Corey McCraw is a staff writer covering VoIP and Unified Communications. Corey has over a decade of experience in marketing, tech writing, and corporate communications and has even penned content for the former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.
The best team chat apps foster internal communication and provide vital collaboration tools like secure video conferencing, file sharing, user presence, and task management. Ideally, they will also be quick to set up, easy to use, and integrate seamlessly with the rest of your company’s tech stack. Below, we compare the best team chat apps to help you choose one with the features and functionality your business needs.
Based on our research, these team chat apps are the best options on the market for small business communication and collaboration:
- Slack: Best overall team chat app―an easy-to-use application with extensive integrations for organization-wide communications, video calls, and secure file sharing
- Microsoft Teams: Top choice for Microsoft 365 users needing robust video conferencing features as well as team chat
- Rocket.Chat: Great option for developers who want complete code customization and scalability
- Google Chat: Best for Google Workspace users who want an integrated team chat app that works seamlessly within other Google applications
- Skype: Best free team chat app for companies on a budget
- Mattermost: Top choice for businesses wanting an open-source, self-hosted team chat app with built-in project management capabilities
Best Team Chat App at a Glance
Best Team Chat Apps
Starting Price
Key Features
Free Plan
Our Rating
$6.67 per user, per month
- 2,400 integrations
- File limit is 5GB
- Drag-and-drop file sharing
✔
4.64 out of 5
Visit Slack
$4 per user, per month
- Channels and conversations
- SharePoint document storage
- Screen sharing and video calling
✔
4.56 out of 5
Visit Microsoft Teams
$3 per user, per month
- Open source
- On-site installation for security
- Omnichannel by default
✔
4.51 out of 5
Visit Rocket.Chat
$6 per user, per month
- Part of the Google Workspace ecosystem
- Allows for chat within Gmail
- Utilizes automated bots for meetings
✔
4.44 out of 5
Visit Google Chat
Free
- Incorporates both chat and video conferencing
- Can use credits for international calling
- End-to-end encryption on meetings
✔
4.39 out of 5
Visit Skype
$10 per user, per month
- Supports 16 languages
- Open source
- Performance and system monitoring
✔
4.13 out of 5
Visit Mattermost
Slack: Best Overall Team Chat App
Slack
Overall Score:
4.64
OUT OF
5 i
Our score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- User-friendly interface
- 2,400+ integrations
- Advanced search and filtering
What’s Missing
- Expensive compared to some other chat apps
- No task management functionality
Slack Pricing*
- Free: Stores your team’s 10,000 most recent messages, 5GB per user, up to 10 integrations with apps (such as calendars, Google Drive, Microsoft 365, and Zoom), 1:1 voice and video calls, and data encryption
- Pro: $6.67 per user, per month for full messaging history, unlimited integrations, custom retention policies, external collaboration, and video calls up to 15 participants
- Business+: $12.50 per user, per month for single sign-on (SSO) functionality, data export, retention, and residency compliance, advanced security, and a 99.99% guaranteed uptime service level agreement (SLA)
- Enterprise Grid: Contact sales for enterprise security and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, support for up to 500,000 users, and a customer success team
Check out Slack
*Pricing is based on an annual contract. Monthly contracts are available at a higher price.
Slack is the leader in team chat platforms. The easy-to-use app has become the go-to collaboration solution for businesses of all sizes. New users can learn the ins and outs of the application in just a few minutes while power users can tap into Slack’s 2,400-plus integrations (unlimited with every paid plan) to streamline workflows and make the messaging platform even more powerful.
Beginning at the first paid tier, Slack users get video calls with screen sharing, but only up to 15 people can be on the call. However, it also integrates with Zoom, which allows 40-minute meetings for up to 100 participants in the free version. Businesses wanting larger capacity video conferencing limits should consider Microsoft 365, which allows up to 300 on its least expensive paid plan.
Slack’s Free plan includes many of the platform’s features, though you’ll only have access to the 10,000 most recent messages and individual storage caps at 5GB. In a business’ early days, that may be plenty of history and storage space. However, you’ll want to upgrade to a paid plan as your business scales to support full message storage, video conferencing users, and security protocols.
Slack is more expensive than some of its competitors, especially considering that it’s a standalone product. For example, for $5 per user, per month, you can get Microsoft Teams’ Business Basic package, which also includes web and mobile versions of eight popular Microsoft Office productivity apps, video conferencing for up to 300 participants, and 1TB of cloud storage.
Slack Features
- Advanced search and filtering: Find the exact conversation you’re looking for in no time with Slack’s intuitive search feature, whether it happened two days or two years ago.
- Slack Huddles: Turn your chat into a video call or group conference in a single click to collaborate quickly and come to decisions faster.
- Integrations: Connect all your business apps to Slack to streamline workflows and increase productivity without leaving the platform.
