Slack

Discord

Discord is a communication platform organized around servers and channels, hugely popular with gaming and online communities but increasingly used by all kinds of groups. It combines text, voice, and video with rich bots and integrations.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform bundled with Microsoft 365, combining chat, video meetings, and file sharing built directly on top of SharePoint and OneDrive. It is the default hub for meetings and internal messaging at organizations already standardized on Microsoft 365. Teams organizes work into teams and channels similar to other chat platforms, but is distinguished by tight integration with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Planner, allowing documents to be co-authored directly inside a channel without leaving the app. Meetings support up to thousands of attendees with features like live captions, together mode, and background noise suppression, making Teams a common choice for both daily standups and large all-hands meetings.

Telegram

Telegram is a cloud-based messaging app known for speed, large group chats, broadcast channels, and bots, with optional end-to-end-encrypted secret chats. It is popular for communities and information broadcasting.

Zoom

Zoom is a video communications platform known for reliable, low-latency video calls that scale from one-on-one meetings to large webinars and virtual events. It became a household name during remote-work adoption and remains a default choice for external client calls and conferences. Beyond core meetings, the Zoom Workplace suite bundles team chat, whiteboarding, and Zoom Phone for VoIP calling, positioning it as a broader collaboration platform rather than just a meetings app. AI Companion, Zoom's built-in assistant, provides meeting summaries, smart chapters, and follow-up task suggestions automatically after calls end.

Google Meet

Google Meet is Google Workspace's video conferencing tool, designed for quick, browser-based meetings without requiring any software installation. It is deeply integrated with Gmail and Google Calendar, so meetings can be started or joined directly from an event invite in one click. Meet includes noise cancellation, live captions, and virtual backgrounds, plus adaptive layouts that automatically adjust the video grid based on the number of participants and who is speaking. For Workspace customers, Meet also offers meeting recording to Google Drive, breakout rooms, and polls, making it a capable option for both internal syncs and larger training sessions.

Signal

Signal is a nonprofit messaging app focused on privacy, with end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls by default and minimal metadata collection. It is the recommended choice for private communication.