Company chat software is the digital “office hallway” for modern teams — a centralized space where collaboration happens instantly and seamlessly. Instead of waiting for email replies or searching through scattered tools, employees can drop quick questions, share project updates, exchange files, coordinate tasks, or even jump into spontaneous audio and video meetings. Whether your team is fully remote, hybrid, or office-based, this type of platform helps recreate the natural flow of in-person communication and keeps everyone aligned throughout the workday.
More than just messaging, company chat platforms often become the operational backbone of an organization. They connect people across departments, integrate with productivity apps, automate recurring tasks, and preserve knowledge through searchable channels and thread histories. This makes them invaluable for fast-paced environments where clarity, responsiveness, and transparency are essential.
Below is a comprehensive guide covering what company chat software is, the key benefits it offers, an overview of five strong platform options, and a practical framework for choosing the right solution for your team’s specific needs.
What is company chat software?
Company chat software (also called business instant messaging or team messaging) is a communication tool designed specifically for organizations. It combines real-time messaging, group chats/channels, file sharing, and often voice and video conferencing into one app.
Unlike consumer messengers, business chat tools focus on:
- Security and compliance
- Centralized user management and admin controls
- Integration with other workplace tools (email, calendars, CRM, helpdesk, etc.)
- Governance: retention policies, audit logs, SSO, data ownership
Many platforms also add workflow automation and AI features on top of simple chat – turning them into a “work OS” for the whole company.
Key benefits of company chat software
- Faster communication and decision-making
Messages arrive instantly, with push notifications across devices. This makes it easy to unblock colleagues and coordinate work without long email threads.
- Less email, more focused conversations
Channels or rooms can be organized by team, project, or topic. That keeps discussions in the right place and reduces noisy “reply all” email chains.
- Transparency and better alignment
Open channels let people see context, decisions, and history. New team members ramp up faster because they can scroll back and search old conversations.
- Integrated collaboration (files, meetings, apps)
Most tools integrate with cloud storage, calendars, and project management apps, and often include voice/video meetings. You can share a document, discuss it, and jump into a call without leaving the chat.
- Support for remote and hybrid work
Chat tools give distributed teams a shared “place” to work together – with async messaging, mentions, threads, and status indicators to show who is available.
- Security and compliance
Enterprise-grade products include encryption, access controls, SSO, and audit logs; self-hosted options let you keep data entirely inside your infrastructure.
5 best company chat apps
- TrueConf
TrueConf is a secure, self-hosted team messaging and video conferencing platform built for companies that care about data sovereignty and offline operation. It supports group and personal chats, fast file sharing, screen sharing, and synchronization across desktop, web, and mobile clients.
Unlike many cloud-only tools, TrueConf Server can run entirely on your own infrastructure without relying on a public internet connection, which is ideal for regulated industries, government, and closed corporate networks. It also scales to large conferences (up to around 1500 participants, depending on licensing and infrastructure) while still providing persistent group chats for daily collaboration.
Pros
- Self-hosted with strong encryption; full control over data
- Works in private networks and offline environments
- Deep integration of chat with HD video meetings and screen sharing
- Cross-platform clients with synchronized chats
Cons
- Best suited to organizations that can manage on-prem or private cloud infrastructure
What’s new in TrueConf
Recent releases of the TrueConf desktop app introduced features such as improved noise suppression and user experience refinements for video meetings and messaging.
- Slack
Slack is one of the most popular business messaging platforms, built around channels, threads, and a rich ecosystem of integrations. Teams use Slack to centralize conversations, connect tools (like Google Drive, Jira, Salesforce), and automate workflows with bots and workflows. Its interface is chat-first, but it also supports huddles (lightweight audio/video calls), clips, and robust search across messages and files.
In recent years, Slack has evolved from “just chat” into more of an operating system for work, with deep integration into Salesforce, project management tools, and now AI features that summarize conversations, draft messages, and surface relevant information.
Pros
- Very polished UX that users pick up quickly
- Huge integration ecosystem with SaaS tools
- Strong search and thread organization
- Powerful new AI features for summarization and automation
Cons
- Primarily cloud-hosted; self-hosting isn’t an option
- Cost can add up for large teams or Enterprise plans
- Data residency and compliance options may not satisfy highly regulated or air-gapped environments
What’s new in Slack
Slack has recently announced plan changes to expand access to AI, security, and Salesforce features, including a new Enterprise+ plan. At the same time, Slack is rebuilding Slackbot into a powerful AI assistant capable of summarizing threads, generating project plans, and interacting with enterprise data – part of its vision to become an “agentic operating system” for businesses.
- Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is Microsoft’s hub for chat, meetings, calling, and collaboration, tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 (Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Teams offers 1:1 and group chats, team channels, threaded conversations, and built-in video conferencing with meeting recording, live reactions, and more.
For organizations already on Microsoft 365, Teams can become the central place for work: you can pin apps, share files stored in SharePoint/OneDrive, co-edit documents, and use Teams as the interface for telephony and webinars. With Microsoft Copilot, Teams also gains AI features like summarizing threads and generating content from meeting notes and files.
