5 Best Internal Communication Tools for 2025

3.67

Collaboration tools

$7.20 per user per month

Connecteam

3.49

Creating an employee knowledge base

$35 per month for the first 30 users

Staffbase

3.16

Tracking employee engagement

Contact sales for a custom quote

Chanty

3.07

Integrated task management

$4 per user per month

Why you can trust my advice

I’ve been researching and writing for the HR tech industry for the last four years, specifically focusing on how companies create more employee-centric work environments. I’ve also worked for a remote organization and have first-hand experience with a few different internal communication tools and processes, so I’ve witnessed what happens when a company is intentional about choosing an internal communication tool for its unique workforce and ways of working.

Methodology

I drew from my own experience in an organizational setting and my extensive research into how companies collaborate to determine which internal communication platforms make the most sense for diverse work environments. Because so many companies today are trying to keep up the pace of work while navigating remote and hybrid experiences, they need platforms that keep them connected in real-time. But they’re also looking for easy-to-use, highly customizable solutions that offer plenty of in-person and online support for quick troubleshooting.

Still, every organization has different needs when it comes to working together. Fast-growing startups look for tools that keep communication fast and ongoing throughout the workday, while larger organizations seek platforms that offer deeper analytics and branded experiences that reinforce their values as employees interact with the information they share.

These are the considerations that motivated the criteria I used to judge which platforms are best for companies today, which you can explore deeper in the following breakdown.

Employee communication: 30%

The biggest question driving my research into communication platforms is, “How well does it actually facilitate everyday communication?” When I was comparing these tools, I thought about features like real-time chat, audio and video message capabilities, video conferencing functions, and extras like surveys and polls. I also considered whether the software offers an intuitively designed mobile app and how well it integrates with other well-known platforms for collaboration. I also evaluated every platform’s ability to archive conversations, looking into how long they store data for free and paid users.

Platform and interface: 25%

While these tools are designed to make work easier, they can also hinder the employee experience due to the overwhelming amount of messages team members can get. That’s why I weighted navigability and ease of use so heavily, considering whether employees have access to message history and the ability to organize and customize the UI from their side.

Reporting and analytics: 20%

Communication data can give company leaders a lot of insight into how engaged team members feel at work, yet communication analytics are often overlooked in the software purchasing process. That’s why I gave extra consideration to platforms that let you track how much employees interact with the content company leaders share. Although not all the options on this list offer this feature, many of them make up for this by letting you share pulse surveys directly in the team chat.

Intranet: 10%

A front door intranet function makes accessing critical company assets and resources easier so employees don’t have to sift through old chat threads to find what they need. This can look different from platform to platform, but here, I considered how easy it is to create a centralized knowledge hub that’s easy to update and only a few clicks away from real-time chat functions.

Pricing: 5%

When it comes to pricing, I looked into whether the tools offer free plans, free trials, transparent pricing, and discounts for non-profits or educational organizations. For the higher-priced options on this list, I considered how many extra features users can get with a paid plan and whether the platform offers discounts for bundling products.

Support: 5%

Because employees are likely using communication tools more than they are other business software, it’s important they have access to plenty of resources and support for troubleshooting. Along these lines, I considered whether the platform offered help desk resources and articles for answering common queries. I also investigated whether they offer 24-hour support via chat box, email, or phone.

User reviews: 5%

User reviews from third-party review sites like Capterra, G2, and TrustRadius make up 5% of the platform’s overall score. I featured software with the highest review scores out of five at the top of the list, particularly considering what employees have to say about navigability and breadth of features.

Contributing experts

Marta Gomez-Taylor tested the software mentioned in this guide and provided her expert scores. She used her hands-on research to provide expert analysis and recommendations.
Irene Casucian conducted preliminary research and provided scores for each product’s objective data points.
Jessica Dennis selected the criteria, sub-criteria, and products for Marta and Irene to review based on her professional background in HR and knowledge of the internal communications software market.

