Slack works, but it isn't the only option - and for a lot of teams, it isn't the best fit. Maybe you want more control over your data, a smaller bill, or a tool that suits how your team actually works. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of strong alternatives.
This list covers 17 of them, split into two groups: messenger tools you host yourself (on-prem and self-hosted) and tools that run in the cloud. Each one includes what it's best for, its pros and cons, current pricing, and a link so you can check for yourself.
How to Pick the Best Slack Alternative
Ask yourself a few simple questions:
Part 1: On-prem and self-hosted Slack alternatives
If data residency, regulatory compliance, or infrastructure control are key evaluation criteria, start with self-hosted and on-premises messaging platforms. These solutions give organizations ownership over where data is stored and how it is managed, although they typically require more operational effort than cloud-based services.
1. CometChat AIR: best for teams with strict data rules that can't send data outside
CometChat AIR is an enterprise messaging platform that delivers channels, direct messages, threads, voice and video calling, search, presence, and file sharing within your own infrastructure. Unlike many self-hosted messaging platforms that prioritize flexibility over user experience, AIR combines enterprise collaboration features with deployment options designed for organizations that cannot move sensitive communications outside their environment.
Pros:
Air-gapped deployment by default, with AI features, translation, and push notifications available as optional services when external connectivity is permitted.
Built-in audit logging, role-based access control, screenshot protection, and support for HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, and ISO compliance requirements.
Cons:
Designed for enterprise and regulated environments, making it more than many small teams require.
2. Mattermost
Mattermost is one of the mature self-hosted team messaging platforms, widely adopted by engineering organizations, government agencies, and enterprises that require complete infrastructure control. It also offers strong DevOps workflows through integrations, automation, and incident collaboration features.
Pros:
Mature and proven platform with support for self-hosted, air-gapped, and high-security deployments.
Rich ecosystem of integrations, workflow automation, playbooks, and developer tooling.
Free self-hosted edition available for evaluation and smaller deployments.
Cons:
Advanced capabilities such as SSO, guest access, compliance features, and enterprise administration require paid plans.
Self-hosting, upgrades, and ongoing maintenance require dedicated infrastructure and operational expertise.
3. Rocket.Chat:
Rocket.Chat is an open-source team messaging platform designed for organizations that prioritize data sovereignty. It is widely adopted across government agencies and public-sector organizations.
Pros:
Highly customizable, with a broad ecosystem of integrations, APIs, and community-developed extensions.
Well suited for organizations with stringent security, privacy, or compliance requirements.
Cons:
Advanced capabilities such as guest access, enterprise administration, and some security features are reserved for paid plans.
The platform's extensive feature set and customization options can increase deployment and ongoing administration complexity.
4. Element (Matrix)
Element is also an open-source messaging platform but built on the Matrix protocol, enabling end-to-end encrypted communication and federated messaging across independently managed servers. It's a strong choice for organizations that require secure collaboration without relying on a single vendor or centralized infrastructure.
Pros:
End-to-end encryption and decentralized federation provide strong security and deployment flexibility.
Fully open source, with the ability to self-host.
Cons:
Deploying and operating a Matrix environment requires significant administrative expertise, particularly for federation, identity management, and moderation.
The user experience is more technical than most commercial team messaging platforms, which increases the learning curve for non-technical users.
5. Zulip: Best for asynchronous teams managing multiple conversations
Zulip is an open-source team messaging platform that combines real-time chat with email-style organization through topic-based conversations. Unlike traditional channel-based messengers, every discussion within a stream is assigned a topic, allowing multiple conversations to happen simultaneously without becoming difficult to follow.
Pros:
Topic-based conversations make it easier to organize discussions and catch up on messages without losing context.
Rich support for Markdown, code snippets, and integrations with developer tools such as GitHub, Jira, and Zendesk.
Cons:
Teams accustomed to Slack's channel-centric workflow may need time to adapt to Zulip's topic-based conversation model.
While the self-hosted edition is feature-rich, some capabilities, such as unlimited mobile push notifications and certain enterprise features, are reserved for paid plans.
6. Nextcloud Talk: Best for teams already using Nextcloud
Nextcloud Talk is an open-source, self-hosted communication platform that adds team messaging, voice and video calls, webinars, and screen sharing to the broader Nextcloud ecosystem. For organizations already using Nextcloud for file storage and collaboration, it provides a unified communication experience while ensuring that messages, files, and metadata remain entirely within your own infrastructure.
Pros:
Seamlessly integrates with Nextcloud Files, Calendar, and Mail, allowing teams to collaborate around documents and projects without switching platforms.
Supports messaging, HD audio and video calls, screen sharing, and optional AI-powered features such as live translation, transcription, and chat summaries.
Cons:
Best suited to organizations already invested in the Nextcloud ecosystem, rather than teams looking for a standalone messaging platform.
