Top 6 group chat apps in 2024

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5. Scalability and flexibility

A scalable group chat app will follow your growth and the needs that come with it. It needs to function well with a larger number of users just as it did when your team just started.

Moreover, check if the app is flexible enough to support your extra needs. For example, some of your team members might need to collaborate with external partners. Check how that can be facilitated.

⭐ When you use Rocket.Chat, your external partners can use other tools on their end (like WhatsApp or Teams), while you’ll have your communication streamlined on a single platform.

Top 6 group chat apps to try in 2024

1. Rocket.Chat

Rocket.Chat is a popular group chat app used by millions of users. Powered by open source, it has enabled business messaging to users in organizations of all sizes and various industries.

Of course, Rocket.Chat features all the chat essentials: threads, channels, and discussions; it has presence indicators and allows for message scheduling.

But, what really sets Rocket.Chat apart from other group chat apps is its flexibility and versatility. This highly customizable chat allows the building of additional capabilities, specific to the use case. 

⭐ For example: an airline wants a new chat room with all flight crew members to be created before the flight and archived after to make communication effective for their specific business needs. 

Moreover, Rocket.Chat is designed to cater to businesses in highly regulated industries such as Healthcare, Government, Defense, and others. It can be deployed on-prem or to a secure cloud, and users can be given one of the 180+ granular roles to navigate their workspaces.

Numerous apps in Rocket.Chat’s marketplace allows users to streamline their work. For example, there is a native integration with Pexip, a secure video conferencing solution. There are also MS Teams Bridge and Slackline, apps to help you connect with users on Teams and Slack.

The versatility of Rocket.Chat as a group chat app goes beyond workplace communication: you can create numerous conversational experiences as a standalone app or an in-app chat.

Best for: organizations that handle sensitive customer data and/or work in highly regulated industries or companies with  high customization requirements

Pros

• Compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, FedRamp, and other data privacy regulations
• On-prem or cloud deployment
• Matrix federation for secure external communications
• Message audits and conversation transcripts

Cons

• Requires technical knowledge to deploy in specific cases
  

2. Slack

If you think about a chat platform for business, one of the first tools to come to mind is Slack. It’s still one of the most popular group chat apps on the market.

It was the first chat app in the realm of internal communication that gained such rapid popularity. Slack successfully positioned itself as a leaner alternative to employee communication software such as intranet.

It’s a commonly used tool in the IT and tech sector, where companies were early adopters of an innovative and cheap group chat that Slack was a while ago. Since the early days, Slack has grown and partnered up with Salesforce to expand its offering.

As it developed, Slack became more expensive. It also didn’t meet the flexibility needs of teams that wanted a more customized app.

Nonetheless, Slack is definitely the benchmark in many areas. That’s why people often google terms like white-label Slack or Slack alternative instead of white-label group chat or chat for work.

As a group chat app, Slack has all the essentials: direct and group messages, threads, and channels. Organizations across industries can use Slack if their security needs are met with standard enterprise-level security.

Best for: agile mid-sized businesses in tech or organizations preferring cloud deployment and standard enterprise-level security

Pros

• Fast deployment and setup
• Superb UI/UX
• Advanced automation and workflow settings
• Easy to integrate other apps from the tech stack

Cons

• Doesn’t meet the extensive customization needs that some organizations require
  

3. MS Teams

You’ve probably seen Microsoft Teams on every enterprise chat list there is. And it’s no wonder.

This group chat app has a global presence thanks to Microsoft under whose umbrella it’s being sold. In most of the world, Teams is free for organizations using the Microsoft Office package. However, in the EU it was recently unbundled from the rest of the Office package due to anti-competitiveness regulations.

As a group chat app, Teams has all the essentials: you can message people directly or in a group and seamlessly jump to a video call from the chat itself. In comparison with other tools, it is a bit clunkier and less intuitive, but it does the job.

Coming from Microsoft, Teams is built for enterprise organizations and works best with them. But, organizations prioritizing extreme data security and compliance are lately searching for MS Teams alternatives. This is due to two reasons: first, organizations in Europe are now free to pursue other options and use an internal chat of their choice. Second, the whole Microsoft 365 package has been deemed controversial in Europe since Germany banned it from use in their schools due to non-compliance with GDPR.

