With people working remotely and myriad international teams spread across continents, team collaboration software has become a necessity for small businesses and corporations alike. However, many tools on the market promise to keep the web and flow of collaborative work under control, so making an informed decision is crucial. You wouldn’t want to pay for a subscription and train your staff to use a program, only to change it a couple of weeks later. So, read along to find everything you need to know about the best team collaboration software we could find, how they aim to help your small business, and how to choose the most convenient one.
Team collaboration platforms are designed to help people work together, share documents, communicate, update each other at each step of a project or task, and contribute to designs and documents. But as software designers ourselves, we know that offering the most performant features is not enough. What you want is software that encourages users to rely on it and use it to its full capacity. So, when it comes to team collaboration software, you want programs that encourage your staff to collaborate, communicate, and build a friendly atmosphere.
At the same time, you must evaluate the costs in the short and long term. The cost of a monthly subscription may seem lower than paying a fixed amount for a license, but consider the current number of employees, estimate how your team will grow over the next year or two, verify what paying annually versus monthly means, and see how overall costs will impact your business. Budget is a major consideration.
You may also want to know how well a particular piece of software fits into the ecosystem you already use. For instance, does it run on the operating system on your employees’ devices, such as Windows, Mac, or Linux? Does it integrate with other tools you already use, such as task management and people management tools? Integrations were a key criterion in our selection of the following team collaboration software.
We also took into consideration the pool of features, including general and specific ones (e.g., a design company may need a collaboration platform able to handle their particular body of work), interface and ease of use (e.g., you don’t want your employees annoyed for not being able to find what they need), and how visual the platform is (it’s easier to rely on visual information than on written one and one wants their team to stress at little as possible).
Collaboration Software | Best for | Best feature | Pricing |
Slack | Team communication archives | Chat app | From $4.38/user/month |
Zoom | Video conferences | Video meeting app | From $13.33/user/month |
Asana | Complex project management | Task and project management tools | From $10.99/user/month |
monday.com | Visual task management | Collaborative whiteboards | From $9/user/month |
Microsoft Teams | Teams using the Microsoft ecosystem | Messaging and meeting tools | From $4/user/month |
Trello | Visual project tracking | Real-time shared visual boards | From $5/user/month |
Figma | Designers and developers | Design assets and templates | From $5/user/month |
Miro | Visual brainstorming and mind mapping | Infinite whiteboard canvas | From $8/user/month |
Dropbox | Document-based collaborations | File sharing and storing | From $9.99/user/month |
Google Workspace | Online team collaboration | Google services | From $7/user/month |
Loom | Collaboration via video messaging | Screen recording and interactive video messaging | From $18/user/month |
Notion | All-in-one collaboration workspace | AI-based assistant | From $9.50/user/month |
Canva | Collaborative design | Content creation tools | From $120/year |
Key Features: channels for teams and groups, chat, video and audio meetings, file sharing, project management tools, AI-based tools
Slack’s end-of-year statistics for 2025 show over 52 million users, of which 14 million are paid. These are remarkable results that make Slack one of the most popular team collaboration tools, especially among corporations. However, Slack may work very well in a small business environment because it is essentially a chat app, and who doesn’t like a chat app?
The user can send 1:1 and group messages with formatting, links, and emoji, send and receive files, record audio and video, and start impromptu video meetings. In addition, Slack incorporates AI tools for searching and summarizing content, taking notes, and finding answers to any question, which improve workflow, whether collaborative or individual.
For integrations, you can rely on Slack to sync with Google Drive, Dropbox, Zoom, Asana, Jira, Trello, Microsoft Office, and more.
Pros: Easy chat app with built-in video meetings, file sharing, searching, and powerful AI tools
Cons: Video conferencing features are limited, organizing and management features are basic, and constant chatting may become a distraction
Pricing: Free plan with limited features (no AI) and paid plans starting at $4.38/user/month
Key Features: communication tools (chat, video, phone, email), collaborative docs and whiteboards, and scheduling tools
Zoom has become almost synonymous with video calls since the pandemic. You already know it’s good at organizing and scheduling video and 1:1 meetings, recording your meetings, providing professional or fun backgrounds, and offering chat and email services.
But you probably don’t know that Zoom provides a complete workspace for collaborative work, including AI companions to help you along the way, collaborative documents and whiteboards, automated workflows, and integrations with plenty of other management tools, such as Jira, Google Drive, OneDrive, Google Calendar, and Outlook.
Pros: Complete video conferencing solution with multiple channels, versatile scheduling options, and calendar integrations; most people have already heard of it.
