Slack’s free plan deletes your messages after 90 days, and paid plans cost $7.25+/user/month. Here are the best team communication apps with unlimited history, lower costs, and better organization.
Each app below addresses a specific gap in Slack's offering. We picked them based on real user review patterns and feature differentiation.
Free plan includes unlimited chat history, 60-minute video meetings for up to 100 people, and 5 GB file storage. Paid plans start at $4/user/month and include the full Microsoft 365 suite. The default choice for organizations already using Outlook, Word, and Excel.
Explore Microsoft Teams data →Included with Google Workspace, deeply integrated with Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Meet. View and edit files directly in conversations. If your team lives in Google apps, Chat is a natural fit that eliminates the need for a separate messaging tool.
Explore Google Chat data →Originally built for gamers but now widely used by remote teams, open-source projects, and communities. Excellent voice channels, screen sharing, and threading. Generous free tier with unlimited message history and no user cap.
Explore Discord data →Unlimited searchable message history on both free and paid plans — the feature Slack charges for. Built-in task management via Teambook, voice and video calls, and a clean interface. Free for up to 5 members. Business plan starts at just $3/user/month.
Explore Chanty data →Fully open-source alternative you can self-host for complete data control. Channels, threads, file sharing, video conferencing, and end-to-end encryption. Popular with regulated industries, government agencies, and privacy-conscious organizations.
Explore Rocket.Chat data →Open-source chat with a unique topic-threading model that keeps conversations organized — every message belongs to a named topic within a channel. Solves Slack’s biggest problem: losing important discussions in a flood of messages. Self-hosted or cloud.
Explore Zulip data →We found these alternatives by analyzing review patterns across hundreds of team communication apps. Users switching from Slack most commonly cite per-user pricing, the 90-day message limit on the free plan, notification overload, and channel sprawl.
Discord offers the most generous free tier with unlimited message history, no user cap, and excellent voice channels. Chanty is free for up to 5 users with unlimited history. Microsoft Teams’ free plan includes unlimited chat history and video meetings. All three beat Slack’s free plan, which deletes messages after 90 days.
Slack limits the free plan to 90 days of message history and permanently deletes messages older than 1 year from their servers. This is designed to push teams toward paid plans ($7.25+/user/month). Free users can manually export public channel messages as JSON, but private channels and DMs require a Business+ plan to export.
Yes, especially for organizations using Microsoft 365. Teams offers unlimited chat history, robust video conferencing (up to 300 participants), and deep integration with Office apps. The trade-off is a less polished interface and weaker third-party integrations compared to Slack’s 2,600+ app ecosystem.
App Vulture uses AI-powered review intelligence to analyze what real users say about apps — their pain points, feature requests, and reasons for switching. We identified these alternatives by analyzing review patterns across team communication apps.
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