Collaboration Tools

TrustRadius Top Rated for 2023

Top Rated Products

(1-5 of 17)

1
Bloomfire

Bloomfire provides knowledge engagement, aiming to deliver an experience that connects teams and individuals with the information they need to excel at their jobs. Their cloud-based knowledge engagement platform aims to give people one centralized, searchable place to engage with…

2
Quickbase

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…

3
Miro

Miro provides a visual workspace for innovation that enables distributed teams of any size to dream, design, and build the future together. Today, Miro counts more than 60 million users in 200,000 organizations who use Miro to improve product development collaboration, to speed up…

4
Slack

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…

5
Mattermost

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.

All Products

(51-75 of 921)

51
MediaFire

MediaFire is a simple file sharing and storage platform. It allows users to store, share, and view media files within the MediaFire online, desktop, or mobile app interface. The vendor says MediaFire's file storage system is private and secure. In terms of collaboration, users…

52
SmartSuite

SmartSuite provides a collaborative Work Management platform that enables teams to plan, track and manage workflows - whether it be a project, an ongoing process or routine everyday tasks. SmartSuite helps coordinate people and work across all levels of an organization to ensure…

53
Zeplin

Zeplin, from the company of the same name, is a platform supporting collaboration in application development by engineers and designers by providing an API with popular collaboration, development and prototyping tools and creating a space where productions can be shared and reviewed.…

Explore recently added products

54
Mural

MURAL (formerly Mural.ly) from Tactivos (DBA MURAL) in San Francisco is described by the vendor as a digital workspace and visual collaboration tool, designed for creative teams to make the process of design more efficient for distributed teams, working remotely.

55
Troop Messenger

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…

56
Jira Work Management

Jira Core is Atlassian's general purpose business and project management tool available to smaller companies or teams and designed to suit a variety of purposes (e.g. marketing planning, product roadmap, etc.). In Jira Core, Workflows define process and enable teams to track tasks.…

57
Discord

Discord is an app designed to connect users with communities over voice, video, and text chat, via Discord servers, a gaming and game industry oriented app for growing communities around video games and allowing developers to communicate with their customer base; the app may yet…

58
Workzone

Workzone is a web-based tool for project management and collaboration from Workzone in Norristown, PA, that contains a full array of the features needed for project management. It's hub is the project dashboard, which provides a platform for team communication and tracking tasks…

59
HCL Notes

Notes from HCL (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in late 2018) is a collaboration platform based on the Lotus platform.

60
eXo Platform

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.

61
SAP Business Network

SAP Business Network is a comprehensive B2B collaboration platform that connects people, processes, and systems across multiple enterprises, digitizing transactions, and creating transparent, resilient, and sustainable supply chains.

62
Glip (discontinued)

Glip was a conversation platform to plan, share and organize work. Glip featured text and video chat at its core, with file sharing, collaborative task management, shared calendars, and automatic version control. Glip was acquired by RingCentral in 2015 and is no longer available…

63
Mitel MiCollab

Mitel MiCollab is a collaboration and conferencing tool for enterprises, from Canadian company Mitel.

64
Stackby

Stackby is designed to bring together the simplicity of spreadsheets, the functionality of databases and integrations with best business APIs to let anyone build their own tools, the way they want. No coding needed. Users can build a database from scratch, import data from pre-existing…

65
Ideanote

Ideanote is an all-in-one innovation platform that promises to help teams and businesses around the world capture, develop, prioritize and act on more of the right ideas. According to the vendor, key benefits include:Capture ideas with structure by launching powerful goal-oriented…

66
OnBoard Board Management Software

OnBoard is a board management software and virtual meeting system. The vendor says it has been engineered to drive good governance and improve meeting outcomes by featuring tools designed for directors so that they can focus on strategy during meetings, and make them working sessions…

67
Klaxoon

Klaxoon is presented by the vendor as a one-stop shop for collaborative tools that improves teamwork efficiency when working remotely or on-site. Meetings, workshops, learning sessions, workshops… everyone connects to Klaxoon via a web link, from any digital device (computer, smartphone,…

68
Pigeon Messengr

Based in New York City, Pigeon Messengr is a business communication platform that offers teams the flexibility to communicate their way. Pigeon Messengr provides businesses of all sizes with an integrated suite of communication tools to help streamline business communications. Employees…

69
Google Keep

Google Keep is a note-taking app launched by Google in 2013 and available free, providing a tool to capture text, images, video, etc.

70
Nextcloud

Nextcloud offers their open source, self-hosted Content Collaboration Platform, combining what they describe as an easy user interface for consumer-grade cloud solutions with the security and compliance measures enterprises need. Nextcloud brings together universal access to…

71
Kanban Tool

Kanban Tool is a visual project management application based on Kanban that helps companies visualize workflow, track project progress, analyze and improve business processes. Some key features include: time tracking and time reports, real-time collaboration and Kaban analytics.

72
Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)

Cisco Business Edition 7000 was a collaboration and universal communication, VOIP / telephony, conferencing and messaging platform for enterprises of 1000 to 5000 employees. It has been discontinued, and is superseded by functionality found in Webex Calling.

73
Stack Overflow for Teams

Stack Overflow for Teams is a team knowledge management and Q & A platform for development billed per teammate, featuring roles and permissions, and integrations with popularly used collaboration tools.

74
Paymo

Paymo is a collaborative work management platform that helps track team progress, collaborate in context, and make smarter decisions. It acts as a single source of truth, where project planning, resource scheduling, file proofing, time tracking, and billing feed into each other to…

75
Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper is a web-based, co-editing tool that includes word processing, document creation and coordination features. The tool is free to use and allows multiple people to collaborate on a document.

Collaboration Tools TrustMap

TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on trScore and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 10 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.

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:

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:

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

Related Categories

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?

Examples of collaboration tools that focus on enabling business communication include: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, Fuze, Lifesize Video Conferencing, and Skype. Collaboration Tools that emphasize project & task management include: Trello, Airtable, Asana, Basecamp, Wrike, and Monday. Products that offer file storage and management features include: Google Drive, Dropbox Business, MS SharePoint, and Confluence.

What are the best collaboration tools?

The Top Rated collaboration tools in 2019 include:


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:


How much does collaboration software cost?

Along with free versions of the software, many collaboration tools range from $5 - $40 per user per month. Enterprise tier plans may cost more, depending on how many user licenses your business needs. Collaboration tools that provide cloud storage space may also increase based on the amount of space required.