Best Collaboration & Communication tools

Chat, meetings, whiteboards and async video.

92 tools ranked · updated 2026-08

1. Ranked 1

   90.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Novu

   Novu · Open-source notification infrastructure for multi-channel product messaging

   Best for: Development teams adding multi-channel product notifications to a web or mobile app.

   

2. Ranked 2

   79.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Plane

   Plane · Project management, wiki and AI agents in one workspace

   Best for: Teams leaving Jira or Linear that want projects, docs and AI agents in one self-hostable tool

   

3. Ranked 3

   78.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

   AgentMail

   AgentMail · Email inbox API that gives AI agents their own addresses

   Best for: Developers giving AI agents their own email inboxes for two-way threads, attachments and webhooks.

   

4. Ranked 4

   76.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Slack

   Slack · Channel-based team messaging with built-in AI and workflow automation

   Best for: Teams wanting channel-based messaging, huddles and AI summaries in one place, plus external chat.

   

5. Ranked 5

   70.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Macro Tasks

   Macro Tasks · Task management with GitHub-linked status and agents, inside your email workspace

   Best for: Engineering teams wanting tasks, email, chat and docs in one keyboard-driven workspace

   

6. Ranked 6

   69.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Baserow

   Baserow · Open-source no-code database and application builder, cloud or self-hosted

   Best for: Teams replacing spreadsheets with a database and no-code apps who need self-hosting or compliance

   

7. Ranked 7

   63.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Xmind

   Xmind · Mind mapping with AI generation, Gantt charts and team collaboration

   Best for: Individuals and small teams who want mind maps that turn into tasks, timelines and presentations

   

8. Ranked 8

   63.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Plunk

   Plunk · Open-source transactional, marketing and automation email in one platform

   Best for: Developers and small teams wanting transactional, campaign and automation email in one self-hostable tool

   

9. Ranked 8

   63.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

   Whereby

   Whereby · European-hosted video calling with an embeddable API

   Best for: Teams and developers wanting GDPR- and HIPAA-compliant video calls, hosted or embedded via API

   

10. Ranked 10

    61.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    LearnHouse

    LearnHouse · Open-source LMS for building, hosting and selling courses

    Best for: Course creators, schools and teams wanting a self-hostable LMS with built-in payments and white-labelling

    

11. Ranked 11

    60.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Inbox Zero

    Inbox Zero · AI email assistant that labels your inbox and drafts replies

    Best for: Gmail or Outlook users wanting an AI assistant to label email and pre-draft replies

    

12. Ranked 12

    57.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Affine

    Affine · Open-source docs, whiteboards and databases in one local-first workspace

    Best for: Individuals and small teams wanting docs, whiteboards and databases in one self-hostable workspace.

    

13. Ranked 13

    55.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Discourse

    Discourse · Community forum platform with chat, plugins and self-hosting

    Best for: Tech companies running a public support forum or product community they want to own outright.

    

14. Ranked 14

    54.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    MindMeister

    MindMeister · Online mind mapping with real-time collaboration and AI-generated maps

    Best for: Individuals and small teams who want browser-based mind mapping with real-time collaboration.

    

15. Ranked 15

    53.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Storyden

    Storyden · Self-hosted forum and community knowledge library

    Best for: Groups that want a self-hosted forum plus a library of lasting pages, on their own hardware.

    

16. Ranked 16

    52.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Slack

    Screenhero · Audio, video and screen sharing inside Slack

    Best for: Teams already working in Slack who want ad-hoc audio, video and screen sharing in the same app.

    

17. Ranked 17

    52 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Sayr

    Sayr · Source-available project management with a public feedback portal

    Best for: Small product teams wanting their internal board and public feedback portal in one self-hostable tool.

