Top 10 WhatsApp alternatives for business communication

We're here to discuss WhatsApp alternatives for business. But why?

WhatsApp has become integral to the lives of millions of people who rely on it to connect with friends and family on a daily basis easily. Taking stock of its potential, many businesses have leveraged WhatsApp Business to engage and support their customers more personally to drive conversions.

However, despite the platform’s ubiquity and features, the question arises: can WhatsApp truly become the optimal solution for business communication internally and in customer-facing interactions?

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Because while WhatsApp does serve as a valuable communication tool allowing businesses to engage with their customers in their own space, its limited functionality, lack of security, and contact management issues restrict its prospects of becoming an effective business communication tool, especially for enterprises.

Currently, many alternative platforms offer richer customer engagement capabilities and greater degrees of customization. These WhatsApp alternatives for businesses provide them with enhanced features and capabilities exceeding what the former can offer.

To help businesses choose only the best communication tools, we have compiled a comprehensive list of the top 10 WhatsApp alternatives for business communication.

Why should you look for a WhatsApp alternative for your business?

While WhatsApp Business has gained popularity as a customer communication tool, its fair share of limitations may hinder your business's growth and efficiency.

Here's why exploring WhatsApp business alternatives becomes crucial:

➡️ Limited reach

WhatsApp's user base restricts your potential customer reach, missing out on a wider audience.

➡️ Restricted agent access

With WhatsApp Business, only five agents can handle customer inquiries simultaneously, hindering prompt support during peak times or high volumes of queries.

➡️ Inadequate collaboration

WhatsApp's features, primarily designed for one-to-one and group communication, lack essential functionalities for seamless team collaboration, such as task assignment, file sharing, and project management capabilities.

➡️ Lack of analytics

WhatsApp Business lacks robust analytics features, rendering tracking and measuring customer interactions difficult. It results in limiting data-driven decision-making and low optimization of support strategies.

➡️ Limited integration

WhatsApp Business offers limited integration options, posing challenges in connecting and syncing customer data with existing CRM, marketing automation, or support platforms, hampering workflow efficiency.

➡️ Unhealthy mix of professional and personal

Using WhatsApp for internal communication blurs the line between work-related discussions and personal conversations, creating potential distractions, loss of focus, and misunderstandings.

➡️ Insufficient security

As the biggest concern for enterprises and privacy-oriented businesses, WhatsApp lacks GDPR compliance and secure data sharing, potentially compromising sensitive business information. Its often-criticized privacy practices raise data protection and confidentiality risks.

10 best WhatsApp alternatives for commercial use

Here are our top picks that can be used as safe and reliable WhatsApp alternatives for business communication:

1. Rocket.Chat

Rocket.Chat is a versatile messaging platform that serves as an excellent WhatsApp business alternative for both internal employee communication and customer service. This chat app is flexible to meet extensive customization needs due to its open source nature.

Best features

Can be deployed on-premise, offering more control over data and infrastructure.
Highly secure with end-to-end encryption.
Flexible customization options to tailor the platform to specific business needs.
Open-sourced

Why is Rocket.Chat an excellent WhatsApp alternative for business?

Rocket.Chat allows businesses to use it for internal team collaboration and customer-facing communication. Its on-premise deployment option and robust security measures make it an attractive choice for businesses seeking greater control over their data and privacy.

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2. Twilio

Twilio is a communication platform that enables businesses to reach a wider audience through various messaging channels, making it a viable WhatsApp business alternative.

Best features

Seamless integration with multiple messaging channels, including SMS, WhatsApp, and more.
Powerful reporting and analytics features to track message performance.
Scalable infrastructure that can handle high message volumes.

Why is Twilio a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

Twilio helps businesses expand their reach beyond WhatsApp by integrating multiple messaging channels. Its comprehensive reporting capabilities help businesses measure the effectiveness of their messaging campaigns.

However, it is important to note that Twilio is primarily suited for customer communication and is not designed as an internal communication tool.

3. SendBird

SendBird is a feature-rich chat and messaging platform that excels in providing in-app chat support and messaging capabilities. It stands out as an alternative to WhatsApp because it lets you talk to your customers directly while using the product or app.

Best features

Supports in-app chat functionality, enhancing customer engagement.
Easy implementation within finished products or existing applications.
Offers real-time chat features with push notifications.

Why is SendBird a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

SendBird is an ideal choice for businesses that require in-app chat support and messaging features. Its easy integration into existing applications allows businesses to enhance their customer experience.

SendBird primarily focuses on customer communication and is not intended as an internal communication tool. That's why it makes a unique alternative to WhatsApp for commercial use.

4. PubNub

PubNub is a secure and reliable messaging platform that offers real-time communication and is designed with customer support in mind.

Best features

Enhanced security measures, ensuring data protection.
Built-in features tailored for customer support interactions.
Capable of handling large message volumes.

Why is PubNub a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

PubNub stands out as a secure messaging platform with a strong emphasis on customer support interactions. Its robust security measures and dedicated features for customer service make it a suitable commercial WhatsApp alternative for businesses looking to prioritize data protection and deliver excellent customer support.