Pros
- Deep integration with Microsoft 365 apps and identity (Azure AD/Entra)
- Strong video conferencing and webinar capabilities
- Built-in collaboration on Office documents
- Enterprise-grade security, compliance, and management
Cons
- Interface can feel heavy and complex for simple chat use cases
- Best experience is in Microsoft-centric environments; less ideal if your stack is mostly non-Microsoft
- Migration and governance can be complex in large organizations
What’s new in Microsoft Teams
Recent updates include Copilot file summaries directly within chat, giving quick context from shared documents, plus multiple UX improvements to chat and channels. Microsoft is also rolling out features like dedicated private chat for webinar organizers and presenters, enabling better backstage coordination before and during events.
- Mattermost
Mattermost is an open-core, self-hosted messaging and collaboration platform aimed at security-sensitive, technical, and operational teams. It offers team messaging, file sharing, voice calling, screen sharing, and workflow automation, and is widely used in defense, critical infrastructure, and DevSecOps environments.
Mattermost can be deployed on-premises or in a private cloud, giving organizations full control over data, encryption, and access controls. The platform supports granular permissions, secure integrations, and compliance features tailored to mission-critical workflows.
Pros
- Self-hosted and open-core with strong security controls
- Good fit for technical teams (DevOps, incident response, engineering)
- NExtensible with plugins, bots, and workflow automation
- Flexible licensing: free Team Edition plus commercial Enterprise features
Cons
- Requires infrastructure and DevOps capacity to deploy and maintain
- UX is improving but can feel less polished than some cloud-native competitors
- Smaller app marketplace compared to Slack or Teams
What’s new in Mattermost
Mattermost releases new builds regularly (typically monthly), adding features such as AI integration, workflow enhancements, and security improvements. Recent focus has been on secure collaboration for defense and critical infrastructure customers, as well as simplifying deployment options for self-hosted and private cloud setups.
- Element (Matrix)
Element is a secure, open-source collaboration app built on the Matrix protocol. It delivers end-to-end encryption, decentralization, and digital sovereignty, letting organizations run their own servers or federate with other Matrix homeservers.
Element supports private and group chats, rooms and Spaces, file sharing, voice and video calls, and bridges to other systems (such as traditional chat apps or IRC). It’s particularly attractive for governments and enterprises that want control over their communications stack, end-to-end encryption by default, and the ability to interoperate across different organizations and deployments.
Pros
- End-to-end encrypted by default for private chats and many rooms
- Decentralized and self-hostable, enabling data sovereignty
- Open source with an active ecosystem and bridges
- Good fit for privacy-conscious and cross-organization collaboration
Cons
- Federation and self-hosting add operational complexity
- UX and onboarding can feel more technical than mainstream tools
- Some features (e.g., certain bridges, enterprise management) may require additional components or services
What’s new in Element
Element continues to invest in enterprise features around oversight, control, and compliance while maintaining strong E2EE security. Recent updates and community activity highlight its positioning as a leading secure communications platform, especially in environments where flexibility, federation, and data sovereignty are key priorities.
How to choose a company chat app for your team
Selecting the right communication platform depends on your security requirements, workplace tools, and the way your team collaborates. Use the following criteria to evaluate any solution:
- Security, compliance, and data ownership
Consider what level of protection your organization needs. Look for features such as data encryption, multi-factor authentication, retention policies, audit logs, and clear data residency options. If your industry has strict regulations, make sure the platform can meet those standards and gives you full visibility into how data is stored and accessed.
- Hosting model and infrastructure
Decide whether you prefer a cloud-based service or a system you can run on your own servers. Cloud solutions minimize setup and maintenance but may have limitations around data control. Self-hosted deployments offer greater autonomy, which can be essential for sensitive environments or internal networks.
- Integrations and ecosystem
Check how well the app connects with the tools your team already uses—project trackers, calendars, storage services, CRM platforms, or ticketing systems. A strong integration ecosystem reduces context switching and streamlines workflows. If you rely heavily on custom apps, make sure the platform provides APIs or automation tools.
- Collaboration style
Different teams communicate differently. Some prioritize real-time messaging and channels, while others rely on structured threads, document collaboration, or integrated video meetings. Choose a platform that supports your daily communication habits and enhances—not complicates—your workflow.
- AI and automation capabilities
Modern platforms increasingly include AI assistants for summarizing conversations, drafting responses, or running automated workflows. Evaluate how these features handle your data, whether they improve productivity, and whether you can control what information the AI processes.
- User experience and adoption
Test the interface with a small pilot group to see how intuitive the platform feels. Look at message threading, search performance, notification settings, and the quality of mobile apps. The easier the tool is to navigate, the faster your team will adopt it.
- Total cost of ownership
Compare subscription costs, licensing models, hosting expenses, and required administrative resources. Some tools may seem affordable upfront but require substantial internal maintenance; others offer higher pricing but reduce operational overhead.
Conclusion
Company chat software has become the backbone of modern collaboration, connecting people, files, and workflows in real time. Whether you choose a self-hosted solution like TrueConf, Mattermost, or Element, or a cloud-centric platform like Slack or Microsoft Teams, the key is aligning the tool with your security needs, technology stack, and work culture.
Start by clarifying your priorities—data control, integrations, AI, video, compliance—and then shortlist two or three platforms for a pilot. With the right company chat app in place, your team gets a shared space where conversations are easier to follow, decisions are faster, and work is more connected.
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