From Startups to Enterprises: Top 15 Slack Alternatives for Diverse Needs
Global revenue in the Productivity Software sector has been growing steadily for the past nine years and is expected to hit $88.59 billion by 2029.
The reason?
Productivity.
When productivity and collaboration are strong, processes run smoothly and the results improve. But, when these are lacking, it impacts all areas of your business negatively.
So, it’s no surprise that many companies invest in tools that help boost these aspects. Slack is one of the most popular options. But is it right for every company? While it works well for some, it might not fit all teams best.
Luckily, there are other options that could suit your business better. In this article, we look at 15 Slack alternatives. Here’s everything you need to know to choose the best solution for better team communication, collaboration and success.
What is Slack?
Slack is an internal messaging and collaboration app. Companies use it for team communication and task management to improve productivity and streamline workflows.
What does Slack do well?
- Team communication: Slack offers a chat platform for real-time communication through chat, calls, or video. Users can also create channels for specific topics for more structured collaboration.
- Cross-workspace collaboration: Teams can use Slack Connect feature to communicate with external partners through shared channels across different workspaces.
- Extensive integrations: Slack connects with over 2,600 tools and apps. This makes it easier to work together and share information across different platforms.
- Workflow automation: Slack’s Workflow Builder allows teams to automate repetitive tasks, which helps streamline processes and boost productivity.
What does Slack struggle with?
- File management: Slack’s file-sharing features depend heavily on integrations with other tools. This can lead to files being spread out across various platforms.
- High cost: Slack offers three paid plans—Pro at $8.75, Business+ at $15, and Enterprise with custom pricing. Pro and Business+ charge per user every month. If you’re running a small team or startup, this can become expensive pretty quickly since each member adds to the cost.
- Community management: Slack lacks advanced community monitoring features, making it hard or impossible for community managers to engage with members and moderate conversations in larger communities.
- Customization: You can only adjust features already within Slack’s interface, and there’s no way to add custom pages or capabilities that your business may need, such as an activity feed or help centers.
- Long-form content: Slack lacks built-in features for sharing long-form content effectively. You’ll need extra tools and platforms to handle those files.
Now, let’s look at options that can fill Slack’s shortcomings and may align better with your business needs.
15 best Slack alternatives: deep dive
Bettermode - Designed for online communities
Bettermode is a no-code web app builder that lets you create a fully branded community platform aligned to your specific needs.
You choose the elements you want your solution to have, like discussion boards, help centers, blogs or direct messaging and combine them all in one place. Your team can collaborate, share articles and engage with the audience—all within one app.
And it’s incredibly simple to set up.
With Bettermode, you get a built-in content management system (CMS). It lets you build and update your online community content easily from a single location, without needing extra tools or imports.
The newest Section Block feature further simplifies creating your web apps. Use it to adjust page layouts and element spacing and hide or show sections based on users’ screen size.
But that’s not all.
Bettermode offers even more capabilities:
- Create public or private communities.
- Enable member profiles that display activities, roles, following and more.
- Moderate community—monitor interactions and ensure adherence to guidelines.
- Set up an activity feed that highlights relevant community content when users log in (similar to social media sites).
- Allow post voting, commenting and sharing to boost community engagement.
- Create an open community to benefit from SEO.
- Access reports and analytics for actionable insights on member activities, top spaces they visit and post engagement.
The platform also lets you integrate with over 3,000 apps and platforms, making it simple to connect with the tools you already use.
Bettermode community website builder was designed to support your vision and let you create a solution that fits your needs perfectly. That’s why you can choose to build your community app from scratch or use templates.
Our template collection gives you web app options with ready-made pages and layouts. These designs have been proven to build thriving communities and collaboration spaces. Each template is completely customizable, so you can easily turn them into your unique branded community software.
Here are some great templates to use when building your community platform:
At Bettermode, we made sure our pricing plans support your growth. With no limits on users on all paid plans, scale your community confidently and keep expanding without any constraints.
You can choose from paid plans for $19, $49 or $99 a month. Enterprise plan with custom pricing is also available.
Or start exploring features and templates with our Free plan.
Ready to build and grow your community?
Microsoft Teams - Built for Microsoft users
Microsoft Teams is a major platform that helps teams to send messages, access chat history, hold video meetings, share files and connect with other apps. The full version of Teams comes with Microsoft Office 365 plans. This means that many businesses already have access to this tool. There’s also a free version of the tool that anyone can access.
One of the standout features of Teams is its video capabilities. Businesses can easily host video calls or conferences and share screens with multiple people from within the tool.
