Seven free slack alternatives that facilitate cross-functional collaboration between teams
Slack has been a popular project management and collaboration tool among project managers and their team members for years now. The software helps solve the challenges of driving team performance and achieving organizational alignment, especially during these times of remote work. It allows teams to communicate via instant messaging or voice/video calls, share files, and collaborate across departments and projects.
While there are a lot of things to like about Slack, including the list of integrations that it offers and the powerful search capabilities, there are quite a few other collaboration tools as well that offer a free version and can be a good fit for your organization.
We asked users about certain free Slack alternatives they considered when purchasing collaboration software for their organization. Here are the seven best alternatives they identified. Our list (presented alphabetically) can provide a starting point for your search.
see the full list of slack alternatives.
1. Asana
Asana is an online task management and collaboration software that enables users to manage and collaborate on tasks and projects. The tool also facilitates cross-team communication so that team members can share ideas and discuss work.
As an Asana user, you can directly comment on tasks, assign tasks to a specific team member, and leave feedback on images. Asana’s recent integration with Vimeo further allows users to record, transcribe, and embed videos within Asana projects. The software enables you to send messages to an individual or teams.
With Asana, you can share files, create customizable to-do lists, organize work documents, and monitor the progress of your projects. The platform integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, and One Drive, which allows you to add attachments from your existing tools.
Key Features
- Access controls/permissions
- Action item tracking
- Activity/news feed
- Agenda management
- Agile methodologies
- Alerts/notifications
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Inbox overview in Asana (Source)
Here’s how Asana compares with Slack
Both Asana and Slack offer collaborative features for teams; however, the two are fundamentally different applications. While Slack is primarily a collaboration tool with core features relating to chat and messaging, Asana is primarily about productivity management. In addition to facilitating communication, Asana offers task management features, such as task-list creation, project boards, and measuring progress.
Platforms supported: Both Slack and Asana are cloud-based tools with browser and mobile support.
Typical customers: Both Slack and Asana can be used by freelancers, small businesses, and mid-large enterprises.
Customer support: Both Slack and Asana can be used by freelancers, small businesses, and mid-large enterprises.
Pricing: Both Slack and Asana offer a free version to users. The price of Slack starts at $6.67 per user, per month (billed annually), whereas the price of Asana starts at $10.99 per user, per month (billed annually).
2. Basecamp
Basecamp is a project management and real-time collaboration tool that allows teams to collaborate, share files, create projects, and manage tasks. The software features a message board that enables you to keep the entire conversation about a specific topic in a single place. You can embed files or images into a message and share them with everyone or particular team members. The platform allows you to set up boards for different projects and teams.
Basecamp provides a task list system that allows users to tag specific team members and comment on task progress. Every project in Basecamp has a separate section for files. You can simply drag-and-drop spreadsheets, images, and other documents from your computer to provide people with access to important files. Documents created within Basecamp can also be opened in the mobile version.
The software provides you with a messaging platform and allows you to forward emails directly to Basecamp, discuss them with the team, and respond directly to the sender.
Basecamp also features a project calendar that allows people to see ongoing projects, events, and deadlines.
Key Features
- Access controls/permissions
- Activity dashboard
- Activity tracking
- Activity/news feed
- Alerts/notifications
- Brainstorming
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Viewing project progress in Basecamp (Source)
Here’s how Basecamp compares with Slack
Both Basecamp and Slack are online tools that help streamline communication and achieve project goals. However, if you compare the two, Slack is more of a communication-oriented platform, which gives you more options to communicate. In contrast, Basecamp is a task-focused project management tool that also offers collaboration features, including direct messaging, to-do lists, and message boards. Also, when it comes to reporting, Slack offers basic reports, unlike Basecamp, which offers detailed reports.
Platforms supported: Both Slack and Basecamp are cloud-based tools with browser and mobile support.
Typical customers: Both Slack and Basecamp serve freelancers, small businesses, and mid-large enterprises.
Customer support: Customer support: Both Slack and Basecamp offer email and chat support to users.
Pricing: Both Slack and Basecamp offer a free trial to users. The price of Slack starts at $6.67 per user, per month (billed annually), whereas the price of Basecamp is $99 per month (flat), which includes unlimited users and projects.
3. Google Chat
Google Chat, formerly known as Google Hangouts, is a team communication tool that facilitates business communications within the Google Workspace ecosystem. The platform allows users to collaborate via text messaging, build chat rooms, have video chats, and share documents.
The communication platform allows you to choose the conversation threads you want to follow. You can also unfollow threads for which you no longer wish to receive notifications. Chat, by default, sends you a push notification for every response to your followed threads. You can even opt to mute these threads.