The best internal communication tools

Slack: Best overall internal communication software

Overall Score

3.90/5

Employee communication

4.88/5

Platform/interface

3.90/5

Intranet

3.48/5

Reporting and analytics

2.63/5

Support

2.85/5

User reviews

4.70/5

Pricing

4.13/5

Pros

Easily navigable interface and in-product tutorials to acquaint users with Slack’s many functions.
An easy-to-use mobile app that keeps teams connected when they’re away from their desks.
Share files, send audio messages, and set up one-on-one meetings or “huddles.”
Integrates with over 2,600 apps to make communication between platforms easier.

Cons

No company branding options means employees might get lost when switching between internal and external Slack channels.
No “intranet” features.
Support is only available via chat, not phone.
You can only set up push notifications for DMs, mentions, and specific keywords.

Why I chose Slack

What I like best about Slack is that it keeps conversations organized and archivable, allowing you to search for a previous message or thread based on keywords so employees can find what they need quickly. Out of all the communication tools I tested, it got the highest score for employee communication, and it’s no surprise: Slack makes it easy to recognize employees and share feedback in a timely way, which is vital to keeping team members feeling engaged and motivated at work. It will even let you conduct quick surveys and polls so you can loop employees in on business-critical initiatives, making it ideal for organizations moving toward a more inclusive, less hierarchical company structure.

What’s more, Salesforce’s acquisition of Slack means that if you’re already using it to manage customer relationships, you’ll be able to search and share Salesforce records like contacts, accounts, leads, and opportunities directly within Slack.

Heads up

Platforms like Slack can make the work experience overwhelming if employees constantly receive messages and notifications while trying to get into a “flow state” and push major projects over the line. For that reason, I recommend encouraging employees to keep their profiles updated with working hours and letting everyone know when they might not be readily available for a chat.

Slack is a platform that facilitates real-time communication and integrates with thousands of the tools you already use for work. That means, for instance, that you can connect Slack with your favorite HR platform, so even when you’re logged out, Slack will notify you when your time off request was approved or when it’s time to complete your part in a 360-degree review.

What makes Slack unique is that you can use it to create dedicated company channels for specific topics and discussions, and you can configure those settings so only specific employees can see them. You can also send group messages, conduct polls and surveys, share files, and even arrange team meetings called “huddles.”

Channels

Slack lets you create dedicated channels for specific teams, projects, and recurring conversations within your organization. For example, your engineering team can create a temporary channel for discussing updates to features, or your HR team can create a #wins channel where you shout out team member successes.

This feature isn’t just for internal teams, either. With Slack Connect, you can create channels for communicating and sharing files with external partners, vendors, and agencies rather than emailing back and forth.

Still, all the discussions and data accumulating on channels can be difficult to navigate as your company scales. Two features that solve this problem are keyword search and Slack AI. With a keyword search, you can resurface conversations using a relevant term. With Slack AI, you can pre-configure Slack to give you daily updates of what’s going on in specific channels, saving you from having to read endless threads.

One note on archiving conversations: With a free plan, Slack users can choose to delete old files and messages after 90 days, or they can upgrade to a paid plan, which means Slack will hold on to everything for life.

Messaging

What makes Slack great for scaling organizations is that you can send a group message to an entire channel or privately DM one or more users outside of public channel conversations. You can also quickly upload and share documents to get feedback, send recorded voice notes, and instantly set up team huddles.

But what makes huddles different from Google Meet or Zoom? They happen right in Slack. There’s no need to set up a meeting link in third-party software. Just click on the huddle icon in the top right-hand corner of any channel or group message to start a meeting, and wait for team members to join.

A screenshot highlighting the Slack huddle icon. — Start a huddle by clicking the headphones icon in the top right corner.

Workflow builder

One often overlooked yet handy feature of Slack is its workflow builder. Let’s say you need to send a standup meeting reminder every Monday at 9:00 am. You can set up a workflow in Slack to message the team for you. You can also connect it with tools like Zoom, Google Workspace, or Asana to set up meetings or projects directly within Slack, saving team members from having to toggle between apps.

You can also create custom automation by connecting external code to Slack’s API, making Slack one of the best communication platforms in terms of its flexibility.

