Collaboration Software

Planning to invest in the best collaboration software to provide unfailing real-time online collaboration with all the stakeholders? Then, just navigate through GoodFirms’ extensively researched list of 200+ top collaboration tools to embrace unified communication and collaboration facilities. This simple, authentic, and user-friendly listing will assist you in selecting the most suitable collaboration system to increase visibility across teams without any communication silos. Easily compare the top online collaboration tools, check their features, pricing, and client reviews, and select the best collaboration software tool for your business.

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List of the Best Collaboration Software Tools

  • Troop Messenger

    Best Team Collaboration Software like never before
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    Troop Messenger’s feature stack is functionally powerful, flawless, and is the best alternative for team communication and collaboration software. It can be considered as an apt tool for all sizes of organizations. The user navigation across this business chat application is promisingly seamless for any novice user. Its impressive and immersive user interfaces make each feature self-explanatory ... read more about Troop Messenger

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    50% in Collaboration Software
  • Beesbusy

    Beesbusy, an ideal tool for the planning of tasks and resources.
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    Beesbusy is a collaborative planning tool. Easy to use, it allows federating expert users and occasional users. - The planning of the tasks is materialized in a schedule in the form of a Gantt chart (view When of the project), which remains simple and easy to adapt. The multi-project views allow you to have an overview of all your activities. - Resource planning is done in a view displaying all re ... read more about Beesbusy

    Entry Level Price
    $11.99 Per Month
    Free Trial
    7 Days
    Category Focus
    25% in Collaboration Software
  • Workhub Connect

    Intelligent Team Wall With Best Communication Tool
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    By WorkHub Connect’s intelligent team wall, you’re just a single click away from your team and co-workers. When all your employees, tools, and communication are in one place with the flexibility to choose where you can work faster and more flexibly, this facility makes you work more productive than ever before. Break down silos by getting everyone across teams, physical spaces, time zones, a ... read more about Workhub Connect

    Entry Level Price
    Contact vendor
    Free Trial
    7 Days
    Category Focus
    20% in Collaboration Software
  • Flowlu

    We Help Your Business Processes Flow Smoothly
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    Flowlu CRM software is designed for small businesses to streamline sales operations, along with a particular focus on project management and task management. This all-in-one business management system includes the necessary tools to make effective decisions. This CRM software is integrated with sales force automation, financial management & invoicing for robust workflow. The free Flowlu version of ... read more about Flowlu

    Entry Level Price
    Contact vendor
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    20% in Collaboration Software
  • Asana

    Spend less time on guesswork. And do more great work.
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    Asana helps teams orchestrate their work, from small projects to strategic initiatives. With Asana, you can connect all your work in one place and bring teams together, anywhere. From lists to boards, to calendars and Gantt charts, organize work your way. Join more than 107,000 paying organizations and millions of teams across 190 countries who use Asana to get more done. Get started in minutes to ... read more about Asana

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    10% in Collaboration Software
  • Microsoft 365

    Your place to create, communicate, collaborate, and get great work done.
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    It's the tools you need. Be more creative and achieve what matters with Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and more. With a Microsoft 365 subscription, you get the latest Office apps—both the desktop and the online versions—and updates when they happen. OneDrive makes the work you do available to you from anywhere—and to others when you ... read more about Microsoft 365

    Entry Level Price
    $9.99 Per Month
    Free Trial
    30 Days
    Category Focus
    50% in Collaboration Software
  • Basecamp

    Get it together and manage projects the right way.
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    Basecamp is more than just a project management tool — it’s a better way to work. Teams that switch to Basecamp are more productive and better organized. They communicate better and require fewer meetings. And they’re far more efficient than before. Here’s how Basecamp makes it happen. In Basecamp, each project lives on a single page. With everything in reach, and every piece of informa ... read more about Basecamp

    Entry Level Price
    $15 Per Month
    Free Trial
    30 Days
    Category Focus
    10% in Collaboration Software
  • Zoho Projects

    The best project management software for any business.
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    Zoho Projects, our cloud-based project management software, helps you plan your projects, track work efficiently, and collaborate with your team, wherever they are. Zoho Projects is loaded with functions that improve team collaboration, making project monitoring easy, and enhancing productivity and output. Plan your project activities, assign work, manage resources and collaborate with your team l ... read more about Zoho Projects