    

18. Ranked 18

    51.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Miro

    InVision · Shared visual canvas for planning, diagramming and workshops

    Best for: Product, design and engineering teams that plan and run collaborative work on a shared visual canvas

    

19. Ranked 18

    51.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Rocket.Chat

    Rocket.Chat · Self-hosted messaging, voice and video for classified environments

    Best for: Government, defence and regulated enterprises needing self-hosted or air-gapped team messaging.

    

20. Ranked 20

    51.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    useSend

    useSend · Open source transactional and marketing email, billed per message sent

    Best for: Developers and small teams sending transactional and marketing email who want open source and low cost

    

21. Ranked 21

    50.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Lucidchart

    Lucidchart · Diagramming with AI, data imports and real-time collaboration

    Best for: Teams documenting processes, org structures and technical systems as shared, editable diagrams.

    

22. Ranked 22

    49.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Franz

    Franz · Messengers, email and Signal in one desktop workspace

    Best for: Consultants, recruiters and founders juggling client chat, team chat, email and Signal on the desktop

    

23. Ranked 23

    49.1 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Huly

    Huly · Open-source all-in-one platform for projects, docs, chat and calls

    Best for: Developer and product teams wanting issues, docs, chat and video calls in one open-source tool

    

24. Ranked 24

    48.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    ONLYOFFICE Docs

    ONLYOFFICE Docs · Open source editor for documents, spreadsheets, slides, PDFs and forms

    Best for: Teams that want one editor for documents, spreadsheets, slides and PDFs inside their own platform

    

25. Ranked 25

    48.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Teable

    Teable · AI spreadsheet-database for apps, automations and workflows

    Best for: Small teams replacing scattered spreadsheets with a shared database, AI fields and automations

    

26. Ranked 26

    48.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    LogChimp

    LogChimp · Track user feedback to build better products

    Best for:

    

27. Ranked 27

    48.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    RustDesk

    RustDesk · Open-source remote desktop run on self-hosted servers

    Best for: IT support and admin teams wanting remote desktop access on servers they host themselves.

    

28. Ranked 28

    46.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    CryptPad

    CryptPad · End-to-end encrypted, open-source collaborative office suite

    Best for: Teams wanting collaborative documents kept end-to-end encrypted, hosted publicly or self-run

    

29. Ranked 29

    46.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Fluxer

    Fluxer · Open-source messaging, voice and video for groups and communities

    Best for: Friends, groups and communities wanting a free, open-source chat app with voice, video and self-hosting

    

30. Ranked 30

    46.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Zulip

    Zulip · Open-source team chat organised by conversation topics

    Best for: Distributed teams that want threaded team chat and a choice of managed cloud or self-hosting.

    

31. Ranked 31

    43.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Apache Answer

    Apache Answer · Open-source Q&A platform for forums, help centres and knowledge bases

    Best for: Teams running a community forum, help centre or knowledge base they host themselves.

    

32. Ranked 32

    43.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Fider

    Fider · Public feedback board where customers post and vote on feature requests

    Best for: Product managers and small SaaS teams wanting a public board for feature requests and voting

    

33. Ranked 33

    43.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Jami

    Jami · Peer-to-peer, end-to-end encrypted messaging and calls

    Best for: Individuals and small groups wanting private calls and messaging with no accounts or servers

    

34. Ranked 34

    43 — BenchRank score out of 100

    ntfy

    Ntfy · HTTP pub-sub push notifications to phone, desktop and web

    Best for: Developers and sysadmins sending push alerts to phone or desktop from scripts, cron jobs and APIs

    

35. Ranked 35

    42.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Dyte

    Dyte · Audio, video and live streaming SDKs to embed in your own app

    Best for: Developers embedding live audio, video or streaming into an existing web or mobile app

    

36. Ranked 36

    42.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Hyvor Relay

    Hyvor Relay · Open-source, self-hosted email API for developers

    Best for: Developers who want to self-host a transactional email API instead of using SES, Mailgun or SendGrid.

    

37. Ranked 37

    41.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Etherpad

    Etherpad · Self-hosted real-time collaborative editor with full authorship history

    Best for: Teams and institutions that must self-host collaborative editing and keep full authorship history.