Cons: The free plan offers limited video calls (40 minutes), and paid plans may get expensive
Pricing: Free plan with limited features and paid plans starting at $13.33/user/month
Key Features: task and project management, diagrams and boards, time tracking, inbox organizing, and reporting
Asana aims to be the ultimate platform for team collaboration. It’s not designed for a chat or video-calling app, but for the vast field of project management. Users rely on Asana for task, resource, time, and workload management, as well as overall project visibility. One can expect from Asana to provide detailed dashboards and reports, Gantt charts and Kanban boards, automated workflows, and team communication tools. Asana is one of the apps that all the other team collaborative programs want to integrate with.
Pros: Team collaboration tools such as chats, comments, sharing files, updates, and more, hundreds of integrations
Cons: It requires a steep learning curve and complicated approval workflows
Pricing: Free plan with limited features and paid plans starting at $10.99/user/month (billed annually)
Key Features: visual organizers for task and project management, dashboards, automations, and collaborative document whiteboard
monday.com takes using AI in team collaboration software to the next level. From automatic app creation to risk assessments, monday.com relies on powerful AI algorithms to do the hard work. But you don’t have to do everything by yourself. The platform provides collaborative document whiteboards for you and your team to get through brainstorming and design. It provides tools for task scheduling, team communication, time and workload tracking, and workflow creation. Real-time is the leitmotif here.
In addition, monday.com integrates with 200+ other apps and platforms, including Microsoft products and Google services, as well as GitLab, Slack, and Zoom.
Pros: Visual dashboards for task organizing and collaborative whiteboards
Cons: Complex interface, no built-in chat app
Pricing: Free plan for up to 2 users and paid plans starting at $9/user/month (billed annually)
Key Features: AI-enhanced messaging, video meetings, task management
If you already use the Microsoft ecosystem for your business, look no further than Microsoft Teams for team collaboration software. Alongside an AI-enhanced chat app and video calls, Microsoft Teams also offers online collaboration tools, including hybrid workspaces, shift scheduling, task tracking, automated workflows, file sharing, and more.
Microsoft Teams promises secure communication and data protection, smooth integration with Microsoft Office 365 apps on mobile and desktop devices, and a plan for every company size.
Pros: Seamless integration with Microsoft products, chat app, video calls, and task management
Cons: Cluttered interface and unorganized shared files
Pricing: Free plan for individual use and paid plans starting at $4/user/month (billed annually) for businesses
Key Features: visual project tracking in real-time, built-in mini apps for specific purposes, automations
If you want your entire team to be updated about project progress, Trello is the team collaboration software for you. The app provides real-time visual boards where team members can comment, add checklists, and attach files. The entire collaboration process is visual, intuitive, and fast. The boards can be private, shared with a specific group, or open to everyone. And for easy onboarding, plenty of templates are available.
Trello integrates third-party tools called Power-Ups for reporting, file management, and other specific tasks. It also integrates with Jira, Slack, Google services, Dropbox, Clockify, and many more.
Pros: Visual boards shared in real time, template library, file sharing, and many integrations
Cons: No video calling and messaging built-in features
Pricing: Free plan for up to 10 users per workspace and paid plans starting at $5/user/month (billed annually)
Key Features: visual project tracking in real-time, built-in mini apps for specific purposes, automations
We said we took team collaboration software for particular purposes into consideration, and here it is. Figma is built with design and wireframing in mind. It allows your team to collaborate on interfaces, illustrations, product designs, and other creative visual tasks. People can share assets, templates, and entire libraries, gather code, specifications, and comments in one place, publish websites, and more. You can choose the option that best suits your team, such as Figma for developers, designers, or illustrators.
The app integrates with many tools for developers and designers, such as GitLab, Visual Studio Code, and Storybook, as well as other team collaboration platforms, such as Slack and Zoom.
Pros: Templates, shared designs, and assets for creative collaborations
Cons: Steep learning curve, performance issues with large files, and limited offline features
Pricing: Free plan for personal projects and paid plans from $5/user/month for professionals
Key Features: visual real-time collaboration workspaces for brainstorming, whiteboards with an infinite canvas
If your team has long brainstorming sessions, a visual collaboration tool is the best choice. Miro is a leader in visual collaborative tools. It provides an infinite canvas for mind mapping and brainstorming, real-time collaboration, pre-made frameworks and templates, AI-powered sticky notes, and built-in communication tools (e.g., video chat, reactions, etc.). Your team can collaborate on documents, designs, tables, prototypes, or slides.
The list of Miro’s integrations with other apps includes Slack, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, and over 250+ tools.