Google Chat also allows you to format your messages and add bots to specific chat rooms. The software uses predictive text to automate replies.
Key Features
- Alerts/notifications
- Mobile access
- Search/filter
- Third party integrations
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Chat rooms in Google Chat (Source)
Here’s how Google Chat compares with Slack
Both Google Chat and Slack facilitate team chat by allowing users to send both private and group messages. When it comes to video calls, Slack offers unlimited 1:1 voice and video calls in its free plan and allows up to 15 participants in conference calls in its paid plans. Google Chat, on the other hand, offers the calling facility via Google Meet and includes up to 100 people in the basic plan.
Platforms supported: Both Slack and Google Chat are cloud-based tools having a mobile application for Android and iOS devices.
Typical customers: While Slack serves freelancers, small businesses, and mid-large enterprises, Google Chat is best-suited for small, midsize, and large organizations.
Customer support: While Slack provides email and chat support to users, Google Chat provides only email support.
Pricing: The price of Slack starts at $6.67 per user, per month (billed annually). Google Chat, on the other hand, is free if you are a Google Workspace customer.
4. Google Meet
Google Meet, also known as Google Hangouts Meet, is a video conferencing application developed by Google. The app provides high-definition audio and video conferencing facilities to users for up to 100 participants. It also allows them to join pre-scheduled meetings from calendar events and even record calls and share them with co-workers.
With Google Meet, you can turn on/turn off captions in a meeting. The feature works by translating the spoken language into other languages.
The platform allows users to join meetings via a shared link from any device. It also offers a dial-in phone number so that the participants can attend the meeting using their smartphones, even without a slow or no wifi connection.
As a Google Meet user, you can customize your view, pin multiple video feeds, make light adjustments to improve visibility during a meeting, use a video background, present screen, and mark meeting highlights.
Key Features
- Alerts/notifications
- Attendee management
- Audio calls
- Call recording
- Collaboration tools
- Discussions/forums
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Upcoming meeting schedule in Google Meet (Source)
Here’s how Google Meet compares with Slack
Both Google Meet and Slack provide video conferencing and file-sharing options to facilitate internal communications. However, when it comes to integrations, Google Meet has fewer of those than Slack, which allows you to integrate with over 2,000 apps, including Trello, Zoom Meetings, WordPress, Canva, and Adobe Creative Cloud.
Platforms supported: Both Slack and Google Meet are cloud-based tools having a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices.
Typical customers: Both Slack and Google Meet can be used by freelancers, small businesses, and mid-large enterprises.
Customer support: Both Slack and Google Meet provide online support via email and chat.
Pricing: The price of Slack starts at $6.67 per user, per month (billed annually), whereas Google Meet is included as a part of Google Workspace.
5. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is an online chat-based communication platform that fosters communication and collaboration between remote-working teams. Some of the standard features of Microsoft Teams include one-to-one chat messaging, group chat, audio conferencing, and file sharing. The software also supports video calls for up to 250 users.
Microsoft Team also provides you with breakout rooms for small group discussions. Breakout rooms have the usual meeting features, including audio/video feeds and screen-sharing capabilities. The platform also features a whiteboard so that team members can add text, images, and diagrams on a digital canvas during a meeting.
The collaboration tool also offers live transcription, which is a written record of the words spoken in a meeting. Users can view the complete transcript at the end of a meeting, along with the respective speakers’ names. The application also allows you to monitor the technical status of your network and the quality of your calls.
Key Features
- Access controls/permissions
- Activity dashboard
- Activity tracking
- Agenda management
- Alerts/notifications
- Annotations
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Viewing the availability of contacts in Microsoft Teams (Source)
Here’s how Microsoft Teams compares with Slack
Both Microsoft Teams and Slack aid communication and collaboration through a wide variety of features, such as video calling and activity tracking. However, Slack is primarily meant for chat-based collaboration with unique features such as message scheduling and reminder setting. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams is majorly an option for your video conferencing needs.
Platforms supported: Both Slack and Microsoft Teams are cloud-based tools with browser and mobile support.
Typical customers: Microsoft Teams majorly caters to the requirements of small businesses and mid-large enterprises. Slack, on the other hand, can also be used by freelancers.
Customer support: Customer support: Both Slack and Microsoft Teams offer email and chat support to users.
Pricing: Both Slack and Microsoft Teams offer a free plan to users. The price of Slack starts at $6.67 per user, per month (billed annually), whereas the cost of Microsoft Teams begins at $4 per user, per month (billed annually).
