12 best Slack competitors in 2024 and how they differ

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2. MS Teams

Microsoft Teams serves mostly enterprise companies. Recently, it replaced a retired on-prem version of Skype for business. Its unique feature is that it is a collaboration and communication app, compared to a primary chat application like Slack. 

The freemium version of MS Teams contains basic features and more, such as 250+ integrations. It includes in-built audio, video calls, and integrations. 

How does MS Teams differ from Slack?

• Supports robust video conferencing with over 250+ users on a call
• Works best with an Office 365 environment 
• Task app inbuilt for project management
• Sharing of in-chat files up to 1 TB using Microsoft OneDrive
• Unlimited chat messages, message searches
• Ability to record and review video meetings

However, MS Teams comes with its own set of challenges. The number of features may be excessive for smaller teams, and the pricing may be expensive. MS Teams also cannot be hosted on-premise. However, Teams has recently been unbundled from the rest of the Office, meaning now users are free to choose the most suitable tool for team communication.

3. Chanty 

Chanty's unique AI-powered replies and messaging fuel its collaboration and chat features. Chanty offers unlimited chat history search, voice chat and calling, and screen sharing. Integration of third-party apps such as Google Drive, Jira, MailChimp, and others is supported.  

How does Chanty differ from Slack?

• Chanty allows users to control the roles of other team members and their access to replying or interacting with a conversation.
• Built-in task manager to turn any message into a task 
• Has a unique Team book interface for tasks, calls, conversations, and to-do lists 
• Kanban board view for prioritizing and organizing tasks
• Assigning team roles and permissions for chats

Chanty offers integrations with Asana, Zapier, MailChimp, Trello, and others for a smoother workflow. Compared to Slack, Chanty is faster, affordable, and offers twice as much storage. 

4. Mattermost 

Some Slack competitors seem to grasp the need for customization. And brands such as Rocket.Chat and Mattermost offer open-source platforms that allow private cloud hosting or a self-managed server.  

Mattermost supports over 600 integrations with plugins, bots, extensions, and others. This tool allows businesses to customize it according to their requirements. It’s mostly aimed at developers as an audience.

Check out how Mattermost compares to Element, one of its strongest rivals in the realm of secure messaging.

How does Mattermost differ from Slack?

• The application’s UI, font, on-screen texts, and other features are customizable
• Suited for a global team, as it supports 12 languages, audio/video calling options with screen sharing
• Enhanced privacy and security with multi-factor authentication, single sign-on
• Compliance with consumer data protection laws
• Pricing is minimal compared to Slack

5. Yammer

If you're an existing Office 365 user, Yammer is a great option to look into. As one of Slack's competitors, Yammer has many in-built features such as external collaboration, discovery feed, and search options. 

How does Yammer differ from Slack?

• Yammer provides email, phone, tracking, and live support compared to Slack's ticket and mail support
• Has a social networking touch to the application
• Multi-factor authentication for security 
• Can be used to send company-wide messages and announcements
• Has an Office 365 integration, compared to Slack’s Google Drive integration

Yammer takes workplace communication beyond threads and channels. It encourages cross-team communication and work announcements. 

6. Google Chat 

Evolving from its predecessor, Google Hangouts, Google Chat is now a Slack integration and standalone application. It allows users to communicate with anyone who has a Gmail account. Video and audio calls are accessible through Google Meet. 

How does Google Chat differ from Slack?

• Allows messages and search within chat history
• Files greater than 1GB can be shared as a Google Drive file. Slack does not allow sharing files that are beyond 1GB.
• Google has an enterprise plan that provides unlimited storage. Slack provides 1TB storage with its enterprise plan.

Google Chat is a useful alternative for companies that extensively use Google Suite. It allows easy integration with Gsuite and has collaboration tools. Google Chat supports audio and video calls through Google Meet. The software allows for unlimited users and dedicated virtual rooms that support up to 8000 users per room. 

7. Facebook Workplace 

Facebook Workplace was unveiled in 2016. Designed similar to the social networking site, users can create posts, and updates, watch live broadcasts and chat in teams for projects. 

How does Facebook Workplace differ from Slack?

• Voice and video calls with support for up to 50 people in one call 
• About 60 integrations with Google Drive, Zoom, HubSpot, and others 
• It is free for nonprofit organizations
• Tailor notifications for specific groups and conversations

However, Workplace isn’t ideal for every organization. Searching chat history across conversations is not possible. Integrations are only offered with a paid plan. The maximum file size is 100MB for uploads and 25MB within chats. 

