Microsoft Teams alternatives
Team Chat & Messaging · www.microsoft.com
Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's chat, meetings, and collaboration platform, sold standalone as Teams Essentials or bundled with Microsoft 365.
Switching to Discord, which covers 50% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Microsoft Teams alternatives
We compared 12 products and found 6 cheaper options · vs Microsoft Teams Teams Essentials at $40/mo for 10 seats ($4/seat) · scenario: 10 seats, monthly billing, USD.
Microsoft Teams costs $40/mo on the Teams Essentials plan at 10 seats, monthly billing. We found 6 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 2 of them cover at least 75% of the 6 compared capabilities.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TOP PICK Discord Nitro plan · missing: Guest & external collaboration, Workflow automation, AI search & summaries | 50% | $9.99/mo how? ⓘ | $360.12 / year 75% cheaper | |
Zoho Cliq Standard plan · missing: Guest & external collaboration, AI search & summaries team chat — adjacent | 67% | $18/mo how? ⓘ | $264 / year 55% cheaper | |
Pumble PRO plan · missing: Guest & external collaboration, Workflow automation, AI search & summaries team chat — adjacent | 50% | $29.90/mo how? ⓘ | $121.20 / year 25% cheaper | |
Zulip Self-hosted Basic plan · missing: Workflow automation team chat — adjacent | 83% | $35/mo how? ⓘ | $60 / year 13% cheaper |
Which Microsoft Teams alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Zulip — $35/mo (Self-hosted Basic plan) · covers 83%
- Best paid drop-in
- Discord — $9.99/mo (Nitro plan) · covers 50%
- Need channels & group messaging, audio/video calls & screen sharing, guest & external collaboration, app integrations or AI search & summaries?
- Slack — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need workflow automation?
- Zoho Cliq — from $0/mo (Free plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Microsoft Teams has that the top alternatives lack.
- Audio/video calls & screen sharing — Make audio or video calls with screen sharing.Missing from Twist.
- Guest & external collaboration — Invite people outside your organization into a conversation.Missing from Zoho Cliq, Pumble.
- Workflow automation — Automate routine steps directly within chat.Missing from Slack, Pumble, Twist.
- AI search & summaries — Search and summarize conversations with an AI assistant.Missing from Zoho Cliq, Pumble, Twist.
Price at your volume
The same comparison recomputed at three sizes. Plan caps change who is cheapest.
Feature comparison
Microsoft Teams vs the top alternatives, on the 6 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Microsoft Teams | Slack | Zoho Cliq | Pumble | Twist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channels & group messaging from Teams Essentials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audio/video calls & screen sharing from Teams Essentials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Guest & external collaboration from Teams Essentials | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| App integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Workflow automation | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI search & summaries | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $40/mo Teams Essentials | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo FREE | $0/mo Free |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Microsoft Teams covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Channels & group messaging — from Teams Essentials
- ✓ Audio/video calls & screen sharing — from Teams Essentials
- ✓ Guest & external collaboration — from Teams Essentials
- ✓ App integrations
- ✓ Workflow automation
- ✓ AI search & summaries
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Who switched
Anonymous: no account, no email, no IP stored. Reports are shown once a switch has 3 or more and never change ranking or order — alternatives are computed from prices and capabilities only.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-business-options (official_pricing, checked 2026-10-28)
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free (feature_page, checked 2026-10-03)
Frequently asked
How much does Microsoft Teams cost?
Microsoft Teams's Teams Essentials plan costs $40/mo in our scenario (10 seats, monthly billing).
Is there a free Microsoft Teams alternative?
We have not verified a free plan that fits this scenario among the assessed alternatives.
What is the cheapest Microsoft Teams alternative?
In our scenario (10 seats, monthly billing), Slack is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest Microsoft Teams alternative with Workflow automation?
Zoho Cliq covers Workflow automation and costs $0/mo (Free plan) in our scenario.
Does Microsoft Teams have a free plan?
No. Microsoft Teams has no free plan on its official pricing page.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-10-26 and 2026-10-29, on the vendors' official pricing pages.