A screenshot of Slack's workflow builder feature. — Use Slack’s Workflow Builder to automate routine tasks and integrate them with external apps for smoother processes.

With a Slack free plan, users get access to 90 days of message history, integrate up to 10 apps, and hold one-on-one meetings only. That’s quite limited compared to Slack’s paid plans, which offer the following features:

Slack Pro: Lets you build unlimited workflows, access unlimited message history, use unlimited app integrations, and set up group meetings for $4.38 per user per month.
Slack Business+: Offers everything in Pro and lets you set up SAML-based single sign-on through an identity provider like Microsoft Azure or OneLogin for $15 per user per month.
Slack Enterprise Grid: Means you also get support for data-loss prevention and can protect private health information with HIPAA-compliant configurations. It also offers a built-in employee directory at a custom rate.

While I’m happy Slack offers transparent pricing for its Pro and Business+ plans, I suggest you take extra care when comparing Slack packages against other platforms. If you’re not planning on using the free plan, know that Slack is one of the more expensive options on this list, making it less suitable for small to midsize companies working under budgetary constraints.

Google Workspace: Best for collaboration tools

Overall Score

3.67/5

Employee communication

4.20/5

Platform/interface

4.75/5

Intranet

2.69/5

Reporting and analytics

3.25/5

Support

3.53/5

User reviews

4.73/5

Pricing

3.06/5

Pros

Integrates chat features for free with Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Meet, and Groups for easier collaboration.
Connects to tools like Zapier, Trello, and Workday to help you build uninterrupted workflows.
Comes with Google Gemini to help you draft content and find information faster.
Has the highest user scores out of all the options on this list.

Cons

No free plan available.
You can only sign up for a free trial if you have a registered web domain.
AI is only available as a premium feature.
You can’t purchase individual apps.

Why I chose Google Workspace

When you consider how much you can do in Google Workspace, it’s hard not to include it in this list. Google Workspace apps are designed to connect. For example, you can receive a message in Gmail or Chat and instantly convert it into an event on Google Calendar. When users make a comment on your Google Doc, Slide, or Sheet, you’ll instantly receive a notification email linking you to their response.

But what’s cool about Google Chat specifically? To start, you can access the chat feature directly from Gmail and get a conversation going in real time rather than waiting for an email reply. You can also share files, set up meetings, and, similar to Slack, create dedicated spaces for company announcements and updates. And, if you pay for the Gemini add-on, you can use generative AI to draft emails, summarize information from entire channels, and edit your messages.

Google Workspace is the combined suite of tools that includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Docs and Sheets, and, of course, Google Chat. This means that when you purchase Google Workspace for your business, you’ll get access to all of these tools. That may not be best for companies looking for “a la carte” pricing, but it’s ideal for organizations that want to create a unified place to store data and collaborate. It also makes sense for any business that’s already familiar with Google’s UI.

With more than 9 million businesses using Google Workspace to get things done, it’s no shock that it has the highest user review score out of all the options on this list. It’s easy to use, doesn’t require installation like other software, and lets you store all your data on Google Cloud.

Employee direct messaging

Google Chat is Workspace’s free instant messaging feature that lets you send DMs and group messages to anyone with Gmail or a Google account. Users can also chat from their phones if they download the Google Chat app for iOS or Android.

You can access Google Chat directly from your Gmail app to start a conversation and share files and videos in real time. You can also set up a Google Meet link from the chat feature, which saves you from having to exit the platform, copy a meeting link, and paste it back into the chat. If you need to set up a meeting or event for the future, you can just click on the Google Calendar icon in the bottom right corner of your chat screen to do so.

I also like how the Google Spaces feature functions similarly to Slack channels, allowing you to set up dedicated places for collaborating on tasks. This function makes it easier to keep messaging organized and create unique knowledge bases around specific initiatives or projects.

Best of all, Google Chat is ideal for organizations looking to consolidate their tools for communication and collaboration. Why? It lets you migrate existing data from Microsoft Teams or Slack using Chat APIs or Workspace partners like CloudFuze so you can store everything in one place.