6. Trello
Trello is an online work management and team collaboration tool that enables users to organize projects and tasks into boards similar to sticky notes. The software features a kanban board that allows you to create and prioritize tasks, set project deadlines, and monitor progress. You can also assign tasks to team members, get status updates, and communicate on threads. Users can add comments and documents to the tasks assigned to them.
You can upload files to Trello directly from Dropbox or Google Drive and share them further with the team in all formats. As a Trello user, you can visualize key metrics, such as due dates and assigned tasks, using multiple formats, including calendar, map, and table views.
Trello comes with a built-in automation tool called Butler that helps automate repetitive tasks and workflows on boards.
Key Features
- Access controls/permissions
- Activity dashboard
- Activity/news feed
- Agile methodologies
- Billing & invoicing
- Brainstorming
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Tracking ongoing projects in Trello (Source)
Here’s how Trello compares with Slack
Both Trello and Slack solve different collaboration and communication challenges in an organization. Slack is majorly an instant messaging platform, whereas Trello allows users to visualize project plans and monitor project progress. Though Trello fosters collaboration, it is not as quite developed as a messaging app.
Platforms supported: Both Slack and Trello are cloud-based tools with browser and mobile support.
Typical customers: Both Slack and Trello cater to the requirements of freelancers, small businesses, and mid-large enterprises.
Customer support: Both Slack and Trello offer online support via email and chat.
Pricing: Both Slack and Trello offer a free account to users. The price of Slack starts at $6.67 per user, per month (billed annually), whereas the price of Trello starts at $5 per user, per month (billed annually).
7. Zoom Meetings
Zoom Meetings is a video conferencing software that provides users with the facility for one-to-one online meetings, group video conferences, and real-time messaging. It supports up to 1,000 video participants and 49 videos on screen.
The software allows users to share their screens and record meetings for later reference. As a host for Zoom Meetings, you can restrict recording permission or even extend it to specific participants.
Zoom comes with a built-in scheduling feature that allows you to schedule meetings, send invitations, and manage scheduled meetings. You can also let other people schedule meetings on your behalf.
The application offers a waiting-room feature that allows you to admit participants, one at a time or all together, as they attempt to join the meeting. Some other notable features of the software include profile personalization and software personalization features, such as setting up a virtual background and touch-up-my-appearance functionality that allows you to automatically retouch your video display for a polished look during meetings.
Key Features
- Access controls/permissions
- Alerts/notifications
- Annotations
- Attendee management
- Audience engagement
- Auto framing
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Contact directory in Zoom Meetings (Source)
Here’s how Zoom Meetings compares with Slack
Both Zoom Meetings and Slack facilitate internal discussions. However, if you need a tool mainly for video conferencing, Zoom Meetings is a relatively good option as it supports up to 1,000 participants in a video call and also provides you with the option to record meetings. Slack, on the contrary, is better for text-based messaging.
Platforms supported: Both Slack and Zoom Meetings are cloud-based tools having a mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
Typical customers: Both Slack and Zoom Meetings cater to the requirements of freelancers, small businesses, and mid-large enterprises.
Customer support: While Slack offers user support via email and chat, Zoom Meetings also provides phone support to users.
Pricing: Pricing: Both Slack and Zoom Meetings offer a free version to users. The price of Slack starts at $6.67 per user, per month (billed annually), whereas the cost of Zoom Meetings starts at $14.99 per user, per month.
Assess all options when looking for the best Slack alternative
Despite being a popular tool for facilitating team conversations, Slack has its limitations, such as minimum file storage and overwhelming notifications. Therefore, it is always good to know about certain Slack alternatives that offer a free version.
If you need an affordable, easy-to-use product with unique messaging features for smaller teams, you can consider Google Chat. The application offers some advanced features, such as Smart Reply for an enhanced user experience. If you are already using multiple Google applications, you can also try Google Meet to drive communication via online meetings and share documents. Google Meet and Google Chat not only help you with your basic communication needs but are also free for Google workspace users.
In case you frequently need to connect via face-to-face meetings, you can consider Zoom Meetings as a Slack alternative. The platform supports video calling and web conferencing for quick video interactions and provides other major collaboration features, such as screen sharing and private meeting rooms.
If you are more focused on the task and project management side of things, Asana and Basecamp can be good Slack alternatives. Other than providing you with ways for communication, both these tools also allow you to assign, manage, and measure the progress of tasks. You can even consider Trello, for that matter. Besides communication, the software can also be used to organize tasks and work on larger files as compared to Slack.