.

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apify and Zulip)
Web Scraping
100 100%
0% 0
Communication
0 0%
100% 100
Data Extraction
100 100%
0% 0
Group Chat & Notifications

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Apify and Zulip

Apify Reviews

Top 15 Best TinyTask Alternatives in 2022
This is another tinytask alternative. For you to link various web services and APIs, Apify has provided many web integration options. You can add data processing and customised computation processes in addition to letting the data flow between them. With the data that is freely accessible on the web, you may provide crucial insights, and easy lead creation allows you to...

Zulip Reviews

7 best Mattermost alternatives for secure business messaging
Zulip is a team chat and communication tool that allows business teams to collaborate efficiently. It is an open-source tool and offers a unique thread-based model that allows topic-based discussions internally. So, it is easy to coordinate multiple projects and hold virtual discussions with cross-functional teams.
Source: www.rocket.chat
12 Best Self-hosted Chat Platforms For Team Communication
Zulip’s team chat platform acts like a moderator in sending in only relevant messages and ignoring the spamming ones. It follows a threading model and hence topic-based chats are seamlessly possible.
Zulip 5.0: Threaded open-source team chat
Zulip for Education. We have seen more and more educators using Zulip as the communication hub for their classes. Zulip’s threading model makes it a great fit for posting lecture notes and announcements, answering students’ questions, and coordinating with teaching staff all in one place. In response to interest from educators, we have launched a dedicated Zulip for...
Source: blog.zulip.com
Top 10 Team Chat Software for a Self-Hosted environment specifically designed for Large Enterprises
Catch upon only important conversations and ignore irrelevant ones, is what Zulip says. Open-Source software that was built by hundreds of developers across the globe. The self-hosted delivery model specifically designed for Large Entities provides an excellent production installation guide that lets users deploy it on their networks. Besides its 90 native integrations,...
Zulip Comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions Do you have special plans for open source projects, non-profits, groups of friends, and other non-commercial entities? Does Zulip scale to a large number of users? Can I pay by credit card and/or invoice? Can I start on Zulip Cloud and later move to On-Premise? How are guest users billed? Who can I contact if I have further questions?
Source: zulipchat.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Zulip should be more popular than Apify. It has been mentiond 58 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apify mentions (26)

  • How to scrape TikTok using Python
    For deployment, we'll use the Apify platform. It's a simple and effective environment for cloud deployment, allowing efficient interaction with your crawler. Call it via API, schedule tasks, integrate with various services, and much more. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • How to scrape Bluesky with Python
    We already have a fully functional implementation for local execution. Let us explore how to adapt it for running on the Apify Platform and transform in Apify Actor. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Web scraping with GPT-4o: powerful but expensive
    We've had the best success by first converting the HTML to a simpler format (i.e. markdown) before passing it to the LLM. There are a few ways to do this that we've tried, namely Extractus[0] and dom-to-semantic-markdown[1]. Internally we use Apify[2] and Firecrawl[3] for Magic Loops[4] that run in the cloud, both of which have options for simplifying pages built-in, but for our Chrome Extension we use... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Current problems and mistakes of web scraping in Python and tricks to solve them!
    Developed by Apify, it is a Python adaptation of their famous JS framework crawlee, first released on Jul 9, 2019. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Show HN: Crawlee for Python – a web scraping and browser automation library
    Hey all, This is Jan, the founder of [Apify](https://apify.com/)—a full-stack web scraping platform. After the success of [Crawlee for JavaScript](https://github.com/apify/crawlee/) today! The main features are: - A unified programming interface for both HTTP (HTTPX with BeautifulSoup) & headless browser crawling (Playwright). - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
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Zulip mentions (58)

  • Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron is stepping down
    Https://zulip.com/ is good but videoconferencing has to be a 3d party. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: User communities that aren't Discord?
    Zulip is a pretty nice option https://zulip.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Slack updates retention policy for free workspaces
    Https://zulip.com is one of the better alternatives with an option for self-hosting. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • Slack wants to become the 'long-term memory' for organizations
    > A customer of mine would like a mix between a chat and a forum software Zulip is closer to that I think https://zulip.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • Slack AI Training with Customer Data
    To all the people asking about self-hosted alternatives, I can recommend zulip[0], and this article[1] explaining why. [0] https://zulip.com/ [1] https://monadical.com/posts/how-to-make-remote-work-part-two-zulip.html#. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apify and Zulip, you can also consider the following products

import.io - Import. io helps its users find the internet data they need, organize and store it, and transform it into a format that provides them with the context they need.

Slack - A messaging app for teams who see through the Earth!

Scrapy - Scrapy | A Fast and Powerful Scraping and Web Crawling Framework

Telegram - Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security. It’s superfast, simple and free.

Octoparse - Octoparse provides easy web scraping for anyone. Our advanced web crawler, allows users to turn web pages into structured spreadsheets within clicks.

Element.io - Secure messaging app with strong end-to-end encryption, advanced group chat privacy settings, secure video calls for teams, encrypted communication using Matrix open network. Riot.im is now Element.