A screenshot of Google Chat in action. — Access Google Chat directly from Gmail and start collaborating with your team.

Video conferencing

We’ve all used the free version of Google Meet on one occasion or another, but there’s more you can do with Meet if you’re a Workspace customer. With a Business Standard plan, you can access:

Digital whiteboard tools.
Polling and Q&A features.
A noise cancellation function.
Breakout rooms.
Meet recordings that are automatically saved to Google Drive.

Google Meet also makes it easier to collaborate in context by letting you start a meeting directly from the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides you need to work on together. Let’s say you need to finalize your budget, and your finance team is working from the same spreadsheet. You simply go to the spreadsheet in question and set up a Google Meet that will automatically invite all the collaborators on that project to attend.

One last standout feature: If you purchase the AI add-on, Gemini will take notes for you during meetings, automatically provide captions, and even translate captions in over 65 languages.

A visual mockup showing how Gemini can take notes for you when you use Google Meet. — Ask Gemini to take notes and auto-translate captions when you use Google Meet.

A screenshot showing how Google Workspace lets you start a meeting directly from a Google Doc.

Google Workspace offers free or discounted plans for educational institutions and non-profits, so it may be worth working with the sales team if your organization qualifies. For businesses that don’t qualify, you can try it for free for 14 days with up to 10 users.

After your free trial expires, paid plans include:

Business Starter: Includes custom, secure business email and meetings for up to 100 participants at $7.20 per user per month.
Business Standard: Lets you host meetings for up to 150 people and automatically stores recordings for you at $14.40 per user per month.
Business Plus: Lets you lead meetings for up to 500 people, record all meetings, and get access to meeting attendance tracking tools for $21.60 per user per month.
Enterprise: Lets you host up to 1000 meeting attendants, offers everything in Plus, and also lets you access noise cancellation features at a custom price.

Google Workspace is ultimately more costly than using a platform like Slack, but it might be worth it when you consider it offers additional tools for collaboration like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Connecteam: Best for creating an employee knowledge base

Overall Score

3.49/5

Employee communication

3.19/5

Platform/interface

3.25/5

Intranet

3.73/5

Reporting and analytics

0.88/5

Support

4.03/5

User reviews

4.21/5

Pricing

4.81/5

Pros

Lets you create a central source of truth for sharing internal knowledge, announcements, and employee data storage.
Offers plenty of in-product tutorials and demo videos for easy navigation.
Allows you to chat and send files and documents.
Lets team members chat away from the computer using the mobile app.

Cons

No internal communication report features.
You can’t send a voice chat or set up a video meeting directly within the platform.
The chat feature doesn’t connect with external apps.
No phone support available.

Why I chose Connecteam

There’s a reason why Connecteam scored higher than other options on this list in the “intranet” category: Connecteam is ideal for organizations that need to create a centralized place for information sharing and collaboration. You can return to conversations archived in the Connecteam chat feature or head directly to the Connecteam knowledge base dashboard to get the latest company announcements and refresh your training on current processes and ways of working.

The Connecteam Directory feature also serves as your company’s internal phone book. You can upload employee information, vendor and supplier contacts, and client information. And if you’re worried about everyone in the company having access to sensitive information, the platform also offers advanced privacy tools for granting permissions to specific employees.

Connecteam is an employee management platform that offers core HR functions like scheduling, time tracking, and onboarding features, but it also incorporates tools for team member communication. Employees can communicate with their teams via its easy-to-use chat feature and share files and documents from external sources or directly from your Connecteam Knowledge Base.

However, if you need robust reporting on employee communication, Connecteam might not be for you. The platform provides advanced analytics for time tracking and scheduling, which makes it great for tracking employee engagement, but you won’t be able to track how often employees are communicating with each other.

Mobile messaging

Connecteam’s chat interface is super easy to navigate, both online and on the mobile app. While it doesn’t offer channels and huddle features that Slack does, this ease is a point in its favor. Its simplicity is what makes it less overwhelming for employees to use, and this makes it more likely for employees—especially remote and mobile ones—to adopt and use the mobile app. And it’s not just for chat: Connecteam also houses HR docs in the same mobile app, which means sharing critical information can be done on the same platform without the need for integration. What’s more, employees can also use the mobile app to clock in and out, track hours, and even update their time sheets after a shift.

