Updated May 2026:Slack AI shipped natively. Teams Copilot deepened to all SKUs. Discord crossed 200M MAU. Mattermost added AI-powered playbooks. Rocket.Chat 7 launched with Matrix federation.
Team chat in 2026 splits along two axes:cloud SaaS(Slack, Teams) vsself-host(Mattermost, Rocket.Chat), andknowledge worker(Slack/Teams) vscommunity(Discord).
Quick Picks
- Tech-forward orgs→Slack
- Microsoft 365 shops→Microsoft Teams(free with M365)
- Communities→Discord
- Self-hosted SaaS-like→Mattermost
- Open source flex→Rocket.Chator Element
Pricing (May 2026)
| Tool | Free | Standard | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slack | 90-day history | $8.75/user (Pro) | $15/user (Business+) |
| Teams | Free Tier | $4/user (Essentials) | Free with M365 Business |
| Discord | Forever Free | Nitro $9.99/mo (user) | Server Boost $4.99/mo |
| Mattermost | Self-host free | $10/user (Pro) | Custom (Enterprise) |
| Rocket.Chat | Community free | $4/user (Pro) | Custom (Enterprise) |
