Replace Slack: team chat for less

What Slack costs at 10 and 25 seats

Annual cost at list price (annual-billing price where the vendor shows one)

Plan	Price (as listed)	10 users / yr	25 users / yr	Source
Slack Pro	$7.25/user/mo paid annually ($8.75 monthly). Business+ $15 annual ($18 monthly)	$870 10 × $7.25 × 12	$2,175 25 × $7.25 × 12	source, Oct 14, 2026
Slack Business+	$15/user/mo paid annually ($18 monthly)	$1,800 10 × $15 × 12	$4,500 25 × $15 × 12	source, Oct 14, 2026

Excludes taxes, add-ons and usage fees.

Free and low-cost alternatives

Editorial picks, ordered by our view of fit for 5-50 person teams. We haven't lab-tested them, and no vendor paid for placement. "Best value" marks the lowest verified annual cost for 10 users among these picks; it isn't a quality score.

Heads up: "Try" links may be affiliate links. If you buy, we may earn a commission at no cost to you, and it never changes our rankings. How we make money

#1Zoho Cliq

Free planLow-cost

Try Zoho Cliq (opens in new tab) ↗

Slack-style channels: Professional is US$1.80/user/mo billed annually, and Standard is a flat US$16.20/mo for up to 25 users.

Price: Free plan. Standard US$16.20/mo for up to 25 users (billed annually). Professional US$1.80/user/mo, Enterprise US$3.60/user/mo (billed annually)

• Professional plan is $1.80/user
• Flat Standard plan for up to 25 users

• Smaller integration ecosystem than Slack

Source: zoho.com/cliq/pricing.html · checked Oct 14, 2026

#2Microsoft Teams Essentials

Low-cost

Try it (opens in new tab) ↗

Chat plus meetings for $4/user/mo, or included in Microsoft 365.

Price: $4.00/user/mo, paid yearly

• Very cheap per user
• Familiar Teams experience

• No Office desktop apps or business email

Source: microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-business-options · checked Oct 14, 2026 · Max users assumed 300 like other business plans: UNVERIFIED

#3Slack Free

Best valueFree

Try Slack Free (opens in new tab) ↗

Stay on Slack for free if 90 days of history is enough.

Price: $0: 90 days of message history, up to 10 apps, 1:1 huddles

• Free, familiar

• 90-day history limit
• Huddles 1:1 only

Source: slack.com/pricing · checked Oct 14, 2026

#4Element (Matrix)

Open sourceSelf-hostable

Try Element (opens in new tab) ↗

Open-source, end-to-end-encrypted chat you can self-host.

Price: Free app; self-hosted, open-source Matrix backend

• Open standard, end-to-end encryption

• Self-hosting takes real admin work

Source: element.io/pricing · checked Oct 14, 2026 · Hosted business pricing not captured

Feature comparison

Feature comparison (from vendor pricing pages)

Feature	Slack Pro	Zoho Cliq Pro	Teams Essentials	Element (self-host)
Price per user/mo	$7.25 (annual)	$1.80 (annual)	$4.00 (annual)	$0 software
Free plan	Y (90-day history)	✓	—	✓
Video meetings in chat	Huddles	See vendor	✓	See vendor
Open source	—	—	—	✓
App integrations	2,600+	Smaller catalog	Microsoft ecosystem	Bridges/bots

✓ = included, — = not included on that plan or not offered. "See vendor" = we couldn't confirm it on the pricing page.

Annual savings, with the math

Savings use the verified list prices above. Real savings depend on your seat count, billing period, discounts and switching time. Run your own numbers.

Honest tradeoffs

• Slack's integrations and Slack Connect (shared channels with clients) are hard to match.
• Moving chat history is messy; most teams archive Slack instead of migrating it.
• Self-hosted Element needs someone to run the server.

Migration difficulty: Moderate

Export Slack history (owners/admins can export), set up channels in the new tool, and run both for 1-2 weeks. Rebuild integrations and bots.

Before you switch, read when NOT to switch and use our migration checklist.