While I mentioned that Connecteam doesn’t let you track chat analytics, it does let admins export chat history and convert it into a CSV file when needed.

A screenshot of Connecteam's mobile app. — Use Connecteam’s mobile app to send messages and share files with your team.

Knowledge base

What I really appreciate about Connecteam is its Knowledge Base feature. I tested this myself, and it only takes a few seconds to upload multimedia assets, label them, and share them with employees. Then, the platform will show you how many people have viewed or opened the asset, so you know when everyone’s on the same page.

Another notable feature here is the mobile preview: As you upload documents and files to the Knowledge Base, Connecteam will show you how they’ll appear on the mobile app, which makes it easier to cater the employee experience to team members who work entirely from their phone, such as in the medical or construction industries.

A screenshot of Connecteam's Knowledge Base feature. — Upload documents, files, videos, and other digital assets to Connecteam’s Knowledge Base.

Staffbase: Best for tracking employee engagement

Overall Score

3.16/5

Employee communication

3.56/5

Platform/interface

3.7/5

Intranet

3.44/5

Reporting and analytics

3.25/5

Support

2.45/5

User reviews

3.86/5

Pricing

1.75/5

Pros

Lets you create content in Staffbase that you can push directly to Microsoft Teams via its integration.
Provides multi-channel post statistics so you can understand how employees are engaging with content.
Lets you create a full-branded intranet experience for employees.

Cons

No transparent pricing.
No free trial or free plan.
No live chat support for users.

Why I chose Staffbase

What I like about Staffbase is that it’s a unique platform designed to streamline broader company-wide communication and make sharing news and updates more engaging for team members. I also really like that Staffbase provides in-depth analytics to show you when, where, and how employees are engaging with the content you share company-wide.

While Staffbase features are limited compared to other platforms on this list, Staffbase offers deep integration with Microsoft Teams, making it great for companies already using Teams for communication and collaboration.

Staffbase is an employee communications platform that allows you to create a customized intranet for sharing important company updates, training, and announcements. Unlike the other options we’ve listed, Staffbase isn’t a team collaboration platform, so it’s not for working together like Slack or Connecteam. But it does let you attach news and pages to dedicated channels that cater to various departments, teams, or locations. For instance, employees can use Staffbase if they need to find local lunch recommendations, the latest WiFi password, or customer contact information.

As it’s not specifically for team collaboration, Staffbase is designed to work together with Microsoft Sharepoint, which means employees won’t miss notifications and news shared on Staffbase if they’re logged into Microsoft Teams. It also allows you to monitor engagement with content, providing you with another way to measure employee sentiment.

If you’re looking for more ways to improve engagement, check out our list of the Best Employee Engagement Software for 2024.

Front door intranet

This gives users a centralized hub for sharing company news, information, and resources. Its drag-and-drop-style content builder also makes it easy for you to create a branded intranet without coding skills. You can also use the editorial calendar to plan content in advance and schedule when you want it to be released.

This feature is ideal for companies looking to create an internal social media that’s more engaging for employees than a simple news feed with updates. You can allow employees to like and comment on posts, but you can also turn off these controls for specific posts when you need to. In this way, Staffbase facilitates employee communication for both web and mobile, although it’s not ideal for collaborating on team projects and tasks.

I also like that you can create information hubs here to share critical resources, like your employee handbook and onboarding videos for new hires.

A screenshot of Staffbase's employee intranet for both web and mobile. — Employees can access your Staffbase intranet via web and mobile app.

Just like the intranet, the email designer offers drag-and-drop features for customizing employee emails. You’ll also have access to pre-built templates to save time. This feature is ideal for HR and people operations teams, who are often tasked with curating company newsletters and sharing updates that will impact everyone. And if you’re going for a unified branding experience across both intranet and email, you can save specific colors and fonts within the designer, saving you time when whipping up future updates. You can also upload and save images, videos, and GIFs to the designer to make emails more fun and interactive.