Pros: infinite canvas, templates, real-time collaboration tools, and communication tools
Cons: Steep learning curve, performance issues with large boards, and difficulty navigating on small screens
Pricing: Free plan for 3 editable boards and paid plans from $8/user/month
Key Features: file sharing and storing, collaborative docs for teams, file management, and integrations with other tools
Dropbox is essentially a file storage service, but it is a clever one. It stores your files safely and allows you to share them with specific people or anyone, using different access rights for each person. At the same time, it notifies you when your files are accessed, changed, or receive comments. Dropbox also allows people to work on the same files without leaving the app and is compatible with Microsoft Office files. Dropbox Paper is a collaborative doc where your team can create content (e.g., brainstorming), to-do lists (e.g., tasks for the day), and timelines (e.g., project tracking).
You can sync Dropbox with other tools you may already use, such as Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom.
Pros: fast file sharing and sync across devices, secure data and file recovery tools, collaborative doc, compatible with many OS
Cons: Limited free tier, no task management tools, no built-in communication methods
Pricing: Free plan for 2GB of storage space and paid plans from $9.99/month for 1 user
Key Features: Google services: email, file storage, chat, calendar, file editors, notes, online forms and surveys, and task lists.
Google Workspace is the sum of all Google services, and it is free for personal use, with 15 GB of storage across all services. For professional use, however, Google Workspace does not have a free tier. Nevertheless, its features are worth the subscription price. Google Workspace offers video meetings, a chat app, a shareable calendar, file storage and sharing, collaboration on docs, sheets, and slides, a website creator, a note-taking app, and task lists. Your team can collaborate in real time, using any device, mobile or desktop. Google Workspace is probably the team collaboration platform with the most integrations and the largest compatibility.
Pros: co-editing capabilities, reliable file sharing, remote-friendly, large compatibility with operating systems and devices
Cons: lack of whiteboarding, limited compatibility with Microsoft Office files, and limited offline functionalities
Pricing: Free plan for personal use and paid plans from $7/user/month (paid annually)
Key Features: video meeting, screen recording, video editor, and integrations.
Instead of relying on text messages to communicate with your team, Loom invites you to speed up your workflow and improve productivity by using video messages. You can record your screen, edit the video, and share it with co-workers or clients fast and efficiently. To improve communication, Loom lets you add links, emojis, comments, calls to action, or tasks to your videos. The app provides templates for video messaging based on industry to speed up the process even more.
In addition, Loom integrates with hundreds of apps, such as Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and Notion.
Pros: fast communication via interactive video messaging, basic video editing tools, and lots of integrations
Cons: lack of whiteboarding, lack of task management tools, and a limited free tier
Pricing: Free plan for 25 videos and paid plans from $18/user/month
Key Features: video meeting, screen recording, video editor, and integrations.
Notion is an all-in-one collaborative workspace that lets your team do everything together, from working on the same documents to streamlining your team’s workflow. You can use this app for simple tasks, such as taking notes, and for complex ones, such as managing tasks and projects. You can create databases, organize information, automate repetitive work, assign tasks and priorities, resolve support tickets, and rely on AI to improve productivity and workflow.
Notion integrates with Slack, Jira, GitHub, Asana, GitLab, Google Drive, and many others.
Pros: collaborative editing, customizable templates, AI-based tools, and plenty of integrations
Cons: steep learning curve, heavy app usage, performance issues with large data, and high cost for large teams
Pricing: Free plan for individuals and paid plans from $9.50/user/month for small teams and limited features
Key Features: video meeting, screen recording, video editor, and integrations.
While you may or may not consider team collaboration software for creative tasks, such as presentations, graphic design, and social media content, it is definitely of great help. Canva is our favorite choice for this task because the free plan provides enough resources for a small team to get by. Canva allows you to design and create content, edit photos and videos, create text and graphics, and more. Everything you can do, your team can do too, thanks to the app's real-time collaboration for designs, documents, and whiteboards.
Canva integrates with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Asana, Google Workspace, ChatGPT, Amazon, and many more third-party apps. You can use it in a browser or as a desktop app.
Pros: User-friendly and easy to learn, vast template and resource libraries, and real-time collaboration
Cons: Lacks advanced tools for precise photo and video editing and graphic design, may lack color accuracy for printing purposes
Pricing: Free plan for individuals and limited resources, $120/year for all resources, and $100/user/year for teams of more than 3 users.
What are the main benefits of team collaboration software?
Team collaboration software allows team members to communicate, work on the same tasks, brainstorm, share files, and provide comments and feedback. It increases productivity, as well as human interaction, teamwork, and transparency. Team collaboration platforms ease shift scheduling, time tracking, and task progress. Everyone has access to resources and can view the project’s timeline and status in real time. Overall, these apps are the beating heart of your business, improving decision-making, employee morale, and creativity.
Who should consider using a team collaboration platform?
Any business with more than one employee should consider using team collaboration software. For remote and hybrid teams or international businesses, team collaboration software is a must-have, not just a nice-to-have asset. One can also consider this type of software for collaborating with clients.
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