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Alternatives · 2026

7 Microsoft Teams alternatives

Compare chat, meetings and the tools around them.

For teams that ended up in Teams because of a licence, not a decision. Seven options compared by hosting model, coverage and one honest caveat each — our own product included and labelled.

Compare at a glanceHow we put this guide together

Editorial update: 1 November 2026

What should your next tool do better?

Microsoft Teams often arrives as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription, or as an add-on licence bought alongside it, not with a decision. That is exactly why it deserves a re-decision: organisations outside the Microsoft stack wrestle with licensing tiers and the fact that there is no self-hosted edition at all.

This guide compares seven alternatives that stand on their own — without assuming your company lives in Outlook. One entry is our own product; it is labelled, and it gets the same honest caveat as the rest.

Compare at a glance

A different tool for a different need

Start with your requirements, then compare the trade-offs.

Compare at a glance

The seven contenders.
Explore the optionsBest forWhat to check
SlackTeams prioritising channel conversations, native lightweight collaboration and an integration ecosystem.No self-hosted server edition. Check the chosen plan’s history, guest access, security controls and collaboration limits before replacing other tools.
Google Workspace (Chat + Meet)Gmail-first organisations that want chat and meetings included in the suite they already pay for.Chat is one component of the suite rather than its centre of gravity, and the whole experience assumes you stay inside Google's suite.
Zoom WorkplaceMeeting-heavy organisations that choose their platform by call quality first.Collaboration outside the meeting — chat, tasks, docs — is a newer layer around the meeting core.
MattermostEngineering organisations replacing Teams chat with something they can run themselves.Chat-first by design: docs, boards and email still live elsewhere, and several enterprise features sit behind paid editions.
Rocket.ChatPublic-sector and regulated organisations that need open-source chat under their own control.The admin surface is large, and a number of advanced capabilities are reserved for paid plans.
Element (Matrix)Organisations for which federation, E2EE and protocol openness outrank product polish.Running Matrix well is real operations work, and everyday polish — threads, search, admin UX — trails centralised tools.
PolybaseOur productOrganisations leaving the Microsoft ecosystem entirely, and teams that need chat, meetings and work tools without a suite dependency.Polybase is not SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certified yet. Check migration and integration requirements before switching.
Explore the options

The seven contenders.

  • Slack

    Channel-based messaging with native collaboration tools

    Product website

    Slack combines channels and direct messages with canvases, lists, huddles and app integrations. It can suit teams that organise communication around channels and need connections to their existing tools. Feature availability and limits depend on the plan.

    Best for
    Teams prioritising channel conversations, native lightweight collaboration and an integration ecosystem.
    Hosting model
    Slack’s hosted service; no self-hosted server edition.
    What to check
    No self-hosted server edition. Check the chosen plan’s history, guest access, security controls and collaboration limits before replacing other tools.

  • Google Workspace (Chat + Meet)

    The Gmail-native bundle

    Product website

    Google Chat and Meet come bundled with Workspace and are wired tightly into Gmail, Calendar and Docs. For organisations already on Gmail, it is the closest thing to a zero-migration alternative to Teams.

    Best for
    Gmail-first organisations that want chat and meetings included in the suite they already pay for.
    Hosting model
    Google cloud only.
    What to check
    Chat is one component of the suite rather than its centre of gravity, and the whole experience assumes you stay inside Google's suite.

  • Zoom Workplace

    Meetings-first collaboration

    Product website

    Zoom has grown from a meetings app into Zoom Workplace: video-first collaboration with team chat, whiteboard and scheduling around its core product. Meeting quality and reliability remain the draw.

    Best for
    Meeting-heavy organisations that choose their platform by call quality first.
    Hosting model
    SaaS, with optional hybrid on-premises modules (Zoom Node) for enterprises.
    What to check
    Collaboration outside the meeting — chat, tasks, docs — is a newer layer around the meeting core.

  • Mattermost

    Open-core chat for technical teams

    Product website

    Mattermost is an open-core messaging platform for technical and security-conscious teams, with strong DevOps workflows around incidents and playbooks. The free edition can run on your own servers, with advanced capabilities in paid editions.

    Best for
    Engineering organisations replacing Teams chat with something they can run themselves.
    Hosting model
    Run on your own servers (needs an IT team) or use the vendor's cloud.
    What to check
    Chat-first by design: docs, boards and email still live elsewhere, and several enterprise features sit behind paid editions.

  • Rocket.Chat

    Open-source chat with an omnichannel twist

    Product website

    Rocket.Chat is a long-running open-source messaging platform with a real footprint in public-sector and regulated environments, plus omnichannel support for customer-facing conversations on the same deployment.

