21 Best Team Communication Tools in 2023 (Free & Paid)
Whether you want synchronous or asynchronous communication, select a team communication tool (or several of them!) to stay connected. We divided the communication tools into various categories to help you build a communication tech stack.
1. ClickUp
Use it For: Team collaboration, goal alignment, work management, and more
ClickUp is the ultimate productivity platform designed to bring all your work together into one centralized and collaborative work hub. ClickUp is packed with a rich set of features to streamline processes across industries, departments, and entire companies, and is completely customizable to the way teams want to work.
With over 15 unique workflow views, a flexible Hierarchy infrastructure, and over 1,000 integrations, ClickUp makes it easier than ever for teams to manage everything from daily operations to Agile projects. Plus, real-time reporting, a collaborative Whiteboards feature, and a dynamic document editor make ClickUp the all-in-one work management solution for any use case.
Team communication is the foundation of ClickUp's entire platform. Turn your thoughts into action items by assigning them to the team with simple @mentions in any comment, or consolidate all of your conversations to access them at any time with Chat view in ClickUp.
When it comes to aligning the team, ClickUp's Goals feature has you covered with clear timelines, measurable targets, and automatic progress tracking to keep the team always moving forward—no matter what objectives you're pursuing.
Best Features
- Over 15 unique views to manage tasks, projects, and workflows at a glance including List, Calendar, and Kanban-style Board view.
- Collaborative digital Whiteboards that can turn any idea into an actionable task, directly connected to your workflow.
- Real-time editing, nested pages, rich text editing, and more powerful formatting features in ClickUp Docs.
- Customizable Dashboards for any business scenario to stay on top of analytics and track progress toward goals.
- A vast template library for any use case to save time while mastering ClickUp's extensive list of features.
What People Say About ClickUp
"ClickUp is fully customizable, allowing us to create workflows that make sense for every aspect of our business. Whether it's the finance team, marketing folks, legal guys, or the folks working the front lines of operations, ClickUp is able to manage every bit of information and every process in a seamless, integrated, no-hassle, frictionless way." — Lindy L., G2 Verified User Review
Pricing
- Free Forever Plan: Unlimited tasks, members, and more for $0
- Unlimited Plan: $5 per member, per month
- Business Plan: $12 per member, per month
- Business Plus Plan: $19 per member, per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing upon request
Sign up for ClickUp for free today! (No credit card required!)
2. Hypercontext
Use it for: Meeting notes, goal-setting
Hypercontext is a tool that allows for managers to build better workspaces. By setting up meetings and creating goals, the team can be more connected and motivated to do their best work.
Best Features
- Schedule meetings with the whole team or one-on-ones
- Goal setting: to keep track of your progress during the week
What People Say About Soapbox
“We weren't aware that we needed help running productive meetings until we started using SoapBox! The software allows us to set an agenda, assign actions and gives continuity between meetings. In short, SoapBox has made our meetings much more productive.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Basic: Free Forever
- Pro: $5.60 per person per month
- Business: $8.80 per person per month
3. Range
Use it for: Team check-ins, daily stand-ups
Range is a team communication tool that keeps team members connected and informed through the use of check-ins.
Best Features
- Check-ins that allow for a clearer work schedule
- Ability to integrate Check-ins with other SaaS applications
What People Say About Range
“The product is incredibly easy to use, and my team members have really jumped right in. It's a really clean, useful, fun way to collaborate with each other. Range provides an intelligent way to perform our daily stand-ups. All in all, the best aspects are the development of team culture and progress of cohesion and collaboration which Range encourages.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Free: Up to 10 accounts
- Standard: $6 per person per month up to 100 accounts
- Premium: $12 per person per month up to 1000 accounts
4. Weekdone
Use it for: Goal-setting and OKRs
Even when working remotely, Weekdone allows for clear work objectives and tracking work processes.
