According to Zoom, employees who use more than 10 apps have 54% more communication issues than those who use five or fewer apps. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The more divided you are, the less focused you become.
But while every business founder would love to have a leaner tool stack, the reality is that they need at least half a dozen solutions to run their business efficiently.
So what can you do?
You can start with consolidating and being selective with your team collaboration tool. It’s the most important one because it’s the glue that keeps your team (and business) connected and on the same page.
In this article, we share seven of the best team collaboration tools that meet a mix of different needs so your people spend less time app-switching and dedicate more time to actually collaborating on work deliverables.
| Platform | Best For | Capterra Rating | Standout Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActiveCollab | Agencies & service businesses (15-50 people) | 4.5 | Project-based discussions, permissions & resource planning | $$ |
| FigJam | Designers & Creatives | 4.8 | Endless design opportunities | $ |
| Monday | Enterprise | 4.6 | Workflow tracking | $$$ |
| Asana | Small teams | 4.5 | AI assistance | $$$$ |
| Slack | Teams operating synchronously | 4.7 | Instant Communication | $$ |
| Wrike | Technical teams | 4.3 | Technical project management | $$$ |
| CAKE / Pumble | Companies a unified ecosystem preferance | 4.7 | Integration with other CAKE products | $ |
1. ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is a team collaboration, work, and client management platform all wrapped up into one. If you want to eliminate friction and misalignment on tasks and centralize messages and files for internal and external collaborators – welcome!
Unlike the majority of team collaboration tools on the market, which cater to a broad industry and business base, ActiveCollab is super-focused on bringing solutions that make a difference to service businesses, like agencies, consultancies, and startups.
Standout Features Of ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab’s team collaboration feature includes in-app chat, mentions, discussions, and notes that let you communicate and interact with your virtual and in-house team of people and clients on the platform within actual tasks. So you keep all communication centralized, and everyone stays across updates.
Also, for every discussion that gives birth to an idea worth pursuing, you can quickly turn the discussion notes into an actionable task with an assignee and due date.
Every time you create a project, you’ll have a dedicated collaboration space where you can upload and store project files, and you’ll have a comments & activity log section everyone involved in the project will have access to.
Because ActiveCollab is designed for service businesses, it lets you add external members to your workflows so they can collaborate as guests or clients. For every member of your team and external guest, you can set and customize permissions that give the entire project team the right amount of flexibility and control.
Pros & Cons Of ActiveCollab
With a Capterra rating of 4.5, ActiveCollab reviews point out the client work and team collaboration possibilities, as well as the ability to grow with the tool.
Pros:
Client work collaboration & transparency – One of the greatest benefits of our tool is the collaboration potential and transparency for clients and your team because it lets them view, interact, edit, and track deliverables. This can remove lots of back-and-forth email updates and file attachments for proofing, especially for design and marketing businesses.
Easy platform for scaling – The other big plus is that the platform is designed in a way to let you use as little or as many of the features on offer. This means you might initially sign up for the collaboration and work management tools, but when you decide it’s time to grow, you can use the resource and profitability features to identify where you need to make changes to increase profits.
Cons
Customization – To keep the user interface simple and easy to use, ActiveCollab offers limited customization. However, you can select to display your projects and tasks in a list, Kanban, or timeline views to suit your team’s needs.
Pricing
Learn more on our pricing page or first give it a spin and sign up for our 14-day free trial!
2. FigJam
FigJam is a whiteboarding and collaboration tool for designers, product developers, project managers, and creative professionals.
However, it’s definitely not your traditional team collaboration work tool. With its fun and inviting user interface, anyone who’s a visual thinker will love it to bits!
Standout Features Of FigJam
Brainstorming boards and over 300 Figma templates let you build out content plans or brainstorming workshops.
On top of that, FigJam’s AI automations can help you get the ball rolling in a team meeting by generating ideas for brainstorming, and you can summarize key takeaways from a session.
The built-in live chat and audio feature lets your team ask questions and give feedback instantly. It also lets you talk live from within the tool while you collaborate on the board.
Pros & Cons Of FigJam
With a Capterra rating of 4.8, FigJam users praise the tool for its multiple communication options and visual collaboration tools. However, they also point out some limitations when it comes to exporting your work.
Pros
- Natural collaboration – The simultaneous live chat and audio let the team interact more naturally, increasing collaboration quality.
- Visual creativity – The list of visual creativity tools on offer, like stickers, shapes, sticky notes, and freehand drawing and diagramming, make collaboration more engaging and expressive.
Cons
- Limited export options – While FigJam is great for collaboration inside the tool, once your idea is finalized, exporting your sketches and boards is limited.
- Limited design features – If you don’t need advanced design options, FigJam will do the job, but for anyone looking for robust design features, it might not be a good fit.
