Top 10+ Slack Alternatives For 2022 (Features, Pros, Cons, Pricing)
Udn Webber
Content Manager
Communication tools have always been part of the workforce, whether employees are in the office or geographically remote.
With many diverse options in the market to choose from, most businesses have opted for Slack, a popular communication and workflow platform.
Slack has reliability, a beautiful interface, lots of integrations—what’s not to love? Still, companies look further than Slack to satisfy their need for a true workflow platform.
In this article, we’ll review 13 of the best Slack alternatives and cover their features, pros, cons, and pricing to find the perfect match for your team’s needs. 🏆
Let’s go!
What Is Slack?
Let’s not forget that ‘Slack’ is pretty much the opposite of work.
However, despite this, Slack is an instant messaging and team collaboration app technically made for work. Slack also integrates with many other apps to boost its usability.
It’s a good alternative to emails because teams can send quick messages, have a video chat, and share tasks all in the app.
The app also simplifies people’s work and boosts team productivity by providing your employees with a more personalized space for team communication.
Looking for ways to improve your team’s communication? Here are 13 easy ways to improve team communication.
Note : Slack is not a self-hosted solution .
If you want more control over your team’s internal communication, you probably need a self hosted Slack alternative. A self hosted collaboration app gives you complete control over all the messages and file sharing through a private team communication platform.
Top 13 Slack Alternatives For 2021
Here’s our list of thirteen Slack alternatives for 2021:
1. UDN Task Manager
Experience UDN Task Manager on any device, anywhere, any time
UDN Task Manager is the world’s leading project management and communication tool .
From helping you manage your remote team to providing you with task management features, UDN Task Manager is the perfect team collaboration tool.
And if you’re looking for free alternatives to Slack, UDN Task Manager ’s definitely the answer.
Here are some of UDN Task Manager ’s key features:
Use the Chat view when you need to talk about anything!
It can be about your tasks or even your grocery list.
The Good Place / GIPHY
The Chat view allows you to harness the power of attachments, notifications, unfurled task links, and even embedding.
And don’t worry, Chat view lets you keep track of all your comments and messages, so nothing gets lost.
You can easily access all task mentions, links to external sites, and see who’s been added as a watcher all in Chat view.
Add a Chat view in UDN Task Manager to connect with people in your Workspace
Here’s what you’ll find in Chat view:
So, why not just replace those 100 Slack channels with one task management app?
UDN Task Manager has comments for any situation you can think of.
You can edit, assign, and even reply to comments.
Comments are an easy and straightforward way to communicate quickly, and there’s no need to delete comments; you can edit them instead!
Use assigned comments when you have an urgent comment and want to make sure a team member addresses it. The team member will be notified, and the comment will pop up as a task in their task tray. When they’re done, they can even mark it as resolved!
Assign a comment to yourself or anyone in your Workspace
You can even use Threaded Comments to organize your tasks, images , and Doc comments by nesting your replies.
Worried about feeling overwhelmed by long blocks of text?
Don’t be.
When you want to highlight a section of the text, ask a question about a specific section, or you want to keep your conversations organized, quote a comment .
Highlight text to reply to specific parts of a comment
And if you really want to get your point across quickly, use rich text in comments .
You can use bold font or italics to make everything easy to read. This way, expectations are crystal-clear, and tasks are completed as efficiently as possible.
Want to take a break from playing the grammar police? 👮
Add some fun emojis to your text! 👻
It’s super-easy to create Docs, wikis, and knowledge bases in UDN Task Manager .
Use Docs for real-time team collaboration and editing . Your Docs can have an unlimited number of pages. They can be shared with select people and even be indexed by Google to pop up in search results!
This way, you can create and share detailed info without relying on Google Docs.
[Whispers] Unlike Slack.
Docs also have collaboration detection that informs you when someone is viewing or editing the same Doc as you.
When someone else is editing, you see their live cursor typing
Don’t want to break up with Slack? 😢
We have another solution.
You can integrate Slack with UDN Task Manager to do so much more than just chat with team members.
Here are some of the amazing things you can do with this unlimited integration:
Create a UDN Task Manager task from the Slack app
When task links are posted in Slack, they’ll have all the detail and context you need to be able to take action.
Here’s what you can change right from your Slack app when you integrate it with UDN Task Manager :
There are also dropdown actions that let you manage due dates, priorities, and statuses right from your Slack channels.
And UDN Task Manager can instantly send notifications about tasks to any Slack channel of your choice. This includes tasks created, comments added, and even status changes.
Wish you had known about all these wonderful features a long time ago?
But we’re not done.
Here are a few more advantages of using UDN Task Manager :
Check out UDN Task Manager ’s roadmap to see how we’re fixing these minor drawbacks. Also, check out all the exciting features this free Slack alternative has in store for you!
UDN Task Manager has a powerful free plan for unlimited users with paid versions starting at just $5 per user/month.
2. Microsoft Teams
via Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is an instant messaging app that fosters team collaboration and quick feedback loops. This app is free for Microsoft 365 users.
This chat application is suitable for schools, healthcare workers, and frontline workers.
But is this chat app suitable for you ?
Let’s take a look:
This team collaboration tool has a free plan, and its paid plan starts at $5/user per month.
Check out more alternatives to Microsoft teams !
3. Rocket Chat
via Rocket Chat
Rocket Chat is an open source team chat app.
The chat app lets you create chat rooms and host online meetings with screen sharing, which they claim reduces at least 30% of time spent on time-wasters like social media.
But is this open source messaging app a time-waster itself?
Let’s find out:
This messaging app has a free plan, and paid plans start from $3/user per month annually.
4. Google Chat
via Google Workspace
Google Chat (previously called Hangouts Chat) is a team chat app that integrates seamlessly with project management tools like Salesforce and Jira .
But how well will this messaging app integrate with your company ?
Let’s take a look:
This messaging tool offers no free plan, but the paid plan starts at $4.80/user per month.
5. Workplace by Facebook
via Workplace by Facebook
Workplace from Facebook is a team communications app developed by well…Facebook.
The chat app has over five million paying subscribers.
But will you want to join the five million after we check out the features in this messaging app ?
Let’s check it out:
This messaging app has a free plan, and the paid plan starts at $4/user per month.
6. Chanty
via Chanty
Chanty connects chats, files, tasks, and links to bring more context to discussions under Teambook—a single hub. This task-management approach allows teams to create tasks from messages or assign messages to members with an unlimited chat history.
Chanty has a free plan, and its paid plan starts at $3/user per month.
7. Twist
via Twist
Twist organizes discussions into threads to stay on topic, and contextually so important conversations are never lost.
Twist has a free plan, and its paid plans start at $5/user per month.
8. Ring Central MVP
via Ring Central
Ring Central is a phone, video, and message solution for business communications. The platform’s communication tools combined with multiple price plans accommodate the needs and budgets of different businesses.
➡️ If you’re a Ring Central user and need a project management solution, try the UDN Task Manager platform with the Ring Central integration .
Ring Central paid plans start at $29.99/user per month.
9. Ryver
via Ryver
Ryver integrates communication tools and task management in one app to streamline team collaboration.
Ryver paid plans start at $49/ month for up to 12 users.
10. Zulip
via Zulip
Zulip offers threaded topics within a stream (similar to Slack channels) to organize conversations for catching up on important conversations while ignoring irrelevant ones.
This team collaboration tool has a free plan, and its paid plan starts at $6.67/user per month.
11. Discord
via Discord
Discord is an online platform for gamers organized into topic-based channels to collaborate without overcrowding a group chat.
Discord has a free plan, and its paid plan starts at $9.99/user per month.
Looking for a task management feature alongside Discord? Check out UDN Task Manager ’s Discord integration .
12. Bitrix24
via Bitrix24
Bitrix is a popular CRM solution that combines contact management and collaboration to manage business clients and leads .
Bitrix24 has a free plan, and its paid plan starts at $49/user per month.
Not sure about Bitrix24? Here are some alternatives to consider.
13. Cisco Webex Teams
via Cisco Webex Teams
Cisco Webex Teams bring together messaging, file sharing, and other tools to collaborate with anyone inside or outside the organization, all within the same space.
Cisco Webex Teams has a free plan, and its paid plan starts at $15/user per month.
Why Do You Need a Slack Alternative?
You now know what the best alternatives to Slack are.
But in case you’re still on the fence about migrating to a new app, here are four reasons why you need alternatives to Slack:
A. The endless messages 🤯
Slack is a communication tool with a lot of group chats, which means that it’s easy for information to get lost.
Also, teams might fall into the trap of discussing multiple topics in one channel, which is even more confusing.
Imagine discussing your favorite movies in the same channel as an important project. Team members would have to read between the lines, literally.
B. The lack of visibility 👀
Slack is kind of like your pet.
It needs all the love and attention it can get. 🐶
Dietrich Film / GIPHY
Not sure what we mean?
If you don’t devote all your attention to the app, then it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see all the messages that have been sent.
We’re serious.
Even a 20-minute break could lead to major abandonment issues for the communication app, and you’ll have to deal with tons of unattended messages.
C. The minimal transparency 🪡
Everyone who uses Slack knows that people can miss a message they send.
So what do they do?
They start using direct messages to get their point across.
If your team members start sticking to direct messages and not public channels, conversations, and knowledge get siloed.
And as a result of minimal transparency, teams get divided and form their little cliques.
Filmeditor / GIPHY
D. The price 💰
Slack costs $8 per user, which isn’t exactly ideal for a small team or startup with limited resources.
And remember, you’re paying $8 per month for a communication app that doesn’t do much more than messaging!
Save on Communication Costs With UDN Task Manager 🦄
We don’t think businesses of any size should have to change their workflows or pay fees for a project management software that might be the wrong fit. With UDN Task Manager ’s Chat view, Docs, and comment features, you can get started today and create quality connections with people inside and outside your business.
Whether you want to use the Slack integration in the UDN Task Manager platform or replace Slack completely— UDN Task Manager has you covered!
Start today . Your team will thank you later. 🤝