Best Features
- Objective and Key Results (OKRs): to set up goals and see output
- Reporting and Data visualization to see how you and your team are performing
What People Say About Weekdone
“Flexible and affordable OKR implementation. Easy user and team configuration. Users can be on multiple teams at multiple levels (member, manager, observer). Customizable editing and sharing permissions at multiple levels (Org, Dept, Team, Individual). Weekly planning and reports, also customizable and can be private or shared. Wealth of training videos and tutorials. OKR linking/hierarchies.” - Capterra
Pricing
It varies depending on number of users (0-500+)
- Free: Up to 3 people
- $350 a month billed annually up to 50 people
- $600 a month billed annually up to 100 people
- $1,750 a month billed annually up to 500 people
5. Yammer
Use it for: Internal communication & intranet
Yammer is a software owned by Microsoft that enhances communication within your organization and outside it. Everyone can stay informed to keep the company productive.
Best Features
- Allows for easier communication between team members
What People Say About Yammer
“Simple, user-friendly interface makes it easy for all employees to use and communicate with each other. As a network of people working to serve the community, having the ability to reach out and network amongst our own agencies saves a lot of time and allows for a much better work environment. We also use Yammer to congratulate team members, and general work encouragement.” - G2
Pricing
- Free version: with a company email
- $3 a month per user
6. Slack
Use it for: Team messaging
Slack is an app catered towards team collaboration and internal communication. You can create multiple channels to keep discussions organized, direct message team members, and integrate with other apps.
Best Features
- Channels: Create different channels that are geared towards different topics
- Collaboration with other Slack members through Slack Connect, messaging, and video calls.
What People Say About Slack
“Slack is primarily used by our company so that developers can talk to each other or to the client without any hassle. It addresses the problem of being able to talk to other people in the organization professionally without switching apps.” - TrustRadius
Pricing
- Free: for small business
- Standard: $6.67 per person per month
- Plus: $12.50 per person per month
- Enterprise Grid: request a quote
7. Flock
Use it for: Team messaging
Flock is a communication tool that helps teams collaborate through messaging, sharing files, and video conferencing.
Best Features
- Communication that implements direct messaging, and company directories
- Share files, notes, and updates to team members
What People Say About Flock
“The biggest challenge in running a remote team is integrating communication between people and teams to reduce the distance and increase personal interaction. Flock solved that for us in a big way. Adoption was 100% and everyone always has it online. It has really improved team cohesiveness.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Starter: free for 1-20 members
- Pro: $4.50 per person per month for 20-100 members
- Enterprise: get a quote for 100+ members
8. Twist (Doist)
Use it for: Team messaging & communication
Twist gives teams the opportunity to stay organized. There is the freedom to respond to messages asynchronously--when the time is optimal with no pressure. There are thread features, instant messaging, and ability to share files.
Best Features
- Keep different conversations organized
- Integrate Twist with other applications for manageability
What People Say About Twist
“It helps with creating new threads for each new project. We can add different team members to different projects. Managing communication is easier in Twist as it stores all data into the cloud database. All contacts can be stored and personal messages can be sent.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Free: $0 per user per month
- Unlimited: $5 per user per month
9. Troop Messenger
Use it for: Instant messaging for teams
Troop Messenger is an instant messaging service that allows for audio calls, chats, video calling, and screen sharing.
Best Features
- Group meetings that can be joined at any time
- Screen sharing option through video calls
What People Say About Troop Messenger
“One-on-one messaging with chat-supportive features allow us to communicate with other team members of our company along with the feature set of voice calls, video calls, screen sharing, audio messaging, and, many more. This simple application makes us be on track to reach our project deadlines.” - TrustRadius
Pricing
- Premium: $2.50 per user per month
- Enterprise: $5 per user per month
- Self Hosting: $5 per user per month, suitable for 500+ users
10. Fleep
Use it for: Instant messaging
Available on browsers and on mobile, Fleep is an instant messaging app that allows team members to communicate and share valuable information.
Best Features
- Presence feature to showcase team members’ activity
- Integrated with other applications
What People Say About Fleep
“It does a great job helping me stay communicated with my friends and colleagues. It’s easy to find people and start new chats. File sharing it’s very important nowadays and this tool delivers it perfectly. The amount of storage is a great advantage. It has a lot of integration options” - G2
Pricing
- Basic: $0
- Business: $6.04 per user per month
- Enterprise: Request a quote
11. Markup Hero
Use it for: Annotating documents
MarkupHero is a different way of internally communicating, but just as important--annotating and marking up documents. It's a simple and easy to use screenshot and annotation tool that allows you to communicate and share ideas with colleagues visually. Snap your desktop, browser window or use their Chrome extension to take full webpage screenshots.