Collaboration features and third-party integrations are less extensive than dedicated team messaging platforms such as Slack or Mattermost.
7. Wire: Best for organizations prioritizing secure communication
Wire is an end-to-end encrypted messaging and collaboration platform built for organizations that require secure communication without compromising usability. It supports team messaging, voice and video calls, file sharing, and guest collaboration, with deployment options that include on-premises and private cloud environments for enterprises with strict security and compliance requirements.
Pros:
Always-on end-to-end encryption protects messages, voice and video calls, conference calls, and file sharing.
Available across web, desktop, and mobile platforms with centralized administration and secure guest collaboration for enterprise teams.
Supports on-premises, private cloud, and enterprise deployments for organizations with stringent security, privacy, and regulatory requirements.
Cons:
Smaller ecosystem of third-party integrations and workflow automation compared to platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Primarily focused on secure communication rather than serving as a comprehensive collaboration workspace with extensive productivity features.
8. Twake: Best for organizations seeking a sovereign European collaboration platform
Twake is an open-source digital workplace platform developed in Europe that brings together team messaging, email, file storage, document collaboration, calendars, tasks, and video conferencing in a single workspace. Designed with digital sovereignty and privacy in mind, it gives organizations the flexibility to self-host their collaboration environment or use a managed SaaS deployment while maintaining GDPR compliance.
Pros:
Built with a strong focus on privacy, GDPR compliance, and European digital sovereignty.
Comprehensive collaboration suite combining chat, email, file storage, calendars, task management, and video meetings in a unified platform.
Cons:
Smaller ecosystem and user community than more established collaboration platforms.
Fewer third-party integrations and enterprise extensions than mature alternatives such as Slack or Microsoft Teams.
9. Colanode: Best for teams seeking a local-first collaboration workspace
Colanode is an open-source, local-first collaboration platform that combines team messaging, documents, file storage, and structured databases in a single workspace. Designed as a self-hostable alternative to tools like Slack and Notion, it stores data locally on users' devices before synchronizing changes across the team, enabling offline work while giving organizations complete ownership of their data.
Pros:
Local-first architecture provides fast performance, offline support, and minimizes vendor lock-in.
Open source and fully self-hostable, with the flexibility to deploy your own backend or use the hosted cloud service.
Combines team chat, rich-text documents, file management, and customizable databases within a unified collaboration platform.
Cons:
Relatively new project, with a smaller user community and a product that is still evolving.
Fewer integrations, enterprise capabilities, and third-party ecosystem support than more established collaboration platforms.
Part 2: Cloud Slack Alternatives
If managing your own infrastructure isn't a priority, cloud-hosted messaging platforms offer a faster path to deployment with minimal operational overhead. The vendor handles hosting, updates, scalability, and maintenance, allowing your team to focus on collaboration rather than administration. The trade-off is that your communications are stored in the provider's cloud, making factors such as security, compliance, data residency, and vendor lock-in important evaluation criteria.
10. Microsoft Teams: Best for organizations already using Microsoft 365
Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based collaboration platform that combines team messaging, video meetings, file sharing, and calling in a single workspace. Deeply integrated with Microsoft 365, it enables teams to collaborate on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents in real time while connecting seamlessly with services such as Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Planner. For organizations already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, Teams is often the most natural choice.
Pros
Deep integration with Microsoft 365, enabling real-time document collaboration, calendaring, email, and enterprise productivity workflows.
Comprehensive collaboration platform with chat, meetings, calling, webinars, file sharing, and a large ecosystem of third-party integrations.
Included with most Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise subscriptions, reducing additional software costs for existing customers.
Cons
The extensive feature set and interface can introduce complexity, particularly for teams that only need a dedicated messaging platform.
Delivers the greatest value within the Microsoft ecosystem, making it a less compelling choice for organizations using alternative productivity suites.
11. Google Chat: Best for organizations using Google Workspace
Google Chat is Google's team messaging platform, designed to provide direct messaging, group conversations, and dedicated collaboration spaces for teams. As part of Google Workspace, it integrates seamlessly with Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet, and other Google services, making it a natural choice for organizations that already rely on Google's productivity ecosystem.
Pros
Native integration with Google Workspace applications, enabling teams to collaborate on documents, meetings, and files without leaving the platform.
Spaces provide a centralized environment for team conversations, file sharing, and task management.
Included with Google Workspace subscriptions, eliminating the need for a separate team messaging solution.
Cons
Collaboration features are less comprehensive than those offered by dedicated messaging and collaboration platforms such as Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Delivers the greatest value within the Google Workspace ecosystem, making it a less compelling option for organizations using other productivity suites.
