10 Best Team Communication Tools (with Pros, Cons & Prices)

When you are a team of two at work, your roles and responsibilities are clear. Team communication is pretty effective too. All you need to do is poke your teammate with an elbow.

“What’s up pal?”

Syncing up with a team gets far more complicated as the company grows. Group communication gets messy and hard to control—you chat on Facebook, Skype, and maybe sometimes on WhatsApp.

Important documents get lost, taking away your precious time while you try to find them. You don’t feel like work gets done anymore.

Sounds familiar?

It’s time for a tool that would organize team communication and bring it all to one place.

Our team at Chanty is working hard on our own team communication app. Naturally, we’ve encountered a number of competitors and conducted in-depth analyses of various apps. As a result, we put together a list of the most reliable team communication tools available, along with their pros and cons, to make it much easier for you to make a decision.

Now it’s time to take a look at the top team communication tools.

1. Chanty

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It wouldn’t be our blog if we didn’t start the list with an app that we are building. Chanty is a team collaboration tool featuring a clear UI and intuitive UX. This makes it a great fit for all kinds of teams at work, even the “not so tech-savvy.”

Chanty offers an unlimited messaging history. You can communicate in public, private, and one-to-one conversations with your colleagues via text, audio/video calls, and voice messages. Any message can be easily turned into a task and assigned to any team member.

Chanty also features the unique concept of “Teambook,” which organizes all of your communication. If you feel like your chat at work is becoming a “black hole,” you’ll definitely like Chanty, where it’s super easy to find anything. Overall, getting work done is faster and easier with Chanty.

Pricing:

Chanty is free for teams of up to 10 members. Paid plans are applied to teams of 10 members or more. The pricing plans start at $3 per seat. Searchable message history is included in all Chanty plans.

Pros:

• Free unlimited searchable message history
• Simple and clean interface
• Easy-to-start and easy-to-use
• Affordable pricing
• Unique Teambook feature (keeps everything you share organized)
• High-quality audio/video calls
• Voice messages
• Built-in task manager
• Integrations with 1500+ apps
• Users can influence Chanty roadmap

Cons

• Some of the custom integrations are not yet present (coming soon)

If you have any questions about Chanty, feel free to leave a comment. Otherwise, feel free to join our close-knit community of Chanty users and give our app a try. ⬇️ We are looking forward to your feedback.

2. Brosix IM

Brosix IM is a team communication tool that specializes in private and fully administrate team networks. Brosix strives to provide an all-in-one collaboration package and comes with a range of features such as audio and video chat, peer-to-peer file transfer, dedicated chat rooms, and screen sharing. 

Special attention is paid to security and privacy on Brosix private networks, with end-to-end encryption of all communication channels and administrative control over who joins the network. This makes Brosix a good choice if you’re looking for a team communication tool with a high level of security. 

Pricing:

• Free ‘Startup’ plan for networks with up to 3 users. This comes with a private team network with control over user accounts, and a limited range of collaboration features. 
• ‘Business’ plan starts at $4 per user per month for unlimited user accounts. This comes with everything in the Startup plan plus more features, including screen sharing, video and audio chat. 
• ‘Premium’ plan starts at $6 per user per month. This comes with full administrative control and all collaboration features. 

Pros:

• All-in-one private team communication network
• High level of security
• Affordable pricing for the wide range of features provided

Cons:

• Somewhat outdated aesthetics

3. Slack

Slack is a popular app for team communication and collaboration, featuring instant messaging, file sharing, audio/video calls, powerful search, and the largest number of integrations among competitors.

Pricing:

• Freemium has a 90-day message history limit, allows only two participants in a video conference, 10 integrations and 5 GB total file storage for a team
• Pro plan is $7.25 per user per month, billed annually. $8.75 per user per month billed monthly, with up to 50 participants in a video conference and 10 GB per member file storage limit
• Business+ plan is $12.50 per user per month, billed annually. $11.25 per user per month billed monthly with unlimited workspaces and 20 GB per member file storage limit
• Slack Enterprise Grid offers a customizable pricing plan for teams with unlimited workspaces.

Pros:

• Hip design and copywriting
• Large number of integrations
• Wide set of powerful features
• Search within uploaded documents
• Profound notification management
• Highly customizable workspace

Cons:

• 90-day message history limit
• Overcomplicated
• Expensive ($7.25 to $12.50 per user per month)

4. Flock

Flock is a team communication tool from India featuring instant messages, multiple integrations, built-in to-dos, and polls. Audio and video calls are available via integration with Appear.in

Pricing:

• Freemium is limited with 10K message history, 10 public channels, 5 GB total per team, and 1-1 video calls.
• Pro Plan is $4.5 per user per month with an unlimited 1-1 and group messages, unlimited searchable messages, 10 GB per team member, and group video calls.