Best Features
- Annotate 100+ page PDF's in a seconds
- Upload, screenshot or paste images for annotation
- Forever editing and history of screenshots and markups
- Add pages, share links, download image and even copy to clipboard
- Integrations with Slack, Google Drive and more
What People Say about Markup Hero
"I really like the way this tool can work with PDFs. This is a new thing. Also, it can create a history trail for all the edits to screenshots, which comes in handy sometimes if I need to rework annotations. Also, I like the way I can arrange the images in my cloud for different groups of people and access levels." - Capterra
Pricing
- Hero Plan: Free Forever
- Super Hero Plan: Unlimited everything, $48/year (coupons are easy to find on thier blog
12. Zoom
Use it for: Live video meetings
Zoom allows users to use synchronous communication no matter where they are in the world. It has video calls, chat app features, and the ability to screen share.
Best Features
- Group and one-on-one meetings that have record ability
- Screen Share option
What People Say About Zoom
“We use Zoom internally for chat purposes, we love the client zoom app and all its functions. You can star important messages, go back in time to search for the previous conversion by just typing a keyword. And lastly, auto-recording meetings are so useful.” - TrustRadius
Pricing
- Basic: Free
- Pro: $149.90/yearly license
- Business: $199.90/yearly license
- Zoom United Businesses: $300/yearly license
Integrate with Friday & join Zoom meetings with one click.
13. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration tool that has features including: video calls, chats, file sharing, and screen sharing. It can be seamlessly integrated with Microsoft apps.
Best Features
- Integrated within Microsoft 365 programs
- Video and chat options for varied communication
What People Say About Microsoft Teams
“I have been using, configuring and deploying Microsoft Teams for the last two years, it is a very solid tool not only for communication, also for collaboration. With this pandemic situation, my company is working totally online, and Teams has been an awesome tool to provide Apps, meetings, dashboards, presentations, and the live event features are very impressive.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Free: no commitment
- Business Basic: $5 per user per month
- Business Standard: $12.50 per user per month
- Office 365 E3: $20 per user per month
Integrate Friday with Microsoft Teams!
14. Loom
Use it for: Async video updates & screen sharing
With Loom, you can record videos and send them to your team. This is a quick and effective way to communicate while also saving valuable time.
Best Features
- Asynchronous collaboration
- Video messages to share instantly
What People Say About Loom
“Loom helps create and build relationships that just an email can not do. Easy to use and makes responding to emails more personal and fun. The customers love it as well and it helps me create and build a better relationship with them.” - G2
Pricing
- Starter: Free up to 25 creators
- Business: $10/monthly ($8 if billed annually) up to 100 creators
- Enterprise: Request a quote for unlimited creators
15. Google Meeting/Google Chat
Use it for: Team video meetings
Google Meeting/Chat is a way for you to connect with your team. Set up video meetings or use the chat feature for instant communication.
Best Features
- Video conferencing for group communication and collaboration
- Integration with Google and Microsoft applications
What People Say About Google Meeting/Chat
“The main reason for using Google Meet is its interface that is very intuitive. The screen sharing and file sharing features are very convenient to use. I can easily share important documents with my clients and quickly get feedback.” - TrustRadius
Pricing
- Free with a Google account
Integrate Google Meet with Friday & join meetings in one click.
16. Notion
Use it for: Internal documentation and team wiki
Notion is a tool that all of your team and work effectively on. Create team wikis for the team to follow, create tasks and projects and see their progress. Notion keeps your documents organized and easy to find.
Best Features
- Implementation of wikis for documentation
- Track progress of tasks and projects
What People Say About Notion
“Ultimately, I would recommend Notion to anyone in an instant. It has a suite of features, user-friendly UI and organisation benefits...I believe that Nation can fit into many workflows very easily due to its plethora of features.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Personal: $0
- Personal Pro: $4 per month
- Team: $8 per member per month
- Enterprise: Request a quote
17. Basecamp
Use it for: Managing projects and communicating project details
Basecamp helps manage projects with the use of to-do lists, check-ins, message boards, and chat features. By having all these features in one space, it reduces clutter and allows for productivity.