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    15% in Collaboration Software
  • monday.com is a cloud-based Work OS, where teams create workflow apps in minutes to run their processes, projects, and everyday work. Teams shape their workflows and projects, code-free, with a platform that adapts to shifting needs quickly, liberates teams from manual grunt work, and connects teams in a collaborative workspace. The platform’s features include customizable workflow templates to ... read more about monday.com

    Entry Level Price
    $30 Per Month
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    5% in Collaboration Software
  • Airtable

    Organize anything, with anyone, from anywhere.
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    Organize your work your way with Airtable. An all-in-one collaboration software, Airtable combines the power of a relational database with the flexibility and ease of use of a spreadsheet. It works across platforms and devices and syncs data in real-time. Users can choose from different formats to view the tasks at hand, including grid, calendar, Kanban, gallery, and forms. ... read more about Airtable

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    10% in Collaboration Software
  • Notion

    Your wiki, docs & projects. Together
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    Notion is an application that provides components such as notes, databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars and reminders. Users can connect these components to create their own systems for knowledge management, note taking, data management, project management, among others. A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It's the all-in-one workspace for you and your team. Write, plan, c ... read more about Notion

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    10% in Collaboration Software
  • eXo Platform

    Connect, engage and reward your workforce through social and collaborative features
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    eXo Platform is an open-source digital workplace for growing teams and enterprises. Flexible and feature-rich, eXo Platform covers a wide variety of features from knowledge, document and content management to social engagement and project/task collaboration integrated within one holistic solution with eXo Platform, companies can connect, engage and reward their employees, customers, and partners w ... read more about eXo Platform

    Entry Level Price
    Contact vendor
    Free Trial
    7 Days
    Category Focus
    20% in Collaboration Software
  • Meeds

    A Blockchain-based solution to promote employee recognition & happiness at work.
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    Meeds is an association of software vendors that provides its members with a powerful employee recognition software designed to empower and engage your team. Our members integrate the recognition engine into their existing software, resulting in a new gamified method to recognize their users’ contributions. Users can share updates, comment on each other's posts and articles, and recognize each ... read more about Meeds

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    33% in Collaboration Software
  • Miro

    The online collaborative whiteboarding platform to bring teams together, anytime, anywhere.
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    Keep your team's minds in sync with Miro (formerly RealtimeBoard and AWW app). A virtual whiteboard and remote collaboration tool, Miro helps cross-functional teams work more efficiently together to build great things. The platform allows teams to ideate, visualize, and share ideas without any boundaries. It comes with over 50 pre-made templates for capturing and visualizing ideas, collaboration t ... read more about Miro

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    20% in Collaboration Software
  • Smartsheet

    Custom solutions fit your work at any scale
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    Smartsheet is intuitive online project management, collaboration & Gantt chart tool. It has a familiar spreadsheet-like interface, coupled with file sharing & workflow. Smartsheet enables teams to get work done fast and efficiently. We are a leading cloud-based platform for work execution, enabling organizations to plan, capture, track, automate, and report on work at scale, resulting in more effi ... read more about Smartsheet

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    5% in Collaboration Software
  • ProProfs Project

    Simple Project Management Software
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    ProProfs is an all-in-one project management solution for all businesses. The entire software is segmented into project management modules - project resource planning, enterprise project management, work management, task management, Gantt chart, project scheduling, etc. The feature-rich project management software can automate recurring tasks and optimize project management processes. ProProfs kee ... read more about ProProfs Project

    Entry Level Price
    $39.97 Per Month
    Free Trial
    15 Days
    Category Focus
    20% in Collaboration Software
  • Webex

    Video Conferencing and Webinar solutions
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    Webex brings together Calling Meetings, and Messaging modes of collaboration into a seamless, inclusive and intelligent experience. Make meetings more interactive and engaging - Reduce disruptions with background noise removal and voice enhancement - Enable audiences to share their reactions with animated emojis and gesture recognition - Improve audience engagement with next-gen dynamic polling an ... read more about Webex

    Entry Level Price
    $12.63 Per Month
    Free Trial
    30 Days
    Category Focus
    12% in Collaboration Software
  • GoToMeeting

    Fast, reliable, and secure video conferencing
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    An industry leader in web conferencing, GoToMeeting is trusted by millions of people every day for professional real-time virtual communication. GoToMeeting provides a fast, easy and reliable professional online meeting solution that enables customers to meet face to face, share presentations and chat with colleagues, all with the click of a button. GoToMeeting pairs productivity with the flexibil ... read more about GoToMeeting

    Entry Level Price
    $12 Per Month
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    20% in Collaboration Software
  • ProjectManager