12. Discord: Best for communities and informal team collaboration
Discord is a cloud-based communication platform that combines text messaging, voice channels, video calls, screen sharing, and community management within customizable servers. Originally built for gaming communities, it has evolved into a popular platform for online communities, creator groups, open-source projects, and informal teams that value persistent, real-time communication.
Pros
Excellent voice channels, community management features, and low-friction communication for large groups.
Generous free tier with support for text chat, voice and video calls, screen sharing, and media sharing.
Available across web, desktop, and mobile platforms, making it accessible for distributed communities.
Cons
Designed primarily for communities rather than enterprise collaboration, with fewer administrative, governance, and compliance capabilities than business-focused messaging platforms.
Lacks many of the security, identity management, and regulatory features required by organizations operating in regulated industries.
13. Zoom Team Chat: Best for organizations already using Zoom Workplace
Zoom Team Chat is the messaging component of Zoom Workplace, combining direct messaging, team channels, file sharing, and persistent collaboration alongside Zoom Meetings. For organizations that already rely on Zoom for video conferencing, it provides a unified workspace where conversations, meetings, and shared content remain connected.
Pros
Seamlessly integrates with Zoom Meetings, allowing teams to transition from chat to audio or video calls with a single click.
Persistent channels, file sharing, and continuous meeting chats help keep conversations and meeting context in one place.
Included with Zoom Workplace subscriptions, with AI Companion features available for eligible paid plans at no additional cost.
Cons
Collaboration capabilities are less comprehensive than platforms designed primarily for team messaging, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Delivers the greatest value for organizations already standardized on Zoom Workplace rather than as a standalone messaging platform.
14. Lark: Best for teams looking for an all-in-one collaboration platform
Lark is a cloud-based collaboration platform that combines team messaging, documents, calendars, video meetings, email, and productivity tools in a single workspace. Rather than treating chat as a standalone application, Lark integrates messaging with document collaboration, task management, approvals, and scheduling, making it well suited for organizations that want to consolidate multiple workplace tools.
Pros
Unified workspace that combines chat, documents, calendars, video meetings, tasks, and collaboration tools within a single platform.
Features such as real-time message translation, threaded conversations, and built-in productivity apps support distributed and multilingual teams.
Generous free tier makes it an attractive option for startups and small to mid-sized organizations.
Cons
Smaller third-party integration ecosystem and lower enterprise adoption outside Asia compared to platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Organizations should evaluate data residency, compliance, and governance capabilities based on their regional and regulatory requirements.
15. Twist: Best for asynchronous and distributed teams
Twist is a team communication platform from Doist, designed specifically for asynchronous collaboration. Rather than emphasizing real-time messaging, it organizes discussions into structured, thread-based conversations that help distributed teams communicate without the constant interruptions associated with traditional chat platforms.
Pros
Thread-based conversations keep discussions organized, searchable, and easier to revisit over time.
Designed to reduce notification overload by encouraging asynchronous communication instead of real-time responses.
Simple pricing with unlimited message history and integrations available on paid plans.
Cons
Deliberately minimizes real-time collaboration features such as presence indicators, making it less suitable for teams that rely on rapid back-and-forth communication.
The free plan limits message history, which may be restrictive for growing teams.
16. Pumble: Best for teams that need unlimited message history on a free plan
Pumble is a cloud-based team messaging and collaboration platform from CAKE.com that offers channels, direct messaging, voice and video calls, file sharing, and screen sharing. Its biggest differentiator is a generous free plan that includes unlimited users and unlimited message history, making it an attractive option for organizations looking to minimize software costs without sacrificing core collaboration features.
Pros
Free plan includes unlimited users and unlimited message history, unlike many competing team messaging platforms.
Supports channels, direct messages, voice and video calls, file sharing, and screen sharing within a familiar Slack-style interface.
Available across web, desktop, and mobile platforms, making it easy to adopt across distributed teams.
Cons
Smaller ecosystem of integrations and third-party extensions than more established collaboration platforms.
Some advanced administration, security, and collaboration capabilities are available only on paid plans.
17. Flock: Best for small and mid-sized teams looking for an affordable collaboration platform
Flock is a business messaging and collaboration platform that combines team chat, voice and video calls, file sharing, and productivity tools in a single workspace. Designed as an alternative to email-centric communication, it helps teams organize conversations through channels while offering built-in features such as shared to-dos, reminders, and polls without relying on additional applications.
Pros
Combines team messaging with built-in productivity features such as to-dos, reminders, polls, and video meetings.
Supports public and private channels, file sharing, screen sharing, and integrations with popular business tools.
Affordable pricing makes it a practical option for small and mid-sized businesses.
Cons
Smaller ecosystem of integrations, apps, and automation capabilities than leading collaboration platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Less widely adopted by large enterprises, resulting in a smaller community and ecosystem.
Shrinithi Vijayaraghavan
Creative Storytelling , CometChat