Finally, the email designer is easily readable by screen readers, allowing you to make communications more inclusive and accessible for everyone within your organization.

A screenshot of Staffbase's employee email designer.

Staffbase doesn’t offer transparent pricing, which is why I gave them a lower score for pricing. You’ll have to contact its sales team for a custom quote. According to its pricing page, paid plans vary based on the channels you want to purchase, and Staffbase can provide discounts based on how you bundle your plans.

According to independent user reviews, Staffbase plans tend to start around $30,000 per year, or $30 per employee for companies with around 1,000 employees. That makes it more expensive than other options on this list, and it means it’s less practical for small to midsize companies operating with smaller budgets.

Chanty: Best for integrated task management

Overall Score

3.07/5

Employee communication

3.98/5

Platform/interface

2.14/5

Intranet

3.23/5

Reporting and analytics

0.44/5

Support

2.55/5

User reviews

3.46/5

Pricing

4.25/5

Pros

Free plan available for up to five users.
Unlimited voice messages and audio calls for free users.
Built-in task management tools.
Easy-to-navigate interface.

Cons

No reporting and analytics feature.
Not CCPA compliant.

Why I chose Chanty

While I like Chanty’s easy-to-use communication tools, I find its task management feature to be particularly useful. Not only can you create task management dashboards similar to Asana or monday.com, but you can also chat directly within those dedicated forums. That’s great for remote and dispersed teams that need to keep all project communications private, organized, and archivable.

Similar to Slack, I also like that you can hop directly on a call within Chanty’s messaging platform. Chanty also integrates with tools like Google Drive, Mailchimp, and GitLab, which means team members get notified directly within the platform without having to toggle between dozens of different tabs.

Chanty is a team communication and collaboration tool designed to enhance productivity with messaging and task management features. It allows you to send text and audio messages to individual team members, private groups, or dedicated public channels. It also supports video and audio calls for up to 1,000 participants.

If you’re intrigued about Chanty’s task management features, you might appreciate that you can create and view tasks in a list or Kanban format. Chanty also facilitates collaboration on specific projects by letting team members chat within the particular task channel, keeping everyone in the loop, and preventing public channels from getting clogged with task-related conversations.

Team communication

When you log on to Chanty for team communication, you’ll notice the UI looks similar to Slack, and you can use it to create specific channels related to key topics and projects. If you need to host a meeting with a specific user or group, you can just click the meeting to get started.

But what makes it more efficient than Slack for collaborating on projects is the built-in Task tool, which will take you straight to the Chanty task board when you click on the Tasks icon.

If you’re short on time at the beginning of the workday but need to brush up on channel discussions, you can head to the team activity feed to get a history of recent conversations. A great option for software startups, Chanty also supports code snippet sharing for technical teams building platforms or digital products.

A screenshot of Chanty's chat feature. — Chanty helps you keep all discussions organized with dedicated channels.

Task management

With its task management tools, Chanty is also great for teams that follow the agile or scrum project management framework. In the task management dashboard, you can assign and manage tasks on a Kanban board, but you can also tag team members and chat with them directly within the assigned tasks.

Like other task management platforms, Chanty lets you assign due dates and priority. The cool thing about Chanty is that when you start a conversation on the task management dashboard, it will also show up in the chat interface, which is great for consolidating all communication about projects.

A screenshot of Chanty's task management dashboard. — Chanty lets all project stakeholders chat right within the task management dashboard.

A screenshot of Chanty's Teambook feature.

If you’ve got a new startup or want to test Chanty with a few employees, you’ll appreciate Chanty’s free plan, which never expires. However, it’s limited to five users, so you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan to support more users and access other features.

Thankfully, Chanty makes its pricing simple and transparent. A paid Chanty Business plan costs $4 per user per month, making it cheaper than Slack but still offering many of the same features. If you run a registered non-profit, consider this: Chanty offers a 50% discount for qualified organizations.