Best for: large enterprises outside of the EU who prefer cloud deployments

Pros

• Comes free with the rest of the Microsoft Office package and works great with all the Office products
• Enterprise-level security
• Seamless jump to video conferencing with virtual backgrounds and live captions

Cons

• It’s not clear whether it meets GDPR regulations in the EU; can be sluggish compared to other tools
  

4. Chanty

Chanty is a prominent messaging app that makes team communication and collaboration easy. It’s simple and intuitive to use, which is important because it keeps users from deflecting to other communication means to do everyday tasks.

Chanty is consistently brought up in reviews of best chat apps for work for a good reason. It provides an intuitive chat interface with an option to jump on a call within the tool. 

More importantly, the app incorporates simple task management features accessible via Kanban board view. Users can see all their tasks, pins, messages, and code snippets in Teambook, a centralized hub for all the work content.

The project management features are a good add-on for teams that don’t have a separate tool for that, but complex projects will require standalone project management tools like Asana, ClickUp, or Jira.

Chanty is rated predominantly positive across review sites. If your team isn’t too technical, Chanty will likely fulfill all your business chat requirements. It’s suitable for bigger organizations that need enterprise-level security.

The biggest upside of Chanty in comparison to other tools is its price. A paid plan costs $3 per user, which is a great price-performance tradeoff for a critical piece of software like a group chat app.

Best for: non-technical teams that want simple project management features embedded in their chat

Pros

• Central hub to organize all pins, messages, and tasks
• Project management features with a Kanban board view
• Unlimited message history and simple UI

Cons

• No advanced security features; project management features too basic for complex projects

5. Mattermost

Mattermost is known as one of the most secure messaging apps on the market. It specializes in streamlining developer collaboration.

Some of the special features it offers include:

• Workflow orchestration
• Incident resolutions
• Supporting agile development
• CI/CD command center
• ChatOps
• Application and network performance and monitoring.

Built on open source, it’s often deployed in environments that require extensive customization. As a team communication app, Mattermost features real-time and async messaging with integrated voice and audio. For developers, there’s multi-language code syntax highlighting. It includes unlimited and searchable message history, which makes this group chat app compliant with data privacy regulations such as HIPAA, FINRA, and others.

Mattermost’s additional benefit is its Playbook feature, which stands for checklist-based automation that powers different workflows. Playbooks integrate processes into the messaging platform to keep all stakeholders aligned.

Best for: DevOps working in highly regulated environments and distributed dev teams that need to collaborate heavily

Pros

• Native integrations with popular developer tools
• Configurable for HIPAA and FINRA compliance
• Unlimited and searchable message history
• End-to-end encrypted messaging

Cons

• Not offering the best user experience to non-technical teams

6. Discord

A surprise on our list, or is it?

When you think of Discord, you think of a gaming chat. But, gamers have real jobs, and they started using their favorite gaming chat for work purposes.

Some reviews say that Discord works perfectly fine as a group workplace chat. It has Slack-like channels to keep conversations organized and on-topic. It doesn’t hurt that Discord is free, making it even more appealing for smaller teams just starting out. 

Discord’s unique trait is the audio-first approach. For teams that want persistent audio while they co-work remotely, this is a great option. There are also audio and video channels, and the video quality is surprisingly good according to reviews.

On the other hand, Discord was not built for the workplace. The file uploads are limited in size, which can trump the effectiveness of the app. Another major obstacle: Discord doesn’t offer any integrations with other workplace tools. This is below standard for any other app developed to serve as a workplace chat, so when teams using Discord grow, they often start looking for Discord alternatives for businesses.

Best for: smaller teams that want persistent audio while co-working

Pros

• Superb audio and video capabilities
• Game-like user experience
• Extremely low pricing

Cons

• Lacks group chat features built for the workplace communication use case, for example, integrations or bigger size uploads

What stats say about using group chat apps

In its research on more than 1200 remote workers in the US, Preply found some interesting stats:

• 34% of remote workers keep notifications turned off because they cause anxiety
• 22% of respondents are worried their superiors are reading their messages on group chat apps
• 55% of remote workers check work messages in their free time (even on weekends and during vacation)
• 54% use GIFs and memes in a work group chat, while 46% think it's cringey.

While group chat apps are keeping teams connected, they can also be distracting and cause anxiety. That's why it's important that organizations lay out some ground rules for using group chat apps, including suggestions on the tone of communication and using the apps only during work hours.

What is the best group chat for your team?

Our team at Rocket.Chat is aware that choosing the best solution is hard with so many similar, yet different solutions on the market. If you're looking for a group chat app to help you:

• connect your distributed workforce
• comply with local and industrial regulations
• streamline team communication without sacrificing data security

Rocket.Chat could be the right tool for you.

Get in touch with our team to check if we match!