8. Troop Messenger 

Troop Messenger has specific features tailored to corporate workspaces. This Slack competitor has unique features in its premium version, along with superior security and privacy. 

How does Troop messenger differ from Slack? 

• Has a recall (unsend) tool and enables full conversation message copying 
• Has a burnout feature that deletes private chats within a set period
• A ‘Forkout’ tool helps messages to be sent across specific channels at the same time 
• External clients can be designed as 'orange members' for better recognition
• Chat history search by videos, images, and files. Supports audio and video calls
• Set 'respond later ' on certain messages 

Troop offers paid plans that are quite expensive compared to Slack. However, the features offered may be best for teams constantly interacting with external clients. Teams who have higher security/privacy concerns can switch to Troop as well. 

9. Fleep

One of Slack's competitors is Fleep, which is known for its unique features. This group chat app organizes conversation histories by the user, rather than the channel. A pinboard tool on the side contains key pinned conversations, channels, users, and frequently used information. 

How does Fleep differ from Slack?

• Clients and users on Fleep can be added to the workspace, without the need to switch between workspaces 
• In-built task sharing to create, manage and assign tasks easily 
• Ability to view conversation history with a specific person in one channel 
• Pinboard tool as a virtual notepad tool
• File drawer to view any file shared/uploaded in a conversation

Fleep is among the best team chat apps that prioritize task management within conversations. It includes integrations with Zapier, Jira, and Trello, among others. 

10. Cisco WebEx

It was in 2018 that Cisco Spark rebranded itself as Cisco WebEx. Spaces/teams are created for messaging, along with filters in the chat, to attend to unread or important messages. 

How does Cisco Spark differ from Slack?

• Over 100 third-party integrations
• A host of video calling options such as video conferencing, training management, cloud calling 
• Quote response feature to quote a previous message and respond, rather than scrolling up to find the original message 
• Admin or moderator designation for spaces and teams 
• In-application calendar and scheduling 
• Meeting recording and storage options 
• Screen sharing options and integrations with One drive or SharePoint within video calls 

Cisco WebEx hosts many features that may be best for larger teams. The moderator function can work best for managers. It allows announcements, and the flexibility to add/ remove members from a project/team. WebEx has security coverage with end-to-end encryption and device and browser protection. 

11. Pumble

Pumble is one of Slack's competitors that provides a feature-packed solution for an affordable price. The user-friendly UI works best for small teams that need a feature-filled platform and meets their specific requirements for half the cost of Slack. 

How does Pumble differ from Slack?

• Unlimited message history for free, allows teams to access any message sent 
• Pumble provides twice the storage space, at 10GB
• The pro plan is less than half the price of Slack's monthly pro plan 

With this chat platform, an annual payment plan includes two months of free usage. The integrations are only with Google Drive and Trello, with in-built audio/video calling. 

12. Flock

For a team that is dependent on collaboration, Flock may be a great Slack alternative. It focuses on providing a wide range of collaboration features that most instant messaging apps do not include. Its freemium version is limited to 10,000 searchable messages. Flock offers additional features under its paid plans. 

How does Flock differ from Slack?

• Turn messages into to-do lists, check off completed tasks, and assign tasks to users 
• Set due dates for tasks 
• File sharing of up to 100MB within the chat 
• Channel admins and options to mute channels 
• In-app shareable notes
• Dark code, code snippet sharing 
• Integrations with OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive
• Unlimited message search 

Flock is best for teams that need automation tools such as to-do lists and task management within the application. Unique options such as in-messaging polls, reminder messages, and voice notes are present. Flock is focused on providing features that boost an organization's productivity. 

What are the benefits of switching to a Slack competitor?

Essentially, many tools differ from Slack by compensating for some of its weaker or non-existing features. Some competitors provide increased storage, task management, and other in-built management tools.

A portion of Slack competitors is doubling down on security features. 

Self-managed hosting, not available with Slack that’s a cloud-based product, is an important feature for many businesses that care about its privacy. Open source code is another important feature for businesses in highly-regulated industries that want a higher level of customization and transparency in how their data is handled.

Another way in which Slack competitors differ from Slack is going beyond team-based comms, and offering communication with clients on their platforms.

Slack is still a very powerful solution with a broad audience, but it’s not a perfect solution for every company. Since instant messaging platforms are prerequisites in business today, organizations should carefully pick the tool they use.

Here's where you can learn in details where Rocket.Chat excels in comparison to Slack.

Need help switching to Rocket.Chat? Reach out to us here!