What is Zalo? A 2026 Complete Introduction

This article deals with everything you need to know about the Zalo mobile app.

Before we start, get the correct Zalo download links:

• Install Zalo from Google Play (Android mobile).
• Install Zalo from the App Store (iOS mobile).
• Install Zalo for MAC or PC (Apple or Windows computer)

After a short review of Zalo’s history, we will present the main features in detail.

The Rise of the Zalo App

Zalo is a free Over-The-Top (OTT) application service developed by the internet company Vinagame (VNG) in 2012.

We also refer to it as a “Super App” because it integrates various features, such as social networking and e-commerce.

Why Zalo Dominates Vietnam’s Digital Landscape

Vietnam’s digital economy is one of the fastest-growing in Southeast Asia. 74% of the population accesses the internet daily.

Unlike global competitors such as WhatsApp or Telegram, Zalo has cemented its position as a homegrown digital ecosystem. It has a deep integration into Vietnamese daily life and business operations.

Built by local people for local people, Zalo’s success stems from its localized approach. The creator, Vuong Quang Khai, designed this product to function seamlessly on low-end devices and unstable internet connections. This ability has made Zalo the preferred choice for millions.

Zalo’s Role in Business Expansion

For foreign businesses looking to enter the Vietnamese market, Zalo presents a powerful advertising and customer engagement tool.

The platform enjoys high engagement rates. Besides, its precise targeting capabilities allow brands to connect with Vietnamese consumers more effectively. Like on Meta, Zalo Ads enable businesses to target users based on demographics, interests, and location.

Since most Vietnamese citizens, young and old, use Zalo daily, it is a platform of choice for reaching audiences. At Prodima, we receive queries from foreign companies every week about how to get started with this Super App.

Zalo’s First Years

Zalo grew fast. While this app entered the Vietnamese market after WhatsApp and Viber, it beat all competitors from the very first year.

The giant messengers didn’t invest much in promotional activities in Vietnam. Zalo spent 2 million USD in the year after launching. Vietnamese people discovered Zalo and immediately adopted it. Locals barely heard of WeChat or Telegram. They knew what Zalo was.

With this strong marketing campaign, Zalo reached 2 million users in 2013. It became a solid player in answering the Vietnamese people’s needs, who naturally prefer local products.

The Background and Essence of the Zalo App

The name “Zalo” itself has a local flavor. Zalo is the combination of “Zing” (a VNG web service) and “Alô” (which means “Hello” in Vietnamese over the phone).

Following the strategy “Vietnam first,” VNG designed Zalo with a user-friendly local interface and Vietnamese language support. English is also available, even if the primary focus is on the local language. This ensures a better understanding among Vietnamese users, as Zalo prioritizes them. Global expansion will come later.

The ASEAN Post nominated Zalo as one of the top 10 ASEAN unicorns and Vietnam’s first-ever unicorn startup.

People compare Zalo with WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber, or Telegram. This is a mistake. Those mobile applications do not play in the same field. None of those competitors is close enough to achieve what Zalo has done in Vietnam.

At Prodima Vietnam, we define Zalo more accurately. Zalo is to Facebook what Coc Coc is to Google: a Vietnamese version of a robust global digital service.

Zalo User Profiles

Demographics

96% of Zalo users are based in Vietnam. Most people using Zalo abroad are Vietnamese who relocate to other countries and want to stay in touch with their family, friends, or business stakeholders.

Most people (about 98%) who use Zalo in Vietnam are Vietnamese citizens. As it is the most convenient local messaging app, expatriates also install it to communicate, for casual or professional purposes.

Zalo is widely used across all age groups, with strong adoption among young professionals and business users. The gender distribution is fairly balanced between male and female users.

Additional Statistics

In 2025, Zalo had:

• 80M monthly active users.
• 2B messages sent daily.
• 63 Vietnam provinces covered.
• 23 countries covered.
• 2 languages covered (Vietnamese, English).

In 2025, Zalo was the second-most-used social media platform in Vietnam, after Facebook and before YouTube.

People download Zalo for the following reasons:

• 79% to contact groups.
• 79% to contact family and friends.
• 73% to follow up on relatives.
• 72% to share personal feelings and thoughts.