5. Signal

Signal is an extremely secure messaging platform. Prioritizing privacy and data protection is its main differentiator from WhatsApp.

Best features

Strong end-to-end encryption, ensuring secure communication.
Focus on privacy, with minimal data collection.
Self-destructing messages for added security.

Why is Signal a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

Signal is an excellent choice for businesses that prioritize secure collaboration. With its strong encryption and privacy-focused features, Signal offers high data protection.

However, it is important to note that Signal also has limitations as an internal communication tool and a customer service platform, making it a more suitable WhatsApp alternative for smaller businesses.

6. Telegram

Telegram is a popular instant messaging platform known for its security features and wide range of functionalities. It's one of the most popular alternatives for WhatsApp on the market, but mostly used as an personal messaging app.

Best features

Enhanced security measures, including optional end-to-end encryption.
Supports large group chats and channels for scalable communication.
Extensive customization options for personalization.

Why is Telegram a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

Telegram provides robust security features while offering many functionalities, making it an attractive alternative to WhatsApp. Its support for large group chats and channels enables businesses to scale their communication effectively.

Nevertheless, Telegram's focus is primarily on messaging and not specifically tailored for comprehensive business customer service features.

7. Threema

Threema is another secure messaging platform that prioritizes privacy and data protection. Based and built in Switzerland, Threema is particulary popular in the German-speaking regions.

Best features

Strong encryption and privacy measures for secure communication.
Anonymity features ensure the privacy of user identities.
Easy and intuitive user interface.

Why is Threema a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

Threema is an excellent WhatsApp alternative for businesses seeking enhanced security and privacy. With its strong encryption and anonymity features, Threema prioritizes protecting sensitive information. It is particularly well-suited for internal team communication needs, where privacy and confidentiality are paramount.

8. Slack

Slack is a leading platform designed for internal communication and team collaboration that grew extremely popular during the era of pandemic and post-pandemic remote work. It's considered as the first and still highly popular alternative to WhatsApp for employee communication.

Best features

Extensive integration options with various business tools and platforms.
Real-time messaging and file sharing for seamless collaboration.
Customizable channels and workflows for efficient communication.

Why is Slack a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

Slack is widely recognized as a top choice for internal communication within businesses. Its extensive integration options allow seamless collaboration across different tools and platforms. As such, it's a great alternative to WhatsApp for business communication within the organization.

With its real-time messaging and file-sharing capabilities, Slack enhances team productivity. However, Slack has limited customer service features and primarily focuses on internal communication.

9. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a comprehensive platform designed for internal communication, collaboration, and project management.

Best features

Seamless integration with Microsoft Office 365 tools and services.
Robust video conferencing and team meeting capabilities.
Document sharing and collaboration features for efficient teamwork.

Why is Microsoft Teams a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

Microsoft Teams offers a comprehensive suite of features tailored for internal communication, collaboration, and project management. Its seamless integration with Microsoft Office 365 tools and services provides a unified platform for team productivity.

Yet, Microsoft Teams has limited customer service features and is primarily designed for internal communication purposes.

10. Google Chat

Released in 2017, Google Chat is a messaging platform that integrates seamlessly with the Google Workspace suite of productivity tools.

Best features

Integration with Google Workspace tools, allowing seamless collaboration.
Rich media sharing capabilities for enhanced communication.
Advanced search functionality for locating conversations and files.

Why is Google Chat a good WhatsApp alternative for business?

Google Chat is a suitable WhatsApp alternative for businesses already using Google Workspace tools. Its integration with the suite enhances collaboration and productivity.

Google Chat provides a comprehensive messaging platform with advanced search functionality and rich media-sharing capabilities. However, it should be noted that Google Chat has limited customer service features and is also primarily designed for internal communication.

Secure communication with the best WhatsApp alternative for business: Rocket.Chat

With Rocket.Chat, businesses can enjoy the benefits of a secure and versatile messaging platform catering to internal team communication and customer service needs. The open-source chat platform empowers businesses to streamline their communication channels and enhance productivity while ensuring data security and privacy.

Rocket.Chat offers a range of features that make it a compelling alternative to WhatsApp. For example:

It can be deployed on-premise, giving businesses greater control over their data and infrastructure.
WhatsApp can be integrated with Rocket.Chat as one of the channels to centralize all communications and make them more secure.
Rocket.Chat prioritizes security, with robust encryption measures to protect sensitive information.
The platform is GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and HIPAA compliant to deliver airtight privacy.
It allows for easy customization to tailor the platform to specific business requirements and scale faster.

Whether you need to facilitate efficient collaboration among team members or provide exceptional customer service, Rocket.Chat has you covered.

By centralizing team communication and customer interactions in a single tool, businesses can improve internal coordination and deliver a seamless customer experience.

Experience the power of secure team communication and customer service with Rocket.Chat.

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WhatsApp alternatives

Sara is an SEO Strategist at Rocket.Chat. She is passionate about topics around digital transformation, workplace experience, open source, and data privacy and security.

Sara Ana Cemazar

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