Flowdock vs. Zoho Mail

Flowdock is well suited for small teams and to environments that doesn't need too much reliability. I think it has some management problems that can make your life difficult if you have to manage a big amount of users. If you want just a tool communication with basic features (without using any integration or robust features) it can be suitable for you. You should try Flowdock using its free version for a small team and compare with others similar products. Flowdock delivers team chat and collaboration features, but is not necessarily the best product. Maybe some usability problems that disturb me won't be so relevant to you.

Incentivized

If you don't have a huge budget and want something that works with minor quirks here and there then Zoho Mail is definitely something you should look into. For half the price of Google G Suite or Office account you get 5GB of storage per user and can send up to 25MB emails without restrictions. Great for small businesses in my opinion. I have had some issues with their spam filter, but we use SpamTitan and just shut off the one that comes with Zoho Mail. Zoho's spam filter isn't horrible but you should definitely use something in addition or instead of what comes with Zoho.

Incentivized

• Possibility to integrate with external services such as e-mail (send messages to a flow inbox from your e-mail), twitter, github, confluence, jira, single sign-on, etc. Using those integrations you can easily improve your team productivity by centralizing all useful information in just one point.
• Very easy to configure. You can get it running for your company or team in a few minutes. Furthermore, almost all platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android) have an app to install and there is a web version that can also be used.
• Powerful communication tool. You can separate differents subjects in to separated "flows" or channels. In addition, you can invite people to join just one channel increasing privacy for others members.
• Free version up to 5 users. If you are a non-profit organization or have a student project, they say that is possible to work with that too. In other case, you have to pay per user/month.

Incentivized

• I really like that there is a free version in which a single user can be created. It is really useful because it allows you to evaluate each characteristic of the service without having to buy it.
• I also really like the visual aspect of the inbox, which is partially customizable. Because you can make small changes such as changing the color, the language, and among other things.

Incentivized

• One thing a little bit annoying is that a lot of links to others Flowdock sections (preferences, external services, etc) will open a new window/tab. Each click may take you to a new window and you can get lost easily.
• There isn't a quick access list to members of your organization to start a private chat. I took a while to find how to do that. The interface and usability could be better.
• There isn't an app for Windows Phone.
• Sometimes you try to load some conversation and it doesn't show anything. It is not frequently but happens sometimes.

Incentivized

• When receiving an email with images that are not displayed automatically, you have to activate this function manually. It is a bit uncomfortable, I would prefer that it be activated automatically
• The filter to search for information is not very accurate and unfriendly
• The way to manage the storage capacity and to buy more space for the mail is not very friendly

Incentivized

I go with the flow because I'm a newer employee and Flowdock works as advertised. If it were my decision to choose a team communciator for the organization, I'd recommend we go with Slack for its robust features and ever-changing/evolving software integrations. Slack is the outright innovator in the space and will continue to hold that role for some time.

It is very easy to use and does all you need. It sends newsletters to their own folder. A notification folder for more important things. The Spam folder collect the right amount of spam emails

Incentivized

I have spoken with Zoho several times and their support is always friendly and helpful. I have always been asked for security pins and codes when seeking assistance which helps me to feel my accounts are secure and I have never had to wait on hold to speak with someone for more than 5 minutes. They always seem to have someone available to help. If you call asking for instructions on how to do something they gladly walk you through the process and if you just need something done and don't have time to do it yourself they will happily customize whatever you need without you having to spend all day with it.

Incentivized

Slack is a similar software.

Private chat or channels are well implemented in both softwares and both are also very easy to setup.

Besides of some usability problemas I think Flowdock is still better than Slack in this user experience and design.

The second point is the price. Flowdock is half price of Slack ($3/month). If you are a student or a non-profit organization, you are able to get some special license.

Incentivized

Zoho is free. Also, there is no need for a separate IT guy for creating mail, or if any issues come you don't have to find anyone anyone can check and fix all issues from their super admin panel. Zoho overview is much better than outlook and its appearance of getting mail popup and functionality is better than outlook. My friend suggested for this and also after using I have referred my friend

• Increasing productivity by reducing idleness, e-mail flooding, miscommunication and accidentally deleted files. We have increasead about 30% our productivity since whe start using Flowdock.

Incentivized

• We have several email accounts for a low cost
• Easy to train new staff on the system
• Some confusion exists over Zoho One accounts and what is included

Incentivized