We can expect those figures to grow bigger soon.

Since Vietnamese users have widely adopted various Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, around 20% of Zalo users also actively use AI-related features each month.

List of Zalo Features

At its launch in 2012, Zalo was a free mobile calling and texting application. VNG progressively added new features to make Zalo a “super app”. Today, it works on both smartphones and computers.

Here is a list of the main Zalo features:

• Instant messaging and group chat.
• Multimedia sharing (image, audio, video).
• Official Accounts (OA).
• Chatbot for customer support.
• Zalo Ads.
• Discovery feature.
• Newsfeed and weather updates.
• Zalo bank loan service (for consumers).
• Zalo Shop (online store).
• Zalo Pay (utility bills payment).
• Public transport information and booking.
• Doctor appointments and healthcare facilities booking.
• Hotel booking (booking.com integration).

Zalo is tied to personal phone numbers. Its primary functions expanded quickly to compete with other popular messenger apps.

In mid-2021, during the COVID-19 hardship, the platform launched a new feature called Zalo Connect. Its purpose was to link people impacted by the pandemic.

From the Discovery page, people could select Zalo Connect and choose either “I need help” (tôi cần giúp đỡ) or “I want to help” (tôi muốn giúp đỡ). From this point, they accessed a map and received emergency help from the Zalo community.

Zalo Official Account

Zalo Official Accounts (OAs) are equivalent to business pages (or fan pages) on Meta.

Many government entities, celebrities, and Vietnamese companies use a Zalo OA so people can follow their updates.

To get started, businesses must use a personal account. From this, they can create a free Zalo Official Account. The admin verification requires users to upload their ID (CNMD for Vietnamese people) and a photo of their face.

In 2026, foreign citizens still couldn’t verify their Official Account as the system does not recognize their citizen ID or passport. However, this may change soon, as the Vietnamese government has been registering all citizens residing in Vietnam (locals and expatriates) using biometric technology since mid-2025.

Zalo OAs benefit from these specific features (not available on personal accounts):

• Consolidated communication hub.
• Always-on activities (for follower retention).
• Data acquisition.
• Loyalty and reward system.
• Articles and messages broadcast.
• Notification service.
• Chatbot.
• Access to Zalo Ads (via a Business Manager similar to the Meta platform).

Unlike Facebook fan pages, a Zalo OA ensures that followers will read any posts published by the business. This creates opportunities for companies to promote their brand, services, and products.

Zalo OA Versus Zalo Generic Account

Many businesses want to run online ads on the Zalo platform, including foreign ones that see this Super-App as an excellent way to reach the Vietnamese population. However, not all companies are equal on Zalo.

There are two kinds of Zalo business pages:

• Official Account (OA)
• Generic account

A Zalo business OA is a verified company fan page. To proceed with this verification, the company must submit a valid Vietnamese business license (and additional documentation, depending on the industry). If it does, the fan page will display a yellow check mark icon next to the company name. It publicly proves the business is genuine.

If the company cannot submit the required paperwork, the fan page will remain generic, without the verification icon. Most foreign companies, without a local entity or partner, face this situation and must work with a generic Zalo account.

The differences are huge for branding and advertising. An approved OA can run all kinds of ad goals:

• Conversions
• Lead generation
• Engagement
• Messages
• Traffic
• Etc.

It can also install a Zalo pixel tracker on the company website (working like the Meta pixel). This tag collects Zalo users’ information to build remarketing audiences and optimize campaigns.

On the other hand, a generic Zalo business account has limited ad features. It can only run basic ad formats (text + image or video) with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that redirects to a website landing page. Other ad goals (conversions, leads, messages, etc.) are unavailable for generic Zalo ad accounts.

Prodima receives hundreds of requests from foreign businesses willing to run Zalo ads. As they do not have a legal Vietnamese entity, they cannot have more than a generic fan page. We understand the frustration. In 2025, the only way to solve this issue is to open a Vietnamese branch or work with a Vietnamese partner willing to represent the foreign business under the Law.

