Key takeaways
- Most teams leave Slack for two reasons. The free plan only shows the last 90 days of messages, and paid plans charge for every active member.
- Before you switch, check what you already pay for. Many small businesses already have Microsoft Teams in their Microsoft 365 plan, or can add it cheaply.
- If you need control over your data, self-hosted chat (Mattermost, Rocket.Chat or Zulip) is a real option, but someone has to run the server.
- Switching chat tools is mostly a people project. Move one team first, set channel rules, and give everyone a date when Slack goes read-only.
- Microsoft Teams is our top pick for most small businesses because many already pay for it. Zulip is the best value if you want open source and calmer, topic-based chat.
Slack made workplace chat feel normal. Channels instead of reply-all, quick threads instead of meetings, and an app for everything. For a lot of small teams, it's still the first tool they install.
The trouble starts a year in. Someone searches for a decision from last spring and finds nothing, because the free plan only shows the last 90 days. Or the finance team notices that the paid plan charges for every active member, including the freelancer who posts once a month. That's usually when "Slack alternatives" ends up in the search bar. This guide covers when Slack is still the right choice, what to look for instead, and which tools we'd pick.
Why teams look for an alternative to Slack
First, what Slack does well. Its interface is the one others copy, search is excellent on paid plans, huddles make quick calls easy, and its app directory connects to almost everything a small company uses.
The reasons teams move on are specific:
- Free plan history. The free plan keeps 90 days of searchable messages and up to 10 apps. Older messages are hidden until you upgrade.
- Per-user pricing. Paid plans bill for each member who's active in a 28-day period. Slack calls this fair billing, but the bill still grows with headcount, part-timers included.
- Paying twice. Many companies already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, which include chat and video. Slack becomes a second subscription doing similar work.
- Data control. Some teams, for example in regulated industries, agencies with strict client contracts, or companies with data residency requirements, want chat on their own servers.
- Noise. Busy channels become a stream nobody can keep up with, which pushes some teams toward more structured, asynchronous tools.
When to stay with Slack
If your team lives in Slack, relies on its integrations, and the paid plan fits the budget, switching rarely pays off. Slack Connect channels with clients and partners are hard to replace too. The same goes if your problem is really channel discipline. A new tool with the same habits will get noisy too. Fix naming, archiving and "what goes where" first, then decide.
What to look for instead
| What you need | Why it matters | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| History you can search | Decisions and answers live in chat | Free-plan history limits and storage caps |
| Predictable price | Chat grows with every hire | Per-user price on the plan you'd actually need |
| Self-hosting | Data control and compliance | Licence, user caps on free editions, who maintains it |
| Integrations | Alerts, CRM, project tools and on-call notifications | Native apps for the tools you use every day |
| Meetings built in | Fewer tools to pay for | Video call length and participant limits |
| Importers | Moving years of history | Official Slack import and what it carries over |
Count the tools you already pay for before you count Slack's alternatives. The cheapest switch is often to something you already own.
The real cost of switching
The subscription is the easy part to compare. The other costs are less obvious:
- Time to rebuild integrations. Every alert, bot and workflow you set up in Slack has to be recreated or replaced.
- Lost muscle memory. For the first few weeks, people will message in the wrong place, miss notifications and ask where things went.
- Client and partner channels. Anyone you talk to through shared channels needs a new way to reach you.
- Server costs for self-hosting. A small virtual server is cheap, but backups, monitoring and upgrades take someone's time every month.
Add these up for a rough first-year cost and compare it with a year of Slack. If the difference is small, a cleanup of your Slack workspace may be the better project.
The best Slack alternatives
We compared each tool on what the free plan really keeps, how the price grows per user, self-hosting options, integrations, and how it feels to use every day.
Teams combines chat, channels, video meetings and file sharing on top of SharePoint and OneDrive. If your company already uses Outlook, Word and Excel, Teams is often the cheapest switch, because you may already have it. Since late 2025, Microsoft sells business suites with or without Teams worldwide, so check which version your licence includes. A standalone Teams Essentials plan covers small teams that only need chat and meetings.
Why we like it
- Chat, meetings and files in one place
- Often already included in what you pay for
- Strong admin, security and compliance controls
Watch out for
- Heavier and slower to navigate than Slack
- Channel and file structure takes planning, or it gets messy fast
Zulip organises every conversation into a channel and a topic, so you can catch up on what matters instead of scrolling a busy channel. It's 100% open source, and the self-hosted Free edition includes every feature. Zulip Cloud has a free plan with a 10,000-message search history and paid plans per user.
Why we like it
- Topics make busy channels easy to follow
- Open source, and self-hosting is free
- Lower per-user price than most rivals
Watch out for
- The topic model takes a week or two to get used to
- Smaller app marketplace than Slack or Teams
Mattermost is a Slack-style chat you can run on your own servers. The open-source Team Edition is free and meant for teams under 250 users without single sign-on. The free Entry edition limits visible history to 10,000 messages. Paid plans are sold as annual seat subscriptions through sales, and they target organisations with strict security needs.
Why we like it
- Familiar Slack-like interface
- Self-hosted, with full control over your data
- Strong fit for engineering and DevOps workflows
Watch out for
- Free editions have narrowed in recent versions, so check the current limits
- No published self-serve prices; paid plans go through sales
Rocket.Chat is an open-source chat platform you can host yourself. It can also bring in external channels such as live chat and WhatsApp. The free self-managed Starter plan covers up to 50 users. A Community option has no user cap but fewer features, and commercial plans are quoted by sales.
Why we like it
- Open source and self-hosted
- Free Starter plan for up to 50 users
- Internal chat and customer messaging in one tool
Watch out for
- More setup and maintenance than cloud tools
- Commercial pricing isn't published
Discord is free, fast and great at voice channels, which is why many startups and creators use it for their community. For internal company chat it lacks the admin, compliance and business integrations most companies need. Use it to talk to customers and fans, not to run the company.
Why we like it
- Free, with excellent voice and video channels
- Where many online communities already are
Watch out for
- Not designed for internal business admin or compliance
- Few integrations with business tools
How to switch
- Export Slack data. Workspace owners can export public channel history. Check what your plan allows for private channels and direct messages.
- Design channels before you import. Use the move to merge duplicate channels, archive dead ones and agree a naming scheme.
- Move one team first. A two-week pilot with one department shows you what's missing, such as integrations, bots or notification habits.
- Rebuild integrations. List every Slack app and workflow, decide which ones you still need, and set them up in the new tool.
- Set a read-only date. Announce when Slack stops being the place to post, keep it readable for a month, then cancel.
Mistakes to avoid
- Switching for price alone. If the new tool slows everyone down, you've saved money and lost time.
- Forgetting guests and clients. Shared channels with clients and freelancers need a plan, or those conversations move to email.
- Self-hosting without an owner. Someone has to patch, back up and upgrade the server. Without that person, choose a cloud plan.
- Importing everything. Years of old channels make search worse. Import what you'll actually look up again.
Which one should you choose?
- You already pay for Microsoft 365: Microsoft Teams. Check whether your licence includes it.
- You want calmer, async-friendly chat at a low price: Zulip, in the cloud or self-hosted.
- You need self-hosting and have someone technical: Mattermost, or Rocket.Chat if you also want customer channels.
- You're building a community, not running a company: Discord.
See the full ranked list of alternatives to Slack or browse the team chat category. If chat is how your team coordinates projects, our guide to project management for small teams covers the other half.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Slack without the 90-day limit?
Yes, if you host it yourself. Zulip's self-hosted Free edition includes every feature. Mattermost Team Edition and Rocket.Chat Starter are also free to self-host, within their limits. In the cloud, most free plans also cap history or features, so check the current limits before moving.
Is Microsoft Teams cheaper than Slack?
Often, especially if you already pay for Microsoft 365 with Teams included. Teams Essentials is a low-cost standalone plan for small teams. Compare the per-user price of the plan you'd actually need, not the cheapest one.
Can I move my Slack history to another tool?
Usually. Slack lets workspace owners export public channel history, and tools like Mattermost, Rocket.Chat and Zulip have Slack importers. Private channels and direct messages depend on your Slack plan and export permissions.
Should a small business use Discord instead of Slack?
For a customer or fan community, Discord works well and is free. For running the company, with permissions, compliance and business integrations, Teams, Zulip or Slack itself are better choices.