Explore top Slack alternatives like Microsoft Teams, Discord, and more. Compare pros and cons to find your best fit in this guide.
Slack is a dominant player in the team communication and collaboration space. It's known for its modern interface, robust feature set, and strong integration capabilities.
Created in 2013, Slack rapidly gained popularity among tech startups and small businesses. It essentially replaced email to become the hub for internal team conversations, file sharing, and project management.
Today Slack has over 12 million daily active users, with 85,000+ paying customers including 65 Fortune 100 companies. Its growth has been impressive, achieving a market valuation of over $17 billion.
However, Slack is not without its downsides. While feature-rich, it can also be complex and overwhelming for some users. Slack lacks native video/voice calling and real-time document collaboration. Its pricing is expensive for larger teams and nonprofits. Customization is limited on free plans.
For these reasons, some teams are exploring alternatives that may better meet their needs and budgets. The marketplace has responded with a wave of new team chat apps aiming to complement or compete directly with Slack.
This article will compare the top 10 Slack alternatives based on features, integrations, pricing, and overall pros/cons. It aims to help teams evaluate different options to determine if Slack is still the right fit or if it may be time to switch.
Microsoft Teams is a full-featured team collaboration platform that integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 apps and services. Here's an overview of its key features:
Overview of Key Features
Integration with Microsoft Products
As part of Microsoft 365, Teams integrates closely with other Microsoft services:
Pricing Tiers
Microsoft Teams pricing depends on the type of Microsoft 365 license:
Pros
Cons
In summary, Microsoft Teams is a great choice for organizations invested in the Microsoft ecosystem looking for an enterprise-grade collaboration hub that brings together chat, meetings, files, and apps into a single platform. The combination of features and integration with Office 365 makes it a leading option for large companies.
Google Chat is Google's team communication app that is included in Google Workspace (formerly G Suite). It deeply integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Docs and other Google services.
Some key features of Google Chat include:
Google Chat has free and paid tiers:
Overall, Google Chat is a convenient team chat app for those already using Google's ecosystem of products. The tight integration makes it easy to communicate without switching contexts.
Zoom is primarily known as a video conferencing platform that has become widely used for meetings, webinars, and virtual events. However, Zoom also offers messaging and chat features that can make it a potential Slack alternative for some teams.
Zoom offers private and group chat options within its platform. Users can direct message individuals as well as create chat channels related to topics, projects, teams, etc. While the chat functionality may not be as robust as a dedicated tool like Slack, it can provide basic messaging needs.
One downside with Zoom's chat features is that the application is primarily optimized for video. The chat tools feel secondary to the main videoconferencing functions. While you can disable video, Zoom still lacks some of the team messaging specialization of other tools.
Zoom has faced criticism for security and privacy issues. Concerns emerged in 2020 around "zoombombing" where uninvited participants could enter and disrupt meetings. Zoom has since strengthened security and implemented end-to-end encryption. However, some businesses may still prefer tools perceived as more secure for sensitive communications.
On the pricing side, Zoom offers a free basic plan with limited features. Paid plans unlock larger meetings, additional capabilities, and more administrative controls. Zoom's pricing may make it appealing for smaller teams, but costs can grow with more users and requirements.
In summary, Zoom provides messaging alongside its main videoconferencing features. It can potentially stand in for Slack in some basic use cases. But dedicated chat apps often provide richer chat experiences, more administrative controls, and greater focus on security.
Discord is a popular communication platform originally designed for gamers. It allows users to create servers with multiple text and voice channels for different communities and topics.
Some key features of Discord include:
Discord strikes a nice balance between the text chat capabilities of Slack and the voice/video features of team meeting tools. The vibrant communities formed around gaming and other interests make it a fun platform for casual and hobbyist users.
Cisco Webex Teams is part of the full Webex suite of collaboration tools offered by Cisco. It offers tight integration with Webex video conferencing and meeting software, making it easy to move between chat, audio meetings, and video meetings.
Some key features of Webex Teams include:
Webex Teams has mobile apps for iOS and Android to stay connected on the go. It offers advanced security and compliance features for regulated industries.
Cisco offers several pricing tiers:
For organizations invested in Cisco networking and voice products, Webex Teams makes for a robust unified communications platform across messaging, calling, meetings, and events. The deep integrations and compatibility with Webex Meetings and Webex Devices is a key advantage.
Twist is a team communication and collaboration platform that features thread-first conversations to keep communication organized. With Twist, teams can have threaded conversations around projects, topics, and processes to keep everyone on the same page.
Some key features of Twist include:
Twist makes it easy for distributed teams to stay connected through organized topic-based communication. With robust threading and integrations, Twist is a great alternative for teams looking for Slack-like functionality with more structure.
Flock is a team communication and collaboration platform that offers many of the same capabilities as Slack. Key features of Flock include:
Flock provides a full-featured team communication solution for small to large teams. With capabilities comparable to Slack plus built-in video conferencing, Flock is a top alternative to evaluate. The free plan allows teams to try it out at no cost.
Rocket.Chat is an open-source team chat software solution with both self-hosted and cloud options. It provides capabilities for messaging, audio/video conferencing, screen sharing, and file sharing across devices.
Some key features of Rocket.Chat include:
Rocket.Chat is fully customizable with themes, emojis, interface languages and more. It can be self-hosted on premises or deployed on the cloud through providers like Rocket.Chat Cloud.
With robust messaging capabilities plus built-in video, voice, file sharing, and guest access features, Rocket.Chat provides a free open-source alternative for team communication and collaboration. The integration options also make it flexible to connect with existing tools and workflows.
We've covered a lot of ground looking at alternatives to Slack for team communication and collaboration. There are some great options out there with different strengths. Here's a recap of the top picks and key features:
There are also specialty solutions like Twist for asynchronous communication and Flock with its free plan. The open source Rocket.Chat is very customizable.
The reality is no app will be a perfect replacement for Slack for everyone. Slack offers excellent third party app integrations that are hard to match. For companies reliant on those apps, it may still be the best fit.
Evaluate team needs and existing infrastructure investments to determine the best option. For example, Google-centric teams get the most value from Google Chat. But organizations using Microsoft 365 can gain from adopting Teams.
The good news is there are now solid Slack alternatives to choose from based on your unique needs. Taking the time to assess options will ensure you pick the right communication tool for your organization.