Best Collaboration Tools
Online collaboration software makes working together on professional projects easier and faster. It reduces bottlenecks in feedback and approval processes and allows for real-time communication. The three core areas of functionality for collaboration tools are: Communication Project & task management File sharing & management Some products stress one feature set over another. These take a best-of-breed approach, and work well if they offer integrations. For example, Slack is an online team collaboration app focused on...
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Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number…
The Webex App brings together Webex Calling, Meetings, and Messaging into a single application, fostering collaboration and unlocking more productive ways to work.
Microsoft Teams combines video conferencing software with team collaboration tools. The communications platform allows MS Office users to conduct conference calls and share files via SharePoint, and join or initiate a group chat.
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monday.com Work OS is an open platform designed so that anyone can create the tools they need to run all aspects of their work. It includes ready-made templates or the ability to customize any work solution ranging from sales pipelines to marketing campaigns, CRMs, and project tracking.…
Wrike is a project management and collaboration software. This solution connects tasks, discussions, and emails to the user’s project plan. Wrike is optimized for agile workflows and aims to help resolve data silos, poor visibility into work status, and missed deadlines and project…
It’s a hub where teams can come together to plan, organ…
ClickMeeting is a webinar solution formerly owned by GetResponse, an email marketing software company. ClickMeeting's online meeting and collaboration tools are designed to support the sales, marketing, e-learning, and training needs of business of all sizes.
Mattermost from the company of the same name in Palo Alto is a messaging, collaboration and communication platform providing high security and compliance for the businesses that need it.
Atlassian Jira is a project management tool, featuring an interactive timeline for mapping work items, dependencies, and releases, Scrum boards for agile teams, and out-of-the-box reports and dashboards.
Webex Meetings is a video conferencing solution powering hybrid work. It enables a seamless collaboration experience and better results with meetings that are designed to give everyone the ability to engage no matter their location, language, or communication style.
Miro provides a visual workspace for innovation, where distributed teams can build the future together. MIro counts more than 80 million users, who improve product development, speed up time to market, and ensure that new products deliver on customer needs.
Zoom helps consolidate communications and collaboration in the boardroom, classroom, operating room, and everywhere. Zoom is an intelligent collaboration platform that makes connecting easier, more immersive, and more dynamic. Zoom technology facilitates collaboration through solutions…
Jotform Enterprise is a digital workspace productivity tool that provides a platform for organizations. The aim of Jotform Enterprise is to give companies an easy-to-navigate tool that makes rea…
Diligent’s Board & Leadership Collaboration solution is built to provide organizations everything they need to drive digitization and operational excellence for board, committee, and executive meetings. Directors and executives can leverage real-time communication, secure collaboration,…
Adobe Workfront, acquired by Adobe in late 2020, is a web-based project-management tool. It is designed for both IT and marketing teams, but can be implemented for any kind of project. Workfront offers all the features standard to project management platforms, as well as resource…
Genesys Cloud CX (formerly PureCloud, Genesys Cloud) is a contact center application optimized for automatic call distribution, interactive voice response, email, social media, chat, and text/SMS. It is also a VoIP interconnect service provider.
Quickbase helps users tackle any project, no matter how complex.
Quickbase helps customers see, connect and control complex projects. Whether it’s raising a skyscraper or coordinating vaccine rollouts, the no-code software platform allows business users to custom fit solutions to…
Instant messaging for business allows people to communicate relaying information in real time. However, corporate chat app is a contemporary update to the ancient email communication cutting out time, expense and effort at the same time. Nowadays many organizations are using instant messaging for their daily business conversations. But for effective communication, an easy t…
Notion aims to present users with an all-in-one workspace — for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases, from Notion Labs in San Francisco.
Asana is a web and mobile project management app. With tasks, projects, conversations, and dashboards, Asana lets an entire team know who's doing what by when, enabling workload balancing. Users can also add integrations for GANTT charts, time tracking and more.
Doist, a company boasting an entirely globally distributed workforce, offers Todoist, a project management platform emphasizing the needs of a distributed workforce. The application emphasizes tracking events over time with advanced closed task and progress reporting, with custom…
Google Drive is a cloud file storage, synchronization, and collaboration platform and service, that features Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for document editing and presentation.
Bitrix24 is a local-hosted or cloud-based social intranet and project management platform that also contains core HR (HRMS) and CRM features. Bitrix24 also provides time management services and employee self-service.
eXo Platform is an open-source, social-collaboration software designed for enterprises. Some key features include: Enterprise Social Network, Enterprise Content Management and Social Collaboration.
Confluence is a collaboration and content sharing platform used primarily by customers who are already using Atlassian's Jira project tracking product. The product appeals particularly to IT users.
Collaboration Tools TrustMap
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Learn More About Collaboration Tools
What are Collaboration Tools?
Online collaboration software makes working together on professional projects easier and faster. It reduces bottlenecks in feedback and approval processes and allows for real-time communication. The three core areas of functionality for collaboration tools are:
- Communication
- Project & task management
- File sharing & management
Some products stress one feature set over another. These take a best-of-breed approach, and work well if they offer integrations. For example, Slack is an online team collaboration app focused on messaging and file sharing. It also includes audio and video conferencing capabilities. For everything else, it integrates with other software tools.
Because they each have slightly different specialties, many of the tools above are not perfectly comparable. Depending on your business needs, you may want to invest in a few different types of collaboration tools. For example, many teams use a messaging application like Slack for casual communication and also use web conferencing software to host online meetings.
Online collaboration tools are closely related to a number of other types of software, including:
- Business communications (e.g. email, VoIP, web conferencing)
- Community platforms
- Cloud storage
- Project management software
- Online office suites (such as G Suite and Microsoft Office 365)
All of these platforms include collaboration features, though most are limited to a specific channel or type of interaction.
