10 Best Team Chat Apps of 2026

Slack is still the reference point for channel-based team chat. Every plan includes unlimited channels, and the Pro plan at $8.75 per user per month billed monthly removes the two limits that matter most on the free tier: the 90-day message history and the cap of 10 app integrations. Pro also adds group huddles, group Slack Connect conversations with outside companies, unlimited workflow automation and AI summaries of threads and channels. Business+ at $18 per user per month brings SAML single sign-on, SCIM user management and broader AI features such as daily recaps, file summaries and AI search. Enterprise+ is quoted by sales and adds data loss prevention and multiple SAML configurations. The trade-off is cost: Slack is a separate bill on top of the email and office suite most companies already pay for, and the jump to Business+ for security controls is steep. For teams that live in channels and connect many tools, the integrations usually justify it.

Teams Essentials is Microsoft's way to buy Teams without the rest of Microsoft 365, and for a small company it is one of the best value chat apps available. At $4.00 per user per month paid yearly, it includes unlimited chat with coworkers and guests, file sharing, tasks and polls, plus meetings for up to 300 participants that can run for up to 30 hours. Each user gets 10 GB of cloud storage, and meetings can be recorded with transcripts. The calendar connects with Outlook or Google, so it fits companies that are not fully on Microsoft. The weaker points are structural. There is no permanent free business plan, only a trial, and the subscription is annual. Teams also does a lot in one window, so people moving from a simpler chat app often need a short adjustment period. If you later want email and Office apps, Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $7.00 per user per month paid yearly also includes Teams.

Google Chat makes the most sense for companies that already run on Google Workspace, because it is included at no additional cost and connects to Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Meet and Groups. Business Starter costs $8.40 USD per user per month on the Flexible Plan and includes 30 GB of pooled storage per user, so chat arrives with email, documents and meetings for less than Slack Pro alone. Spaces can hold up to 500,000 members, huddles allow quick drop-in conversations, and Gemini in Chat can summarize a conversation, share action items and translate in real time. The app directory covers common work tools such as Asana, GitHub, Jira, Salesforce, ServiceNow and Trello, and teams can build their own Chat apps with the Chat APIs, Apps Script or no-code AppSheet. Google also supports migrating data from Slack or Teams. The limits are that Chat is not a standalone business purchase and its integration catalog is smaller than Slack's.

Pumble copies the familiar channel and thread layout of Slack and undercuts it on price. The free plan stands out: unlimited users, unlimited message history, unlimited channels, voice and video messages and 1:1 calls, with 10 GB of storage for the workspace and an importer for Slack data. Pro costs $2.49 per seat per month billed annually or $2.99 monthly and adds group meetings, screen sharing with annotations, customizable sidebar sections, 10 GB of storage per seat and up to 10 apps and integrations. Business at $3.99 per seat billed annually adds permissions, guest users, user groups, meeting recordings and unlimited integrations, while Enterprise at $6.99 brings single sign-on, data retention settings and an audit log. Pumble connects natively with Clockify and Plaky from the same company. The trade-off is a smaller ecosystem, so check that the integrations your team depends on are available before you switch.

Zoho Cliq is a capable chat app with an unusual pricing model at the low end. The Standard plan is a flat US$16.20 per month for up to 25 users when billed yearly, or US$18 monthly, which makes it very cheap for a small team that fills those seats. Standard adds external shared channels, call recording, a custom domain and basic usage reports on top of the free plan's messaging, channels, file storage and meetings. Professional, which needs at least 10 users, adds team management, task management, roles and permissions, and meetings with up to 1,000 active participants. Developers get a lot here: bots, slash commands, message actions, functions and schedulers, with higher quotas on paid plans. Cliq connects with Zoho People, Projects and Calendar, so it fits best inside the Zoho family. The free plan is limited to 10,000 searchable messages and 60-minute meetings, and the outside integration list is smaller than the market leader's.

