Top Free Business Instant Messaging Software
Check out our list of free Business Instant Messaging Software. Products featured on this list are the ones that offer a free trial version. As with most free versions, there are limitations, typically time or features.
If you'd like to see more products and to evaluate additional feature options, compare all Business Instant Messaging Software to ensure you get the right product.
Slack is your single workspace that connects you with the people and tools you work with everyday, no matter where you are or what you do. With Slack you get real-time messaging through calls and chat, a searchable record of all your files and conversations, and integrations with a growing number of handy bots and apps. Now everyone can finally be on the same page and get their work done. Slack: It’s where work happens.
Microsoft Teams is a chat-based workspace in Office 365. It brings together people, conversations and content along with the tools that teams need so they can easily collaborate to achieve more.
Workplace by Facebook is a collaboration platform designed to connect entire organizations. It offers familiar tools like groups, messaging and video calling. It helps anyone develop team projects, run meetings, share news and even collaborate securely with other companies. Our desktop and mobile apps give people from all kinds of organizations a place to share their voice. Our free Standard plan gives teams a suite of collaboration features. The Advanced plan offers the additional admin and int
Podium is redefining the way customers interact with local businesses. From collecting reviews on the sites that matter most, text-enabling your website with Webchat, collecting payment via text, gathering private feedback after an experience to managing all your customer messages from one central dashboard with Inbox, Podium is the answer. Podium’s Interaction Management platform uses messaging to make it convenient to interact with your leads, customers, and team at every customer touchpoint
Front powers the heart of business — the meaningful connections between teams and customers that lead to lasting relationships. Bringing email and apps together in a collaborative customer communication platform, Front drives business impact by scaling the natural conversations that create customers for life. More than 6,000 businesses are using Front today to cultivate personalized customer relationships at scale and transform their work into impact. Learn more at frontapp.com.
Today, competitive advantage is driven by software innovation. Enterprises need a collaboration platform to drive that innovation while maintaining security and control over their most sensitive data. Mattermost is the open source messaging platform built for DevOps to drive innovation. It gives developers the autonomy and control they need to be more productive while meeting the requirements of IT and security teams. Organizations use Mattermost to automate workflows, streamline coordination, a
monday.com Work OS is an open platform where anyone can create the tools they need to run every aspect of their work. The easy-to-use, visual interface includes building blocks like Apps and integrations, allowing teams to seamlessly build or customize the work solutions of their dreams. Whether you need to streamline your sales pipeline, want to create a marketing campaign process, run a robust CRM, or build a project management tracker – monday.com provides a collaborative space for your team
The All New Webex brings everyone together to do exceptional work. -- Call, Message, Meet: One easy-to-use and scure app to call, message, meet and get work done. -Upgraded meeting experiences with personalized layouts & immersive share -Smart presence lets you know when people are available -Messaging and file sharing integrated with your content and workflow -Calling built into the app for impromptu conversations -Control Webex Devices directly from the app Built-in Intelligenc
Glip is a conversation platform for teams to plan, share & organize work tasks. Text and video chat features facilitate communication between team members whilst file sharing and collaborative task management encourage efficiency and productivity. Glip helps teams to connect in real-time, unifying chat, tasks, video calling, file sharing, and event scheduling. Glip simplifies teamwork with secure instant messaging designed for teams to communicate and get work done at the same time. With Gl
CA Flowdock is a collaboration tool for teams. CA Flowdock integrates a team inbox and chat, and is integrated with over 50 tools and services.
Ryver enables you to organize your team’s communication IN ONE APP with group chat, task management, and voice & video calls.
Flock is a communication and collaboration app for modern teams and businesses. Flock empowers teams by providing them with a slew of in-built productivity tools such as shared notes, reminders, to-dos, polls. Users can talk to remote teams over audio and video calls. Screen sharing allows teams to collaborate and share information better. Flock also comes deeply integrated with Google Drive. Other popular third-party integrations include- Google Calendar, Analytics, JIRA, Asana, Github, Twitte
Nifty Project Management is the all-in-one solution for project management, team collaboration, and task management. With your team chat, tasks, roadmaps, docs, and files all in one place — Nifty lets you focus on managing work instead of juggling tools.
The Leading Enterprise Communication Hub Boost your company productivity by bringing messages, video calls, file sharing, and all team communication into one place. Rocket.Chat is a reliable enterprise communication platform for high-private team chatting and collaboration chosen by Samsung, Nokia, Deutsche Bahn, among many others. Reduce operational costs and improve customer experience by centralizing messages from employees and external customers on the same platform. Secure your data with o
The Leading Enterprise Communication Hub Boost your company productivity by bringing messages, video calls, file sharing, and all team communication into one place. Rocket.Chat is a reliable enterprise communication platform for high-private team chatting and collaboration chosen by Samsung, Nokia, Deutsche Bahn, among many others. Reduce operational costs and improve customer experience by centralizing messages from employees and external customers on the same platform. Secure your data with o
Samepage facilitates communication, project management, running meetings, online collaboration and more by combining team chat, video conferencing, screen sharing, task management, file sharing, and real-time team document collaboration in a single cloud-based collaborative workspace.