    Project Management Software for Professionals.
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    ProjectManager is a flexible cloud-based project management software for small to medium businesses. The software's key features include project planning, task management, risk management, and resource management. ProjectManager is a friendly tool offering facilities like Gantt charts and Kanban board that align with task lists, calendars, etc. The tool has an intuitive project dashboard that give ... read more about ProjectManager

    Entry Level Price
    $13 Per Month
    Free Trial
    30 Days
    Category Focus
    14% in Collaboration Software
  • Google Workspace

    Productivity and collaboration tools for all the ways that we work.
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    Everything you need to get anything done, now in one place: introducing Google Workspace. Whether you’re at home, at work, or in the classroom, it’s the best way to create, communicate, and collaborate. Familiar tools; fewer distractions; more time to make things happen. Google Workspace is a collaboration platform designed to help businesses of all sizes create custom business emails, record ... read more about Google Workspace

    Entry Level Price
    $5 Per Month
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    33% in Collaboration Software
  • Hive

    We help teams move faster.
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    Hive is the real-time platform for driving your company's work forward. Every team should have a simple way to track who is working on what, and leaders should have a clear, real-time view of progress. Hive integrates with over 1,000 popular tools, like Slack, Google Apps, Salesforce, Mailchimp, and WordPress. It also supports integrations for files from Box, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Increase pr ... read more about Hive

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    10% in Collaboration Software
  • TaskOPad

    Be Organized. Making Work Easy and Achievable.
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    Email Integration: Streamline Communication Channels Effortlessly sync your emails with Taskopad to keep all communication in one place. With our Email Integration feature, you can: Convert Emails to Tasks Set Reminders and Due Dates Collaborate with Ease Email Integration WhatsApp Integration: Enhance Team Communication Taskopad goes beyond traditional task management tools by introducing ... read more about TaskOPad

    Entry Level Price
    $2.49 Per Month
    Free Trial
    15 Days
    Category Focus
    25% in Collaboration Software
  • nTask

    Free Online Task & Project Management Software for Teams
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    nTask is a free online Task Management and Intuitive Project Management Tool used by teams and professionals. With nTask, making checklists, managing projects, collaborating with project teams, scheduling meetings, and more becomes easier than ever. The nTask project management module can help you streamline your project planning, resource management, task dependencies, and financial summary and ... read more about nTask

    Entry Level Price
    $3 Per Month
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    15% in Collaboration Software
  • Kanban Tool

    Increase team performance with a visual project management tool.
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    Kanban Tool is a visual project management software based on Kanban that increases team productivity. Increase team performance with a visual project management tool. Online Kanban board for business with seamless time tracking. Kanban Board is a visual tool that gives a perfect overview of the current work status and simplifies team collaboration and communication. Kanban is a lean management met ... read more about Kanban Tool

    Entry Level Price
    $11 Per User
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    25% in Collaboration Software
  • MirrorFly

    The Next-gen of Real Time Communication APIs & SDKs
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    MirrorFly is a highly reliable and flexible in-app communication solution that offers Voice, Video & Chat SDKs under both self-managed(SaaP) and cloud-hosted models(SaaS) for niche businesses. The suite supports over 150+ chat and calling features that can be seamlessly integrated into any existing or pre-built application effortlessly. Enriched with features like chat moderation, chat tag, screen ... read more about MirrorFly

    Entry Level Price
    Contact vendor
    Free Trial
    N/A
    Category Focus
    100% in Collaboration Software
  • MeisterTask

    The most intuitive project and task management tool on the web.
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    MeisterTask is the most intuitive collaboration and task management tool on the web. It is built to give project administrators complete command and control over all stages and details of their projects. MeisterTask's Gantt-style Timeline feature helps project managers drive efficiency and keep their teams aligned. Assign and schedule tasks in calendar view to locate bottlenecks easily and ensure ... read more about MeisterTask

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    10% in Collaboration Software
  • Podio

    Your workflows, structured & smarter.
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    Podio is a collaboration software & task management tool that helps teams communicate and organize things to facilitate the completion of tasks and projects. It does this through a system that puts content, context, and conversations in one place. So whether you’re working on a project or following up and closing a sales lead, you get everything related to the job on one page, making for easier ... read more about Podio

    Entry Level Price
    Free version
    Free Trial
    Available
    Category Focus
    20% in Collaboration Software
  • ActiveCollab