Pricing
FigJam offers a basic free plan, but for the value-worthy collaboration feature,s you’ll need to upgrade to one of the paid plans, which start from $5 per person per month.
3. Monday
Monday is a workspace and collaboration tool for businesses of all sizes (big and small) that lets your team interact and work together on projects of any type.
As one of the most widely used workspaces, it comes with basic but efficient collaboration features. So, If you’re after a tool that centralizes workflows and lets you customize your workboards, it might be a good option.
Standout Features Of Monday
Monday streamlines task collaboration and management. When you create a task, you can assign it to an internal or external team member for completion. You can also leave comments and feedback, which will be sent as email notifications to the user, and you can mention other team members you want to stay across the task.
For each task you create, you can set due dates and customize progress labels that let you track the workflow to completion.
Another great feature that helps simplify collaboration on projects in Monday is the ability to upload and insert files directly into tasks so they display instantly (such as images).
Pros & Cons Of Monday
With a Capterra rating of 4.6, some of Monday’s users call out the benefits of update notifications and extensive integration options, however, they also point out the lack of key advanced features on lower-tier plans.
Pros
- Automatic notifications – You can set up automatic notifications when changes on a task take place.
- Over 200 integrations – Monday lets you sync and connect to over 200 other tools and apps, including Google Drive, Slack, Trello, and more.
Cons
- Pricing & feature options – You’ll find some advanced features (like including an external stakeholder or client on your workboard to collaborate on a task) are only available on the higher-tier plans, which might be too pricey for larger teams.
- Initial setup – Because Monday lets you customize your workboards extensively, the initial setup of boards you want teams to collaborate on can take some time and may confuse new members.
Pricing
Monday has a free plan with limited features, workboards, and team members. To get integrations and larger file storage, paid plans start at $11 per person per month.
4. Asana
Asana is another big-name project management and collaboration tool that lets teams communicate and coordinate project tasks to completion.
Catering to teams of all sizes and a mix of industries, the tool seems to be a good fit for smaller to mid-sized teams and projects. For complex and large projects that have tasks with dependencies, keeping everything organized may be challenging.
Standout Features Of Asana
Team members can leave comments and have discussions on tasks, and all changes automatically trigger notification updates to relevant users.
The tool has an extensive list of AI-powered automations for collaboration, such as identifying key information you need to share with external partners so everyone is on the same page and in sync.
Asana also lets you create conversations at a team or project level, not just individual tasks. You can also create shared calendars to track project or work milestones.
Pros & Cons Of Asana
With a Capterra rating of 4.5, while Asana’s reviewers praise the intuitive interface and the functionality of the mobile app, they also note the limited integrations available on the free plan.
Pros
- Mobile app – Unlike most workflow management tools, Asana’s users seem happy with the functionalities available on the mobile app.
- Easy setup & interface – Setting up projects is relatively eas,y and the user interface is intuitive.
Cons
- Notification overwhelm – While you want to stay on top of changes, you don’t want to be swamped. Some users find automatic notifications overwhelming.
- Integrations – While you do get access to some integrations on the free plan, to connect to Google Calendar or Dropbox, you need to sign up for a paid plan.
Pricing
Asana offers separate plans for individuals or small teams and business or enterprise teams. There is a free plan with basic features for individuals and small teams of up to 10 members, and paid plans start at $10.00 per person per month.
5. Slack
Slack is a collaboration and communication platform for remote businesses needing to synchronize teamwork and make interactions smooth.
If your team uses several tools and needs a collaboration platform that lets you integrate all these workspaces, Slack would be a good option because it lets you access these tools directly from within the app.
Standout Features Of Slack
You can set up public or private conversation channels for projects, initiatives, or departments. The threads feature lets you have a side conversation while keeping the main conversation channel clutter-free.
In Slack, if you need to, you can quickly take a conversation from a channel and move it to direct messaging, video, or voice call directly on the app.
You can also save an important conversation for quick access later on by using the pin or bookmark feature.
Pros & Cons Of Slack
With a Capterra rating of 4.7, Slack’s reviews feature a fan base of users that love how conversations are organized and the extensive AI features. However, a key issue is the distraction potential where teams collaborate on topics that are not work-related.
Pros
- AI features – Slack has some extensive AI features, including a Slackbot to generate responses, AI automation for routine tasks, and its integration with third-party apps, which can help detect sentiment in messages and channels.
- Organized conversations – One of the main things users call out as a benefit of Slack is the way discussions are organized, so nothing ever gets lost and can be easily found via search whether it’s a conversation or file.
Cons
- Info overload & distraction potential – Slack is a fast-paced channel where people interact often and quickly. This can lead to unnecessary information overload, and it can distract people from getting work done.
- Message history limit – If you are on the free plan, Slack only offers access to the last 90 days of message history.
