The leading team chat app with channels, huddles and thousands of integrations.
Best for: Most teams that want fast internal communication.
- Channels and threads
- Huddles (audio/video)
- Slack Connect
- Workflow Builder
Best team chat and messaging apps in 2026
Team chat apps replace internal email with channels, threads and direct messages. Look at how well they integrate with the rest of your tools and how much message history the free plan keeps.
6 tools compared. Top picks first, then alphabetical. No paid placements.
Discord
FreemiumVoice, video and text chat for communities and groups.
Best for: Online communities, gaming groups and creator audiences.
- Servers and channels
- Voice channels
- Screen sharing
- Roles and permissions
Google Chat
FreemiumTeam messaging built into Gmail and Google Workspace.
Best for: Teams already working in Google Workspace.
- Spaces and direct messages
- Gmail integration
- File sharing with Drive
- Meet integration
Mattermost
FreemiumOpen-source, self-hostable team chat for security-conscious organisations.
Best for: Engineering, government and regulated teams that need control over data.
- Channels and threads
- Self-hosting
- Playbooks
- Integrations
Microsoft Teams
FreemiumChat, meetings and calls integrated with Microsoft 365.
Best for: Organisations that use Microsoft 365.
- Chat and channels
- Video meetings
- Calling
- File collaboration
Rocket.Chat
FreemiumOpen-source communication platform you can host yourself.
Best for: Organisations that want a self-hosted Slack alternative.
- Channels and DMs
- Self-hosting
- Omnichannel support
- Federation