    Powerful, yet simple project management tool.
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    ActiveCollab is a perfect project management tool for SMEs and large enterprises. The software gives full control over the project from start to finish with features like project management, reporting, collaboration, task management, time tracking, team communication, etc. Besides standard project management services, the tool enhances user experience with features such as in-app chat, project tem ... read more about ActiveCollab

    Entry Level Price
    $9.5 Per Month
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    12% in Collaboration Software
  • Brightpod

    When your projects are in control, every day feels like a holiday.
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    Web-based project management & time-tracking software for digital marketing & creative teams. Take the chaos out of marketing collaboration & planning. It’s time they are freed from the clutches of inflexible, generalist project management apps to stay on top of things. ... read more about Brightpod

    Entry Level Price
    $29 Per Month
    Free Trial
    14 Days
    Category Focus
    25% in Collaboration Software

Buyer’s Guide

Introduction to Buyer’s Guide for Collaboration Software

The buyer’s guide for collaboration software aims to provide the users with in-depth knowledge about the importance of collaboration tools to improve overall business performance. Businesses can leverage efficient collaboration tools to ensure streamlined workflow and steady growth through enhanced communication, coordination, teamwork, workflow efficiency, and productivity.

In this buyer's guide, you will learn about the features, importance, and benefits of collaboration management systems. The guide also offers insight into the critical points that one should consider before buying the best collaboration software for your business.

What Are the Most Common Collaboration Challenges for Businesses?

With growing work and teams, numerous communication, coordination, and tracking issues crop up that affect workflow efficiency, team productivity, and performance. With time, these issues cause irreparable damages to the business. The most common collaboration challenges that companies encounter include:

  • Task and workflow tracking and management
  • Communication gap or miscommunication resulting in demotivation, affecting productivity and performance
  • Sharing necessary documents and information with team members
  • Assigning work to team members and ensuring optimal work allocation
  • Time management issues include time wasted in searching for information and trying to communicate with multiple team members in the absence of a common platform
  • Teams working across different time-zones on the same projects and team members finding it difficult to overlap and coordinate at odd hours
  • Issues with file sharing, working together on same docs, and synchronous editing
  • Difficulties in managing and monitoring the remote workforce
  • Poor team building, compromised work, missed deadlines, and frustrated employees

What Is Online Collaboration Software?

Collaboration software is a set of automation tools on a unified platform designed to enable people to collaborate or work together and accomplish a common goal. The software helps resolve the collaboration-related challenges discussed above and manage group processes more effectively and efficiently to enhance overall performance.

Perfect collaboration requires flawless communication and coordination. Collaboration software offers audio/video calls, real-time chat, calendar management, contact management, project management, task management, document management, and other necessary features for transparent communication, hassle-free coordination, seamless collaboration, and improved workflow management. It offers the freedom of working from anywhere, anytime. Leveraging the best collaboration apps aid steadier business growth.

With so many benefits of leveraging top collaboration tools, reports suggest that the global collaboration software market size will grow at an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 7.2%, and the revenue will reach USD 17.5 billion by 2025.

How Does Collaboration Software Enhance Remote Working?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote working is the new norm worldwide today. It is the need of the hour. Remote working suffers from numerous challenges in the absence of reliable collaboration tools, including:

  • Time tracking and management is a severe challenge in remote working for both the company and the employees.
  • Team communication becomes difficult with team members working from different locations and varied time zones.
  • Remote working without perfect collaboration creates a feeling of social isolation.
  • Lack of communication reduces trust and work satisfaction.
  • Misunderstandings due to lack of communication give rise to conflicts between employees.
  • Deploying separate tools to serve different collaboration needs in remote working increases costs.
  • Employees cannot resolve technical errors and issues related to PC, network, server, etc., and remotely working employees find it challenging to seek technical assistance without efficient collaboration tools.


COVID-19 outbreak has made businesses realize the importance and benefits of remote working, and top collaboration tools make remote working hassle-free by eliminating the above limitations. With collaborative management software, remote working becomes easy, productive, profitable, and flexible. It results in improved work-life balance and work satisfaction, thus boosting remote employees’ morale and performance.

What Are the Benefits of Collaboration Software?

Collaboration tools help businesses control, streamline, and improve operational processes through enhanced communication and coordination. Below are the advantages of leveraging collaboration systems for your business.

Centralized collaboration

Software-based collaboration systems provide a unified view of the workflow tasks and team members and help manage these on a single platform. It enables collaborative work management, multitasking, communication, and coordination.

Quick information access and updates

Collaboration software provides a common platform for knowledge management, sharing process documents, and data. It offers powerful search tools to reduce search time and enable quicker information access. Online collaboration tools allow real-time information access, updates, and collaboration.

