For a small business to truly thrive, it's essential for its teams to be productive, efficient, and collaborative. This is where top-tier collaboration tools and communication platforms, like Microsoft Teams, become invaluable.
However, if you're exploring alternatives to Microsoft Teams for any reason, you've landed on the right article. We'll provide you with a list of the top 10 substitutes and delve into why each might be a good fit based on your requirements, team size, and budget. By the end, you'll have a clear idea of the best option for your business. So, grab a pen and paper, and let's dive in!
With the continuous advancements in technology, businesses of all sizes have a plethora of Microsoft Teams alternatives to choose from. Whether your needs revolve around remote work, business communication, or team collaboration, there's a suitable option for you.
If you seek more than just high-quality audio and video for online meetings, various alternatives on the market cater to those needs. You might be uncertain about your choices or unsure of what to consider based on your requirements, budget, or company size, but we're here to guide you.
Before delving in, list down your specific needs. As you continue reading, this list will aid in your decision-making, ensuring you pick the best fit for your business. Let's jump right into the top 10 Microsoft Teams alternatives for small businesses.
Leading our list is Bitrix24, a powerhouse among Microsoft Teams alternatives. This all-in-one platform offers everything a company might need:
Business communication
Team collaboration
Project management tools
CRM
A website builder
CoPilot AI Assistant
Bitrix24 is designed to serve businesses of all sizes with a commitment to providing top-tier software solutions.
Rally your teams together with communication tools that bridge the gap between onsite and remote workers. Eliminate roadblocks and silos with tools like:
Audio and video calls.
Screen sharing
Instant messaging
Call recording
File sharing during calls
Sync calendar
Get everyone in the team organized with online calendars that you can sync together, best for scheduling meetings and events and making certain that no task or meeting is missed.
Provide oversight on projects and deliverables with the use of:
Time trackers
Pre-installed Templates
CRM integrations
Help the team visualize and manage workloads more evenly by assigning tasks and subtasks, keeping your team productive. Additionally, you can offer extranet access for external collaborators like freelancers and clients.
Businesses can also control customer relations more appropriately with Bitrix24 CRM:
Leads organization
Contact center
Sales automation
Online payments and invoices
Marketing
Leaders have one place where they can organize leads and create more focused and target-specific sales campaigns that yield more desirable results.
Bitrix24 also provides you with a main hub for all things social media – your very own contact centre. You won't have to switch from one platform to another. All of your social media accounts are available for you to access in one interface.
There is at least one new feature that puts Bitrix24 on top. With the latest update, the new AI Assistant CoPolit was introduced. You are probably tired of hearing about AI technology in every direction. However, this one is going to change your perspective.
These are several main ways how CoPitlot can boost your workflow:
Ideas generation
Text generation and adjusting
Project Management
CoPilot is a fantastic tool that is going to help you not only save time but also make finishing your tasks so much easier and more enjoyable.
Bitrix24 pros:
But-in lead management tools
Dozens of sales and marketing automation tools
Visual built-in templates, boards and charts for your projects
Advances contact centre features, including customizable contact forms and chatbots
Website builder templates to create your perfect website from scratch without any coding skills
Easy working hours data collection with online attendance tracking
Workflow automatization features
AI-powered assistant to help you with generating new ideas, calls transcription as well as texts writing
Bitrix24 cons:
Not so easy software set up due to many tool settings
Bitrix24 ratings:
Capterra: out of and over reviews
G2: 4 out of 5 and over reviews 500
Bitrix24 Pricing: starting $49 a month
Customer reviews about Bitrix 24:
"Bitrix24 has an extensive CRM module, where we can track and store the data we need about our leads and clients. Even though Bitrix24 offer other modules like Websites builder, the CRM is the feature I like the most about this great app" - Capterra.com
"Bitrix24 guarantees that firms have a strong company image by providing client satisfaction, from the aspects of communication to the administration of particular and confirmed initiatives. The best aspect of Bitrix24 is that it includes CRM elements such as tasks, projects, and pipelines, which aid in keeping track of the responsibilities allocated to project participants. We may also categorize members based on their functions, which helps define the capacity to manage processes and organize projects efficiently, as well as strong programming abilities." - G2.com
Touted as the online meeting software for all your video conferencing and webinar needs, Zoho Meeting is the one for you if you're looking for Microsoft Team alternatives that will enable you to effectively and efficiently communicate with all of your team members anytime, anywhere they may be.