Zalo Ads

Zalo ads are a powerful way to reach Vietnamese people. Companies see Zalo ads as an excellent complement to Meta ads.

While Google, Meta, and TikTok offer targeting options based on user interests, Zalo does not. Instead, businesses can target by Zalo profile or phone number. Overall, Zalo ads are more precise than any other digital platform for targeting rural areas in Vietnam.

Here is a list of creative options to run ads on Zalo:

• Static image.
• Video.
• Article.
• Official Account promotion (products and services).
• Website traffic.
• Product ads (via the Zalo Shop, see below).

Besides, Prodima shares its expertise about Zalo ads:

• Data collection tools are more accurate on Google and Meta than on Zalo.
• Businesses can serve Zalo ads to mobile users, but ads on desktop are not supported yet
• Zalo ads are only visible to users who have installed the app from Vietnam (for example, we cannot target someone who downloaded Zalo from the U.S.)

VNG is continuously improving its digital platform. We can be sure that more Zalo ad features will be available soon.

Zalo Shop

In 2016, VNG Corporation proposed a new feature called Zalo Shop. This is an online marketplace where people can browse products and purchase them, like the Meta Store.

Highly convenient for Vietnamese people, Zalo Shop includes features such as QR codes, broadcast messages, and chat, connecting customers and vendors. Clients interested in a product can ask the shop admin questions and get quick replies.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in Vietnam, many locals used Zalo Shop to buy groceries. Despite the social restrictions, they reported that the platform was much faster than any other delivery app.

Zalo Pay

Zalo Pay is the e-wallet service launched by VNG in 2017. Zalo built this mobile payment application on top of the Messenger app to exploit its vast user base.

The first step is to download and install the application on a mobile device:

• Zalo Pay (Google Play).
• Zalo Pay (Apple Store).

It allows Vietnamese people to pay for household bills such as electricity, water, internet, and television. Zalo Pay transfers money via a QR code and connects directly with bank accounts. Many retail chains and cinemas accept this payment method.

In 2025, Zalo Pay was the second payment application in Vietnam, after MoMo, which dominates the local market, and before ShopeePay, which recently reached the top #3. Around 70 million people use Zalo Pay.

When businesses integrate payment gateways into their products and services, such as on their e-commerce stores, they often choose Zalo Pay by default.

Why do Vietnamese People Love Zalo?

Vietnamese enjoy the Zalo mobile app for technical and cultural reasons. We will detail them below.

Technical Benefits

All Zalo users say the app is simple and quick.

• High-speed messaging (text, voice, video share)
• Lightweight app performance (optimized for low-end devices, runs smoothly without heavy storage or processing demands)
• Integrated e-wallet Zalo Pay (highly convenient for Vietnamese locals)
• Business and e-commerce integrations (OA, Mini CRM, Zalo Shop, etc.)
• Advanced AI features (new AI-driven functionalities for recommendations, chatbots, automation, etc.)

Locals find Zalo more practical than other apps or social media.

Cultural Benefits

A Vietnamese company created Zalo. It makes it the most trusted homegrown app platform nationwide.

• Strong community engagement (Zalo facilitates family, work, communities, and large groups)
• Vietnamese-friendly Messenger (localized contents and features, language, design, user habits)
• Government and public services access (many public service agencies use Zalo for digital administration)
• Preferred business communication tool (more professional for work than Facebook)
• Adding friends directly from a phone number or QR code (makes it more friendly)

Overall, Vietnamese people are proud to have a serious made-in-Vietnam competitor to Facebook.

The Future of Zalo

Zalo will continue to grow and increase its user database. This “Super App” is perfectly suited to Vietnamese people.

With over 155 million mobile connections in Vietnam (for a population of 98 million), 97% of smartphone owners, an average daily time on social media of 2h21 min, and 74% of media users within the total population, the market opportunities for Zalo are huge.

Some people, especially foreigners, usually ask: Is Zalo safe? Yes, it is. VNG is aware of the risks and potential scams within the country. Zalo users, locals, and expatriates can count on a secure OTT application that is continuously optimized.

We invite you to discover Prodima Vietnam Zalo’s Official Account and learn more about digital marketing!