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Announcing the Top Rated Collaboration Tools for 2018

February 14th, 2018 15 min read

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Collaboration Tools. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. They are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, site traffic, or status as a TrustRadius customer.

Collaboration software makes it easier and faster for teams to work together on professional projects. Companies use collaboration software to maintain efficient and convenient communication, manage projects and tasks, and share files. This can be especially helpful during bottleneck processes such as sending/receiving feedback and approvals. Collaboration tools work best when they are widely adopted and integrated with other channels of communication (like email) and systems of record. It is important to understand your options when selecting collaboration software, as products in this category take different functional approaches to collaboration, from coordinating projects/tasks to sharing and editing documents to UCaaS. Reviews from other users like you can help you understand which features and capabilities are in line with your needs, and how well different collaboration tools may fit into your company’s culture and tech stack.

Here are the winners:

Overall Top Rated

Atlassian Confluence

Confluence is a team collaboration tool that works in conjunction with JIRA and other Atlassian software products. Written in Java and used mostly in corporate environments by IT users, Confluence provides file sharing, team and departmental communication, custom hierarchical project spaces, and feedback and file revisions. Confluence users praise its powerful search and indexing capabilities that allow them to quickly locate pages, assets, and content.

“We use Confluence to support internal documentation needs. It provides a version controlled, access manageable, configurable repository of knowledge and documentation for the company. It facilitates indexing and search of the document database for quick access to information. We use it globally in the organization as a clearinghouse of information on everything from technical procedures to organization charting.”

Sean Scott | Oracle Database Administrator | BodyBuilding.com

Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud storage service that enables users to store files on Google servers, and edit, share and synchronize files across devices. Google Drive offers collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets and presentations via tools like Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. Files can be saved in the 15 gigabytes of free storage Google Drive provides, or more robust storage options are available for purchase. Reviewers agree that Google Drive’s file sharing capabilities with regards to permissions, link sharing, folder structure,  and real-time revisions are a massive plus.

“The possibility of sharing any kind of file is one of the best features of this tool. You can share image, text, docs, music, and videos without restrictions. This is a great option for people who work with files that are being constantly modified. The option of selecting who can edit files and who cannot it is one of my favorite features, because it allows me to show my partners only what I want them to see and what I want them to modify, facilitating our daily tasks and making sure that everyone gets their opinions heard on any specific issue.

Cesar A Siso L | Analyst | Gobierno del Distrito Capital

Trello

Trello is a free, collaborative task management tool used to assign and organize tasks in a visual way, using “cards” and “boards.” Tasks can be assigned to team members, updated with feedback, comments and revisions, and moved throughout the hierarchy of projects and tasks. Users like the efficiency and convenience of Trello’s “cards” as a visual organizer of content and assignments.

“Trello is used by all our team members in our company. It’s a great tool that helps us organize not just the tasks that need to be completed, but also product roadmap, ideas, and others. It’s visual appearance and boards help us see the big picture and understand where we are in terms of product development, bug fixing, marketing, administrative tasks, etc.”

Tigran Hakobyan | Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer | inapptics

Asana

Asana is project management software that enables teams to collaborate on tasks and keep close control of projects. Asana’s dashboards of projects, teams and timelines provide a view of tasks within projects and projects within workspaces, controlled by teams or individuals depending on assignments and permissions. Users can add notes, comments, and due dates, assign specific team members to tasks or projects, and customize notification settings so appropriate personnel stay in sync with project updates and progression. Reviewers note the usefulness of the ability to assign tasks and projects in Asana to different teams/team members, which helps with collaboration across departments.

“For my current job, it is used to assign tasks to various team members on various projects. Typically, the project manager does this, but if someone in another department needs to assign something to someone from another team, this can be done by any employee. It usually helps with any urgent tasks that anyone needs to outsource to another team, and lets people know what something needs to get done ASAP.”

Suthe Mani | Digital Editorial Intern | Katana Media

Slack

Slack is a team collaboration app that focuses on group messaging, with features like open discussions, private groups, direct messaging, as well as file sharing and search functions. Slack integrates with a broad range of tools that include MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack is free to use at the basic level, with the option to gain more features and control through paid plans. Slack reviewers praise it as a convenient replacement for getting feedback and approvals via email or phone calls, which ultimately saves their organizations time.

“We use Slack across our whole organization. We have different channels for different folks to share on certain projects. We also use it to message individuals as a faster and easier way to communicate with quick questions, than both email and phone calls. Also, it is being used as a social tool, to keep us up beat at work and helping the day move quicker.”