You can bring your team together to calibrate and realign them towards the main goal. Zoho Meeting is available for a variety of industries for freelancers, startups, small businesses, and enterprises.
Zoho Meeting pros:
Can be downloaded on several devices
Included digital communication and analytics
Easy to use
Affordable
Zoho Meeting cons:
Rare audio issues
Screen mode errors when multiple people are in the meeting
Zoho Meeting ratings:
Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 and over 800 reviews
G2:out of and over reviews
Pricing: starting $45 a month
Customer reviews about Zoho Meeting:
"Zoho is great! Simple user interface, great scheduling features and all-in-one analytics page. And cheap! I am very happy to have found it!" - Trustpilot.com
"I am loving it but I need them to add sprint to it at no extra charge. Zoho should not take out features and build them into separate apps." - Capterra.com
Slack is included in the list of Microsoft Teams alternatives that are trusted by some of the major companies around. Slack connects you to the rest of your team along with clients, customers, and suppliers for seamless workflows and meaningful collaboration. You can integrate Slack with other apps and tools that you need to complete your arsenal of collaboration tools.
With Slack, you can not only make voice and video calls. You can also share files, record videos and share them, create channels based on projects, fields of expertise, or departments, and send instant messages – all using any computer or mobile device.
One will also need to be allowed into the dedicated Slack workspace with an invite link via email, making it extremely secure for a lot of small businesses.
Slack pros:
Easy to use
Chats and channels organization
Inside voice and video calls
Slack cons:
Separate log-in information for every workspace
Problems with navigation when there are too many channels
Slack ratings:
Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 and over 23000 reviews
G2: 4.5 out of and over 32000 reviews
Pricing: starting $6.67 a month
Customer reviews about Slack:
"As a business messaging app, Slack excels at making communication between colleagues, teams and outside clients or vendors easier than ever. You have access to so many different ways to connect that you're sure to find what works best for you. Channels work a bit like chat rooms and help keep topics separated and organized." - Forbes Advisor
"Slack is a great tool for team collaboration. For our fully remote team, I can't imagine working without this app. Daily communication, daily meetings, and in-app notifications from other external services are essential for us to keep up to date with tasks and progress in various projects." - Trustradius.com
Light the beacons and prepare to get to work! While this might not be the official tagline for this notable alternative to Microsoft Teams, it certainly could be. Signal is primarily known as a messaging app, but it offers robust security features that go beyond standard communication.
This solution allows users to add a layer of fun to their daily conversations by letting them send and receive text messages, photos, gifs, stickers, and voice notes. It's free to download on mobile devices using both Android and iOS, making it perfect for startups and small businesses where teams communicate amongst themselves and are not customer-facing.
Signal can also be used on Macs as well as Windows and Linux computers. You can choose to donate to Signal to help its developers scale the features offered in the service.
Signal pros:
High security level
Video and audio calls
Easy to use
Files sharing
Signal cons:
Not suitable for talking with customers
No chats and channel organization
Signal ratings:
Capterra: -
G2: 4.4 out of 5 and over 400 reviews
Pricing: starting $0 a month
Customer reviews about Signal:
"Love that it is actually 100 percent secure (unlike certain apps which claim to be secure but then you end up seeing ads about stuff you discuss). The interface is quite simple to use as well. The simplicity of its features is what makes it so appealing. It is more tailored to your privacy.What is there not to love about it? It provides encrypted chat, audio and video calls. The best thing is that it does not have ads." - G2.com
"Texting is end to end encrypted and this application provides so many features like gifs, allows sending all kind of documents, group chats, voice and video calls for free" - G2.com
If you want one of the Microsoft Teams alternatives so secure, easy to use, and affordable, Rocket.Chat is exactly the one you should invest in. That's how much they trust in what they can provide users. Enhance team collaboration and communication with Rocket.Chat, where you can send instant messages and set up video and audio calls across the company between teams and channels.
Rocket.Chat has the capability to enable businesses, regardless of size, to share and exchange information with customers while maintaining the strictest compliance with customer security and safety standards.
Channels are safe and secure while providing users with the facility to create tickets from chat transcripts, and export chat transcripts and histories. With Rocket.Chat, you can provide omnichannel support so customers have the ultimate choice for how they want to contact you. There are also integrations available, making Rocket.Chat highly scalable and invaluable.
Rocket.Chat pros:
High security levels
Chat sorting feature
Pre-installed translation tool
Available on all types of devices + web
Rocket.Chat cons:
No sync in read messages between the desktop app and mobile phone (notification read on desktop do not show this on the phone app)
not as user-friendly as similar alternatives
Not fully integrated mobile app
Rocket.Chat ratings:
Capterra: 4.3 out of 5 and over 140 reviews
G2: 4.2 out of 5 and over 300 reviews
Pricing: starting $0 a month, $4.00 for a pro version
Customer reviews about Rocket.Chat:
"Looks like a simple and easy to use software without a lot of added functionality all over the place. It also has possibilities to be very configurable to access directly to other pages, chats through links ." - SoftwareReviews.com
"Overall, Rocket.Chat provides all of the chat solutions I am looking for. Public channels, private channels, private messaging, Webhooks and integrations, including SMS and a website chat widget. Setup is incredibly easy using Docker or Ubuntu Snap." - Capterra.com
If you're in the healthcare or education industry and looking for an affordable and fuss-free option in the catalog of Microsoft Teams alternatives, you should check out Whereby.
Developed and offered by the same creators of Notion, Whereby is focused mainly on collaboration and communication by aiding teams in audio and video calls.
Attendees can make good use of the instant messaging feature within calls so further discussions can be carried out in the backend. Whereby is user-friendly and uncomplicated, so professionals can allot a bulk of their time on the important aspects of the job instead of trying to figure out how Whereby works.
Integrations with Notion and a lot of other collaboration tools are also available to make Whereby an integral part of a fleet of essential business software.
Whereby pros:
Easy to use
High video quality
Video and Audio calls + recording feature
Various integrations
Whereby cons:
Confusing navigation compared to similar apps
The mobile version does not work as well as the desktop version
lack of some essential features
Whereby ratings:
Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 and over 110 reviews
G2: 4.6 out of 5 and over 1100 reviews
Pricing: starting $0 a month, $9.99 for a pro version
Customer reviews about Whereby:
"I use Whereby with clients, friends and family. I use it for quick onboarding and troubleshooting. I use it for webinars and recording important meetings. I use it several times per week because it gives me an easy way of providing quick support and interactions with business partners and team mates."- Trustradius.com
"I like these services because I can create one unique link to share with family, friends, and coworkers, with this just enter the link and you are instantly connected. I will add some sort of approval by the admin to join the meeting." - Capterra.com
Powerhouse Google has introduced Google Workspace, a robust assembly of collaboration, communication, and project management tools, which stands out as a notable alternative to Microsoft Teams.
With Google Workspace, you have more than enough room to accomplish all of the things a small business can hope to do and more. You can communicate via email and chats, make audio and video calls, send and receive files as well as edit them online, and save those files in an online receptacle. All of these files can also be virtually shared with the whole team.
Google Workspace is available for individuals and businesses of any size, regardless of the industry they belong to, covering departments such as Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and more. Leaders, managers, and administrators can lock access to files and folders, keeping everything contained therein safe.
Google Workspace also has affordable plans that offer a host of features and functions for businesses to utilize in their day-to-day. You can start with a free trial before committing to a contract.
Google Workspace pros:
Free video calls for up to 100 participants
Easy camera and sound setting before entering the meeting
Google Voice tech allows to create notes automatically during the call
Wide spectator for features for the meeting host
Google Workspace cons:
Messages are shared with all participants (no individual messaging)
Screen sharing can be done by one person at a time
Google Workspace ratings:
Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 and over 15000 reviews
G2: 4.6 out of 5 and over 42000 reviews
Pricing: starting $6 a month
Customer reviews about Google Workspace:
"While some may argue that it doesn't quite measure up to Microsoft 365 in terms of advanced features, Google Workspace truly excels in its ability to facilitate remote teamwork among employees in an organization. In addition to its practical and easy-to-use design, this platform also boasts a straightforward pricing system that makes it a reliable option for businesses of all sizes." - Techradar.com
"Google Workspace is a great, centralized solution for the needs of the various organizational functions of my company. Every app in Google Workspace serves an essential need for every department." - Garther.com
If you're looking for a cloud-based business communication and team collaboration software that's also considered a great Microsoft Teams alternative, take a closer look at Monday.com.
It offers everything leaders may need to manage their teams responsibly and completely, whether it's project, task, or resource management they need to accomplish, among other things. Monday.com comes with a variety of templates and workflows ready to be used by anyone who may need them to streamline the work that's being done and improve the quality of the results.
Monday.com also offers businesses access to a CRM where they can track lead captures and manage them, create sales funnels and plans, and email pipelines – all of which are aimed at making the overall conversion rate better than ever. What's more, Monday.com has a special platform for R&D (Research and Development) teams that allows them to track projects from conception to development until their release with options for scalability with the possibility to submit and review feature requests and manage feedback.
With Monday.com, users can get a comprehensive view of ongoing campaigns with charts and grafts, along with Kanban boards and Gantt charts. These visualizations help managers coach for better performance and oversee the team's adherence to the respective project timelines, deadlines, and goals. Integrations are also available for users to make Monday.com even more holistic for the business.
Monday pros:
Integrated work tracking system
Dependable project organization and management
Great communication tool with the ability to have guest users without being worried about information sharing
Monday cons:
The mobile app does not work as well as the desktop version (especially for iPhones)
Confusing interface
Issues with tracking data, related to one specific client
Monday ratings:
Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 and over 4000 reviews
G2: 4.7 out of 5 and over 10000 reviews
Pricing: starting $9 a month
Customer reviews about Monday:
"I love how customizable the platform is. We can section staff into teams to ensure the right info is displayed to the right people - this keeps things clean and allows us to categorize the content that's applicable for different teams. The boards are also super customizable depending on what kind of information you want to display. Customer support is also a huge asset. It's very convenient to reach out for support directly from the platform, and I've always received a prompt response." - G2.com
"There's no doubt that monday.com is a powerful project management tool. It offers a ton of project management features, such as task management, project tracking and resource management. It also provides powerful collaboration features such as file sharing, messaging and even Gantt chart creation. However, for the occasional user, it may prove too advanced for simple needs." - Forbes Advisor
Included in our roster of Microsoft Teams alternatives is ClickUp, a project management software that also comes loaded with remote work tools and CRM. Keep better track of deliverables, deadlines, and project goals with insightful dashboards that give you the big picture in one go.
Users can also generate actionable forms and documents like surveys, feedback, and meeting notes. ClickUp also has a time tracker that teams can use to quantify the time it takes them to complete a task or specific stage of a project. Team members can make good use of the Instant Messaging function as well so they can operate as a group more efficiently and make brainstorming sessions more productive with the use of the Whiteboard.
ClickUp is available for personal use for free, which makes it great for freelancers. Their pricing is reasonable for small teams, and even the lowest-tiered subscription allows users to enjoy the best of what ClickUp has to offer.
For an additional fee, members can try their hands at AI with ClickUp AI to help with creative pursuits like writing or project management tasks like putting together more comprehensive workflows, action items, and campaign summaries.
ClickUp pros:
Multiple views to look into various parts of your task
Automated workflows
Pre-installed templates to help you with creating your project
Easy to use interface with navigation tools
ClickUp cons:
Limited mobile app features compared to the desktop one
Not suitable for companies with many employees
Software does not have many integrations available
Tricky pricing structure
ClickUp ratings:
Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 and over 4000 reviews
G2: 4.7 out of 5 and over 9000 reviews
Pricing: starting $7 a month
Customer reviews about ClickUp:
"As a long-time user and one who tried almost every other productivity / project management tool, I can say: ClickUp is the best you can get for this price point.The improvements the made in 3.0 make the tool feel way more robust and faster. The mobile app and widgets are limited and therefore not so useful (TickTick FTW). But if you work mainly on your PC, I can recommend ClickUp for every entrepreneur who is looking for a good project management tool!" - Trustpilot.com
"ClickUp is a great project management tool to help you plan, organize, budget and track the progress of any project. In fact, because of its robust free version, affordable paid plans, user-friendly design and a high number of top-quality features, it is one of the best project management platforms available today. ClickUp's free version is a great option for freelancers or solo workers while its paid plans are great for small to medium businesses." - Forbes Advisor
Last but definitely not least on our list of the most sought-after Microsoft Teams alternatives is Lark. It helps businesses eliminate the need for spreadsheets and replace them with online forms, task charts, and automated workflows for more congruous team performance.