Sometimes collaboration tools can replace these more traditional solutions, but it is more common to integrate collaboration tools with existing communication and workflow structure. Often collaboration tools bring interactions that would otherwise be handled by separate platforms into a convenient central location.
Collaboration Tools Features & Capabilities
Communication
Some collaboration tools have communication capabilities at their core. Examples of online communication tools that specialize in this are include:
- Slack
- Microsoft Yammer
- Microsoft Teams
- Skype
- Google Hangouts
- HipChat
- Lifesize Video Conferencing
- Fuze
- Cisco Webex Teams
Other collaboration features are available but may have a limited scope. Communication features across collaboration tools include:
- Options for integrated messaging. Live chat, comments within a file and private/group messages are all common
- Privacy and access settings
- Conference calling
- Video chats with screen sharing
- Project-based conversations
Project & Task Management
Another class of online collaboration tools have underlying project and task management capabilities at their core. These tools may not be as advanced as traditional project management platforms. However, they can be incredibly useful for online team collaboration and communication.
Examples of collaboration tools noted for significant project & task management features include:
Some products walk the line of collaboration and project management. For example, Wrike has many robust project management features, but it’s designed like a social network to make engaging with team members easy.
Access to advanced project management capabilities is usually more important for larger or interdepartmental teams. Collaboration features related to project & task management can include:
- Workflow automation
- Tracking location and changes to a file
- Brainstorming tools/pinboards
- Task lists and assignments. These are complete with due dates, sub-tasks and file attachment
- Scheduling, calendar integration, reminders and alerts
- Gantt charts
File Sharing & Management
Other online collaboration tools focus on document storage, sharing, and management. Examples of these products include:
They also offer significant opportunities for collaboration. Collaboration features central to file sharing include:
- Security
- Support for different file types
- Comments and notes attached to files
- Track changes and versioning
- Editing permissions and access control
- Shared folders
Online Collaboration Tools
Locally hosted collaboration solutions (like Redbooth Private Cloud) are less common than online SaaS collaboration tools. Online solutions are more abundant and often more convenient for end-users. They work particularly well for remote teams and employees who need to collaborate on common tasks.
They come in many forms, from mobile apps to browser extensions.
Some tools are industry and use case-specific. For example, Mural.ly and ConceptBoard are tools for graphic designers. On the other hand, Microsoft Yammer is more like a social network for corporate enterprises, regardless of department or industry. Other use cases for collaboration software include:
- Creating an internal knowledge base for employees with a product like Confluence
- Creating flow charts or mapping out ideas visually with a product like MindMeister
- Creating group to-do lists with a product like Trello
Adoption
Adoption is key to success with collaboration software. It is only effective if everyone on the team is on board with the software.
It is important to choose a collaboration tool that is easy to use. The tool should also fit your team’s culture and goals. There are dozens of collaboration products on the market -- and it’s ever-growing!
To help you find a good fit, consider these questions:
- What types of projects will you collaborate on?
- What are the steps of a typical project?
- How does your team handle communication and workflow?
- Where do you store project files?
- How many people will be collaborating? How many departments?
- Will project managers or team members be collaborating? Both?
- What other platforms and apps does your team use? How does the tool handle integration?
- How formal or informal will collaboration be? Will all discussions be related to work on specific projects, or will some be social?
- Will all conversations be archived?
Collaboration Tools Comparison
To help you more easily compare different types of collaboration tools, consider these 3 key factors:
- What’s the main purpose this tool will serve? For example, are you looking for an easy to use team instant messaging app? Or do you need a web conferencing tool that will be easy for employees and clients to use? Or maybe you’re looking for a new company intranet, or file and document sharing solution. Figuring out what business need(s) the tool will serve will help you identify which set of collaboration tools to evaluate.
- Ease of use, which helps determine how widely adopted the software will be, is highly important. If you invest in a collaboration tool that has a steep learning curve, it’s less likely to be adopted by the rest of your team. Look for tools that have high ‘usability’ ratings on the product scorecard tab on TrustRadius to help narrow down the list of products you’re considering.
- What does your budget for collaboration and communication software look like? This will likely depend on whether you are self-employed, a contract worker, an SMB, or an enterprise business. Many collaboration tools in this category have either free versions or free trials for your team to test out. However, if your business needs a very budget-friendly solution, look for tools that have a ‘forever free’ option.
Start a comparison between collaboration tools.
Pricing Information
Collaboration software is usually priced by user on a monthly subscription.
Most vendors offer a free tier for up to a certain number of users. The free tiers usually have a more limited set of features and capabilities. There are many basic free online collaboration options, including GoVisually, Trello, Podio and Google Drive for example.
For paid plans, pure collaboration tools focused on notes, tasks, and chat start around $8/mo. per user. For collaboration tools that include cloud storage, pricing starts at around $10/mo. per user, and goes up from there based on storage size.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are collaboration tools?
Collaboration tools help teams communicate, manage projects and tasks, and share and store files more efficiently. Not all online collaboration tools have the same set of capabilities, specific tools may specialize in one of the three areas above. Common use cases for collaboration software include:
- Online meetings
- Team messaging
- Project & task management
- File storage
- Collaborative content creation
What are some examples of different types of collaboration tools?
What are the best collaboration tools?
The Top Rated collaboration tools in 2019 include:
- Slack
- Google Drive
- Dropbox Business
- Trello
- Asana
- Evernote
- Jabber
- Basecamp
- Confluence
- Workplace by Facebook
- Skype for Business
- MS SharePoint
Learn more about these products and other online collaboration tools here.
What are some free online collaboration tools?
Many collaboration software products have a free version available, though typically with more limited space or functionality. Popular free tools for small teams or SMBs include: