A team chat tool is the one piece of software every employee opens before anything else, which makes the wrong choice expensive in a quiet way. Messages scatter across channels nobody archived, a free plan hides last quarter's decisions behind a paywall, and a per-seat price that looked trivial for ten people stops being trivial at eighty. Most small companies already own a chat product through Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, so the useful question is when a dedicated tool earns its keep. We ranked thirteen products for a small or mid-sized business on how long the free tier really lasts, how conversations are structured when volume grows, what an administrator can export, and whether the vendor leaves you any way out. The three largest names are listed but cannot take the top places.
Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the
shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in team chat software
cannot hold places 1 to 3. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
How we ranked these
Setup: channels, guests and the first week of habits
Creating a workspace takes minutes in every cloud product here. The work is deciding how people will talk. A flat list of channels turns into noise by the second month unless someone sets naming rules, decides which channels are announcement-only, and picks a home for client conversations. We looked at how each product helps with that: threading models that keep a discussion in one place, the ease of inviting outside guests without paying for them, import from an existing tool, and notification defaults that do not train people to mute everything. Self-hosted products add a different kind of setup, a server, a database, backups and upgrades, which is a real task for whoever owns IT. We weighed that honestly rather than treating open source as free.
The real price: what the free tier forgets
Free plans in this category are bargains with a catch, and the catch differs by vendor. Some hide history after a window, some cap the number of people, some limit integrations or block group video. Slack's free plan shows 90 days of messages, while Pumble keeps unlimited history on its free tier. Paid prices then span a wide range, from a few dollars per user per month to tiers over forty euros for the enterprise level. The numbers that decide a bill are guest seats, storage per user, video meeting size and whether single sign-on sits behind the top plan. Self-hosted options replace a license with server time and administrator hours. Where a vendor shows no price, we say so, because quote-only pricing is itself information.
Getting your data out: archives, exports and retention
A chat history is a company record, and it is also the first thing lost in a migration. Messages hold decisions, customer promises and sometimes personal data that regulators can ask for. We checked what an administrator can export without filing a ticket, whether private channels and direct messages are covered, how retention periods are set, and whether files come out with their messages. On several products the full export, including private conversations, is reserved for a higher plan, so a small company may be unable to retrieve its own history. Encryption design matters here too: a product with end-to-end encryption by default cannot offer server-side search or compliance export the way others do, and buyers should know that trade before choosing.
Independence from the vendor: protocols, licenses and hosting
Chat is sticky because it holds habits, not just data. People stay where their colleagues are. That makes the vendor's long-term behavior matter more than a feature list: who owns the company, whether the code is open, whether you can run the software yourself, and what happens when the owner changes strategy or raises prices. Zulip publishes all of its code, Nextcloud Talk and Element run on your own servers, and Matrix, the protocol behind Element, lets separate organizations talk to each other without sharing a vendor. At the other end, Slack belongs to Salesforce and Teams to Microsoft's suite. We gave credit for open licenses, a choice of hosting country, and federation, and we counted a missing self-hosting option as a limit.
Who it's for: companies with more than email but less than an IT department
The buyer is a company of roughly five to five hundred people whose staff are spread across offices, time zones or client sites, and whose email threads have become unmanageable. Within that group the right pick splits three ways. Teams already paying for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace should test the bundled chat first. Cost-driven companies and agencies are better served by a cheap dedicated tool with a generous free tier. Organizations with legal reasons to control where messages live, such as public bodies, law firms, health providers and defense suppliers, should look at the self-hosted and Swiss or German options. Very large enterprises with a compliance team will buy through their existing suite or a quoted contract.
The 13 tools, reviewed
#1 Pumble
Free-first team chat from the makers of Clockify · United States · pumble.com
Free history Low price Slack alternative
Pumble solves the complaint that sends most small companies shopping for a Slack replacement: the history disappears or the bill climbs. Its free plan allows unlimited users, channels and message history, and the first paid tier costs about two and a half dollars per seat on annual billing. Business adds guest access and permissions, and Enterprise brings single sign-on, retention controls and audit logs. It is owned by CAKE.com, the company behind Clockify and Plaky, which offers a bundle with time tracking and project boards. For a team of fifteen that wants channels, threads and calls without a procurement exercise, it is the easiest yes in this list.