With Lark, you have Base, where managers and leaders can create their own workflows and project dashboards even without ample knowledge of coding. OKR (Objectives and Key Results) helps maintain focus on particular goals and not just numbers, everything from inventory-keeping to employee well-being through reports and analytics.
Lark also provides messaging capabilities so workers, even remote staff, remain tethered to the team and the company. They also have a safe and secure email server to keep your team ahead of the pack.
With Lark, you can enjoy the use of online calendars that you can maintain online and sync with those of your teammates. Lastly, there's AnyCross, where users can further push the boundaries of what Lark can provide and allow them to do so through the power of integrations.
Lark pros:
High security protocols
Wide selection of marketing analytics tools
Pre-installed AI-translator
Lark cons:
Not user friendly
Unlimited cloud storage is available for Enterprise uses only
Software ratings:
Capterra: -
G2: 4.6 out of 5 and over 100 reviews
Pricing: starting $0 a month
Customer reviews about Lark:
"Lark is life savings for all startup's who don't want to invest huge on costly business suits.. with lark you can do pretty much anything in terms of managing business." - Capterra.com
"Lark is a very useful tool for workplaces. It's filled with useful features such as video meetings, chat, email, and much more. We use it daily at my company, and it is incredibly useful. It was very easy to implement at our workplace. The customer support is good, and they are very helpful. It took us only around 2 days to set it up in full, and it made our workplace much better. I also love the beta feature AnyCross, which lets us integrate Lark with many other software tools we use." - G2.com
Elevating your team's performance requires the right tools—outdated or inflexible ones can hold you back. Empower your team to reach new heights with tools that foster success without overextending your budget. With the 10 options outlined in this article, you have a broad spectrum of Microsoft Teams alternatives to consider for your business needs.
While Microsoft Teams is a powerful player in the collaboration space, the question remains—is it the best fit for you? This roundup aims to broaden your horizons, shedding light on other viable solutions. We encourage you to explore these alternatives to find the one that seamlessly integrates with your workflow. The right software can significantly enhance your team's engagement, collaboration, productivity, and efficiency.
Although Microsoft Teams has various unique features and remains one of the most integrated and popular platforms, there are several features and limitations that might come in the way of your business reaching its full potential. Here is a list of reasons why you should look into alternatives:
No team collaboration within the app. Unfortunately, team engagement outside the usual messaging "eco-system" is not supported. This might lead to issues with managing bigger projects that involve different departments and guest users working together. Adding guest users and setting permissions is not possible. Such feature makes this app not suitable for remote working companies.
Channel quantity limit. Microsoft Teams has a limit for public (200) and private (300 channels). Though it might work for your business while making the first steps, expanding your company will bring many other issues.
File organization inside the channel. All files inside the channel are stored in the file section. However, organizing and moving these files to other folders is not possible and can lead to these files being deleted.
Small businesses should consider the following when exploring alternatives to Microsoft Teams for their communication and collaboration needs:
Team or company size
Budget
Software and app requirements
Scalability
Usability for remote workers or onsite
Security
Overall features and benefits
The Microsoft Teams alternatives can match up to the features, pricing, and user-friendliness you're currently familiar with. These alternatives may also provide unexpected benefits in the workplace, such as boosting customer satisfaction with more effective communication, driving better conversion rates through an innovative CRM, and increasing employee morale with enhanced tools for workload and project management.
Integrating an alternative to Microsoft Teams can enhance the communication and collaboration efficiency of small businesses by providing the same functionalities with some added value features that incorporate more essence to the output.