Hive is the project management tool behind rockstar teams at Uber, Google, Starbucks, Essence and more. Hive is dedicated to helping teams move faster and improving company-wide efficiency. With flexible project layouts, native email, resourcing, group messaging, and file sharing, Hive connects all aspects of your work. Join thousands of companies moving faster with Hive’s powerful project and process management software.
Troop Messenger is perfect and easy to use office messaging tool with seamless UI and UX. The features and their functionalities are well crafted across the application making the learning curve simple even for a novice user. It offers a wide range of features such as one-on-one messaging, group conversations, file previews, voice-video calls, screen share, Burnout, Forkout,etc., to deliver uninterrupted work-flows. It has been designed as a freemium pricing business model to suit the business e
Blink is the no. 1. employee engagement software: our mission is to improve the lives of frontline workers through technology and empower them by giving them a voice. Combining instant messaging, cloud storage, and powerful integrations, Blink is your shortcut for a happier and more productive workforce and for skyrocketing your employee engagement. It's time to upgrade your legacy intranet and ditch breakroom notice boards. Use our award-winning, all-in-one employee engagement software and app
Wimi is the best all-in-one collaboration tool for businesses. This is not just words, Wimi includes into dedicated workspaces: file sharing & drive, task management, calendar sharing, instant messaging and video conferencing. With this full set of features carefully crafted inside an intuitive and powerful solution, thousands (55,000+) of businesses ranging from small to Fortune 500 companies save time every day and allow their teams to be more productive.
Talkspirit is an Enterprise Social Networking Platform for the Workplace ; providing a full range of features to connect, communicate and collaborate in one simple overview. All the features are located right were you’d expect them to be, and cover three essential areas: 1) Collaboration Provide a collaborative workspace through groups: organise projects, gather feedback, create events and share ideas, knowledge & documents. 2) Communication Provide instant communication through work ch
An all-in-one secure instant messenger, Brosix helps businesses improve internal communication and optimize work processes while guaranteeing data security and privacy. Communication is the key to higher workplace efficiency. Brosix’s real-time messaging channels facilitate meaningful conversation in practically any situation. Chat one-to-one or in groups and make crystal clear Audio and Video Calls. Broadcast messages to handpicked audiences, create custom Chat Rooms, and chat on the go than
A flexible messenger that integrates with email and lets you store and share files easily.
Odoo is a fully integrated, customizable, open-source software packed with hundreds of expertly designed business applications. Odoo’s intuitive database is able to meet a majority of business needs, such as: CRM, Sales, Project, Manufacturing, Inventory, and Accounting, just to name a few. Odoo is an all-in-one software solution designed to meet the needs of companies, regardless of their size (or budget). The unbeatable, seamless nature of Odoo helps businesses become more efficient by reduci
Spike brings notes, tasks, and real-time collaboration right inside of your email Inbox. Instead of switching apps to check off a task or create a meeting agenda, Spike's powerful Inbox gives you a single place and a single feed in which to work. Manage your Email, create tasks, personal Notes, Group Chats, and collaborate in real-time on documents all without leaving Spike. Everything you need to get your work done is in a single feed, so you can finally give the app-switching a rest. Spik
Swit is a team collaboration platform that seamlessly combines team chat with task managements in a revolutionary new way. Before Swit, we heavily used Slack, integrating multiple apps in it like Trello, or Asana. But all we could do with those integrations is just to receive text-based notifications into selected channels, doubling the number of notifications and distractions without getting anything done. It’s so frustrating to go back and forth between chat and tasks and get lost in tabs in
Element is an all-in-one secure chat app for teams, friends and organisations. Keeps conversations in your control, safe from data-mining and ads. Talk to everyone through the open global Matrix network, protected by proper end-to-end encryption.
Weseeble is an online team collaboration platform for work which keeps track of everything like pictures, documents, videos and voice messages, brings them all together in one place.
Wire is the most secure collaboration and communication platform. Featuring messenger, audio and video calls, conference calls, file-sharing, screen-sharing and external collaboration – all protected by end-to-end encryption.
Slenke is a virtual workspace to manage your company from anywhere. Through intuitive and easy to use features it allows businesses to manage project portfolios, individual projects, tasks, internal communication, time tracking, invoicing and file sharing.
Top 10 Free Business Instant Messaging Software in 2021
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Workplace by Facebook
- Podium
- Front
- Mattermost
- monday.com
- Webex (formerly Webex Teams)
- Glip
- CA Flowdock
Learn More About Business Instant Messaging Software
What You Should Know About Business Instant Messaging Software
Business instant messaging software provide users with instant messaging platforms that allow direct and group messaging capabilities within an organization. These tools aim to facilitate quick conversations between team members. Business messaging tools make communicating with coworkers as easy as chatting with friends on social media or via text. Most business instant messaging options include emoji and GIF capability to promote authentic and natural conversation within the workplace.
Key Benefits of Business Instant Messaging Software
- Offer instant communication capability between team members
- Allow teams to connect regardless of location
- Make messages easily searchable
- Provide a less formal virtual space for team communication
- Connect an organization horizontally and vertically
Why Use Business Instant Messaging Software?