Microsoft Teams: Best Team Chat App for Video Conferencing Features
Microsoft Teams
Overall Score:
4.56
OUT OF
5 i
Our score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Robust video conferencing tools
- Included with Microsoft 365 Business
- 1TB per user of OneDrive cloud storage with Business Basic plan and above
What’s Missing
- Designed for use in large organizations
- Difficult to deploy
Microsoft Teams Pricing*
- Microsoft Teams (Free): Unlimited chat, file sharing, tasks, and polling, 5GB of storage per user, data encryption, and 60-minute video meetings with up to 100 participants
- Microsoft Teams Essentials: $4 per user, per month for unlimited group meetings up to 30 hours and up to 300 participants, 10GB of cloud storage per user, and phone and web support
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic**: $5 per user, per month for up to 300-participant video conferencing, 24-hour meeting duration, and web and mobile versions of eight Microsoft Office apps including Word, Excel, and Outlook, and 1TB of file storage per user in OneDrive
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 per user, per month for attendee registration and reporting tools, Microsoft Bookings appointment manager, and web, mobile, and desktop versions of 10 Microsoft Office apps
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium**: $20.00 per user, per month for advanced security, access and data control, and cyberthreat protection
Check out Microsoft Teams
*Pricing based on annual subscription to Microsoft 365 Business plans.
**Cost of Business Basic increases to $6 per month, per user, and the cost of Business Premium increases from $20 to $22 per user, per month in March 2022.
Microsoft Teams is one of the most affordable unified communication platforms on the market, and its free plan satisfies most small business use cases. You won’t need to upgrade unless you need additional meeting participant caps, longer meetings, extra cloud storage, or need user licenses for Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook, Word, and Excel.
No other platform on this list can host up to 300 video participants, and Microsoft Teams is packed with video conferencing features not available on other platforms. For example, it provides a fun, one-of-a-kind collaborative experience called Together Mode, which lets you host a video call in a customized virtual space, such as a cafe or conference room.
Microsoft Teams is included with Microsoft 365 Business plans, delivering a lot more than just the chat app for your money. With that said, you can access the new Microsoft Teams standalone Essentials plan (released in December 2021) at $4 per user, per month. This gives you video conferencing limits up to 30 hours and 300 participants, double the amount of per-user storage as the free version, and support via phone and web.
Unfortunately, Microsoft Teams isn’t the most friendly solution for small businesses. It can be difficult to deploy because of the number of configurations you can adjust. You’ll have to decide how to organize teams and channels appropriately, which is a bit more cumbersome than Slack’s straightforward deployment.
You may even need help from a tech specialist to get everything up and running. But once you’re past the complex setup, the Teams’ chat app is easy to use, regardless of whether you use it on mobile, desktop, or browser. With that in mind, businesses looking for a more small business-friendly option will be better off with Slack or Skype.
Microsoft Teams Features
- Video conferencing: Host video meetings with up to 300 participants up to 24 hours in length starting from the lowest plan tier and build collaborative team experiences using Together Mode, Team’s virtual call space.
- Ample cloud storage: Enjoy 1TB per organization (plus 10GB per license) of cloud storage. If you need extra storage for other files, you can store up to 1TB of data per user on OneDrive.
- Microsoft Office: Access web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint with Microsoft Teams’ Business Basic plan, or upgrade to the Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan to unlock desktop versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, Publisher, Access, PowerPoint, and more.
Rocket.Chat: Best Team Chat App for Customization & Scalability
Rocket.Chat
Overall Score:
4.51
OUT OF
5 i
Our score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Self-managed or cloud-hosted
- Affordable per-user pricing
- Modify the code to customize your application
What’s Missing
- Overkill for non-developers
- Stability issues
Rocket.Chat Pricing*
- Self-Managed Community: Free for unlimited message history, 10,000 monthly push notifications, end-to-end encryption, custom user permissions, guest users, and unlimited integrations
- Self-Managed Pro: $3 per user, per month for unlimited users, 25,000 monthly push notifications, social network login, online ticketing support, hourly analytics, and priority 24/7 email support
- Self-Managed Enterprise: Contact sales for tiered pricing and volume discounts; unlock unlimited, secured push notifications, an engagement dashboard, data loss prevention, smart chat routing, priority assignments, and on-hold queues
- Cloud Bronze: $2 per user, per month for unlimited message history, unlimited notifications, and up to 5 integrations
- Cloud Silver: $4 per user, per month for white labeling, custom domain, user permissions, and up to 100 integrations
- Cloud Gold: Contact sales for tiered pricing and volume discounts; unlock premium SLA, secured push notifications, and 1,000 integrations
Check out Rocket.Chat
*Pricing is based on annual subscriptions.
Rocket.Chat is an open-source team messaging app businesses can self-manage or host on Rocket.Chat’s cloud servers. It’s built primarily for developers who want a custom-made solution for scalability, affordability, and personalization. Rocket.Chat provides full access to the code so you can make whatever customizations or security assurance changes you need to scale the solution.
One thing Rocket.Chat does better than some other team messaging applications is provide omnichannel functionality. You can use the platform to message teammates internally or customers externally. Plus, Rocket.Chat also works with your chatboxes, short message service (SMS) text messages, emails, and even social media posts to consolidate all your customer communications into a single app.
However, Rocket.Chat’s team messaging functionality doesn’t offer built-in video conferencing like Slack. Instead, it requires an integration. Nor does it provide cloud storage like Microsoft Teams—but it does offer a basic, affordable team chat app that costs as little as $2 per user, per month on the cloud-hosted Bronze plan.
Rocket.Chat Features
- Omnichannel communication: Use a single platform to communicate with teammates and customers, regardless of whether they use email, chat, social media, or SMS texting.
- Optional hosting: Host your team messaging application on Rocket.Chat’s servers, or take complete stewardship over your data and host it through your own cloud solution.
- Custom code: Make changes to the code to tailor Rocket.Chat’s app for your unique use cases.
Google Chat: Best Team Chat App for Google Workspace Users
Google Chat
Overall Score:
4.44
OUT OF
5 i
Our score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Seamless integration with Google Workspace apps, plus all Workspace apps come with paid plans
- Advanced search and history
- Use within Gmail or as a standalone team chat app
What’s Missing
- Confusing user interface (UI)
- Not intended for large conversations
Google Chat Pricing*
- Free: Anyone with a Gmail address gets Google Chat free for team messaging
- Business Starter: $6 per user, per month for all Google Workspace apps including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, a custom business email, 100-participant video meetings, U.S. and international dial-in numbers, shared calendars, whiteboarding, and 30GB of cloud storage per user
- Business Standard: $12 per user, per month for 150-participant video meetings, noise cancellation, breakout rooms, meeting recordings, security and management controls, 2TB of cloud storage per user, and standard support (upgrade)
- Business Plus: $18 per user, per month for 250-participant video meetings, attendance tracking, 5TB cloud storage per user, and enhanced security controls
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing to unlock Secure/Multipurpose internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) encryption, in-domain livestreaming, noise cancellation, unlimited storage, and enhanced customer support
Check out Google Chat
*Google Chat is included (among many other Google applications) with Google Workspace business packages.
Google Chat (formerly known as Google Hangouts Chat) is a less popular team messaging tool for the simple reason that many don’t know it exists. Google Chat shines for one-on-one or small group messages, but loses its proficiency and becomes difficult to use when scaled to entire organizations. It can be difficult to keep track of conversations because of poor chat nesting and little control over notification types.
Google Chat is free to use for anyone with a Gmail address. Access it from within your Gmail account or download a standalone app. If you’re planning on using the team chat app frequently, the standalone app is a much more manageable option as the Gmail integration is difficult to navigate multiple conversations.
Google Chat integrates smoothly with the rest of the Google Workspace apps. When you copy and paste a link to a document in a chat, it automatically imports the details of the document and changes the sharing permissions to make it accessible. You can also jump into video conferencing meetings through Google Meet, add events to Google Calendar, or even manage your Google to-do lists―all from Google Chat.
Despite Google Chat’s accessibility, it’s not as user-friendly or feature-rich as Slack. If you’re a Google power user and want to consolidate your conversations, Google Chat is a great option. However, if you need more robust channel control and a better messaging user interface (UI), we recommend Slack.
Google Chat Features
- Google Workspace integration: Share documents, collaborate in Google Docs, join Google Meet meetings, or edit your calendar—all from Google Chat.
- Chat within Gmail: Keep all your conversations in a single place by using Google Chat inside your Gmail application.
- Smart bots: Build automated bots to help you connect with the right participants, launch meetings, and ultimately get work done faster.
Skype: Best Free Team Chat App
Skype
Overall Score:
4.39
OUT OF
5 i
Our score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Free
- Built-in video conferencing
- Easy to learn and master
What’s Missing
- Less secure
- Difficult to scale
Skype Pricing
- Free: Skype is free to use for team messaging and video conferencing up to 100 participants
Check out Skype
Skype is often thought of as a free tool for video conferencing, but it’s also an instant messaging platform, which makes it one of the best team chat apps. You can send direct messages or start group conversations within the application. The UI is intuitive and easy to use, making it a go-to option for less tech-savvy individuals.
The best part about Skype is that it’s free to use. You don’t pay to send messages, maintain your conversation history, or host video conferencing calls and you only pay for credits if you need to call international numbers or non-Skype phone numbers. However, while Skype is one of the best free team chat apps, it’s not a scalable option for growing businesses.
Meeting participants are capped at just 100 users, and you can’t protect your meetings with passwords. While meetings are secured with end-to-end encryption, you still risk having meeting bombers drop into your conference calls unexpectedly. If security is a top priority, we recommend Rocket.Chat, which gives you the most control over your data with self-hosting.
Skype Features
- HD video calling: Keep your audio and video quality crystal clear in one-to-one or group calls on Skype.
- Smart messaging: React to messages with fun emojis or tag another user’s handle to notify them about a conversation.
- Screen sharing: If a problem is too difficult to solve in a chat, quickly switch to a video call and share your screen.
Mattermost: Best Open-source Team Chat App With Project Management Tools
Mattermost
Overall Score:
4.13
OUT OF
5 i
Our score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Host on your own servers
- Easy to use as it looks, feels, and works a lot like Slack
- Comprehensive free plan
What’s Missing
- Threads get messy
- Non-native video and audio chat
Mattermost Pricing*
- Starter: Free plan for unlimited messages, users, channels, teams, and boards
- Professional: $10 per user, per month for single sign-on (SSO), advanced team permissions, and access to support
- Enterprise: Contact sales for access to advanced performance monitoring, analytics, and compliance reporting
Check out Mattermost
*Pricing may vary depending on whether you host on your own servers or Mattermost’s secure cloud.
Mattermost is the leading team messaging application for businesses that want to self-host a team messaging application on their own servers. Like Rocket.Chat, it’s an open-source application designed by and for developers, but it looks, feels, and works a lot like Slack.
Developers will find Mattermost’s robust documentation easy to follow and implement thanks to step-by-step instructions and code samples. Data privacy and security is a big focus for Mattermost, which is why you get SSO, team permissions, and automated compliance reporting on the Professional and Enterprise plans.
Mattermost’s project management tool keeps your team organized with Kanban-style boards. Managers can use the boards to plan roadmaps, assign tasks, and narrow down deadlines. You can build your own customizable boards to change views and filters or choose one of Mattermost’s prebuilt templates.
On the downside, most of Mattermost’s functionality is non-native to the application. For example, you need to install third-party integrations to host video or host audio chats. While the UI resembles Slack, the threads feature doesn’t nest as well, resulting in messy conversations that become difficult to follow. If ease of use is your top concern, we recommend Slack or Skype.
Mattermost Features
- Open source: Connect Mattermost with your favorite business apps thanks to an engaged community that consistently builds and shares integrations.
- Playbooks: Create customizable playbooks with status dashboards to streamline repetitive processes and tasks for your team, such as troubleshooting a commonly reported customer issue.
- Data control: Take advantage of custom security, compliance, and access controls to configure the app for HIPAA and FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) compliance.
How We Evaluated the Best Team Chat Providers
Many unified communication applications provide team chat functionality, but this is often on a basic level. Usually, these apps only offer fundamental features like one-to-one and group messaging. More advanced team chat apps come with built-in video conferencing, extensive third-party integrations, advanced search and filtering, and file sharing.
We found Slack to be the best team chat software on the market, scoring 4.64 out of 5 against our criteria. This popular messaging app is affordable and easy to set up and use. Slack offers a well-rounded set of features, including small group video conferencing, advanced search and filtering, secure file sharing, and the ability to power your communications organization-wide thanks to its 2,400-plus integrations.
Visit Slack
Learn how we evaluated the best team chat app providers by clicking on the tabs below:
25%
Pricing
30%
General Features
25%
Advanced Features
20%
Expert Score
25% of Overall Score
We compared each provider’s plans for the per-user cost on a monthly basis. We looked for free trials and annual discounts, and gave preference to team chat providers that provide free base plans.
30% of Overall Score
On a basic level, apps like these should have conversation channels, filtered search, file sharing, and security features. We also looked at supported operating systems, browser apps, and app integrations. Each of the providers here can be used across web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.
25% of Overall Score
We analyzed team chat software for advanced features like video conferencing, user presence, Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption, task management, and chat tagging. While not all of these features are essential for a chat platform, we decided which app’s feature set offers the best one-stop shop team communication application.
20% of Overall Score
Beyond the check marks and pricing comparisons, we took our own experiences into account when evaluating the providers. We considered the ease of use, popularity, standout features, and value for money. We also looked at reviews from other business users to examine their experiences.
*Percentages of overall score
Bottom Line
Team messaging is now an essential tool for business collaboration. Fortunately, there are great team chat apps available regardless of your company’s budget.
If pricing is your biggest concern, we recommend getting started on a free plan like Skype or Microsoft Teams. However, if you need a complete team messaging provider with built-in video conferencing, advanced search and filtering, and thousands of integrations, you won’t find a better solution than Slack.
Visit Slack
