Communication tools in 2026, compared by price

We track 33 communication tools. The list below is ordered by what it costs to start, cheapest first. Tools that cannot be put on that scale — usage-based pricing, a free tier, or a price we could not verify — come last, and each one says which case it is. The cheapest verified entry point is Briar at Free.

How to choose team communication software

Team communication is the simplest category here: almost everything is per-seat per month, with annual billing as the main discount. The differences that matter are in the free tiers — most cap message history, which quietly turns the free plan into a trial you eventually pay to leave.

Look past the seat price at what your team actually does: external partners (guest access rules differ a lot between tools), video meeting limits, and whether admin controls like retention policies sit on the plan you can afford. A cheaper seat that withholds retention or compliance features is not cheaper for a regulated team.

Before you commit, check:

Message and file history limits on the free plan
Guest and external-partner access rules
Whether admin, retention and compliance controls need a higher tier
The gap between annual and monthly pricing

No vendor has paid for a position on this page. Price is not quality: the cheapest tool here is not the best one for your team, it is only the cheapest. We do not publish a quality score because we do not have one we can stand behind. How we score tools.

Briar
Open-source Android messenger that synchronizes encrypted data directly over Tor, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Direct E2EE synchronization reduces reliance on a central provider and supports Tor-based internet transport.
Freeverified
GroupMe
Free Microsoft-owned consumer group messaging service for mobile and web, with chats, announcements, school communities and optional Copilot interactions.
The service is free from Microsoft and works across mobile, Windows and web clients.
Freeverified
Jami
Free GPL-licensed peer-to-peer messaging, calling and conferencing software for desktop and mobile.
Free GPL-licensed clients cover major desktop and mobile platforms without advertising or feature-plan limits.
Freeverified
Jitsi
Open-source video-conferencing stack available through self-hosting, the limited public meet.jit.si service or paid Jitsi as a Service.
Open-source components can be inspected, modified and deployed under organizational control.
Freeverified
Skype
Microsoft consumer calling and messaging service retired on May 5, 2025; retained here only as a migration and historical comparison record.
The historical service combined chat, voice, video and phone-network calling under a widely recognized identity.
Freeverified
Microsoft Teams
Corporate collaboration.
Office 365 Integration: Edit files collaboratively within the app in real-time.
From $4/user/mo billed annuallyverified
Wire
Open-source end-to-end encrypted team collaboration platform with free, SMB, enterprise and sovereign deployment options.
Messages, calls and files are end-to-end encrypted across supported multi-device clients.
From $7.45/moverified
HEY Email
Rethink your email.
Total Privacy: Automatically blocks all tracking pixels used by marketers.
From $8.25/moverified
Slack
Digital headquarters for teams.
Powerful Search: Find any file or message from years ago in a matter of seconds.
From $8.75/user/mo billed monthlyverified
Zoom
Video calls.
High Stability: Calls rarely drop even on poor-quality internet connections.
From $14/moverified
Loom
Async video messages.
Speed: Your link is ready the moment the recording stops—no waiting for uploads.
From $18/user/moverified
Adobe Connect
Software for remote connectivity.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Aircall
Cloud call centre for sales and support.
Deep CRM integrations
Subscription — amount not verifiednot a monthly price
Dialpad
AI-powered business phone and meetings.
Real-time transcription and coaching
Custom pricing — quote requirednot a monthly price
DingTalk
Instant messaging software.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Discord
Community hub.
Best Voice Quality: Latency in voice channels is near-zero for clear communication.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Google Meet
Video meetings from Google Workspace.
No install, joins from a calendar link
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Google Messages
Messaging application developed by Google.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Lifesize
American telecommunications company.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
LINE
Consumer messaging and calling platform with groups, stickers and region-dependent social or premium services protected in part by Letter Sealing.
Letter Sealing is enabled by default and protects supported chat content plus one-to-one calls.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Linphone
Voice over IP software.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Mattermost
Self-hostable team messaging.
Fully self-hostable, including in air-gapped environments
Custom pricing — quote requirednot a monthly price
RingCentral
Business phone, message and video.
Mature and reliable at scale
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Rocket.Chat
Open-source team chat you can host yourself.
Fully self-hostable and open source
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Telegram
Cloud messaging and broadcast platform with large groups, channels, bots and optional Premium features; end-to-end encryption is not the default for cloud chats.
Large groups, broadcast channels and cross-device cloud history support community-scale communication.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Threema
Swiss end-to-end encrypted messenger offered as a one-time consumer app, managed Threema Work service and separate automation gateway.
Messages, calls and files use end-to-end encryption with keys tied to a randomly generated Threema ID.
Priced per productnot a monthly price
Twist
Threaded, asynchronous team messaging.
Threads keep conversations findable
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Viber
VoIP and instant messaging software.
Current clients apply end-to-end encryption automatically to one-to-one chats, ordinary groups and one-to-one calls.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
WeChat
Tencent's international messaging and lifestyle app, interoperable with but legally and operationally distinct from mainland-China-focused Weixin.
Messaging, calls, social posts, official content and embedded services coexist in one widely used network.
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Whereby
Browser-based video meetings.
Guests join with a link, no install
Free tier availablenot a monthly price
Wickr
AWS-managed end-to-end encrypted collaboration for organizations with administrative and retention controls.
Messages, files, calls and screen sharing are positioned as end-to-end encrypted.
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Zoom Phone
Cloud phone system from Zoom.
Same app as your meetings
Pricing not verifiednot a monthly price
Zulip
Open source chat and collaboration software.
Topic threading makes catching up genuinely possible
Free tier availablenot a monthly price

Head-to-head comparisons

Two communication tools side by side, on price and on the features we actually checked.

Looking to switch?

What each of these costs to replace, with the closest tools that do the same job.