    

38. Ranked 38

    40.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Sessy

    Sessy · Open-source email observability for AWS SES

    Best for: Developers sending through AWS SES who want delivery, bounce and engagement tracking they host themselves

    

39. Ranked 39

    40.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Nextcloud

    Nextcloud · Open source self-hosted content collaboration platform

    Best for: Organisations that want file sync, chat and office collaboration hosted on their own servers.

    

40. Ranked 40

    39.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    BigBlueButton

    BigBlueButton · Open source virtual classroom software for teachers and schools

    Best for: Teachers and schools wanting an open source virtual classroom they self-host or buy hosted

    

41. Ranked 41

    38.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Wire

    Wire · End-to-end encrypted messaging, calls and file sharing for organisations

    Best for: Organisations needing end-to-end encrypted messaging, calls and file sharing they control

    

42. Ranked 42

    38.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Ever Teams

    Ever Teams · Self-hosted or cloud work and time tracking with embeddable components

    Best for: Small teams and agencies wanting work and time tracking they can self-host or embed.

    

43. Ranked 43

    38.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Stoat

    Stoat · Open-source group chat for friends and communities

    Best for: Friends and online communities wanting a self-hostable, open-source group chat app

    

44. Ranked 44

    38.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Trillian

    Trillian · Instant messaging for individuals, business and healthcare

    Best for: Teams and healthcare practices wanting hosted or on-premises instant messaging with HIPAA options

    

45. Ranked 45

    38 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Excalidraw

    Excalidraw · Browser whiteboard for hand-drawn style diagrams

    Best for: People who want a quick browser-based sketch of a diagram with a hand-drawn look.

    

46. Ranked 46

    37.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Google Voice

    Google Voice · Cloud business phone system for Google Workspace

    Best for: Google Workspace organisations wanting a cloud phone system managed from the Admin console.

    

47. Ranked 47

    36.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Tuta

    Tuta · Encrypted email, calendar and contacts hosted in Germany

    Best for: Individuals and small teams wanting encrypted email, calendar and contacts hosted in Germany.

    

48. Ranked 48

    36.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Sync-in

    Sync-in · Open-source, self-hosted file sync, sharing and document collaboration

    Best for: Organisations that need file sharing and co-editing to stay on infrastructure they control.

    

49. Ranked 49

    35.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Mattermost

    Mattermost · Self-hosted collaboration and workflow automation for high-security teams

    Best for: Security, defence and critical infrastructure teams needing self-hosted, controlled collaboration.

    

50. Ranked 50

    35.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Linphone

    Linphone · Open-source VoIP, instant messaging and video conferencing, built in France

    Best for: Organisations and developers who need open-source SIP voice, video and messaging they can embed

    

51. Ranked 51

    35.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Keila

    Keila · Open source email newsletters, self-hosted or EU-hosted cloud

    Best for: Teams wanting an open source newsletter tool they can self-host or run on EU-hosted cloud

    

52. Ranked 52

    35.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Collabora Online

    Collabora Online · Open-source browser document editing you host yourself

    Best for: Organisations wanting browser-based document editing on their own infrastructure or via a partner

    

53. Ranked 53

    34.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Jitsi

    Jitsi · Open-source video conferencing for web and mobile

    Best for: Teams wanting free, open-source video meetings they can self-host or embed in their own app

    

54. Ranked 54

    34.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Flarum

    Flarum · Open-source, self-hosted forum software built on Laravel

    Best for: Teams self-hosting a community forum on their own PHP stack who want extensions and no licence cost

    

55. Ranked 55

    34.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    ClearFlask

    ClearFlask · Open-source feedback, roadmap and announcement tool

    Best for: Product teams collecting customer feedback and publishing a public roadmap, self-hosted or cloud

    

56. Ranked 56

    33.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Keybase

    Keybase · End-to-end encrypted messaging and file sharing for teams

    Best for: Families, clubs and companies wanting encrypted group chat and shared file storage

    

57. Ranked 57

    32.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Matrix

    Matrix · Open protocol for secure, decentralised communication

    Best for: Communities and developers wanting decentralised chat they can host themselves or build on

    

58. Ranked 58

    32 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Docs

    Docs · Open-source collaborative document editor you can self-host

    Best for: Teams wanting a self-hosted, real-time collaborative document editor with full control of their content.

