9 Best Slack Alternatives for Teams, Communities, and Small Businesses

Slack works well enough for most teams. But pricing, feature gaps, or company-wide tooling decisions push plenty of organizations toward alternatives that fit their workflow better.

Slack changed how teams communicate. Channels replaced endless email threads, integrations connected tools that never talked to each other, and async messaging became the default rhythm for distributed teams. But Slack’s free plan limits message history to 90 days, the Pro plan costs $8.75 per user per month, and the interface can feel bloated once a workspace grows past a few hundred people. Some teams need deeper video integration. Others want to self-host everything on their own servers. A few just want something simpler and cheaper.

The alternatives below cover different needs: enterprise ecosystems, open-source self-hosting, budget-friendly options, and community-focused platforms. Each one has a genuine reason to exist beyond just being “not Slack.”

Microsoft Teams

Best for: Organizations already using Microsoft 365

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Microsoft Teams is the default communication tool for most enterprises. It ships bundled with every Microsoft 365 subscription, which means organizations paying for Office apps already have Teams at no additional cost. That bundling alone explains why Teams has over 320 million monthly active users.

The tight integration with SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem is the real selling point. Documents shared in a Teams channel live in SharePoint automatically. Calendar invites from Outlook create Teams meetings without extra steps. For companies built on Microsoft infrastructure, nothing else connects this seamlessly.

The downsides are real, though. Teams can feel sluggish on older hardware, the notification system takes some tuning before it stops being overwhelming, and the channel/team/chat structure confuses new users who are accustomed to Slack’s more straightforward workspace model. The free version supports up to 100 participants in meetings and includes 5 GB of team storage.

Google Chat

Best for: Teams running on Google Workspace

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android (also accessible within Gmail)

Google Chat replaced Google Hangouts and sits inside Google Workspace alongside Gmail, Drive, Meet, and Calendar. The pitch is identical to Teams but for the Google ecosystem: everything connects without additional setup. Share a Google Doc in a Chat Space, and everyone in that space can edit it without leaving the conversation.

Spaces (Google’s version of channels) support threaded conversations, shared files, and task assignments. Google Meet handles video calls directly from Chat. The whole experience lives inside Gmail for users who prefer a single browser tab over a dedicated app.

Google Chat works best for teams already paying for Google Workspace. As a standalone messaging tool outside that ecosystem, it lacks the third-party integration depth that Slack offers. The free tier through a personal Google account is functional for casual use but limited compared to the Workspace version.

Discord

Best for: Communities, creative teams, startups with informal culture

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Discord started as a gaming communication platform and has since expanded into a general-purpose community tool. Plenty of startups, open-source projects, and creator-led businesses run their internal communication on Discord servers because the free tier is remarkably generous: unlimited message history, voice channels with no time limits, screen sharing, and support for servers with hundreds of thousands of members.

Voice channels are where Discord stands apart from every other tool on this list. Instead of scheduling a call and sending a link, team members simply join a persistent voice channel when they want to talk. It creates a virtual office atmosphere that scheduled meetings cannot replicate. Screen sharing and streaming within those voice channels work well for quick demos or pair programming sessions.

Discord is not built for enterprise use. It lacks formal compliance certifications, audit logs for regulated industries, and the kind of admin controls that IT departments demand. But for small teams, communities, and organizations where formality is not a priority, the free plan offers more than Slack’s paid tier in several areas.

Mattermost

Best for: Developer teams and organizations that need self-hosted messaging

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Mattermost is an open-source Slack alternative designed specifically for technical teams. The interface looks and feels similar to Slack, with channels, direct messages, threads, and file sharing. The critical difference is deployment: Mattermost can run entirely on company-owned servers, giving organizations full control over their data.

That self-hosting capability matters enormously for companies in regulated industries (healthcare, finance, defense) where data residency and compliance requirements prevent the use of third-party cloud services. Mattermost supports end-to-end encryption, LDAP and SAML authentication, and granular permission controls.

The free edition covers messaging for unlimited users. Paid plans add features like persistent playbooks, incident collaboration workflows, and enterprise-grade admin tools. Setting up a self-hosted Mattermost instance requires a sysadmin comfortable with Linux servers and database management. A cloud-hosted option exists for teams that want the product without the infrastructure work.

Rocket.Chat

Best for: Organizations wanting open-source messaging with omnichannel support

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Rocket.Chat occupies similar territory to Mattermost as an open-source, self-hostable messaging platform. Where it differentiates is omnichannel capability: Rocket.Chat can funnel messages from WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, email, and live chat widgets into a single interface. That makes it popular with customer support teams and organizations that need to manage both internal communication and external customer conversations in one place.