Chanty aims at small teams that want chat and light task management without paying for two products. The free plan supports up to 5 team members with unlimited public and private chats, unlimited searchable history, unlimited one-on-one audio and video calls, scheduled and disappearing messages, built-in task management and 20 GB of storage for the team. The Business plan adds unlimited group chats and group calls, screen sharing, to-do lists and task boards, an employee directory, calendar events, polls and forms, 20 GB of storage per user and 3 free guest seats per member. Security options on Business are broad for the price tier, including HIPAA compliance with a BAA, SSO, 2FA and IP allowlists. Enterprise adds SCIM provisioning, white labeling and data residency choices through sales. The pricing page showed euros from our location, so we could not confirm a USD price. The 5-member cap on the free plan means most teams will need to pay early.

Zoom Chat is included in Zoom Workplace, so for companies that already pay for Zoom meetings it may be the team chat app they own without realizing it. The chat side has grown well beyond meeting side-chat. Every meeting gets its own continuous chat channel for messages before, during and after the call, and the post-meeting channel shows recordings, links and other assets. Shared Spaces group several channels for larger projects with internal and external teams, and statuses show when someone is in a meeting, presenting or out of office. AI summarizes chat threads with action items, and third-party apps such as Workday, Jira and Asana can send notifications you act on in chat. Pro costs $15.99 per user per month billed monthly, less on an annual plan, and adds 30-hour meetings and AI Companion. That price is steep if chat is all you need, but reasonable if it also replaces a separate meeting tool.

Flock is a straightforward team messenger aimed at teams of 20 to 100 people, with a few productivity tools built in. The free Starter plan covers teams of up to 20 members with unlimited one-to-one and group messages, but caps search at 10,000 messages, public channels at 10 and total storage at 5 GB. PRO removes those limits, adds group video calls for up to 20 participants, screen sharing, multiple team admins, 10 GB of storage per member and priority support, and comes with a 30-day free trial without a credit card. Every plan includes polls, reminders, notes and unlimited third-party apps, and process templates turn repeatable steps such as reimbursement approvals into tracked runs. Enterprise adds Active Directory sync, SSO and dedicated support on a quote. PRO costs as little as $4.50 per user per month on yearly billing. The 20-person video cap is the clearest limit for growing teams.

Mattermost is built for organizations where data control matters more than convenience. It offers channel-based messaging, threads, file sharing, group calls and screen sharing, and it is deployed on your own infrastructure, up to fully air-gapped environments on Enterprise Advanced. Integrations are developer-oriented: a REST API, an MCP server, webhooks, slash commands and a plugin platform, plus bring-your-own and multi-LLM AI integration with an agent control plane. Professional covers channel and multi-team collaboration with single sign-on and AD/LDAP sync, while Enterprise adds compliance, high availability, workflow automation and federated communications. Small teams can start with Mattermost Entry, a free mode that the vendor says suits teams of fewer than 50 users, or the MIT-licensed Team Edition. Paid plan prices are not listed publicly, so pricing here is pending. The cost of control is effort: someone has to run, update and secure the servers, and the experience is less polished for nontechnical staff.

Rocket.Chat targets organizations that need chat they can host and govern themselves. Its paid Commercial plan supports on-premises, private cloud, isolated VPC or air-gapped deployment, plus Rocket.Chat-managed dedicated hosting, with messaging, voice, video meetings and screen sharing in one app. The standout feature is federation: your teams can share channels with partners and vendors while each organization keeps its own infrastructure, data and identity. The vendor positions the platform for HIPAA, FINRA, MiFID II, NIS2, DORA and GDPR requirements. Two free options exist: Starter, a self-hosted workspace for up to 50 users with many premium capabilities including LDAP, SAML and custom OAuth, and Community, which covers core messaging for up to 100 concurrent users. Paid pricing is quote-based, so it is pending here. As with any self-hosted tool, you need staff to deploy and maintain it, and the interface is less refined than the leading hosted apps.