Crystal-clear communication is the rocket fuel of any successful team. From smooth internal chats to nailing client pitches, it skyrockets productivity and efficiency.

Today’s workplace is all about video calls, instant messaging, and other digital tools. This tech revolution has businesses buzzing with dynamic, interconnected teamwork.

Team chat apps are the new hub for modern offices. They combine all your communication channels – chat, calls, files – into one easy-to-use platform. This lets teams collaborate smoothly, share ideas like lightning, break down silos, and streamline workflows. The right app can smash silos, create a connected work environment, and keep everyone engaged.

The modern office is wherever your team chat app is. No matter the location or time zone, these powerful tools keep everyone connected and collaborating seamlessly. Unlock smooth internal and external communication, and watch your business soar in today’s fast-paced world.

What Defines a Great Team Communication App?

From feature-packed powerhouses to streamlined essentials, there’s a group chat app for every team. But no matter the flavor, some key ingredients make them all great, here are the must-haves:

1. Organized Messaging

One of the primary reasons to use a team chat app is to keep track of your conversations. The best team chat apps let you organize and maintain your business communication in a flexible way, allowing members to join relevant groups/channels while avoiding irrelevant ones. The app’s most useful feature is its ability to send alerts and notifications directly to specific members.

2. An Easy Search Tool

A top-notch team app should offer a search function that allows users to quickly find what they need. Quick access to attachments—such as documents, links and video files—can save time and improve productivity.

3. Video Meetings and Audio Calls

Text conversations are essential, but for deeper collaboration, video meetings, and audio calls are crucial. The best team chat apps offer the ability to seamlessly blend text, audio, and video capabilities so that teams can easily shift between modes. Bonus points if they allow users to share screens with one another and send audio messages.

4. Simple to Use

A great team chat app should be straightforward and intuitive, feeling like a natural extension of an email inbox. As users become more comfortable with the interface, keyboard shortcuts can take productivity to the next level—no mouse required!

5. Empower Collaboration

Collaboration should be at the forefront of any modern digital office. A great team chat app should be able to provide a collaboration platform within the team app itself, allowing teams to raise productivity by minimizing context switching and keeping everyone on the same page. It should serve as the plumbing for a great project management app.

6. Instant Team Communication

Instant communication is a key component for improving teamwork in the workplace and team collaboration. The ability to quickly and efficiently “gather the troops” through instant chat communication is essential in moments of inspiration or crisis. The best team chat apps use real-time communication technology to let teams communicate instantly.

Top 16 Team Communication Apps

Here are the top-rated team communication to supercharge your communication.

1. Spike

The first of our communication apps is, of course, Spike.

Email continues to be the most prominent form of business communication, and Spike harnesses the benefits of email with a 21st-century twist—namely using Conversational Email. This Feature turns your email into a chat with a stunning interface and cuts out your inbox clutter.

No more headers and signatures, a new sleek and organized way to view your inbox, letting your team focus on what’s important…the conversation!

Think of it as a balance of synchronous and asynchronous messaging, where team members can talk about what’s essential without sifting through thousands of threads. To add to this Spike’s unique Priority Inbox, filters out all of the non-important (junk) emails using an advanced algorithm. The algorithm sorts this mail into a different folder leaving your Inbox cleaner and more manageable than ever before. So you can focus on what’s important.

This chat-like conversation is made especially powerful when used with Spike Groups, which is the easiest way to communicate as a team. You can instantly create a Spike Group for any team or project, add members and share messages, images, videos, files, and more.

Additionally, including a non-Spike user is as simple as adding an email address, with no signup needed, making Spike an ideal digital communication app for clients.

Do you ever find yourself unable to adequately express what you mean in writing? Spike also offers Voice Messages and video meetings integrated directly within a single team communication application.

Spike is more than just a team communication app, Spike houses all the productivity tools your business will need in a single platform.

Some other useful features include:

Spike is available on:

• Windows
• Mac
• iOS
• Android
• Web

Letting your team chat whenever, wherever.