Where it falls short
The integration catalog is far thinner than Slack's, and the free plan limits storage to 10 GB for the whole workspace and video to one-to-one calls. Guest access waits until the Business plan. It is a young product with less depth in workflow automation, and enterprise governance features sit on the top tier.
Wrong for
Companies that run their business through dozens of connected apps or need deep workflow automation should stay on Slack or Microsoft Teams. Organizations needing on-premises hosting or end-to-end encryption should read the Wire and Mattermost entries.
Pricing: Free plan with unlimited users and history; Pro $2.49, Business $3.99 and Enterprise $6.99 per seat per month on annual billing. (free plan)
Visit Pumble →
#2 Zulip
Open source team chat built around topics · United States · zulip.com
Open source Topic threads Self-hostable
Zulip changes the unit of conversation. Each message belongs to a channel and a topic, so a discussion about a release, an invoice dispute or a hiring decision stays together, and a person returning from vacation reads topics instead of scrolling a river of replies. Teams spread across time zones, open source projects and universities have used it for years for that reason. It is fully open source with no open-core split, according to its own plans page, and you can pay for hosting or run it yourself, with discounts for nonprofits. If the team will write longer messages and read them later, nothing else here handles volume better.
Where it falls short
The topic habit has to be learned, and people used to Slack often find it fussy at first. The cloud free plan searches only the latest 10,000 messages and holds 5 GB. The integration list and mobile polish are smaller than the commercial leaders'. Self-hosting needs real administration, and some enterprise support options sit above the Basic tier.
Wrong for
Teams that want quick casual banter, a huge app marketplace or a tool nobody has to be taught should pick Slack or Pumble. Companies without anyone willing to maintain a server should use the hosted plans.
Pricing: Cloud: free plan with 10,000 searchable messages; Standard $6.67 per user per month annual. Self-hosted from $3.50 per user per month, free for eligible organizations. (free plan)
Visit Zulip →
#3 Chanty
Simple team chat with built-in tasks and calls · United States · chanty.com
Built-in tasks Low price Voice-first
Chanty is chat for a team that also wants a to-do list in the same window. A message can be turned into a task, tasks live on a board, and voice messages and group calls are part of the paid plan. The Business plan at €3 per user per month includes 20 GB of storage per user and a 24/7 support promise, and each paid member brings three free guest seats, which suits agencies with many clients. The free plan stops at five members, which is honest and sufficient for a founding team. It sits above the bigger names for price and ease, and below the first two for the free-tier ceiling.
Where it falls short
The five-member cap forces an upgrade early. The product is smaller than the commercial leaders, with fewer integrations and thinner admin tooling, and single sign-on and directory sync only arrive on the quoted Enterprise tier. Its task boards are basic compared to a real project tool.
Wrong for
Companies with more than fifty people, deep compliance duties or heavy app integration should look at Slack, Teams or Mattermost. Teams already running a full project management tool will find the task features redundant.
Pricing: Free for up to 5 members; Business is €3 per user per month billed annually or €4 monthly; Enterprise is quoted. (free plan)
Visit Chanty →
#4 Slack
The original business chat platform, now part of Salesforce · United States · slack.com
App ecosystem Salesforce company Huddles
Slack is what the rest of the category is compared to. Channels, threads, huddles and the integration directory are well tuned, and shared channels let two companies work in one place without email. Business+ adds the Slackbot assistant and workflow automation, which matter to operations teams that stitch together a ticketing tool, a CRM and a code host. Salesforce owns it, and CRM data increasingly appears inside the product. We list it fourth because the price reaches €15 per user on the plan most companies need, and because several cheaper tools do the core job. Where the integrations are the point, it is still the one to beat.
Where it falls short
The free plan shows only 90 days of history and 10 integrations, and group meetings need a paid plan. Costs climb quickly with headcount, and features that matter for compliance sit on Enterprise+. AI additions are bundled into higher tiers, and the product's direction is now set by a larger CRM vendor.
Wrong for
Cost-sensitive companies, nonprofits and teams that mostly need channels and files should compare Pumble, Zulip and Chanty. Buyers who need self-hosting or data control should read the Mattermost and Element entries.