Pricing
For the basic communication features, the free plan will have you covered, but if you want audio and video, unlimited message history, and additional AI features, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the paid plans, which start from $4.38 per person per month.
6. Wrike
Wrike is a collaboration and project management tool for businesses looking for a technical project management tool, ideally for agile or scrum methodologies.
Like other platforms on this list, Wrike lets you invite external members to workflows. The tool has a strong focus on data security and customization.
Standout Features Of Wrike
Wrike lets you assign role-based access and collaboration for roles like Product Owner, Scrum Master, or Developer. You can review, edit, and approve files, including documents, PDFs, images, and videos, and take advantage of the version control feature that lets you compare iterations and revert to previous ones.
With integrated chat, mentions, and email features, the entire team and external members can communicate directly from within the platform and know how tasks are progressing.
When you create tasks, you can also add subtasks and keep all discussions and comments within each task so everyone involved knows what’s going on. With integrations to Google Drive, Dropbox, Jira, and GitHub, you can share and collaborate on files directly from the tool.
Pros & Cons Of Wrike
With a Capterra rating of 4.3, Wrike’s reviews mention the vast customization options and AI automation, which come in handy. However, one thing to keep in mind is the steep learning curve for new users.
Pros
- Workflow customization – One of the main advantages for users of this tool is the workflow customization capability, which lets you tailor how you structure your projects.
- AI Assist – The platform’s AI-powered assistant can help automate and speed up workflows. It offers suggestions for document proofing and smart notification alerts where the tool prioritizes which updates need to be communicated so people don’t become overwhelmed with FYI alerts.
Cons
- Steep learning curve – It can be a complex tool to grasp because it offers so many functionalities that might scare new users.
- Not ideal for small teams – It has limited features in the lower tier plans that small businesses look for, especially when they want to consolidate a mix of tools into one. Going for a higher plan in most cases doesn’t fit small business budgets.
Pricing
Wrike offers a free plan with limited users and features. To get access to proofing tools and to invite external members to your work board, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the higher plans that start from $25 per user per month.
7. CAKE / Pumble
CAKE is an ecosystem of collaboration and productivity tools that includes Pumble for team collaboration, Plaky as project management software, and Clockify as time tracking software.
The best thing about their ecosystem is that you can sign up for one of the individual tools or bundle them into one. Since we’re talking about collaboration software, for this post we’ll focus on Pumble.
Standout Features Of Pumble
Pumble is a bit like a Slack alternative. You can organize your conversations into projects by channels and make them public or private. When you want to have individual conversations, you can send a direct message or create a thread.
You can also communicate and collaborate via voice and video messages and hold voice and video calls where you can share screens and blur backgrounds.
It also comes with file sharing, where you can send and receive documents, images, and videos of any size directly from the platform. Pumble offers a safe and secure platform for file sharing where only the people you include will have access.
Pros & Cons Of CAKE
With a Capterra rating of 4.7, Pumble comes with some handy benefits such as unlimited message history, but it also has a few downsides like limited integrations.
Pros
- No message history limits – Unlike other collaboration tools, Pumble comes with unlimited message history no matter what plan you are on.
- Web, desktop & mobile – The tool’s accessibility for users across the web, desktop, and mobile makes it a flexible platform that users can access from any device.
Cons
- Limited external integrations – If you need to connect to other tools, Pumble offers integrations, but their list is limited. Some of the apps you can connect to include Zapier, GitHub, Calendly, and email.
- Manual integration with Plaky & Clockify – Unfortunately, if you want to link Pumble to your other CAKE tools (Plaky or Clockify), this is only available as a non-native integration.
Pricing
The bundle plan gives you access to all the features in the highest enterprise plan and starts from $12.99 per person per month.
ActiveCollab: Virtual Team Collaboration For Service Businesses
Team collaboration tools help your team and your external partners stay connected on the work you do together. When choosing a collaboration software tool for your business, you want to sign up for the one that ticks all (or at least most) of your communications needs boxes.
ActiveCollab is a team and client collaboration tool for service-based businesses that want to centralize information and files and make interaction easy for its people so they can drive workflows to completion. It’s the perfect fit for design and marketing agencies with 20 or more employees working in-house, remotely, or scattered across the globe.
The tool lets you create client projects and tasks and invite internal team members and external collaborators (like your clients) who may need to review and approve work items like designs and copy. With a dedicated space for every workflow, where you keep all communications attached to every task, your people will spend their time working on the projects that matter instead of wasting time gathering feedback across multiple communications channels.
So tell us: Have we made you even just a little bit curious about our tool? Enough to try us out? We thought we might. Sign up for our 14-day free trial or book a demo with one of our people to share your collaboration pain points with us and see if we are (indeed) your perfect fit!