The platform supports channels, direct messages, threads, video conferencing, and end-to-end encryption. A marketplace of apps and integrations extends functionality, and the API allows custom integrations for teams with development resources. Rocket.Chat also offers federation, meaning separate Rocket.Chat instances can communicate with each other across organizations.

The community edition is free for self-hosted deployments. The enterprise plan and cloud-hosted options carry subscription fees. Like Mattermost, deploying Rocket.Chat on your own servers demands technical know-how, but the reward is complete data ownership.

Zoom Team Chat

Best for: Teams that live in Zoom meetings and want messaging in the same app

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Zoom Team Chat is built into the Zoom desktop and mobile app. Anyone with a Zoom account already has access to it. The messaging experience includes channels, group chats, file sharing, and threaded replies. Jumping from a text conversation to a Zoom call happens in one click since both features live in the same application.

The advantage here is consolidation. Teams that rely heavily on Zoom for meetings can reduce their tooling by using Team Chat instead of paying for a separate Slack workspace. Zoom Whiteboard and Zoom Docs integrate directly into chat conversations. The free Zoom plan includes Team Chat with no message history limits.

As a pure messaging platform, Team Chat is less mature than Slack. The third-party integration library is smaller, channel organization is less refined, and the search functionality does not match Slack’s precision. It works best as an add-on for existing Zoom users rather than a standalone messaging solution.

Pumble

Best for: Budget-conscious teams that need unlimited message history for free

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Pumble directly targets the gap Slack created when it started limiting free-plan message history. Pumble’s free tier includes unlimited users, unlimited message history, and 10 GB of shared storage. For small teams and startups watching every dollar, that is a hard offer to ignore.

The interface is clearly inspired by Slack. Channels, threads, direct messages, mentions, and file sharing all work the way a Slack user would expect. The learning curve for teams migrating from Slack is essentially zero. Pumble also includes voice and video calling, screen sharing, and guest access on the free plan.

Pumble is made by CAKE.com, the same company behind Clockify (time tracking) and Plaky (project management). The paid Pro plan adds custom roles, advanced permissions, and admin analytics. The integration ecosystem is limited compared to Slack’s massive app directory, which is the main trade-off for the price savings.

Element

Best for: Privacy-focused organizations and teams needing decentralized communication

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Element is built on the Matrix protocol, an open standard for decentralized, encrypted communication. Every message is end-to-end encrypted by default. The platform can be self-hosted, and because Matrix is a federated protocol, separate Element servers can communicate with each other the same way different email servers exchange messages.

Several European governments, including France and Germany, have adopted Element-based platforms for internal government communication specifically because of the data sovereignty guarantees. The French government runs its own Matrix server for inter-ministerial messaging. That level of institutional adoption speaks to the security credentials.

For everyday team messaging, Element supports rooms (channels), threads, voice and video calls, file sharing, and bridging to other platforms (Slack, IRC, Discord, Microsoft Teams). The experience is functional but rougher around the edges than Slack. Setup requires more effort, and the interface lacks the polish that commercial products invest in. Element is the right pick when privacy and data control are non-negotiable requirements.

Chanty

Best for: Small teams that want built-in task management alongside chat

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web

Chanty combines team messaging with a built-in task manager called Teambook. Any message can be converted into a task with a due date, assignee, and priority level. That eliminates the need for a separate project management tool for teams with straightforward task workflows.

The free plan supports up to 5 members with unlimited message history. Paid plans start at $4 per user per month and unlock audio/video calls with screen sharing, role-based permissions, and integrations with tools like Trello, Asana, Jira, and Google Drive. Chanty’s pricing model charges only for active users, which saves money for organizations with members who log in occasionally.

Chanty is not trying to compete with Teams or Slack at enterprise scale. It targets small businesses and teams under 50 people who want chat and task tracking in a single, affordable app without the complexity of larger platforms.

Which One Should You Pick?

The right choice depends on what is already in the toolkit. Microsoft 365 shops should try Teams before paying for anything else. Google Workspace teams have the same logic with Google Chat. If budget is the primary constraint and the team is small, Pumble or Chanty offer the most functionality at zero cost. Developer teams and regulated industries that require data control should evaluate Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, or Element. Discord fits communities and informal teams that value persistent voice channels over corporate features.

Switching from Slack is not difficult mechanically. The harder part is getting everyone on the team to actually use the new tool consistently. Whichever alternative gets chosen, committing to it fully matters more than picking the theoretically perfect option.

Frequently Asked Questions