6 Microsoft Teams Alternatives + Why They Are Better

Between working on department-wide projects, monitoring upcoming tasks, scheduling video meetings, joining new messaging channels, and editing files, today’s employees are in a near-constant state of team collaboration.

Collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams help employees keep track of deadlines, communicate across channels, streamline third-party applications into one interface, and maintain consistent file versioning. MS Teams has an edge on collaboration platforms like Slack because it also incorporates VoIP phone service and video conferencing. Additionally, Teams offers a higher level of security and reliability than many other competitors at a similar price point such as rocket.chat, Chanty, and Mattermost.

Still, Microsoft Teams isn’t right for everyone–especially for those working outside of the Microsoft 365 universe.

In this article, we’ve researched the best Microsoft Teams alternatives and compared their user experiences, available pricing models, features, communication channels, and more.

Microsoft Teams Alternatives At-a-Glance 

Here’s a quick breakdown comparing MS Teams to its top competitors.

How We Evaluated These Alternatives

Here are the categories we considered when comparing Microsoft Teams alternatives:

• Pricing and plans: We looked at included features per pricing tier, if a free plan was offered, and available add-ons
• Communication channels: We researched available communication channels for each alternative (voice, video, team messaging, SMS/MMS, social media, etc.)
• Features: We evaluated available features compared to Microsoft Teams, focusing on advanced capabilities like AI-powered assistance, closed captions, digital whiteboard, etc.
• User Interface: We tested each platform to determine ease of use, expected onboarding length, the installation/setup process, the quality of desktop and mobile apps, and whether there was an overall user-friendly interface
• Customer support: We looked customer support hours, channels, and quality for each alternative
• Reliability+Security: We researched whether the alternatives offered an uptime guarantee, data encryption, compliance certifications, SSO, multi-factor authentication, etc.
• Integrations: We looked at the depth of pre-built third-party integrations, how large the app ecosystem is, and the availability of open-source APIs, webhooks, etc.
• Analytics+Reporting: We tested the reporting and analytics dashboards and looked for advanced features such as customizable templates and notifications

The Best Microsoft Teams Alternatives

• Zoom - Best for SMBs needing AI-powered video conferencing and collaboration
• RingCentral - Best for remote/hybrid enterprises needing scalable collaboration
• GoTo Connect - Best for global businesses needing affordable international calling
• Dialpad - Best for small teams needing an intuitive solution with unlimited audio/video recording
• Webex - Best for large teams that need to host engaging video meetings
• Google Workspace - Best for SMBs using other Google products

Zoom

Like Microsoft Teams, users know Zoom best for its online meetings application-now known as Zoom Workplace. Zoom offers meeting link creation and sharing, making it easy for teams to jump into dynamic HD-video meetings. While Teams limits meeting participants to 300, Zoom has a 1000-participant meeting capacity. Both Zoom and Teams have a 30-hour meeting duration.

In order to obtain calling capabilities, Zoom users must purchase Zoom Phone as a separate add-on, while Teams includes calling functionality in all plans. Zoom Phone includes more advanced business VoIP features than Teams, like AI-powered call summaries, task extraction, and voicemail prioritization.

Zoom Administrator settings let admin easily control user permissions, add team members, and track analytics about usage and adoption, quality and performance, infrastructure usage and performance, and cloud storage.

Key Features

• Virtual Meetings: Zoom Meetings (which rose to prominence during the 2020 pandemic) supports up to 1000 users and includes screen sharing, chat, live captioning, meeting recording and transcription, the ability to join and start meetings easily from calendars, polls, hand raising, and music
• Team Chat: This communication tool allows you to send direct or group messages with files, videos, emojis, and GIFs. Jump into meetings and whiteboarding directly from chat. Included generative AI helps users personalize message tone, and length, and share post-meeting summaries via chat
• Zoom AI Companion: This add-on (launching in 2025) enables users to integrate their company’s knowledge base, interaction history, and third party CRMs into Zoom’s GenAI feature to ensure consistent communication across channels that takes customer expectations, business policies, and previous interactions into account
• Phone: Zoom Phone provides HD voice across mobile, desktop, or desk phones, with intelligent call routing, IVR auto attendant, call recording, line sharing, voicemail, call logs, and contact lists

Pricing

Like Teams, Zoom Workplace does offer a free version–but meeting duration is limited to 40 minutes, while the Teams free plan allows for video meetings of up to 60 minutes. Zoom Workplace has two paid plans from $13.32 to $18.32 per user, per month. Zoom Phone offers four bundled plans starting with a metered plan at $10 per user, per month, up to the Business Plus plan which includes Zoom Workplace for $22.49 per user, per month.

Add-ons include the Zoom Phone Power Pack with enhanced call queue analytics and insights. International calling plans, additional numbers, and premium customer support can also be purchased as add-ons.

For more information, see our detailed Zoom pricing guide.

Why Zoom is a Good Alternative to Microsoft Teams

• Video focused: Zoom Workplace provides a more video-focused version of Microsoft Teams with advanced features like in-video polls, captioning, hand-raising, and especially the Zoom Digital Whiteboard
• Advanced phone features: Zoom includes several phone features that Teams does not offer such as call recording, barge, whisper, and take over

RingCentral

RingCentral RingEX is a UCaaS and team communication solution with built-in team chat messaging, voice and video calling, SMS/MMS, whiteboards, file sharing, task management, and virtual faxing.

RingCentral’s AI assistant is comparable to Teams’ CoPilot, with the ability to transcribe and summarize calls and meetings, capture action items, take call notes in real time and draft SMS and team chat messages. The difference is that CoPilot is only available as an add-on, while RingCentral includes AI Assistant in all plans. Advanced AI Assistant functions such as action items, translation, and message generation are only offered in RingCentral’s upper tier plans.

Like Microsoft Teams, the RingCentral collaboration space’s dashboard lets users monitor all mentions, favorite contacts, direct messages, and teams. Clicking into any of these opens up the conversation, with shared files organized on the right.

Unlike Teams, RingEX is a suitable project management tool- allowing users to share, assign, and mark off to-do lists- alongside media and file sharing.

Key Features

• Instant Messaging: Users can create groups and teams or message one-on-one, with internal or external contacts. All conversations are logged and searchable by keyword or mention. Switch from conversation to call or video with one tap
• Task Creation: Users can create new tasks directly in message conversations and message history, set schedules, and create and assign to-do lists any user can check off
• Phone: RingCentral phone service includes calling, SMS, voicemail, voicemail transcription, fax, and more. Using desk phone, desktop, or mobile softphone, users can customize ringtone, phone number, routing settings, multilingual IVR, and calling extensions. RingCentral’s revenue intelligence add-on, RingSense, gives users multi-level insights such as performance and coaching analytics with advanced search, scoring, and filtering options
• Video Meetings: RingCentral video meetings host up to 200 participants, with live transcription, speaker identification, and presentation modes where the speaker can customize their placement on users’ screens. Auto-follow camera mode automatically follows the speaker during movements, and advanced meeting insights like highlight reels and summaries help catch up team members that couldn’t make it
• Meeting Collaboration: Digital whiteboard, breakout rooms, and always-on team huddle rooms with drop-in capabilities

Pricing

RingEX offers three bundled pricing plans from $20 to $35 per user, per month when paid annually. Month to month pricing is $30 to $45 per user, per month. Add ons include Live Reports for queue analytics in real time, additional vanity numbers, and RingCentral Webinars or Events.

Unlike Teams, RingCentral users have the option to scale up to a full service omnichannel CCaaS solution. CCaaS plans start at $65 per user, per month.

For more information, see our RingCentral pricing guide.

Why RingCentral is a Good Alternative to Microsoft Teams

• Interactive to-do lists: This feature takes collaboration to a whole new level and enhances media and video sharing options, for example, users can attach video files, add emojis and add color tags to tasks. Users can also assign, view, edit, and complete tasks right in the desktop or web app
• Security and reliability: RingCentral offers a 99.999% uptime which is higher than Teams’ 99.99% uptime. RingCentral also offers end to end encryption, while Teams has data encryption in transit and at rest.

GoTo Connect

GoTo Connect is GoTo’s collaboration, business communication, and customer engagement platform. While Teams focuses on video conferencing and team collaboration features with only basic call handling capabilities, GoTo Connect offers advanced cloud voice calling, SMS, and multichannel contact center functionality on desktop and mobile devices from Android and Apple iOS.

GoTo Connect plans also include call center features such as local, toll-free, and vanity numbers, ring groups, call queues, auto attendants, and a dial plan editor with custom call flows.

Teams also has an auto attendant, but it is more basic than GoTo’s. For example, GoTo’s auto attendant connections with CRM systems, lets agents answer calls on external extensions and mobile devices, and has more advanced routing strategies than Teams.

GoTo Connect Key Features

• Video Conferencing: Host video meetings with up to 250 participants, screen sharing, drawing tools, custom backgrounds, and in-session chat. Meeting links enable anybody to join with one click, making them easy to share in chat internally or with customers or other external contacts
• Meeting Transcriptions: Each meeting is transcribed, and afterward, users are sent the full transcript to search for specific terms and jump to particular moments in the conversation. The Meeting History page has unlimited storage
• Dial Plans: More than just a ring group or auto attendant, GoTo Connect’s dial plans allow you to customize exactly how incoming callers progress through your phone system. Combine numbers, tools like faxing and scheduling, language choices, user group and password verification, and more into a call path with timing controls each step of the way

Pricing

GoTo Connect does not publicly list their pricing, and their three different plans are quote-based. The lowest tiers is a robust UCaaS plan, and the highest tier is a full service contact center software suite.

For more information, please see our GoTo Connect pricing guide.

Why GoTo Connect is a Good Alternative to Microsoft Teams

• International calling: GoTo Connect offers unlimited calling to 50 countries to all users, while Teams only offers unlimited calling in the US and Canada
• Advanced voice features: GoTo Connect allows agents to have 5 users on hold, with call queues, IVR, and ring groups, while Teams only offers basic auto attendant and call handling capabilities

Dialpad

Dialpad and Teams are both  internal and customer-facing communications platforms with VoIP voice, chat, and video within a single dashboard. Both also organize inboxes, contacts, team messaging channels, and recent conversations.

The difference between Dialpad and Teams is that Dialpad offers a greater variety of AI-powered tools. While Teams offers its Gen-AI tool CoPilot as an add-on, Dialpad includes real time call transcriptions and AI created call summaries in all plans. Team members can access summaries right in chat channels.

Dialpad includes an end of meeting reminder for all users and a countdown timer for AI Meetings Business plan users while Teams only includes an end of meeting reminder. Dialpad users also have the option to add on call monitoring and screen recording with a Dialpad Support subscription, or power dialer functionality and AI-powered scorecards with Dialpad Sell, while Teams does not offer these contact center features.

Key Features

• Video Productivity Tools: Dialpad HD video conferencing is intended for intra team meetings, with a maximum of 10 participants (for larger meetings, a subscription to Dialpad AI Meetings can be added on). Scheduled meetings automatically call participants at start time, and before meetings, hosts can create and share agendas and relevant files. During the meeting, use screen sharing, meeting chat, and the host’s meeting timer to stay on track
• AI Transcriptions: Dialpad AI automatically transcribes all video and audio calls, tracking action items and sending both in a call summary immediately after the call is finished
• Call Controls: Within a call, agents have a full toolbox at their disposal: transfer calls, add new people to the conversation, share screen, switch from desktop windows to mobile devices, record, and more
• Channel Conversations: Within chat channels, users can send images and chat, respond with emojis, and can jump into a voice chat or a video meeting with one click. During video meetings, Dialpad tracks and indicates who is speaking. Dialpad integrates with any popular calendar app, offering users an image of their whole day, with clickable access to the day’s events from the calendar itself

Pricing

Dialpad offers three bundled plans ranging from $15 to $25+ per user, per month when paid annually. Month to month pricing is available for $27-$35+ per user, per month. Add ons include premium support, internet fax, and AI Meetings which allows for video meetings of up to 150 participants.

For more information, see our Dialpad pricing guide.

Why Dialpad is a Good Alternative to Microsoft Teams

• Task extraction: Like Teams, Dialpad automatically transcribes audio and video, but unlike Teams, Dialpad uses the transcripts to extract key action items, takeaways, and follow-ups for individual meeting participants, sending these items via chat and email in a meeting summary
• International SMS: Like Teams, Dialpad offers local numbers in 70+ countries and users can have unlimited office locations, but Dialpad additionally offers international SMS to its US and Canadian customers on some plans, while Teams does not.

Webex

Cisco Webex Suite is a cloud-based communication platform that emphasizes remote and hybrid video meetings. Although Webex has a participant cap of 200 while Teams allows up to 300 participants, Webex offers 4 video layout options and a host of other video-focused features that Teams does not.These include customized stage layouts, audio optimization, and the ability to join overlapping meetings.

Like Teams, Webex also includes a number of essential call management tools, messaging, and an agent inbox to organize all types of messages. Unlike Teams, Webex also includes shareable to-do lists that can be accessed on mobile or desktop apps.

Webex also offers live translation into over 100 languages, while Microsoft Teams only translates into about 30 different languages.

Key Features

• Calling Features: Webex calling has automatic background noise removal, call recording and transcription, and one-click call elevation to meeting
• Immersive Share: During video meetings, users can immerse themselves in the content they’re sharing by overlaying their video with the presentation screen itself. This means that users can adjust their own video placement in front of a backdrop featuring slides, graphs, roadmaps and outlines, and more
• Dynamic Video Features: Webex Teams transcribes all videos, applying notetaking, highlights, and even live translations for multilingual audiences. Hosts can split participants into breakout rooms, and whiteboards allow users to sketch and ideate with multiple colors, with tools like an eraser, lines, shapes, and text. After each meeting, highlights, the transcript, and the recording are automatically sent to permitted users
• Live Polling And Q&A: During a Webex video meeting, engage users with multiple types of polling: multiple choice, word cloud, quiz, star rating, open text responses, or ranking. Various question types allow hosts to use polls for different purposes–multiple choice unveils a group’s preference among options; quizzes are good for gamifying questions; rankings help the group determine priority orders, etc.

Pricing

Webex offers a free plan and 3 paid plans ranging from $12 per license, per month to $22.50+ per license, per month. Add-ons include “Call Me”, a feature that allows meeting participants to choose a phone number to use for a video meeting instead of their device's audio, and real time translation.

For more information, see our detailed Webex pricing guide.

Why Webex is a Good Alternative to Microsoft Teams

• Video-focused: Webex is a more video focused alternative to Microsoft Teams with engaging features like immersive share, polling, and Q&A
• AI Assistant: Teams does offer an AI assistant (CoPilot), but it is only available as an add-on. Webex includes a powerful AI assistant that can answer questions, summarize meetings, rewrite messages, and translate messages in every paid plan

Google Workspace

Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is a solution platform containing Google productivity and collaboration products including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Meet (video conferencing tool), chat messaging, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Forms, and more.

Workspace works similarly to Microsoft Teams when integrated into Microsoft Office 365. From the Gmail homepage, users can manage their mail, chat, groups, video rooms, meetings, and scheduled events within one interface. With just a few clicks, users can explore all their Google applications, add events to their calendar, and make calls using their Google Voice number.

This all makes Google Voice a well-rounded Microsoft Teams alternative, capable of almost any imaginable business function.

Key Features

• Google Chat and Spaces: Spaces are basically channels for group chat. You can create as many spaces as you want, which keep a record of all discussions over time. In a space, share materials from anywhere in Google Drive, send calendar invites and join meetings, and respond to teammate messages with emojis
• Collaboration on Docs, Sheets, and Slides: Collaborate on word documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks with unlimited team members–right inside the document, in real-time. While working, users can see who else is on the document, where their cursor is, and can message teammates via Google Chat or comments left right in the document’s workspace
• Google Meet Video: Generate, share, and join Google Meet links with one click. Invitees don’t even need to worry about having a Google account of the desktop plugin–they just click the link and hop in. Users can join directly through a clicked link in email or from the calendar, on mobile or desktop
• Calendars: Create and share multiple calendars and Google Meet events with users and teams. When meetings are shared, Google automatically updates the calendars, syncs Gmail, and sends automatic email reminders/confirmations to all involved users

Pricing

Google Workspace has similar pricing to Microsoft Teams, with four paid plans ranging from $6 to $18+ per user, per month. Add-ons include access control, AI classification, and a subscription to Gemini, a powerful AI assistant.

Why Workspace is a Good Alternative to Microsoft Teams

• Ease of use: Of all providers on this list, Google Workspace offers the most intuitive interface with a seamless combination of its calendar, video meetings, and collaboration tools. With one click, users can hop on a document, spreadsheet, or slide deck for mutual editing
• Large video meetings: Google Meet allows for up to 1,000 participants while teams has a limit of 300

Which Microsoft Teams Alternative Should You Choose? 

The best UCaaS and team collaboration provider on this list for your company depends on your company’s budget, size, and communication preferences. Here’s a quick breakdown to help you choose the best Microsoft Teams alternative for your needs:

• Choose Dialpad if your company is under 15 people and prefers to have detailed video meeting minutes, with summaries, takeaways, and action items
• Choose Zoom if you’re looking to host large meetings or Webinars, as Zoom’s massive participant capacity makes it a compelling option
• Choose RingCentral if you want to use your collaboration tool for project management, as RingCentral’s to-do assignment tool will prove incredibly useful
• Choose Google Workspace if you prioritize whole-team collaboration within documents and slides

There’s a collaboration platform provider out there offering exactly the special features that your company needs. If you’re still on the fence, check out our list of unified communications providers.

FAQs

Below, we've answered the top FAQs about Microsoft Teams Alternatives.