Slack alternatives: 12 team messaging tools compared
People look for a Slack alternative when the free plan's one-year deletion starts erasing their history, when per-seat prices climb from the entry tier to the one that allows a full export, or when they want to host the chat themselves. They move to cheaper hosted messengers, to open-source servers they run, or to the chat that already ships with their office suite.
Short answer: The first three places are kept for challengers when the category has enough of them; the best-known brands come after that, in ranked order. For Slack users, the top three picks from our team messaging software ranking are Mattermost, Zulip and Element. Pick Mattermost if you want the chat on your own infrastructure and have IT staff to run it. The 12 entries that follow are all ranked in Best Team Messaging Software in 2026; each one explains what sets it apart from Slack.
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Pricing: Free plan; Pro and Business+ per user per month, published; Enterprise+ quoted
Established in: United States
Built for: Companies wanting the widest app ecosystem and a familiar channel model
Not for: Teams needing full-conversation export or independence from a large vendor
01
Why buyers look past Slack
01
The free plan hides and then deletes history
Slack's help centre says that on the Free plan messages and files older than one year are permanently deleted (owners can set shorter retention such as 90 days), and that upgrading later cannot restore deleted data. The free plan also caps third-party and custom apps at 10. A team that treats chat as its record has to pay to keep it.
02
A full export sits on a higher tier
Slack's export page shows that Free and Pro workspaces can export messages and file links from public channels only. Exporting private channels and direct messages is marked not available on those plans and needs Business+ or Enterprise, and Workspace Owners must apply to use it. The tier you can afford may not let you take everything with you.
03
Seat prices step up by tier
The pricing page we read lists Pro at EUR 6.75 per user per month billed annually (EUR 8.25 monthly), Business+ at EUR 15 annually (EUR 18 monthly) and Enterprise+ at EUR 45 per user per month billed annually through sales. The private-channel export and Enterprise search sit on the higher tiers, so the real cost depends on which features you need.
your organisation already pays for Microsoft 365 and wants meetings and chat in one app
#14
03
What each one does differently
1
Mattermost
United States · On request
Aimed at organisations that want to run team chat on their own servers. Professional is channel-based collaboration quoted through sales, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced add real-time communications and air-gapped options. The site offers only a limited-use evaluation edition, so a small team cannot simply start for free as on Slack.
Switch from Slack if you want the chat on your own infrastructure and have IT staff to run it.
Organises every conversation by topic inside a stream, and describes its self-hosted edition as 100% open-source software. The cloud Free plan keeps 10,000 messages of search history, Standard is priced per user per month with unlimited history. The topic model takes some getting used to for people who come from channel-only chat.
Switch from Slack if you want threaded conversations by topic and the choice between cloud and your own server.
Built on the Matrix protocol and sold mainly as self-hosted software. The Community edition is open source under AGPL and free of charge for non-professional deployments and evaluations, while Enterprise is priced per seat per month and Sovereign per deployment, both through sales. It is a server project, not a quick hosted sign-up.
Switch from Slack if you need sovereign, self-hosted chat and accept a quote-based commercial edition for professional use.
Commercial plans are quoted, with deployment on-premises, in a private cloud, isolated or air-gapped, or on Rocket.Chat-managed dedicated hosting. A Starter plan is offered for technical evaluation, small businesses and non-profits. It targets regulated and public-sector buyers, and no per-seat list price is shown.
Switch from Slack if you need federation or an air-gapped deployment and are happy to negotiate a contract.
Publishes a free plan with unlimited message history for an unlimited number of users, then three paid plans priced per seat per month. The free plan is limited to 3 apps and integrations and 1:1 meetings, and the page lists an import from Slack. It is a younger, simpler product without Slack's wider app ecosystem.
Switch from Slack if you want to keep Slack's habits but stop paying for message history.
Built around threads and asynchronous work rather than real-time chat, and describes itself as independent and bootstrapped. The Free plan shows only one month of comments and messages, with 5 integrations, while the single paid Unlimited plan is priced per user per month. Teams that want fast back-and-forth chat will find the model slower.
Switch from Slack if you want calmer, thread-first communication and one simple paid plan.
A hosted chat with a free plan for up to 5 team members and a Business plan at 3 EUR per user per month, plus Enterprise through sales. Business adds data import and export, retention policies and HIPAA support, and Enterprise lists an on-premise possibility. The free plan is limited to 10 integrations.
Switch from Slack if you run a small team and want a low published per-user price with built-in tasks.
Sells end-to-end encrypted collaboration. The Free plan is for up to 5 people, SMB is EUR 7.45 per person per month billed annually for up to 100 people with SSO and SCIM, and Enterprise is custom. Wire describes its group as European-owned with roots in Germany and Switzerland. It is a security-first messenger, not an app platform.
