Best Slack Alternatives for Small Teams

Why Look Beyond Slack?

Slack is great — we said as much in our team communication tools roundup. But it’s not great for everyone. The free plan’s 90-day message history limit is a real problem for small teams that can’t justify $8.75/user/month. And even on paid plans, Slack can feel like overkill if all you need is a place for your 5-person team to chat.

We tested six alternatives that offer more for less — or at least a different trade-off that might work better for your team.

Quick Picks

Best overall alternative: Discord — Free, feature-rich, and better voice channels than Slack.

Best for budget teams: Chanty — $4/user/month with unlimited message history.

Best self-hosted: Rocket.Chat — Open-source with full data control.

Best for Google users: Google Chat — Already included with Google Workspace.

1. Discord

Yes, Discord. The gaming app. Hear us out.

Discord’s free tier is absurdly generous compared to Slack’s. Unlimited message history, unlimited users, voice channels, video calls, screen sharing, and file uploads up to 25MB. You don’t lose your conversations after 90 days. You don’t hit a wall at 10 integrations.

The always-on voice channels are something Slack still doesn’t match. Your team can have a “virtual office” voice channel where people drop in throughout the day, mimicking the spontaneous conversations that happen in a physical office. For remote teams, this is genuinely valuable.

The server and channel structure works well for team organization. Create categories for different departments or projects, set up role-based permissions, and use bots for automation. It’s more flexible than most people expect.

The downsides are real though. Discord wasn’t designed for business, so there’s no SSO, no compliance features, no formal admin controls beyond basic role management. The UI has a gaming aesthetic that might raise eyebrows in corporate settings. And integration with business tools (Jira, Salesforce, etc.) requires custom bots or third-party solutions.

For small teams, freelance collectives, developer groups, and startups that don’t need enterprise features, Discord is hard to beat at the price of free.

Rating: 4.3/5
Price: Free / Nitro from $9.99/month
Best for: Small teams, developers, communities

2. Google Chat

If your team already uses Google Workspace, you’re paying for Google Chat whether you use it or not. Might as well give it a shot before adding another monthly bill.

Google Chat is basic but competent. Spaces (their version of channels) organize conversations by topic. You can share Google Drive files directly, create tasks from messages, and start a Google Meet call with one click. The Gemini AI integration can summarize conversations you missed, which is handy after a long weekend.

It’s not going to wow anyone. The interface is minimal, threading is clunky, and the integration ecosystem outside of Google’s own apps is limited. But for a team of 5-15 people who live in Google Docs and Gmail, it does the job without adding another subscription to the pile.

If you’re evaluating your whole software stack, our guide to choosing business software can help you figure out whether bundled tools like this are enough or if standalone options make more sense.

Rating: 3.8/5
Price: Included with Google Workspace (from $7/user/month)
Best for: Teams already using Google Workspace

3. Chanty

Chanty is the Slack alternative that actually tries to be a simpler Slack, rather than a completely different product. The interface looks and feels familiar — channels on the left, messages on the right, threads, mentions, file sharing. If your team knows Slack, they’ll feel at home in Chanty within minutes.

The free plan covers up to 5 members with unlimited message history. That’s already a better deal than Slack’s free tier. The paid plan at $4/user/month adds video calls, unlimited integrations, and a larger storage allowance. For a 10-person team, that’s $40/month versus Slack’s $87.50/month. The savings are significant.

Chanty’s Teambook feature turns messages into tasks, organizing them in a Kanban-like view. It’s not a replacement for dedicated project management software, but for tracking quick action items that come up in chat, it works well enough.

The downsides: the integration library is small (around 30 apps), there’s no workflow automation, and advanced admin features are limited. Chanty is best for teams that need straightforward messaging without the complexity — and the price tag — of Slack.

