Supercharge Team Productivity and Collaboration with the Top 10 Team Chat Apps

Team chat apps have become the go-to for many companies’ in-house communication. They’re fast, simple, and easy to use, boosting team efficiency, collaboration, and productivity.

All team group chat apps follow a similar profile, with one-on-one and group instant messaging (like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger). However, good business-oriented apps offer additional features to help your team be as productive as possible. To simplify your search for the ultimate chat app, we’ve put together a list of the top 10 team chat apps on the market.

What Are the Benefits of Team Chat Apps

Team messaging applications streamline how an operation communicates by switching to short, concise messages rather than stuffy emails in ever-growing chains. What’s more, those messages are real-time, allowing teams to stay up to date, especially with integrated notifications for instant feedback.

Team chat also offers a unified hub for company communication, so there are no crossed wires or misunderstandings. Everyone in your team can be part of the conversations that are important to them and stay in the loop on company-wide topics. Team chat apps also improve collaboration by offering a simple and convenient way to share files and work together on digital documents.

The best team chat apps out there also integrate other productivity features, offering all-in-one tools to manage your workflow with task management, project tracking, and more.

Criteria for Selecting Our Top 10 Team Chat Apps

There are hundreds of chat apps to choose from and finding the right one can be a little overwhelming. To help get you started, we’ve compiled our list of the top ten chat apps for teams. To find the best chat apps out there, we looked at a few key features beyond the basics:

1. User Interface and Experience

An app can offer all the features in the world, but if it’s impossible to navigate, forget about it! The top ten team chat apps below all feature high usability and great UI/UX design.

2. Safety and Security

Is your data safe in each of the chat apps? Our top ten all offer good security and data privacy features.

3. Customization and Integration

It’s important to be able to make a team chat app your own, so we also looked at the various customization and integration options offered by the various messaging apps.

4. Export and Data Control

Finally, we checked the ease and availability of exporting and archiving information with various team chat apps.

The Top 10 Team Chat Apps

1. Spike

Spike offers a powerful team chat app as part of a robust and full-featured productivity suite. The chat enables you to talk to one or more team members in real-time or loop in clients using a simple email address. This is in addition to video meetings, voice calls, online notes, voice messages, a unified calendar, task management, To-Do Lists, advanced inbox management, and more.

Pricing

• Free: $0/Month
• Pro: $5/User/Month billed annually
• Business: $10/User/Month billed annually
• Enterprise: Price on inquiry

When to Use Spike 

Due to the variety of powerful tools and the all-in-one design, Spike is a great option for businesses of any size looking to harness the benefits of a team chat app to boost their productivity and efficiency.

2. Slack

Slack is one of the most popular team chat apps. Slack breaks down company communication into channels, groups, and direct messages. It also features Huddles (video and voice calls), Clips (short audio or video clips), and Canvas (a collaborative digital space).

Pricing

• Free: $0/Month
• Pro: $7.25/User/Month paid annually
• Business+: $12.50/User/Month paid annually
• Enterprise Grid: Price on inquiry

When to Use Slack 

Slack is a great option for companies looking for an internal team chat app, offering solid user experience but lacking an out-of-the-box solution for client and customer communication as well as some other desirable features, such as task management.

3. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft’s team chat app comes bundled into its video conferencing application, which offers an increasingly powerful array of communication and collaboration tools, from Channels that organize conversations to seamless document sharing (within the Office suite).

Pricing

• Free: $0/Month
• Microsoft Teams Essentials: $4/User/Month paid annually
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6/User/Month paid annually
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50/User/Month paid annually

When to Use Microsoft Teams 

As part of the wider Microsoft Office package, Teams is best for companies already working in the Microsoft ecosystem. It’s a great way to add a business team chat app to your communication system without having to go outside your existing infrastructure.

4. Google Chat

Part of the Google Workspace package, Google Chat offers one-on-one and group chat, Spaces (which act like channels), integration with Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as well as direct access in Gmail.

Pricing 

Google Chat is included as part of Google Workspace.