Best Features
- Work separated into projects for manageability
- Hill charts that show progress of different projects
What People Say About Basecamp
“Basecamp is suited for collaborative projects or just a place for people to come together to use as a platform for engagement. This can also be used as a good tool for project management where you can keep track of projects and events, and document management in a company. Its user-friendly interface allows users to use it easily and efficiently.” - TrustRadius
Pricing
- Basecamp Personal: Free up to 20 users
- Basecamp Business: $99 per month for unlimited users
18. Confluence
Use it for: Internal wiki
Confluence is a collaboration tool that allows users to create and store documents that can be accessible to everyone on the team. Connect with Jira, an Atlassian project management and team communication software, to track projects.
Best Features
- Write, edit, and share documents
- Integrate with the Atlassian suite and add on different applications
What People Say About Confluence
“Confluence has some very nicely built-in features that gives you good looking and well-structured documents. It's a lot like an intranet content management system from my point of view. You have customizable layouts, custom templates to make them fit to your needs (easily) and of course, it's all tied to jira and the other products of atlassian.” - G2
Pricing:
- Free: $0 for 10 users
- Standard: $5 per user - up to 10,000 users
- Premium: $10 per user - up to 10,000 users
- Enterprise: Request a quote
19. Dropbox Business
Use it for: Internal documentation
Dropbox is a storage tool that allows you to create, store, share, and edit content for your team. It works alongside third party applications for seamless usage.
Best Features
- Share and store documents
- Protection of important files through security features
- Integrate third-party applications
What People Say About Dropbox Business
“I continue to recommend Dropbox Business to anyone who will listen. The abilities to share, secure, store and control access to files of all types is necessary for the everyday workflow of most if not all businesses.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Professional (individual): $16.58 per month
- Standard: $12.50 per user per month
- Advanced: $20 per user per month
- Enterprise: Request a quote
20. Evernote Business
Use it for: Internal documentation and note-taking
Evernote is a note and document sharing tool. Even when offline, you are able to access files for use. It is able to Integrate with other apps like Slack, Google Drive, and Outlook.
Best Features
- Document scanning for paperless option
- Synching notes for access across devices and offline access of documents
- Note templates for convenience
What People Say About Evernote Business
“Evernote is great for recording notes and sharing them with a team for collaboration. It also has a great OCR feature where you can take a photo of text and Evernote is able to read the characters and include the photos in search results. This app is well suited for anyone or any team looking to vastly increase their organization and output.” - TrustRadius
Pricing
- Basic: Free
- Premium: $7.99 per month
- Business: $14.99 per user per month
21. Coda
Use it for: Internal documentation, notes, and wiki
Coda is a tool that brings everyone together with a single doc depending on the project. You can collaborate on documents, track project updates, and create meetings.
Best Features
- Different doc templates depending on the team meeting
- Inventory tracking system through templates
What People Say About Coda
“Coda is a well-designed platform that has allowed us to centralize all departments into one spot for documentation. Coda has strong support docs and videos that have helped us transition smoothly and continue to learn about new features and ways to use the product better.” - Capterra
Pricing
- Free: available for the whole team with limits
- Pro: $10 per user per month
- Team: $30 per user per month
- Enterprise: Request a quote
Which Team Communication Tools Will You Use?
Communication is a valuable aspect of working in a team. With Covid-19, most companies have switched to remote work. There’s this fear of being unable to connect with your colleagues on matters that are important due to the distance.
According to Harvard Business Review, “poor collaboration and inefficient work practices have reduced productive time by 2% to 3% for most organizations.” There is a loss of communication because there no longer is that physical interaction aspect of work. With the rise of remote work comes the question of how to stay connected. Luckily, there are a plethora of team communication tools that are available for remote teams to use and to simplify their workflows.
You can rest assured that your team can maintain valuable communication to increase productivity and efficiency during these remote work times. Depending on what you value more for communication, you can choose a tool that focuses mostly on an online organizer, team updates, internal communication, video conferencing, or internal documentation. There can be some overlap between the features, but each tool should be able to stand on its own.