Most modern businesses leverage some type of business instant messaging software. They provide a cornucopia of benefits, making them a mainstay of the modern software stack.
Rapid — Business messaging tools support employees by bringing instant messaging to a workforce. Teams can rapidly communicate with one another, facilitating collaboration between remote employees, across teams, or across offices.
Informal — Email etiquette is notoriously difficult to master and can feel unnecessarily formal for simple questions. Business messaging tools allow teams to toss out overly professional decorum and focus on content over etiquette.
Mobile — All competitive business instant messaging products tout a robust, intuitive mobile application to pair with their desktop offering. Today, business requires people to reachable to support their peers at all times. Business instant messaging platforms are easy to use at work and on the go.
Adoptable — Instant messaging feels natural for most users at this point. Millennials now constitute the bulk of the workforce, and business instant messaging software is a natural step for this generation. Adoption rates are high since business messengers feel familiar.
Who Uses Business Instant Messaging Software?
Organizations across industries use business instant messengers to connect their employees. The software equips users with a quick, streamlined method of communicating with peers for all topics These platforms provide a time-effective alternative to passive mediums such as email or intrusive in-person meetings. The benefits provided by business instant messaging software are useful to businesses of any size—from three people to 3,000 people. Whether coordinating shifts in a university’s psychology lab or meetings in a Fortune 500 company, efficient communication is paramount.
Kinds of Business Instant Messaging Software
Stand-alone — Many business instant messengers are stand-alone products integrations. Dedicated business instant messaging tools sometimes provide additional features like video conferencing, limited VoIP capability, and employee directories to create a comprehensive communication hub.
Embedded — Instant messaging might come as an additional feature in other types of software or larger collaboration suites. Business instant messaging functionality is often found in employee intranet software, employee engagement software, or virtual workspaces. Other types of communication software, like video conferencing software, can also provide instant messaging.
Industry-specific — Some business instant messengers are built for specific industries with their unique needs in mind. For example, business instant messaging tools for manufacturing and field service will often include push-to-talk (PTT) software built in so remote employees have multiple instant communication channels. There are also clinical communication and collaboration platforms and HIPAA compliant messaging software built specifically for health care organizations. These platforms take patient confidentiality into consideration. Some popular, generalized business messengers have started to create industry-specific solutions or build compliance into their product so they’re available for specific industries.
Business Instant Messaging Software Features
Business instant messaging software share a few basic features across all products. As the space continues to become more competitive, some vendors have added additional communication and productivity features to help their product stand out.
Instant messaging — Instant, direct messaging is the main feature of business messenger applications. Users can instantly send direct or group messages. Depending on the administrator’s permissions, additional groups can be made by users or administrators.
Status updates — Users can leave a status attached to their profile to indicate their availability.
Activity feed — An activity feed is available to update users on new direct messages sent to them or new messages in groups. The feed will sometimes present replies to posts made by the user.
Notifications — Business messaging tools provide notifications when a user receives a direct message or a message is posted in a group. Additionally, users can turn notifications off or set certain permissions for notifications.
Emojis — Business messaging apps will often come loaded with emojis. Some applications even allow users to create their own.
Search — A search bar enables users to use keywords to easily find old messages.
File sharing — One of the main benefits of business messaging is the ability to easily and quickly share files and documents. Users can send links to documents hosted in the cloud or attach files saved on a desktop. Some tools even integrate with file repositories for streamlined file sharing.
Surveys and polls — Business messengers often provide simple survey and polling features allowing users to rapidly make decisions within the app.
Additional Business Instant Messaging Features
Conferencing — There has been increased effort to include audio and video conferencing functionality within business instant messaging products. When users can quickly move between text-based and audio-based communications, problems are resolved and questions are answered more efficiently.
Knowledge base integration — Some knowledge management tools serve as connectors between business instant messaging apps and knowledge bases. This type of integration attaches questions to answers then sends both to a searchable knowledge base.
Automatic translation — Some business messaging applications can automatically translate messages from one language into another via machine translation software.
Screen sharing — Business messengers with video conferencing capability often allow screen sharing between conference participants.
AI assistants — AI assistants are sometimes included in business messaging apps. They guide users to behaviors based on the messages they’ve sent. For example, if a user types to another that they need to meet at a certain date or time, an embedded AI assistant can open a prompt for the user to add an event to their calendar.
Potential Issues with Business Instant Messaging Software
Contextual inappropriateness — The convenience of instant messaging in the workplace is often a boon. As useful as business instant messaging software is, it is not always the most efficient or appropriate channel for certain situations. Problems can arise when individuals haven’t created clear distinctions for when it is appropriate to use a business messenger over email or another communication channel. While one-line emails could easily be relayed in an instant messenger, long-form messages with potential external participants aren’t appropriate on a business instant messaging platform.
This potential problem can be avoided with the implementation of clear guidelines identifying which communication channels should be used in a given situation. Businesses and organizations should include these guidelines in their onboarding and training process and make them available in a knowledge base for reference. Individuals who don’t use the appropriate channels should be gently reminded to break these habits.