• Business Starter: $6/User/Month
• Business Standard: $12/User/Month paid annually
• Business Plus: $18/User/Month paid annually
• Enterprise: Price on inquiry

When to Use Google Workspace 

Google Chat is the obvious choice if you already use Google Workspace. It may also be a good option for those who do a lot of work in the Google ecosystem (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, etc.)

5. Workplace Chat

While being on Facebook Messenger in the office would have got you reprimanded not too long ago, more and more companies are now turning to Meta for their business chat needs. It offers quick groups, instant messaging, and audio/video calls built right into the chat.

Pricing 

Workplace Chat is included in Workplace by Meta.

• Core Plan: $4/User/Month billed annually
• Add-ons: Varied

When to Use Meta Workplace Chat 

Workplace chat is the perfect option for organizations already looking to use Workplace by Meta as their broader platform.

6. Ryver

Ryver is a multifaceted tool, combining team chat with project and task management. It features an intuitive Kanban-style system with instant one-on-one and group messaging, as well as video and voice calls in Beta.

Pricing

• Starter (up to 12 users): $69/Month
• Standard (up to 30 users): $129/Month
• Medium Pack (30+ users): $4/User/Month
• Enterprise: Price on inquiry

When to Use Ryver 

If you’re looking for a stripped-back option that does basic chat and simple task management, then Ryver might be a good choice. If you’re looking for a more robust solution, check elsewhere.

7. Rocket.Chat

Rocket.Chat is all about control, customization and keeping things secure. It offers internal team chat, omnichannel external communications, video and voice calls, file sharing, and more.

Pricing 

• Community (self-hosted): $0/Month
• Enterprise (Minimum of 25 users): $7/User/Month
• Enterprise (Minimum of 5 omnichannel agents): $35/Agent/Month
• Enterprise Add-Ons: Various

When to Use Rocket.Chat 

This is the perfect option for companies that are a little more tech-savvy and looking for an open-source option.

8. Mattermost

The second open-source option on our list, Mattermost is a little more stripped back than Rocket-chat, focusing on internal team chat, file sharing, and integrations. There is a strong focus on security and technical teams, with dedicated code snippet sharing and in-line code syntax highlighting.

Pricing 

• Free (self-hosted): $0/Month
• Professional (self-hosted): $10/Month
• Enterprise (self-hosted): Price on inquiry

When to Use Mattermost 

When security and on-prem deployment is your top priority, then Mattermost is the team chat app for you.

9. Flock

Flock is a productivity suite with video/voice calls, file sharing, task management, and more, in addition to its chat app functionality. Its team chat is based on public and private channels where you can set up conversations to collaborate.

Pricing 

• Free (1-20 members): $0/Month
• Pro (20-100 members): $4.50/User/Month
• Enterprise (100+ members): Price on inquiry

When to Use Flock 

When you’re looking for more features in your team chat app while maintaining a clear interface, Flock might be a good choice.

10. Troop Messenger

Troop Messenger is a team chat app with some rather unique features. There are standard one-on-one and group messaging options, as well as voice and video calls. However, it also offers Burnout (auto-deleting) and Forkout (one to many) messaging options.

Pricing 

• Premium: $25/Month
• Enterprise: $5/User/Month

When to Use Troop Messenger 

If one of Troop Messenger’s unique features jumps out at you, it might be a good choice. Otherwise, there are some more road-tested options out there.

How to Choose the Right Team Chat App for Your Business

We’ve listed our top ten team chat apps, but which one you choose will come down to your team and your needs. Before choosing any of the apps, assess the features you will use, possible integrations with the tools you already have, and the budget you’re willing to put towards a team chat.

Ready to Choose Your Team Chat App?

Thanks to their speed, simplicity, and efficiency, team chat apps are great for internal communication – no more clutter, just the meat of the matter. They streamline communication, offer real-time collaboration, and provide a centralized hub for your organization. With many applications also offering file sharing, integration with efficiency tools, and more, it’s never been easier to boost your productivity with a team chat app.