    

59. Ranked 59

    31.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Remmina

    Remmina · Open source remote desktop client for RDP, SSH, VNC, SPICE and X2Go

    Best for: Linux desktop users who need one client for remote access to machines over RDP, SSH, VNC or X2Go

    

60. Ranked 60

    30.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Mezon

    Mezon · Community chat platform with clans, payments and AI agents

    Best for: Gaming and social communities wanting clan-based chat with voice, payments and bots

    

61. Ranked 61

    29.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Campfire

    Campfire · Self-hosted group chat you install and own, source included

    Best for: Teams wanting internal group chat on a server they run themselves, without a recurring subscription.

    

62. Ranked 62

    29.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    SendPortal

    Sendportal · Open-source self-hosted email marketing and newsletter software

    Best for: Teams with server capability who want to run their own newsletters instead of paying per subscriber

    

63. Ranked 63

    29 — BenchRank score out of 100

    eM Client

    eM Client · Desktop email, calendar and chat client for Windows and macOS

    Best for: Individuals and companies wanting one desktop app for email, calendar, contacts, notes and chat

    

64. Ranked 64

    27.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

    UltraVNC

    UltraVNC · Free GPL VNC remote desktop and support tool for Windows

    Best for: IT and help-desk staff who need free remote control of Windows PCs, including commercial use.

    

65. Ranked 65

    26.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Disroot

    Disroot · Donation-funded platform of privacy-focused online services

    Best for: Individuals and groups wanting privacy-focused email, cloud and chat on a donation-funded platform

    

66. Ranked 66

    26.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Twake Mail

    Twake Mail · Open-source JMAP e-mail with PGP encryption and on-premise deployment

    Best for: Teams wanting an open-source, self-hostable e-mail service with PGP encryption

    

67. Ranked 67

    26 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Buzz

    Buzz · Shared workspace for human and agent teams

    Best for: Dev teams wanting chat, planning and git work with AI agents in one shared workspace

    

68. Ranked 68

    25.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Snapify

    Snapify · Open source async screen recording and video sharing

    Best for: Teams that want async screen recordings they can self-host or have hosted for them.

    

69. Ranked 69

    25.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Roundcube

    Roundcube · Open source browser-based IMAP webmail client written in PHP

    Best for: Mail hosts and self-hosters wanting a browser front end for an existing IMAP server

    

70. Ranked 70

    25.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Ethora

    Ethora · Chat and AI agent SDKs for web and mobile apps

    Best for: Dev teams adding chat or AI assistants to regulated apps needing HIPAA-ready, self-hosted options

    

71. Ranked 71

    24.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Twake Chat

    Twake Chat · Open source Matrix messenger for cloud or on-premise use

    Best for: Teams wanting a self-hostable, Matrix-based messenger they can run on their own infrastructure

    

72. Ranked 72

    24.1 — BenchRank score out of 100

    OpenCloud

    OpenCloud · Open source file sharing and collaboration for digitally sovereign teams

    Best for: Public sector, research, education and business teams needing on-premise or partner-hosted file sharing

    

73. Ranked 73

    23.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Threema

    Threema · Swiss end-to-end encrypted messenger for individuals and organisations

    Best for: Organisations needing GDPR-compliant encrypted messaging with central user management

    

74. Ranked 74

    23.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Colanode

    Colanode · Open-source, local-first workspace for chat, notes, databases and files

    Best for: Teams wanting a self-hostable Slack and Notion alternative with chat, docs, databases and files

    

75. Ranked 75

    22.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    FreeOffice

    SoftMaker FreeOffice · Free office suite for Windows, macOS and Linux

    Best for: Individuals and businesses wanting a free suite that opens Word, Excel and PowerPoint files

    

76. Ranked 76

    22.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Element

    Element · Matrix-based encrypted messaging and collaboration you host yourself

    Best for: Governments and organisations needing self-hosted, encrypted messaging they run and control.