Pricing: Free plan with 90-day history; Pro €6.75, Business+ €15 per user per month annual; Enterprise+ quoted around €45 per user. (free plan)
Visit Slack →
#5 Microsoft Teams
Microsoft's chat, channel and meeting hub · United States · microsoft.com
Microsoft 365 Meetings built in Enterprise admin
For a company that already runs Outlook, SharePoint and Word online, Teams is chat that costs nothing extra to try and connects to documents people already edit. Channels are tied to SharePoint libraries, meetings share the same window, and the admin center covers policies, retention and guest access through the same identity system used for email. Microsoft's own page positions it as group chat inside the wider suite. That integration is the whole argument. For a Microsoft shop, a month of honest use is the right first step before looking at anything on this page.
Where it falls short
The product tries to be chat, meeting room, file store and phone system, so the interface is crowded and search is uneven. Channel structure can feel heavy, and guest access takes administrator work. Outside the Microsoft suite its advantages mostly disappear, and the dependence on one vendor deepens.
Wrong for
Companies on Google Workspace, or those that want a light, fast channel tool, should skip it for Google Chat, Pumble or Slack. Teams wanting self-hosting should look at Mattermost or Nextcloud Talk.
Pricing: Included in Microsoft 365 business plans, with a free version for basic use; confirm current prices on Microsoft's site. (free plan)
Visit Microsoft Teams →
#6 Google Chat
Google Workspace's built-in messaging and spaces · United States · workspace.google.com
Workspace bundle Spaces Gemini AI
Google Chat suits a company that already pays for Workspace and wants conversation next to its documents. Spaces are permanent rooms that, per Google's page, can hold up to 500,000 members, messages sit beside Gmail, Calendar and Drive, and tasks can be assigned inside a conversation. Gemini can summarize a space or shared files and translate messages. Since it comes with the Workspace plan, trying it costs only time, and the Starter plan at €6.80 per user already includes it alongside email and storage. For Workspace users it is the first thing to test before adding a second chat subscription.
Where it falls short
It is built around Google's identity and suite, so a company on Microsoft 365 gets little from it. Threading and channel organization are plainer than at Slack or Zulip, third-party integrations are fewer, and the product has changed names and direction over the years. There is no way to self-host.
Wrong for
Companies not using Google Workspace, and teams wanting deep workflow integrations or data control outside Google's cloud, should look at Slack, Pumble, or Mattermost.
Pricing: Included with Google Workspace plans, which list at €6.80, €13.60 and €21.10 per user per month; 14-day trial of Workspace. (free trial)
Visit Google Chat →
#7 Zoho Cliq
Team chat inside the Zoho business suite · India · zoho.com
Zoho suite Free plan Automation
Cliq is chat for companies that already keep customers in Zoho CRM, invoices in Zoho Books and projects in Zoho Projects, because messages and bots can pull records from those apps. It offers meetings with a shared whiteboard, automation and custom components for developers, and Zoho cites around 500,000 users. The free plan allows channels of up to 100 participants and searches 10,000 messages, while call recording, external channels and a custom domain need a paid plan. Add-ons for storage and for phone systems exist. If the rest of your software is already Zoho, Cliq is the cheap and logical choice; if not, other tools are better.
Where it falls short
It is plainly tied to Zoho, so outside that suite the integration advantage shrinks. Free plan search is capped at 10,000 messages and several features, such as recording and external channels, are paid. Professional and Enterprise tiers require ten users, and the interface is less refined than Slack's.
Wrong for
Companies without any Zoho product should pick Pumble, Chanty or Slack. Buyers needing end-to-end encryption or on-premises hosting should look at Wire, Threema Work or Mattermost.
Pricing: Free plan plus Standard, Professional and Enterprise tiers; 10% off for yearly billing; Professional and Enterprise need 10 users. (free plan)
Visit Zoho Cliq →
#8 Mattermost
Self-hosted collaboration for secure and regulated work · United States · mattermost.com
Self-hosted DevSecOps Air-gapped
Mattermost targets organizations that treat chat as part of an operational system: incident response, DevSecOps pipelines, government and defense work. It runs on your own infrastructure, on a private cloud or as a single-tenant managed service, including air-gapped networks, and its company page describes offices in several countries chosen for data residency. Licenses are sold per seat per server, even for federated servers, and core search supports up to 3 million posts before Enterprise Search is advised. It ranks eighth because the buyer it serves is narrower than a typical small business, though inside that niche it is hard to replace.