Pros:

• Affordable
• Faster than Slack
• Deep integration with Google Drive
• Built in to-dos and polls

Cons:

• Complicated interface
• 10K messages limit

5. ProofHub

ProofHub, unlike other team communication tools on the list, is an all-in-one project management and team communication tool. It comes into play when using multiple tools to chat, plan, organize, and track work progress creates scattered data, distracted users, extra work, and no single place for performance overview. So, as syncing up teams gets far more complicated as your company grows, you might as well decide to spend money and time on one tool instead of many. That’s where ProofHub shines.

Pricing:

• The essential plan is at a flat price of $45 per month, billed annually or $50 per month, billed monthly. There is no per-user fee with chats, custom fields, custom roles and priority support.
• The ultimate control plan is only $89 per month, billed annually or $99 per month, billed monthly (limited-time offer) with features from the essential plan and custom roles, white labelling, workflows and API access.

Pros:

• Fully packed with: Chat, task management, calendar, proofing, time tracking, etc.
• Affordable price for a good set of features
• Meant for all kinds of teams — remote, cross-functional
• Easy and simple interface with little to no learning curve
• Customizations
• Available in more than half-a-dozen languages

Cons:

• Integrations limited to FreshBooks Classic, FreshBooks, QuickBooks, Google Calendar, iCal, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Outlook (more coming soon)
• No built-in video/audio calls 

6. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams, as a part of the Office 365 package, is a team communication tool designed for enterprises. With Its powerful yet not very intuitive functionality, MS Teams offers instant chat, audio/video calls through Skype for Business, and useful integrations with Microsoft Office 365 tools.

Pricing:

• Microsoft Teams Essentials offers $4 per user per month with up to 300 participants per meetings and 10 GB cloud storage per user.
• Microsoft Office 365 Business Basic is for $6 per user per month with 1 TB per user. 
• The 365 Business Standard package is $12.5 per user per month (including Microsoft Teams).

Pros:

• Full integration across Office 365 apps
• 1 TB cloud storage per user
• Getting other Microsoft Office tools in a package

Cons:

• Difficult to start
• Complicated interface
• Customer support has room for improvement

7. Ryver

By uniting team communication with a task manager, Ryver introduces a free team communication tool with unlimited messages and data storage. The integration with Zapier lets you connect Ryver to more than 500 apps. It’s free until your team members start using tasks. For the first 14 days, you’ll receive premium services for free.

Pricing:

• The starter pack offers $69 per month with up to 12 users
• The standard pack offers $129 per month with up to 30 users
• The medium pack offers $4.67 per user with 30+ users

Pros:

• Unlimited message history
• Unlimited data storage
• Built-in tasks management
• Flat-rate pricing

Cons:

• Interface has room for improvement
• Built-in video/audio calls (beta)

8. Fleep

Fleep lets you communicate with other Fleep users or even email anyone via Fleep. A team in Fleep is equivalent to a private channel in Slack. Audio and video calls are available via the appear.in integration, which allows up to eight people on a call.

Pricing:

• For €5 per user per month, billed annually. You receive full control over your accounts, teams and conversations and have access to all Fleep features for 30 days after signup.

Pros:

• Unlimited message history, unlimited integrations
• Ability to send an email through the app
• Clean interface

Cons:

• Few integrations available

9. Pumble

Pumble is a team collaboration tool that enables its users to communicate through public or invitation-only channels, one-on-one, or group direct messages. Threads and mentions allow users to focus on a certain topic even when the conversation moves on, and emoji reactions are there when no words are necessary. Conversely, when text isn’t enough, Pumble also offers voice messages and calls, as well as video conferencing.

On top of that, Pumble users can share files, save messages, and even search through their Workspace history. Best of all, these features are available across various platforms — and the notification settings can even be different on mobile devices.

Pricing:

• Pumble’s free plan offers unlimited message history and an unlimited number of users, as well as 10GB of free storage space.
• Pumble’s PRO plan costs $1.99 per month. It lets Admins invite guests, create user groups, and customize the sidebar with an unlimited number of channels. It also expands storage space to 10 GB per user.

Pros:

• Simple, easy-to-use interface
• Free unlimited message history
• Free unlimited users
• Public and invite-only channels
• Respond with mentions or in threads
• Direct messages
• One-on-one voice and video calls
• Save messages or set reminders
• Mute channels, unfollow threads, or pause all notifications
• Data encryption
• Pricing adjusted for small and medium-sized teams
• Available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS devices

Cons:

• Limited 3rd party app integrations

10. FlippingBook

FlippingBook offers an online tool and desktop software for creating digital flipbooks. The tool converts PDFs to interactive professional documents that can be shared as links. FlippingBook makes it easier for teams to collaborate: teams can create flipbooks in a private workspace, use private or shared folders, and integrate other tools for smoother workflows. The tool offers multiple features already built-in for your convenience: from a lead capture form to design options to thorough stats native to the product. Also, you can integrate it with any other tool using Zapier.

Pricing:

• Free 14-day trial, no credit card required
• Lite plan offers $19 per month or $225 if billed annually.
• Starter plan offers $44 per month or $350 if billed annually.
• Optimal plan offers $89 per month or $1070 if billed annually.
• Advanced plan offers $179 per month or $2150 if billed annually.

Pros:

• Easy management: invite or remove team members in a click, give them access to folders and domains
• Personal email notifications about your audience’s interactions with your content
• Private and shared folders for easy collaboration

Cons:

• No built-in video/audio calls

With a rich variety of team communication tools, the question arises:

How to choose best team communication tools?

Picking the right tool for your company could become a time-consuming issue. Although every team is unique and so are the individual requirements , you can use the following criteria to help guide you in the dark:

1. Make sure it’s a closed team space

The difference between team communication tools and, say, regular Skype is that you are not interrupted by friends and relatives, as is common with Skype. Occasionally, you can invite a customer or a freelancer to join your team chat, but it’s mostly you and your team communicating around tasks and projects.

2. Powerful team chat

Although you may be a great fan of video and audio calls, text communication within a team is inevitable. Therefore, I’m often surprised to see Google Hangouts and FaceTime in the lists of ‘team communication tools’. You should be able to share files, search your message history, edit, delete, forward messages, pin important conversations and so on. Why go for either text or video when you can have both?

3. Check out privacy and security of your team communication tools

Sensitive information you and your team share should be available to your company only. Pay attention to how your data is protected while it is transferred from one end to another. Some of the tools make it possible for admins to access private conversations. It’s OK for some companies, while completely unacceptable for others. We recommend reading the privacy policy and asking the app rep all the security questions before signing up. Additionally, you might want to invest in an AI-powered access solution where team members and admins are granted access to sensitive data only if they meet certain requirements.

4. Opt for Speed

Sometimes a deluge of complicated app features results in its slow performance. You don’t want to wait forever for that message to arrive. After all, the ‘instant’ chat should match its purpose and deliver messages in a blink of an eye. However, check your internet connection first before blaming your chat for being slow.

5. Test video and audio calls

If your team is remote, video conferences are likely to be part of your daily or weekly routine at work. When looking for a team communication tool, ensure that high-quality audio and video call options are present. This feature could be either built-in or come in the form of an integration with video conference service (Skype, Hangouts, Appear.in).

6. Choose cloud based team communication tools

Unless you need the software to be installed on your company’s computers or server, cloud storage lets you sync team communication across different devices and access your files and messages from everywhere. Cloud solutions are also easier to start and easier to use.

7. Go for ease of use

Unlike many SaaS tools, you’ll be using team communication app a lot. Mostly because team communication is something that happens every day. As we spend half of our lives at work, why not spend it with pleasure and joy? This is exactly the feeling you should aim for when using a team communication app. There’s no place for irritation in your everyday life. It’s almost like choosing a partner for life – if you can’t tolerate their bad habits, think twice.

8. Integrations

Integrations are what usually makes team communication apps different from the software designed for personal communication. They let you turn your team chat into a single notification center. This means receiving software notifications from all the apps you use (could be anything from MailChimp to Zendesk to Xero) into one place. Define the apps you are using the most at work and check if the team communication tool has the integrations you need.

9. Сross-platform

It’s great when you can be on the same page with your team even on the go. This is when mobile apps come in handy making team communication easier and more effective. Maybe it’s FOMO (fear of missing out) I’m suffering from, but I tend to check our team chat in the evenings after work as well as during weekends. Using team communication software should be convenient in every way. Some of us prefer the web version of the team chat we use, while others enjoy an app for their macOS/Windows. Make sure the app you choose supports all the platforms you’ll be using.

10. Ask about features you need (and check the customer support as well)

Every team has its unique requirements when it comes to the app features. Don’t hesitate to speak to an app representative or customer care manager to find out more about features you need. The more initial research you do prior to committing to a certain app, the more efficient and productive your team communication will become.

Our team has swept the web by analyzing each and every competitor of Chanty. Naturally, all team communication tools have their strengths and weaknesses. We’ve carefully considered all feedback to make an app that’s definitely worth your attention. Take a look at Chanty, the 2018 team communication tool newcomer made with love and passion.

The mic is all yours now. What are the tools you are considering for your team and why? What are the biggest communication challenges in your company? Feel free to share in the comments below.