Craig Simmons | Business Development Representative | CleverTap

Basecamp

Basecamp is web-based project management software that features to-do lists, wiki-style documents, file sharing, time tracking, a project calendar tool and messaging system. Basecamp’s pricing structure is based on the number of projects managed in the system, on which an unlimited number of users can collaborate. Reviewers find Basecamp intuitive and simple to use, which makes it easy to include clients and/or employees with different experience levels on projects.

We use Basecamp as a task manager for projects that require us to interface with clients. It’s really good at being able to set up tasks to achieve milestones and generally keep our projects on track. The interface is really easy for clients to understand and work with so it allows us to hit the ground running on projects rather than teach people how to use tools.”

Nicholas De Salvo | Founder & Creative Director | Edge One Media

Jabber

Cisco Jabber is a communication platform providing instant messaging (IM), VoIP, and video calling. Team members use Jabber to find individuals within groups, determine their availability and connect via a mobile app, web app, or physical phone. Many reviewers appreciate Jabber’s integration with their phone system and ease of use from any device, as well as the chat and availability status features

My favorite use of Jabber is for making and receiving phone calls from my PC. For outgoing calls I can search through the corporate database of employees to select my recipient and call right from my computer. All incoming calls ring both on my desk phone and on my PC, allowing me to receive a call using my headset and microphone even when I’m working remotely. Jabber provides a unified platform for sending instant messages to any employee within our organization. Jabber displays the availability of each employee. The fact that it syncs up with our company calendars makes this feature useful for determining if an employee is currently in a meeting.”

Denny Caldwell | Senior Software Engineer | Satcom Direct

Evernote

Evernote is a cloud storage and collaboration tool designed primarily for notetaking and archiving. “Notes” include formatted text, full webpages or excerpts, voice messages, or even handwritten text, which can also accommodate file attachments and be sorted into folders. Users can tag, annotate, edit and provide feedback or approvals on Notes, which can also be searched/exported and synced across devices. The basic, single-user version is free, but users can upgrade to paid versions for features like offline access, email integration, business card scanning, and team collaboration. Reviewers appreciate Evernote’s accessibility across different devices, options to quickly capture content (via note taking, the Chrome extension, email forwarding, or camera/scanner), robust search capabilities, and sharing and presentation modes.

“We generally use it for all note taking and for sharing the same; like synching feature with the iPhone app as well. As a result, you can take notes on the go or in the office. Particularly helpful for follow up items from meetings and events. […] Ultimately as more users join, it will be useful for sharing between individuals within our workgroups. We use it for follow up task lists. Lately, we have made increasing use of it to hold presentation slides which then can be searched on extensively as a library like functionality.”

Verified User | C-Level Executive in Corporate | Pharmaceuticals Company with 11-50 employees

Dropbox Business

Dropbox Business is a file sharing and storage solution designed to help companies increase productivity and data security within projects. It allows users to import, edit and collaborate on a range of file types, and offers a robust admin dashboard, file and version recovery, custom groups and team member management, extensive third-party app integrations, and Dropbox Paper – an online tool for collaborative document editing. Reviewers say the file syncing process is very quick, and they appreciate the balance between accessibility and access control with the shared folder structure.

“Our entire company uses Dropbox Business for file storage, folder management, and organization purposes. We are avid users of Dropbox Paper, and we use this product for almost all of our collaboration docs and drafts. Dropbox has helped us iterate quickly on new ideas and share those widely throughout the organization. Definitely a positive impact overall on our business to help us scale. Ability to easily create docs and folders to share widely.”

Andy Lutz | Technical Recruiter | Segment.com

In addition to overall top rated awards, we also recognize tools that are top rated in a specific market segment. Company size is one way to help buyers identify the right solutions for their use case. To qualify for these lists, at least 15% of the product’s reviews and ratings must come from that market segment.

Top Rated by Enterprises

Top Rated by Mid-Size Companies

Top Rated by Small Businesses

Congratulations to the winners of the Top Rated Collaboration Tools Award!

Top Rated Criteria

Products included in the 2018 Top Rated Collaboration Tools list must have been in the top tier of their category TrustMap on Jan. 26, 2018, to earn a Top Rated badge. To qualify for the Collaboration Tools TrustMap, products must have at least 50 reviews and ratings on TrustRadius. Every reviewer is verified and every review is vetted before publication. Products are plotted on the map based on end-user data, including users’ likelihood to recommend scores as well as buyer research patterns. To learn more about TrustMaps and Top Rated methodology, check out this page.

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