Collaboration Tools for Business. Our free collaboration tools for businesses making it easier to work together, with everything in one place – no matter where you are or who you’re working with.
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Microsoft Teams
Initially an exclusive for businesses with Office 365 subscriptions, Microsoft Teams has since launched a free plan for small businesses. We love its innovative features such as inline translation for messages and the ability to record meetings with automatic transcriptions. Also a plus, its deep integrations with OneDrive and Office 365 services.
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft Team’s free plan
- Up to 300 users
- Unlimited messages, channels, and search
- Unlimited audio and video meetings with up to 250 participants
- 10GB of team file storage + 2GB per user
- 140+ apps and service integrations
For advanced collaboration features such as meeting recordings and automatic transcriptions, you’ll need to pony up for an Office 365 subscription. Office 365 Business Essentials costs $5 a user per month and the full-featured Office 365 Business Premium will set you back $12.50 a user per month.
Discord
Discord bills itself as an all-in-one voice and text chat for gamers, and it’s clear why. In addition to the usual private and group DMs, Discord offers a new way of collaborating in real-time: Voice channels. Think of them as always-on radio channels to talk to your team. Loved by gamers, voice channels can also be an easier, less stressful way to collaborate remotely on shared documents. More importantly, Discord offers unlimited voice, video, and text chat—all for free!
Image: Hacker Noon
Discord’s free plan
- Unlimited users, messages, text and voice channels, and file sharing (individual file size < 8MB)
- Unlimited video conferences with up to 10 participants + screen sharing
- A cool Text-to-Speech function that reads out what you type!
Discord Nitro Classic lets you upload a GIF avatar, use custom emojis everywhere, and ups that pesky file size limit to 50MB – for $4.99 per user per month.
Rocket.Chat
If on-premise software is a must, look no further than Rocket.Chat’s open-source team collaboration app. Easily deployed to on-premise or cloud servers, Rocket.Chat is free with zero restrictions on core functionality. It’s your server! Just one caveat: If there’s trouble, you’re probably on your own – the free plan doesn’t come with any web, email, or phone support, so be prepared to hunt through pages of technical documentation for any fixes.
Image: GitHub
Rocket.Chat’s free plan
- Unlimited users, messages, channels, video calls, and file sharing
- It’s open-source, customizable, and you own all your data (again, it’s your server)!
- Inline message translations
Rocket.Chat offers cloud-based deployment plans with 24/7 email support at $2 a user per month.
Looking for more options? Check out our guide to the best collaboration tools for productive teams (includes both free tools and pricier options).
“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”
– Babe Ruth
In sports or business, teamwork is key to success, and choosing the right collaboration software can transform how your team works together. With the best business collaboration apps offering generous free plans, there really is no excuse to not get your team on-board anymore!
Video Conferencing
Given that Zoom’s user base went from 10 million to 200 million during the first 3 months of 2020, many project managers now see video conferencing as the most important feature or integration when choosing the right team collaboration tool.
This is especially true for geographically diverse teams, entirely remote teams, or teams with both in-office and remote employees.
When evaluating the video call capabilities of a collaboration solution, consider the maximum meeting length, the number of meeting attendees, and how many simultaneous participant screens can be displayed.
Look for solutions with HD audio and video, conference calling capabilities, and accompanying instant messaging (more on that in a moment.)
Other key web conferencing features include:
- Host controls (screen sharing, mute/unmute users)
- Background screen
- Virtual hand raising
- Live Streaming/webinar capabilities
- Security (encryption, password protection, waiting room, remove/block users)
Asana
Organisation to the max
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Project tracking+Handy integrations
REASONS TO AVOID
-Other apps have better comms features
Asana has been around since 2008, making it a veteran in the collaboration arena, and companies such as Intel, Uber, Pinterest and TED all use it as their core method of communication.
It’s been designed as an easy way for companies to track the work of employees and to get the best possible results. Using the platform, you can create to-do lists for ongoing projects, set reminders for upcoming deadlines and send requests to colleagues. Team members can also assign comments to posts within the app.
You can organize all your projects in a list or board format, and there’s a search function so you can locate past work quickly. In short, Asana is a very effective way to stay super-organized and facilitate conversations when it comes to updates on how work is progressing.
- Read our full Asana review.
Zapier
Seamlessly integrate different apps and make them work together to give you maximum output. Zapier is known for getting difficult things done smoothly.
Spacetime
A work hour and time zone management tool for working with remote teams. Use it to know when will be the right time to reach a lead, or communicate tasks to your remote team. A very handy tool for digital nomads.
Toggl
It’s been said a billion times but it’s still true. Time is money. And the fine people at Toggle are well aware of that.
Their time-tracking app monitors your daily activities across different platforms. It integrates nicely with Trello and has extensions for Chrome and Firefox browsers. It’s also compatible with Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web and Windows platforms.
Using a time-tracking app can be tremendously helpful to startups still perfecting their workflows. Because online collaboration tools like Toggle can give you detailed insights into your workflow and identify areas where you and your team can improve.
It’s also extremely useful for projects or tasks that are paid by the hour. You can log the exact number of hours you’ve worked on a particular task.
This particular team collaboration app starts free so your business can get started without any extra expense. Then as you grow, Toggle gives you have the option to upgrade to one of their paid plans with more features and storage.
UniTel Voice
UniTel Voice is a virtual phone system that allows you to run your business from anywhere, on any device.
It includes all the features and functionality of traditional business phone systems — without the complexity, high cost, or need for equipment.
Because UniTel Voice is completely cloud-based, you’re no longer chained to the physical office phone on your desk. With the UniTel Voice mobile app, you can turn your personal smartphone into your office phone and take it with you wherever you go.
Managers can track sales calls, assess marketing ROI, record support calls for quality assurance, and make instant phone system changes.
And the best part is you get all of that starting at just $9.99 per month.
join.me
If you’re looking for a less expensive desktop sharing/webinar app, like GoToMeeting, then join.me is your best bet.
Starting at just $10 per month, join.me makes screen sharing and video conferencing a snap. It’s easy to start and easy to join.
There’s no software to download or special equipment needed. Everything is online, making it perfect for presentations, sales demos, and ad hoc get-togethers you need to get work done.
So, whether your team is under the same roof or across the country, join.me instantly brings everyone together to share an idea, collaborate on a project, or close a big deal.
With join.me’s admin console, directory, and app integrations, your team can easily take online collaboration to the next level. On the cheap.
Samepage
Samepage is an extraordinary substitute for standard project management software. Samepage is made for those tightly laced teams that will benefit from all the tools designed to bring them together. Some of these tools include; team chat, video conferencing, task management, file sharing, and instantaneous document collaboration.
Samepage fosters collaboration, as it gives team members the ability to share any type of digital file or media. Most importantly, it keeps everything organized in one place to save your team time.
Conclusion
Whether you’re an agency, staffing firm, or employer, we’ve got collaboration tools that help streamline your business and save you money.
Collaboration has never been easier. Share files, schedule meetings, access online services, chat with colleagues, and more – all from one convenient location. And now it’s even faster and more reliable.