    

77. Ranked 77

    22.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Hypothesis

    Hypothes.is · Social annotation for course readings inside the LMS

    Best for: Higher-education faculty who want students annotating course readings inside their LMS.

    

78. Ranked 78

    21.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Chrome Remote Desktop

    Chrome Remote Desktop · Remote access to your own computers, plus screen sharing for support

    Best for: People who need to reach their own home or work computer remotely, or give ad-hoc remote support.

    

79. Ranked 79

    21.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Cinny

    Cinny · Open-source Matrix chat client with end-to-end encryption

    Best for: Communities already on Matrix wanting an open-source web client with end-to-end encryption

    

80. Ranked 80

    21.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    mailbox

    mailbox · Email, Drive, Meet and Office hosted in German data centres

    Best for: Individuals and businesses wanting email, files and meetings hosted under EU data-protection rules

    

81. Ranked 81

    21 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Lemmy

    Lemmy · Decentralised, self-hostable discussion platform for communities

    Best for: Communities that want an ad-free, self-hostable Reddit-style discussion forum they run themselves

    

82. Ranked 82

    20.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    WorkAdventure

    Workadventure · Virtual office and event world with avatars and proximity conversations

    Best for: Remote and hybrid teams, event hosts and educators wanting a browser-based virtual office space

    

83. Ranked 83

    20.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    PeekFlow

    FeaturePeek · Real-time comment and reaction overlay for any webpage or app

    Best for: Remote product teams and educators giving visual feedback directly on a webpage or app

    

84. Ranked 84

    19.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

    FreeScout

    Freescout · Self-hosted open source help desk and shared mailbox

    Best for: Teams wanting a self-hosted shared inbox and help desk on ordinary PHP/MySQL hosting

    

85. Ranked 85

    19.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    NoMachine

    NoMachine · Remote desktop and terminal access over the NX protocol

    Best for: Individuals and IT teams needing remote desktop and shell access to Mac, PC or Linux machines

    

86. Ranked 86

    19.3 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Quiet

    Quiet · Peer-to-peer team chat over Tor with no servers

    Best for: Teams and communities wanting Slack-style chat without servers, phone numbers or a host

    

87. Ranked 87

    16.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    dDocs

    dDocs · Open-source, end-to-end encrypted document editor

    Best for: Writers and teams who want an encrypted, AI-free editor for drafting and collaborative review

    

88. Ranked 88

    16 — BenchRank score out of 100

    TigerVNC

    TigerVNC · Platform-neutral VNC client and server for remote graphical applications

    Best for: Teams needing remote graphical desktop access across Linux, Windows and macOS, including 3D apps

    

89. Ranked 89

    15.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Zenter

    Zenter · Insights from Googlers into our products, technology, and the Google culture

    Best for:

    

90. Ranked 90

    15 — BenchRank score out of 100

    TightVNC

    TightVNC · Free, open-source VNC-compatible remote desktop software

    Best for: Teams needing free, open-source remote desktop access to Windows, Unix/Linux or macOS machines

    

91. Ranked 90

    15 — BenchRank score out of 100

    UnInbox

    UnInbox · Shared inboxes, infinite addresses, and per email workflows

    Best for: Teams sharing email addresses that need to track who has replied, using an open source tool

    

92. Ranked 92

    14.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Flok

    Flok · Corporate retreat design and delivery for distributed teams

    Best for: Remote and distributed tech companies outsourcing the design and delivery of a company retreat.