    Best for
    Public-sector and regulated organisations that need open-source chat under their own control.
    Hosting model
    Self-hosted or Rocket.Chat's hosted cloud.
    What to check
    The admin surface is large, and a number of advanced capabilities are reserved for paid plans.

  • Element (Matrix)

    Decentralised messaging on an open protocol

    Product website

    Element is the flagship client for the open Matrix protocol: decentralised, federated and end-to-end encrypted. You can run your own homeserver and still communicate across the wider Matrix network.

    Best for
    Organisations for which federation, E2EE and protocol openness outrank product polish.
    Hosting model
    Self-hosted homeserver or managed hosting from Element.
    What to check
    Running Matrix well is real operations work, and everyday polish — threads, search, admin UX — trails centralised tools.

  • Polybase

    Our product

    The sovereign team workspace

    Product website

    Polybase brings chat, calls, tasks, docs, email and automations into one workspace. Calls run in the browser and are encrypted. Screen sharing and background effects depend on your device; live captions need a speech service set up by your admin. Run it in our EU cloud or on your own servers.

    Full disclosure: Polybase is our product. Read this entry as the maker's perspective — the caveat below is as real as everyone else's.

    Best for
    Organisations leaving the Microsoft ecosystem entirely, and teams that need chat, meetings and work tools without a suite dependency.
    Hosting model
    EU cloud or your own servers.
    What to check
    Polybase is not SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certified yet. Check migration and integration requirements before switching.
How to choose

Five questions for life after Teams.

  1. 01

    Does it work outside one vendor's world?

    A Teams alternative should not require another suite to be useful. Standalone value first, integrations second.

  2. 02

    Where does your data live?

    Teams is cloud-only. If data residency or self-hosting is on your requirements list, the field narrows fast.

  3. 03

    Are chat and meetings both first-class?

    Many tools do one well. Day-to-day work needs threaded chat and decent calls in the same place.

  4. 04

    How much of the work does it cover?

    Tasks, docs and files — bundled coherently, or scattered across Planner-style companion apps?

  5. 05

    Is the pricing legible?

    You should be able to predict next year's bill without a licensing consultant.

Our product

Where Polybase fits

Polybase interface illustration
Polybase interface illustration

When it fits

  • No suite required

    Chat, meetings, tasks, docs and email work as one product — no Planner, SharePoint or OneDrive constellation to license and administer.

  • Deployment freedom Teams doesn't offer

    Run Polybase in our EU cloud or on your own servers; calls can also stay inside your own network.

What to check

  • Ecosystem size

    No app marketplace and no guided Teams importer yet. We offer GitHub and HubSpot connectors, connection to AI tools like Claude, and migration help during onboarding.

Questions

Leaving Microsoft Teams.

What is the best Microsoft Teams alternative?

Match the tool to your constraint. Leaving the Microsoft ecosystem entirely: Polybase or Slack. Keeping meetings quality as the priority: Zoom Workplace. Needing self-hosting: Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Element or Polybase. Already on Gmail: Google Workspace is the pragmatic bundle.

Can we replace Teams but keep Microsoft 365 for Office files?

Yes. Replacing Teams doesn't require abandoning Word or Excel. In Polybase you can link and preview Office documents (with built-in DOCX/XLSX/PPTX viewers), and connect Microsoft 365 email accounts via OAuth during a gradual transition.

Is there a self-hosted alternative to Microsoft Teams?

Teams itself has no self-hosted edition. Mattermost, Rocket.Chat and Element all offer open-source self-hosting; Polybase can run on your own servers, including fully offline with no internet connection.

How do Polybase meetings compare to Teams meetings?

Polybase calls are encrypted and include screen sharing, noise suppression and background blur. Channel, direct-message and meeting calls can be recorded when your admin has switched recording on and participants have the right permissions. Captions and transcripts need a speech service set up by your admin. Automatic AI call summaries and action items are not available.

What does switching from Teams cost?

Pricing depends on modules and deployment; book a demo and we'll quote for your team. Whether it beats a Microsoft 365 bill depends on which parts of the suite you actually use.

Sources

Documentation and primary sources

Editorial update: 1 November 2026

Next step

See Polybase next to Teams, feature by feature.

Book a 30-minute demo and we'll map your Teams setup onto one workspace — or start with the detailed side-by-side comparison.

Book a demo

Continue your research

Compare another part of your team's toolkit.

Slack

Team conversations, with a deployment you can choose.

Read the guide

Microsoft 365

Choose who operates your office suite and where data lives.

Read the guide

Gather Town

A virtual office that suits your team's working day.

Read the guide

Jira

Issue tracking that fits the way your team ships.

Read the guide