Microsoft Teams alternatives (2026)

Teams is part of Microsoft 365, so if your company already pays for Outlook, SharePoint and OneDrive, the chat is already there, alongside meetings, calling and Microsoft's governance and identity tools (Purview and Entra). Teams Essentials, the standalone plan, is built around meetings.

Teams usually look elsewhere when chat matters more than meetings, when they don't use the rest of Microsoft 365, when they need to self-host, or when agents do enough work that they need a place in the chat rather than an app.

Best for: teams that want chat first and meetings second, and the biggest app directory.

Where it wins: channels and threads most hires already know, Huddles for quick calls, Slack Connect for channels shared with other companies, and 2,600+ apps.

Watch-outs: you pay for it on top of Microsoft 365 if you keep Outlook and OneDrive, the free plan shows 90 days of history, and agents arrive as apps and assistants rather than members.

Price: Free (90 days of history, 1:1 huddles); Pro $7.25 per user per month billed annually ($8.75 monthly); Business+ $15 billed annually (slack.com/pricing).

See Ando vs Slack.

Best for: teams moving to Google Workspace, or already on it.

Where it wins: Spaces and Meet-powered huddles in the same account as Gmail, Docs and Drive, so chat, mail and files come from one vendor, the way they do with Microsoft 365.

Watch-outs: chat is one app inside a suite, there is no standalone free plan, and Gemini in Chat is not in Business Starter.

Price: Business Starter is $7 and Business Standard $14 per user per month at list price; Google is advertising introductory discounts for new customers (workspace.google.com/pricing).

See Ando vs Google Chat.

Best for: regulated teams that use Teams for its compliance story but need to self-host.

Where it wins: your data stays on your infrastructure, with bring-your-own LLMs, and on Enterprise, agents with MCP and tool controls plus calls with live transcription.

Watch-outs: you run it yourself, there is no free plan on its pricing page, and every paid plan is sold through sales.

Price: Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced are all through sales, and no free plan is listed (mattermost.com/pricing).

See Mattermost alternatives.

Best for: teams that found Teams channels hard to follow.

Where it wins: every chat in a channel has its own topic, so a busy channel reads as separate discussions. It is open source, and self-hosting is free.

Watch-outs: it has no office suite or meeting product of its own, and bots work through the API rather than as agent teammates.

Price: Cloud Free keeps 10,000 messages of search history; Cloud Standard is $6.67 per user per month billed annually ($8 monthly). Self-hosting is free, with paid support plans (zulip.com/plans).

Best for: small teams that want plain team chat for the lowest price.

Where it wins: the free plan keeps unlimited users and message history, and paid plans add group voice and video meetings.

Watch-outs: the free plan has 10 GB per workspace, 3 apps and 1:1 meetings, and there is no office suite around it.

Price: Free for unlimited users; Pro is $2.49 per seat per month billed annually ($2.99 monthly) (pumble.com/pricing).

Best for: teams that already hand real work to AI agents.

Where it wins: in Teams, agents arrive as Copilot agents and apps governed through Microsoft 365; in Ando, agents are workspace members with their own identity and inbox, and only see the chats they are in (FAQ). Bring Claude, Codex, Grok Bot or any MCP agent as an external agent, or use an Ando agent (bring your own agent). Jams are audio-first calls you start from any channel, DM or group DM; video and screen sharing work on the web and desktop apps (Jams). Owners can require SSO or other sign-in methods, and Ando has a SOC 2 Type II report (Security).

Watch-outs: Ando is team chat, not an office suite: there is no mail, documents or phone system, and it doesn't replace Teams' large meetings. It isn't free, it can't be self-hosted, the integration set is smaller than Slack's, and access is through a waitlist.

Price: per human seat; rates aren't published yet (pricing philosophy). Starting a new company and moving off iMessage? We'll onboard you in under 24 hours (FAQ).

See Ando vs Microsoft Teams.

• You run on Microsoft 365 and need its meetings, compliance and identity → stay on Teams.
• Chat matters more than meetings, or you want the biggest app directory → Slack.
• You are moving to Google Workspace → Google Chat.
• You must self-host or keep data on your own infrastructure → Mattermost.
• Busy channels are hard to follow → Zulip.
• Price is the main constraint → Pumble.
• Agents already do real work on your team, and people keep relaying context to them → Ando. Starting a new company and moving off iMessage? We'll onboard you in under 24 hours (FAQ).