Switch from Slack if encryption, SCIM and European group ownership matter more to you than an app directory.
Has a Starter plan free for teams of 1 to 20 members, limited to 10,000 searchable messages and 10 public channels, then Pro for teams of 20 to 100 members with a 30-day free trial. Enterprise is quoted. The pricing page mentions audio conferencing outside India, which hints at its home market.
Switch from Slack if you have a team of up to 20 and want free channels with a short upgrade path.
Offers a free edition with 10,000 searchable messages, then Standard, Professional and Enterprise editions, with a minimum of 10 users on the last two. Shared channels with other organisations arrive from Standard upwards. It is part of the Zoho family, so it fits best next to Zoho apps; we could not read amounts on the page.
Switch from Slack if you already run other Zoho products and want chat inside the same account.
Not bought alone: the Workspace pricing page lists Chat as a team messaging feature in its Starter, Standard, Plus and Enterprise plans, with Starter at EUR 6.80 per user per month billed monthly. You pay for the whole suite, including email and storage. It makes sense only if the organisation is moving to Google Workspace.
Switch from Slack if your mail and documents are already in Google Workspace and a second chat bill is unwelcome.
Can be bought alone as Teams Essentials, or comes with Microsoft 365 plans. Essentials needs all users on the same domain, and Teams Premium, Audio Conferencing and Teams Phone are separate add-on licences. The pricing pages blocked us, so we read no amounts. It is a chat and meetings app tied to the Microsoft ecosystem.
Switch from Slack if your organisation already pays for Microsoft 365 and wants meetings and chat in one app.
Slack stays the right choice for a team that lives on third-party integrations: its pricing page cites a directory of over 2,600 apps, and paid plans remove the 10-app limit, give unlimited message history and add group Slack Connect channels with up to 250 organisations. If you are on Business+ or Enterprise, you can export private channels and direct messages, and its Enterprise+ tier lists enterprise search and multiple SAML configurations. The price is per seat, and the free plan will not keep your history.
05
What moving off Slack involves
01
Export first, and check which tier you are on
On Free and Pro, Slack exports cover public channels only, and free workspaces can export links only to recent files, because Free deletes files older than one year. If you need private channels and direct messages, Business+ or Enterprise with an approved application is required. Start the export request before you cancel anything.
02
Check whether the new tool imports Slack data
Not every alternative reads a Slack export. Zulip has a help page on importing from Slack, Pumble lists an import from Slack on its pricing page, and Mattermost documents a migration path from Slack that uses an export and a conversion step. Ask the vendor about the others before you commit.
03
Re-create the integrations you rely on
Slack's paid plans allow unlimited apps and the free plan allows 10. Make a list of the apps and bots your team really uses and check each against the new tool before you move. Smaller messengers cap integrations on their free plans, for example Pumble at 3 apps and Chanty at 10.
06
Questions about replacing Slack
6 answers
What does Slack cost?
The pricing page we read shows Pro at EUR 6.75 per user per month billed annually or EUR 8.25 monthly, Business+ at EUR 15 annually or EUR 18 monthly, and Enterprise+ at EUR 45 per user per month billed annually through sales.
Currency and discounts depend on your location.
Is there a free Slack plan?
Yes. On the Free plan messages and files older than one year are permanently deleted (owners can set shorter retention such as 90 days); it allows up to 10 apps and 1:1 huddles.
Pumble, Zulip, Chanty, Flock and Zoho Cliq also list free plans with their own limits.
Which Slack alternative can I host myself?
Zulip describes its self-hosted edition as 100% open-source software. Element's Community edition is open source under AGPL. Mattermost and Rocket.Chat describe self-hosted or on-premises deployment, with quoted commercial plans. Chanty lists an on-premise option for Enterprise.
Can I export private channels from Slack?
Only on Business+ or Enterprise plans. Slack's export page shows private channels and direct messages as not available on Free and Pro, and Workspace Owners must apply to use that export type.
Which alternative has a simple published price?
Twist publishes one paid plan at EUR 6 per user per month, Chanty lists Business at 3 EUR per user per month, and Pumble lists three paid plans from 2.49 USD per seat per month billed annually. Check current currency and billing on each page.
Does Slack still belong to the same company?
Slack's privacy policy defines Slack as Slack Technologies, LLC or Slack Technologies Limited. Its own pages also link to Salesforce in Slack and Agentforce, so the product is closely tied to Salesforce. We did not find a statement of ownership on the pages we read.
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Sources
Checked 19 October 2026
Slack pricing: plan prices, one-year deletion on Free, 10 apps, 2,600 apps, 250 organisations in Slack Connect, Salesforce and Agentforce links.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Checked and edited by Sebastiaan Smits, last on 9 November 2026. The editorial process explains the method.