Where it falls short
No prices are published, and the page lists no free production tier, only a limited evaluation edition. Running it requires infrastructure and someone to patch it. The product is oriented to technical and mission-critical teams, so ordinary office staff may find the surrounding tooling more than they need.
Wrong for
Small companies wanting quick cloud chat at a low price should choose Pumble, Chanty or Slack. Teams without IT staff to run a server should avoid the self-hosted route and use a hosted plan elsewhere.
Pricing: Prepaid annual seat licenses with Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced tiers priced on request; limited-use evaluation edition at no cost. (free trial)
Visit Mattermost →
#9 Nextcloud Talk
Open source chat and calls inside Nextcloud · Germany · nextcloud.com
Open source Self-hosted German vendor
Talk is the communication layer of Nextcloud, the open source file platform used by public bodies and European companies that want to keep data on their own servers. Chat, calls, screen sharing and webinars sit beside Files, Calendar and the office suite, and Nextcloud describes calls and chats as end-to-end encrypted, with federation between separate servers and AI transcription. Unlike Teams or Slack, it prevents even metadata leaving your infrastructure, since you operate the server. For a school, municipality or law firm already storing documents in Nextcloud, adding Talk costs little and removes a vendor.
Where it falls short
It makes sense mainly as part of Nextcloud, not as a stand-alone chat product, and the channel experience is plainer than Slack's. Phone dial-in requires the High Performance Backend, which is an extra component to run. You need server skills or a hosting partner, and app integrations are fewer.
Wrong for
Companies without a Nextcloud installation or an administrator should choose a hosted tool such as Pumble, Slack or Chanty. Teams that need a deep marketplace of chat bots will find it thin.
Pricing: Open source software you host yourself; Nextcloud sells support subscriptions, and we could not confirm a price on its Talk page. (open source)
Visit Nextcloud Talk →
#10 Wire
End-to-end encrypted chat and calls for business · Switzerland · wire.com
End-to-end encrypted Swiss vendor On-premises option
Wire is for teams whose messages are sensitive enough that the vendor should not be able to read them. Chat, calls and file sharing are end-to-end encrypted, the company is Swiss, and it offers cloud, on-premises and hybrid deployments. The SMB tier supports video conferences of up to 150 participants, single sign-on and admin controls, and nonprofits can request a 40% discount. It suits law firms, consultancies, health practices and any business discussing mergers or client secrets. The price, near €7.45 per user, is the highest of the small-business plans here, and the free plan stops at five people.
Where it falls short
It costs more per seat than mainstream tools and has a much smaller integration catalog. End-to-end encryption limits what an administrator can search or export on the server, and small-business buyers outside regulated work may not need it. Teams of over 100 people are pushed into a quoted contract.
Wrong for
Cost-driven companies and anyone who wants a large marketplace of bots and integrations should use Pumble, Slack or Chanty. Organizations wanting an open source codebase to audit should read the Zulip and Element entries.
Pricing: Free for up to 5 people; SMB is €7.45 per person per month annual (€8.94 monthly) up to 100 people; Enterprise is quoted. (free plan)
Visit Wire →
#11 Threema Work
Swiss end-to-end encrypted messenger for organizations · Switzerland · threema.com
Swiss-hosted Encrypted OnPrem option
Threema Work takes a messenger with a strong privacy record and adds an administrator console. Servers are operated exclusively in Switzerland on the company's own infrastructure, message content is visible only to the sender and the recipient, and clients named on its page include Mercedes-Benz Group, EDEKA, Swiss government bodies and emergency services. Core costs CHF 3 per user per month and Professional CHF 5. A 30-day trial supports up to 30 users, and an on-premises edition exists for organizations with 200 or more users on a three-year minimum contract. It ranks eleventh because it is closer to a secure messenger than a workspace.
Where it falls short
There are no rich channels, threads or app integrations to speak of, so it replaces WhatsApp more than Slack. The on-premises edition has a three-year minimum and is aimed at large organizations. Search and history features are limited by its encryption model.
Wrong for
Companies wanting searchable channels, a bot marketplace or project-style collaboration should choose Slack, Pumble or Zulip. Buyers who need an open codebase to audit should look at Element or Zulip.
Pricing: Core is CHF 3 per user per month and Professional CHF 5; 30-day free trial for up to 30 users; OnPrem is quoted. (free trial)
Visit Threema Work →
#12 Element
Matrix-based secure collaboration you host yourself · United Kingdom · element.io
Matrix protocol Federation Self-hosted
Element is the best-known client for Matrix, an open standard that lets separate organizations run their own servers and still talk to each other. Everything is end-to-end encrypted by default, and every plan is self-hosted, including a Sovereign tier that runs in air-gapped networks with a custom push gateway. The Community edition and Element Call cost nothing. Enterprise adds Synapse Pro, which Element says needs far fewer resources at scale. It suits ministries, defense bodies and companies that must prove nobody else can reach their messages. For most small businesses it is more infrastructure than they want.
Where it falls short
All plans are self-hosted, so there is no simple hosted option to start with, and Enterprise is priced for 100 or more users. The Community edition is meant for evaluations and non-professional use. The interface and onboarding are less friendly than Slack's, and running Synapse is an operational job.
Wrong for
Small teams wanting hosted chat in five minutes should choose Pumble, Chanty or Slack. Companies with no administrator to run servers should avoid it.
Pricing: Community edition is free and open source (AGPL); Enterprise is priced per seat per month for 100+ users; Sovereign is priced per deployment. (open source)
Visit Element →
#13 Rocket.Chat
Sovereign chat for regulated and public-sector buyers · United States · rocket.chat
Air-gapped Matrix federation Government
Rocket.Chat is built for organizations that must control where their communications run. Its plans, Commercial, Government and Defense, support on-premises, sovereign cloud and fully air-gapped deployments, and the company lists ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA and GDPR compliance, as well as federation through Matrix. A free Starter plan covers evaluation, small businesses and nonprofits. For a ministry, a defense supplier or a regulated financial firm that needs chat to run inside its own network, this is a serious candidate. It sits at the bottom of this list because ordinary small-business buyers are not its audience.
Where it falls short
Pricing is not published, the headquarters is a registered address with a fully remote team, and the pricing pages push buyers toward sales. The enterprise packaging is heavy for a small company, and running it yourself needs infrastructure skills. Defense and government features offer nothing to an office team.
Wrong for
Small and mid-sized companies wanting self-serve cloud chat should choose Pumble, Chanty or Slack. Teams wanting transparent per-user prices for self-hosting should compare Zulip.
Pricing: Free Starter plan for evaluation and small organizations; Commercial, Government and Defense plans are quoted. (free plan)
Visit Rocket.Chat →
What the data says about this market
Three products set the pace in business chat. Slack defined the category and now sits inside Salesforce, Microsoft Teams is attached to Microsoft 365 licenses, and Google Chat comes with Google Workspace at no extra charge according to Google's own product page. For most companies the decision is therefore made by the productivity suite they already run, and a standalone chat tool has to justify a second subscription. Smaller vendors compete on three things: a free plan that does not expire, a price far under Slack, or control over where the software runs.
The thirteen products here are not evenly spread. Eight are headquartered in the United States, two in Switzerland (Wire and Threema), and one each in India, Germany and the United Kingdom. Eight offer a free plan, two more, Nextcloud Talk and Element, are open source, and Mattermost, Threema Work and Google Chat lean on trials or on bundling with a suite. Mattermost, Rocket.Chat and Element publish no per-seat price for their commercial tiers and expect a sales conversation, while Pumble, Zulip, Slack, Chanty, Wire and Threema post numbers anyone can read.
The visible shift is toward sovereignty and away from pure convenience. Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Element and Wire all describe on-premises or air-gapped deployment as a core offer, aimed at governments, defense suppliers and regulated firms, while Slack and Google emphasize AI assistants that summarize channels and translate messages. The World Bank series on ICT service exports shows the European Union at 17.55% of service exports in 2023, up from 10.58% in 2013, and the continent's software vendors have used that growth to sell location of data as a feature. Where the messages are stored now comes up in ordinary procurement, not only in security reviews.
The 13 ranked vendors, counted
- Headquarters by region: North America 8, Europe 4, Asia-Pacific 1
- By country: United States 8, Switzerland 2, Germany 1, India 1, United Kingdom 1
- Pricing model: Per user / month 6, Open source + paid tiers 2, Quote only 2, Bundled with Google Workspace 1, Bundled with Microsoft 365 1, Per seat / month 1
- Free option: Free plan 8, Free trial 3, Open source 2
Counted from the 13 vendors on this page. More in our market data.
For the wider market behind team chat software, read our report The Global Shift to ICT Services,
or browse all industry reports.
Questions and answers
What is the best team chat software in 2026?
For most small businesses, Pumble ranks first: a free plan with unlimited users and unlimited message history, and paid plans that start at $2.49 per seat per month on annual billing. Zulip is the better pick for teams with long, technical, asynchronous discussions, since its topic threads keep every conversation separate. Chanty suits very small groups that want chat with built-in tasks. Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat are the incumbents, and companies already paying for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace should test the included chat before buying anything else.
Is Slack still worth paying for?
Slack's integrations directory and polish are still the broadest in the category, and for a company that lives in dozens of connected apps that has real value. The free plan, however, shows only 90 days of messages and 10 app integrations, and the paid tiers start at €6.75 per user per month on annual billing. Companies that mostly want channels, threads and file sharing can pay a fraction of that elsewhere. Salesforce ownership also matters if you dislike being tied to a larger suite.
Can a free team chat plan really work for a business?
It can, if you check the limit first. Pumble's free plan has unlimited message history, Chanty's free plan stops at five members, Zulip's cloud free plan searches only 10,000 messages, and Zoho Cliq's free plan has the same 10,000-message search cap. Pick the plan whose limit your company will not reach in the next year, and put a calendar reminder at the point where you expect to outgrow it.
What is the difference between channels and topic threads?
A channel is a standing room, usually organized by team or project, where messages arrive in time order and replies hang off individual posts. Zulip adds a second level, the topic, so each conversation inside a channel has its own title and can be read or muted separately. People who are away for a day can catch up on topics instead of scrolling. The model asks more discipline from writers and pays off most in large, asynchronous groups.
Which team chat tools can be self-hosted?
In this list, Zulip, Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Element, Nextcloud Talk and Wire can run on your own servers, and Threema Work offers a separate on-premises edition called OnPrem. Element is self-hosted only. Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Pumble, Chanty and Zoho Cliq are cloud services. Self-hosting buys data control and costs administrator time, so it suits organizations with an IT person or a managed hosting contract.
Is end-to-end encryption available in business chat?
Some products offer it by default and others do not. Wire, Threema Work and Element describe end-to-end encryption as a core design, and Nextcloud Talk offers encrypted calls and chats. The trade is that the server cannot read messages, which limits server-side search, eDiscovery and some integrations. Slack, Teams and Google Chat promote AI summaries and compliance exports, which depend on the server being able to process message content.
How much does team chat cost per user?
Dedicated tools run from about $2.49 per user per month for Pumble Pro, through €3 for Chanty Business and CHF 3 for Threema Work Core, to €6.75 for Slack Pro and €7.45 for Wire's small-business plan, all on annual billing. Enterprise tiers cost more, and Slack's Enterprise+ is listed at €45. Mattermost, Rocket.Chat and Element publish no per-seat prices. Compare plans that include single sign-on, because that is where bills grow.
Do guests and clients need a paid seat?
It depends on the vendor. Chanty's Business plan includes three free guest seats per paid member, while Pumble reserves guest access for its Business plan and above, so its free and Pro tiers have none. Other vendors count every invited person as a seat. Read the guest rule before inviting clients, since an agency can easily have more outsiders than employees.
Can we move our history from Slack to another tool?
Usually yes for public channels, less so for private ones. Check whether the destination documents an importer for Slack's export file before you commit. The catch is the export itself: on lower Slack plans an administrator may be limited to public channels, and attachments often arrive as links rather than files. Run a test import with one channel before committing, and keep the original export archived.
Should chat replace email inside a company?
It should replace internal email, not external. Chat works for quick questions, status and coordination, and it fails for formal approvals and anything that needs a record outside the tool. Agree on a rule that decisions are copied to a document or ticket. Companies that skip this end up with the same missing history in a new place, and must pay again to search it.
What happens to chat history on a free plan?
The answer varies. Slack keeps older messages but hides them from view after 90 days until you upgrade. Zulip's cloud free plan searches only the most recent 10,000 messages. Pumble displays everything, and Chanty's free plan is limited by team size rather than by history. Ask the question before the first important decision lands in a channel.