Rating: 4.0/5
Price: Free / from $4/user/month
Best for: Small teams wanting a simpler, cheaper Slack

4. Rocket.Chat

Rocket.Chat is the self-hosted alternative for teams that care about data ownership. It’s open-source, runs on your own server, and gives you complete control over your messages, files, and user data. For teams in regulated industries or those with strict privacy requirements, this is a compelling selling point.

The feature set is more complete than you’d expect from an open-source tool. Channels, direct messages, threads, file sharing, video conferencing, screen sharing, and even a built-in chatbot framework. The admin panel lets you customize nearly everything — from message retention policies to custom authentication methods.

Self-hosting is the double-edged sword. You get full control, but you also take on full responsibility: server setup, updates, backups, security patches, and scaling. If your team has a technical person who can manage this, great. If not, the cloud-hosted option at $7/user/month takes the ops burden off your plate but partially defeats the purpose.

The mobile and desktop apps are functional but noticeably less polished than Slack’s. Performance can vary depending on your hosting setup. Still, for the privacy-conscious, Rocket.Chat is the strongest option in this list.

Rating: 4.0/5
Price: Free (self-hosted) / from $7/user/month (cloud)
Best for: Teams needing self-hosted, privacy-focused chat

5. Mattermost

Mattermost is Rocket.Chat’s main competitor in the self-hosted space, and it targets a slightly different audience: development and DevOps teams. The Jira, GitHub, GitLab, and Jenkins integrations are deeper than what most chat tools offer, and the platform supports custom slash commands and webhooks out of the box.

The interface is clean and functional — it looks like Slack without the polish. Channels, threads, mentions, and reactions all work as expected. The search is decent, and there’s a built-in Kanban board for tracking tasks (though it’s basic compared to dedicated tools).

Like Rocket.Chat, self-hosting means you own your data and your infrastructure. Mattermost also offers a cloud option, and their free tier for up to 10 users is generous enough for a small dev team to run indefinitely. If your team manages code and needs a chat tool that speaks developer, Mattermost is worth a serious look. It pairs nicely with free productivity tools to build a complete workflow.

Rating: 4.1/5
Price: Free (self-hosted, up to 10 users) / from $10/user/month (cloud)
Best for: Development teams that want self-hosted chat

6. Flock

Flock is an Indian-made Slack alternative that tries to combine messaging with productivity features. Beyond standard chat, it includes built-in to-dos, polls, shared notes, and reminders — all accessible from the sidebar without leaving a conversation.

The pricing is competitive: the free plan supports up to 20 members (more than any other tool on this list), and the Pro plan is $6/user/month. For teams in price-sensitive markets, Flock offers solid value.

The messaging experience is adequate but not exceptional. Channels and direct messages work fine, but the app can feel sluggish at times, and the UI design feels a few years behind Slack and Discord. Video calling is limited to 20 participants on paid plans. Integrations are limited to about 60 apps.

Flock works best for teams that want basic chat plus a few built-in productivity features without paying Slack prices. It’s not going to impress anyone with polish or innovation, but it gets the job done for the price. For teams also exploring CRM options, note that Flock’s integration ecosystem is limited, so check compatibility first.

Rating: 3.7/5
Price: Free / from $6/user/month
Best for: Budget teams that want built-in productivity features

How We Tested

We used each tool with a team of 6-8 people for at least two weeks. We evaluated onboarding time (how long until the team was actively chatting), message search quality, notification management, mobile app experience, and integration with common tools. Free plans were tested first; paid features were evaluated during trial periods.

Final Verdict

Discord is the surprise winner for small teams — its free tier is incredibly generous and the voice channels add genuine value for remote work. Chanty is the best budget option if you want something that looks and feels like Slack. And if data privacy is non-negotiable, Rocket.Chat and Mattermost both deliver solid self-hosted experiences.

Slack is still the best overall team chat tool, but “best” and “best for your team” aren’t always the same thing. If you’re a small team watching your budget, the alternatives on this list can save you real money without sacrificing much.