As you’d expect, Microsoft Teams also has deep integration with other Microsoft tools. It’s easy to share and collaborate on Office files, for example. There are also over 600 integrations with non-Microsoft tools like Twitter, Trello and Adobe Cloud.
Microsoft Teams supports end-to-end encrypted messages. However, the default policy disables this feature, so you'll need to create or modify an encryption policy to enable it.
However, like Slack, Microsoft Teams doesn’t offer advanced community management features or built-in options for organizing long-form content, like dedicated pages for blogs or help centers. To access these capabilities, you must rely on additional tools or platforms.
Google Chat - Designed for Google Workspace users
Google Chat offers a platform for team communication through group and direct messages. It’s readily available to businesses that use Google Workspace. And anyone who has used Google Hangouts will be instantly familiar with the tool.
There’s a dedicated chat dashboard, and teams can access apps from other Google products, such as Gmail. All files, data and chat history are stored in the platform, and—unsurprisingly, considering Google runs it—there’s a powerful search feature. Google Chat also connects to Matrix servers. This means you get to chat with users on other chat platforms without needing to switch applications.
It’s easy to organize video calls and conferences with Google Meets. Just set a meeting and it will be saved in your Google Calendar. There’s no separate sign-up process for people with a Google Account so everyone in your team will already have access to the tools.
The downside is that these additional features in Google Chat are primarily helpful for teams already using Google products. If you’re not a Google products user, you miss out on those capabilities. In that case, Google Chat becomes just a team chat app, lacking broader functionality.
Chanty - Useful for small teams
Chanty is a team collaboration and messaging tool. It offers many of the same features as Slack at a lower price. The Business plan is just $3 per member compared to $8.75 per user on Slack. There’s also a free plan, like with Slack. However, unlike Slack’s free plan, which restricts message access and chat history, Chanty provides unlimited message history and allows up to five users to chat without limitations.
People who have used Slack will find many features they are used to. For example, you can:
- Communicate in real-time public and private channels.
- Send direct messages.
- Organize and store files.
- Integrate with plenty of third-party apps.
- Control your notifications.
- Assign tasks.
The tool has a simple interface and is easy to use. It’s a good Slack alternative for businesses under ten people or larger companies that want to save a bit of cash but still access premium features.
Chanty has a drawback similar to Slack. You can’t fully customize Chanty to fit your specific needs. You’re limited to the features Chanty provides, which means you can't custom functionalities. Instead, you need to rely on integrations with other tools. This can lead to constant switching between different apps, which can disrupt your workflow.
Mattermost - Open-source collaboration software
Mattermost is an open-source messaging app and team collaboration tool with features created specifically for developers. It lets teams build workflows to see projects from planning to deployment and beyond. This is powered by integrations with tools commonly used by development teams like GitHub and Jira. Like Google Chat, Mattermost also connects to Matrix servers.
Beyond these specialized features, there are plenty of the standard features that teams from all sectors can benefit from. These include:
- The ability to create private and public channels.
- Threads and comments.
- One-to-one messaging and group team chat.
- File sharing and organization.
- Video and voice calls.
- Custom notifications.
Mattermost is an open-source Slack alternative, which means it offers lots of customization options. This is great for teams looking to create their own features. However, customizing Mattermost isn’t as simple as clicking a few buttons. While you can customize predetermined themes, you’ll need to edit HTML files to make custom functionality changes. So, while the flexibility is there, it still requires coding knowledge or hiring a developer.
The tool has both self-hosted and SaaS versions. Self-hosted plans start at free, while the SaaS version of the tool is $10 per user per month, with enterprise pricing available on request.
Fleep - Connect with people outside your organization
Fleep is a collaboration tool with several interesting features. First is the ability to communicate with other Fleep users outside of your organization, similar to Slack’s Connect feature. Another feature is the Fleep Pinboard. This lets people within your team pin important messages in conversations to increase their visibility. The tool also has built-in task management functionality. Users can create and assign tasks from within the software.
Fleep shares a customization limitation with Slack. While you can adjust settings like notifications and enable sleep mode, it doesn’t allow you to add custom features like blog pages or live feeds.
Platform has plenty of features you’d expect from a team collaboration software. These include:
- Integrations with third-party apps.
- Statuses.
- Team chat.
- Audio and video calling.
- Messaging and channels.
Fleep has a free version with unlimited messages and up to 1 GB of file storage. Beyond that, the business plan costs five euros per month with enterprise options available.
Ryver - Built-in task management
Ryver promises to simplify workforce collaboration by bundling task management features in its workforce collaboration tool. This task management software has robust features like unlimited tasks and the ability to create checklists. You can also assign and tag users.
The team communication features are also strong. You can create different forums and groups for all your topics and teams. And there’s private messaging for one-on-one conversations. You can even make both voice and video calls with screen sharing.
On the downside, like all the other tools in this list except for Bettermode, Fleep doesn’t offer customizable templates. This limits your ability to set up and use tailored functionalities.
Ryver has four pricing plans. Starter is $69 ($34.50 first three months) per month for up to 12 users. Standard is $129 ($64.50 first three months) per month for up to 30 users. If you plan on having more than 30 users, you'll have to get Medium Pack which is $4 per user ($2 per user first three months). For most advanced features, there's Enterprise plan with custom pricing.
Zoho Cliq - Great for Zoho users
Zoho Cliq is easy-to-use communication software that will be especially attractive to people who already use other Zoho products.
The tool offers features such as:
- Searchable conversations.
- Voice and video call on any device, with screen sharing.
- Viewable tasks and schedules.
- Automations via custom-built bots.
- The ability to set up channels and one-to-one chats.
- An announcement feed.
- The ability to set alarms to remind you of important messages.
There are also plenty of integrations. Of course, you can integrate with other Zoho tools, but you can also set up integrations with the likes of Asana, Zoho Desk, Trello, Zapier and Google Drive.
There’s also a feature that scans the contents of messages and suggests ways for you to follow up.
Zoho Cliq offers a free version with up to 10,000 searchable messages and up to 100 participants in a channel. The paid version starts at just €1,80 per user per month and offers unlimited messages and 100GB of file storage per user. Pricier plans are Standard at €16,20 per month for up to 25 users and Enterprise at €3,60 per user per month.
Discord - Built for gamers
Discord was built for gaming communication. But thanks to its communication features, it’s finding a place as a work-related communication tool, too. It’s easy to create channels for different topics, just as you would in Slack. The tool has good voice functionality, including a push to talk and a Clubhouse-style live audio broadcast feature called Stage Channels. You can also make video and audio calls and attend conferences.
The challenge for businesses is that Discord’s features primarily cater to social groups and gaming communities. As such, Discord doesn’t integrate with as many third-party business tools like Slack and other tools on this list.
Discord is free to use, although there are paid versions for individual users that may cost you $2.99/month for Nitro Basic or $9.99/month for Nitro. The paid versions of the app come with more customization features and better video and voice capabilities. They also allow for larger file uploads: Nitro Basic lets you share files up to 50MB, while Nitro allows for uploads of up to 500MB. The Free plan only supports file uploads of up to 25MB.
Twist - Distraction-free work
Twist bills itself as a “distraction-free place” for teamwork. The idea is that by enabling asynchronous communication, you can focus on work and catch up on all your messages when convenient. The tool enables this in several ways. First is its thread feature. Users can create a thread and choose who to notify. All replies are stored under each thread, so it’s easy for people to catch up.
The inbox feature ensures that people don’t miss important messages when they log back into the app. And despite the focus on threads, there are still one-to-one messaging capabilities. Users also have granular control over notifications. You can set a daily schedule to snooze notifications at times when you want to engage in deep thinking or be away from work.
Twist has a free plan that includes one month of comments and messages and supports up to five integrations and up to 500 team member accounts. Paid plan is six dollars per user and includes unlimited integrations, file storage and team members.
Troop Messenger - Interesting extra features
Troop Messenger is a team communication tool with several interesting features, alongside plenty of regular functionality.
In terms of the basics, you get:
- One-to-one and group messaging.
- HD video and audio calling.
- Integrations with Google Drive and Dropbox.
- The ability to give people from third-party organizations (suppliers, etc) limited access to the space.
- Screen sharing.
Besides these, Troop Messenger offers additional features like Burnout. This is a confidential chat window that lets users speak privately for a predefined period. When this time limit expires or you close the window, the chat history is automatically deleted. Forkout is another unique addition. It’s a time-saving feature that lets you send a message or attachment to multiple users or groups at the same time without creating new groups.
There’s also a respond later feature that lets you highlight messages that you want to reply to later, and a fun wallpapers feature that enables you to customize your chat background.
Troop has an affordable Premium plan that costs $2.5 per user per month. But, to access Burnout, Forkout and other premium tools, you’ll need to choose the plan that costs $5 per user each month.
HighSide - Secure collaboration
HighSide is a security-focused workplace collaboration tool. The product is focused on enterprises and governments and complies with major regulations like GDPR and FCA.
Businesses can set who can access the app. Administrators can create restrictions based on the user’s location or the device they are using. You can even limit file downloads to specific times.
You also get regular team communication tools like voice and video calling, messaging, access to chat history and the ability to create channels. The tool also offers a secure file-sharing feature that’s easy to use. Teams can access it quickly from the left sidebar by clicking the Files icon.
HighSide’s Business plan is $12 per user per month. More advanced Enterprise plan is $20. There are no free versions or plans available.
Webex - Powerful video conferencing
Webex is a workforce communication tool that lets you create spaces and groups and send individual messages. It’s a setup that will be familiar to anyone who has used Slack or other team communication tools. It also has advanced features like pining messages or marking them as unread.
A neat feature is that you can edit and collaborate on Microsoft Office and Sharepoint documents from within the tool. You don’t need to leave the app to get work done. All files are stored and organized within the app and you can quickly find them using the search bar. You can also communicate with people outside your organization by simply adding their email addresses to a space. They can talk to you but won’t have full access to the platform.
The tool also has a powerful video conferencing solution to enable remote face-to-face meetings. This has plenty of advanced features.
For example:
- Automatic transcription produces a record of everything said in the meeting.
- Gesture recognition lets multiple people quickly express an opinion using a gesture.
- Audio enhancement removes background noise and enhances speech.
- Recording lets you make a copy of meetings you can rewatch.
There are also all the features you’d expect from a video conferencing tool, such as screen sharing, a messaging platform and calendar integration.
Webex has a free basic plan that allows HD meetings of 40 minutes for up to 100 people. Paid plans start at $12 per user per month for premium features like AI assistant and up to 24 hours meetings.
ProofHub - Six tools in one
ProofHub is a combined project management and workplace collaboration tool. Like many tools on this list there’s instant messaging, discussion, groups and mentions. You can also share files and documents and integrate with multiple other tools such as storage, accounting or invoicing software.
There are also project management features. Managers can create and assign tasks and then visualize projects with Gantt charts to see exactly how each one is progressing. Teams can create workflows with multiple stages and assign employees, so everyone gets notified when they have work to do. You can also create project templates to reuse for similar tasks.
The proofing features are also helpful. For example, you can give feedback on documents using markup tools and organize all project-related discussions with threads. Other project management features include notes, file version control and calendar integration.
Like Bettermode, you pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited users. Ultimate Control plan is $89 per month, while Essential is $45 per month. However, there’s no free plan available. The platform does offer a 14-day free trial, though.
Flock - Communicate with voice notes
Flock is a communication tool with plenty of features similar to those available on Slack.
For example, you can:
- Create channels to organize discussions around teams and topics.
- Hold video calls and conferences on any device.
- Share files throughout your organization.
- Share notes, set to-do lists, and create reminders.
- Integrate with the apps you use daily, like Asana, Zapier, and Google Calendar.
A feature we like is voice notes. This lets you quickly reply to messages when otherwise engaged. It’s useful when clarifying points or adding further information to an existing message.
Flock has free and paid plans. The Pro paid plan includes advanced features and costs $4.50 per user monthly. As we noted with Slack and other tools that offer per user payment—this can be a challenge for teams looking to scale.
The best Slack alternative depends on your needs
The Slack alternatives we talked about all bring something different to the table and may fit your needs well. Think about which features are most important to you and which solution offers them.
And if you’re looking for a solution that lets you build a web app where you have full control over everything from features to design—you’ll find it in Bettermode.
It’s a powerful tool for creating community apps that align with your needs and how you work. It has a free forever plan, so you can explore all the features and see how it can boost your team’s collaboration and productivity. The platform also offers paid plans that support unlimited users and custom domains. This lets you scale your branded community platform and business efficiently.
This article was originally published on August 20th, 2021, and was updated on October 23rd, 2024.
FAQs
Is there anything better than Slack?
Slack is a good team communication and collaboration app. However, it falls short on advanced file management, customization, and community management features. If those are important to you, consider looking at alternatives like Bettermode.
What will replace Slack?
Bettermode is a great Slack alternative. It helps you build an environment where your team can collaborate and boost productivity. Bettermode offers a no-code builder that lets you design every aspect of your community software platform and choose the pages you want to include. It also comes with a built-in CMS that allows you to edit and manage your online community software all from one place.
What is the Google equivalent of Slack?
Google Chat is the Google equivalent of Slack.
Who are the competitors of Slack?
Some of Slack’s top competitors are Bettermode, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat and Chanty.