Price:

• Free for personal use
• $8 per account / monthly For teams

Free team communication apps can often be limited in their features, but Spike offers all the core functions without any payment – just get started with your standard email address.

Collaboration process – Use case:

“Spike Groups improved workflow between our teams and across our clients, since they now had a collaborative workspace that didn’t require logins. All that project history, and all needed files in one place.”

Read more about Max Shcherbakov, co-founder and CEO of Hooligans, that uses Spike as a unified collaboration tool.

2. Flowdock

Flowdock is a comprehensive team communication and collaboration platform that streamlines workflows and fosters a productive work environment. Its centralized inbox provides a single hub for all team communication, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools.

Threaded conversations enhance clarity, while private channels enable secure discussions. Flowdock integrates with various third-party tools, ensuring seamless collaboration across platforms. Available as a web, desktop, and mobile app, Flowdock caters to teams of all sizes, offering self-hosted options for data control.

Here are some of the ways in which Flowdock can benefit team collaboration:

Flowdock is available on:

• Windows 10 and 11
• macOS 10.15 and later
• Linux (AppImage and Snap packages)
• Android
• iOS
• Web browsers

Price:

• $3/month per use

3. Ryver

Ryver stands out as a comprehensive team communication and collaboration platform that seamlessly integrates internal communication tools with task management features, providing a centralized hub for streamlined workflows and enhanced productivity. Its user-friendly interface caters to teams of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.

Ryver’s core strength lies in its ability to bring together various aspects of team collaboration, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools or platforms. Its centralized inbox serves as a unified space for team discussions, private messages, and group forums, fostering open and transparent communication.

Ryver offers several key features:

Ryver is available on:

• web browser
• Windows
• macOS
• Linux
• iOS and Android

Price:

• $69/month for up to 12 users
• $129/month for up to 30 users

4. Twist

Twist stands out as a unique and valuable tool in the realm of team communication and collaboration. It distinguishes itself through its thread-based messaging approach and emphasis on focused productivity. Catering to teams seeking a structured and organized environment, Twist transforms chaotic conversations into organized threads, ensuring that discussions remain focused and easily traceable. This thread-based system promotes clarity, accountability, and a sense of order within team communication.

Beyond its messaging capabilities, Twist seamlessly integrates task management features, allowing teams to create, assign, and track tasks directly within threads. This integration streamlines workflows, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools, and ensures that tasks remain closely tied to the relevant discussions. Twist’s commitment to focused productivity extends to its interface design, providing a distraction-free workspace that allows teams to concentrate on the task at hand without the constant barrage of notifications and interruptions.

Twist offers several distinctive features:

Twist is available on:

• web browser
• Windows
• macOS
• Linux
• iOS and Android

Price:

• $5/month per user

5. Slack

Coming in as the second best team communication app is Slack.

Slack is a popular team communication app that allows you to create channels for topics, projects, or teams. However, Slack is purely for team communication, so it lacks broader productivity features that you might find in a more robust platform. On the other hand, this makes for effortless chat functionality and usability.

Slack is available on:

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux
• iOS
• Android
• Web

Price:

• $12.5 per account / monthly for businesses
• Slack offers a free version with limited features and a full version for $6.67 per user per month for small businesses. For larger firms, this jumps to $12.50 per person per month.

Discover More:

• Spike Groups – the only Slack alternative
• Best Instant Messaging Apps for Business

6. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft’s team communication application is part of the wider Office 365 suite of tools. As such, you often need to jump between the different 365 apps to get all the functionality you might expect from a more streamlined communication app. That said, Microsoft Teams is good at what it does, but is heavily focussed, offering:

Microsoft team available on:

• Windows
• Mac
• Android
• iOS
• Web

Price:

• $12.50 per account / monthly for the Business standard package
• Microsoft Teams has a free option with limited features, otherwise, it comes as part of their broader packages, such as the Microsoft 365 Business Basic for $5.00 per user per month and Microsoft 365 Business Standard at $12.50 per user per month. Since it is included, this could be a good digital communication app for those heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Check out this article if you are looking for Microsoft Teams alternatives

7. Google Chat

Google Chat offers direct messages and team chat rooms. It was originally part of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) but is now being rolled out for consumer Gmail accounts.

Google Chat offers a comprehensive suite of features that empower teams to stay connected, productive, and secure:

Google Chat is available on:

• Windows
• Mac
• iOS
• Android
• Web

Price:

• Individual $7.99 per month
• For Teams, Undisclosed

8. Flock

In the dynamic landscape of team communication and collaboration, Flock emerges as a versatile and user-friendly platform that empowers teams to streamline workflows, enhance productivity, and foster a connected work environment. Its comprehensive feature set caters to diverse team needs, ranging from centralized communication to task management and file sharing.

Flock’s core strength lies in its ability to consolidate team communication into a single, unified hub. Its centralized inbox serves as a seamless space for team discussions, private messages, and group forums, fostering open and transparent communication. Threaded conversations enhance clarity and organization, allowing teams to easily follow discussions and track decisions.

Here are some of Flock’s key features:

Flock is available on:

• Windows
• macOS
• Android
• iOS
• Web

Price:

• $4.50 per account / monthly

9. Popoulo

Popoulo is a team communication app that offers instant messaging, video conferencing, and task management features that help teams collaborate effectively. It allows team members to communicate in real-time, work together on projects, and track progress of projects using analytics.

Its Harmony platform offers companies a single space from which to communicate with employees, partners, and customers, with a broad range of integrations with other popular apps ensuring an easy fit with existing company infrastructure.

Popoulo offers a range of features:

Popoulo is available on:

• Windows
• macOS
• Android
• iOS

Price:

• Free Plan: Supports up to 5 users with basic features.
• Pro Plan: Starts at $8 per user per month for advanced features.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for large teams with additional security.

10. Chanty

Chanty is a team comms app designed to streamline communication and collaboration. With Chanty, teams can share files, make voice, and video calls, as well as organize conversations in channels. Chanty offers a searchable history of all messages, making it easy to find and reference previous discussions.

In addition, Chanty offers task management and team collaboration features, such as shared to-do lists and the ability to assign tasks to team members. Chanty integrates with other popular apps such as Google Drive, Trello, and Zapier to ensure your company can easily add chanty to existing tools.

Here are some of the key features that Chanty offers:

Chanty is available on:

• Windows
• Linux
• macOS
• Android
• iOS

Price:

• Free Plan: Supports up to 10 team members with basic features.
• Business Plan: Starts at $8 per user per month for advanced features, unlimited users, and priority support.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for large teams with dedicated account management and additional security features.

11. RocketChat

RocketChat is an open-source team communication app that offers a range of features for team collaboration. With RocketChat, teams can communicate via text, voice, and video, and organize conversations into customizable channels. RocketChat also provides screen sharing, file sharing, and team collaboration features such as shared to-do lists and the ability to assign tasks to team members.

The app provides a broad range of integrations with other apps, however, perhaps the standout feature of RocketChat is its self-hosted option, the ideal choice for companies that prioritize data security and privacy.

Here are some of the key features that Rocket.Chat offers:

RocketChat is available on:

• Windows
• Linux
• macOS
• Android
• iOS

Price:

• Free Plan: Basic features for small teams or personal use.
• Paid Plans: Tiered subscriptions, including Pro and Enterprise, with advanced features.
• Hosting Options: Prices vary for self-hosted or cloud-hosted solutions.

12. FirstUp

FirstUp is a mobile-first communication platform designed for frontline teams, with real-time sharing and collaboration features that enable simple team communication. In addition, tools for task management and workflow automation are included to boost productivity and streamline collaboration.

The app has features such as group messaging, surveys, polls, and analytics to help managers track engagement and team performance, meaning FirstUp is ideal for companies with many frontline workers who need quick access to information and guidance.

Here are some of the key features of FirstUp: