Slack is Too Expensive Now: Here Are the Best New Solutions for Internal Chat Communication
Chat software tools have never been a more integral part of organizational communication than they are in 2024. These days, companies tend to integrate a few different solutions to provide their employees with chat capabilities and a wide range of communication functions to boost employee engagement and overall turnover and satisfaction statistics.
The numbers provide some perspective on how internal chat solutions have occupied the business market. Today, more than 55 million monthly active employees use Slack. The growth speaks for itself, with over 25% growth every year and almost 750,000 organizations using the purple chat software company owned by Salesforce.
The Anger of Customers Rises, and AI is Involved Again
While the growth tells a wonderful success story, many new voices are upset with Slack. It seems they might have taken advantage of their market domination to increase pricing and impose more feature limitations to push customers toward bigger, more expensive plans.
This doesn’t stop here, as the AI revolution didn’t play well for Slack. New information suggests that Slack might use organizations’ stored data to improve and train their AI engine. The “small print” in Slack’s terms of use couldn’t protect against the anger of its customers, who started to wonder about the cost of migrating to a different solution that wouldn’t treat customers’ data as if it was their own.
What Alternatives Are Organizations Choosing?
While there are many solutions out there with nice UIs and very promising offers, we chose two that offer something unique and set them apart from the others. These two not only provide great product features but also seem to make waves on the internet wherever they are mentioned.
You might have heard the name 37signals but are not sure what they do. Let us refresh your memory: 37signals is the team behind the well-known task manager Basecamp and the email service HEY. This time, they’ve announced a communication software solution that breaks what we all knew about SaaS, offering a one-time cost of $399 for their chat solution. With a beautiful, clean UI and a reputable company behind it, the only obstacle you might find is the need to manage Campfire yourself under your server umbrella. For those already managing different software on-premise under the organization’s IT department, this might be the best deal they could ever ask for.
Pebb.io
Employees need more than a single way to communicate; that’s the mantra of Pebb’s communication space. Unlike others, Pebb provides a comprehensive solution to help your organization communicate and engage daily through chat, live feed, private clubs, and an employee profile section that makes it very similar to a social network solution but for internal use. With a company knowledge base, internal search, and mobile app support, Pebb’s pricing is surprisingly competitive. It offers a free plan that seems excellent for basic communication needs and a $2/month per employee plan that provides everything you could ever imagine in this space.
A Little Humor to Close: Choose Wisely, Chat Happily!
As we bid farewell to our trusty Slack (or at least consider a more budget-friendly alternative), remember that finding the perfect internal chat solution is like choosing the right coffee blend: it’s a matter of taste, budget, and how much you really want to avoid the dreaded “feature limitations.”
So, whether you decide to gather around the Campfire or dive into the social waters with Pebb.io, just make sure your chat solution keeps your team communicating, collaborating, and occasionally sharing funny cat memes. After all, a team that laughs together, stays together—especially when they’re not arguing over who used up all the Giphy searches.
Happy chatting, and may your internal communications be ever smooth and meme-filled! 🐱🚀