Improved task management

Collaboration tools help automate and streamline task management functions, including task scheduling, task assignment, workload monitoring, team tracking, and more. Business owners can ensure seamless workflow task management with collaboration tools.

Enhanced communication and coordination

Communication and coordination are the roots of team success. The collaboration software enables collaborative working, messaging, calling, file sharing, whiteboards, screen-sharing, screen recording, synchronous editing, and more. These systems typically include all the necessary tools to help team members interact without hassles, thus reducing the communication gap and improving coordination.

Increased process efficiency and team productivity

Businesses can ensure better time management by leveraging collaboration systems. The software brings all information and stakeholders in one place, automates repetitive routine tasks, reduces process time, saves communication/coordination time, and enhances process efficiency. The team members can thus better utilize their time and be more productive.

Cost-saving and profitability

With collaborative software, businesses get a comprehensive collection of numerous collaborative working tools in one platform at nominal costs. Besides, they do not need to spend on multiple collaboration tools separately to streamline varied functions/processes, thus reducing overall costs and enhancing profits.

Better decision-making

Collaboration tools enable businesses to measure the performance and productivity of their team members with ease. It offers Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based business insights through analytics and reporting for better decision-making and business growth.

Enhanced work satisfaction

Collaboration software allows flexible working by reducing process, individual, and team dependencies through improved collaboration. The team members can thus work at their convenience, update work status on the platform, share documents, resolve queries, and monitor tasks. The software helps boost employee morale and work satisfaction resulting in happy employees.

Ease of remote working

Top collaboration tools eliminate the challenges associated with remote working, including communication, coordination, task monitoring, productivity tracking, performance evaluation, knowledge sharing, mentoring, data security, and more. The software thus supports remote working, flexible working hours, and work-life balance for employees. With the increase in the remote workforce or work-from-home employees, businesses can increase employee strength without additional office space and infrastructure costs.

What Are the Essential Features of Collaboration Software?

A reliable collaboration system typically has everything you need for perfect collaboration, including one-to-one and team communication, coordination, project/task management, workflow management, and security features. Here are the prominent must-have features to look for in collaboration systems.

Instant messaging

Instant messaging is one of the most crucial collaboration tools for businesses. Whether within the team or with clients, real-time chat/messaging helps solve queries and build trust among the users, thereby ensuring uninterrupted work. Better and quicker communication through instant messaging enhances productivity and performance.

Audio/video calls

Audio and video calls enable transparent communication instantly between individuals and groups. Audio and video conferencing allow virtual group meetings where multiple people can interact as conveniently as in a real meeting room. This feature supports better teamwork by preventing miscommunication and work interruption. Managers can utilize this feature to keep updated about their team members and their work status from anywhere, anytime.

Presentation features

Collaboration is enhanced with presentation tools like screen-sharing, whiteboards, annotation tools, virtual notepads, offline viewing, etc., that help team members share their ideas and work together towards a common goal with ease.

Calendar management

The calendar management feature of collaboration software allows sending meeting requests, booking meeting slots/rooms, and scheduling events. It automatically sends notifications and reminders for task status updates, deadlines, meetings, etc., thus ensuring better work coordination and tracking.

Performance and productivity tracking features

An ideal collaboration system allows monitoring team members’ performance and productivity through features like attendance, login/logout time records, idle time, productive hours, database creation, timesheets, task hours, sites visited, and more. This feature enables work schedule flexibility. These tools collectively help track efficiency, ensure integrity/accountability, and enhance individual and team productivity.

Remote work management features

Remote work management is gaining success and popularity and has now become the new norm for businesses. Collaboration software eases remote working through numerous remote work software features, including employee monitoring, file sharing, live chat, remote access, screen sharing, audio/video calls, meetings management, and security.

Project and task management features

Collaboration systems typically provide comprehensive project management tools, including portfolio management, idea management, project tracking, project budgeting, project planning, project scheduling, resource management, task progress tracking, reporting, forecasting, timesheet, and more, to control and streamline various tasks in the project.

Workflow management features

Collaboration systems provide a wide range of automation tools to streamline workflow management for businesses, including business process automation, workflow configuration, access controls, forms management, notifications/reminders, etc.

Document management features

Collaboration is incomplete without document management. Thus, collaboration software offers versatile document management features, including file sharing, synchronous editing, storage, version control, customized access, search, etc.

Contact management repository

Collaboration systems act as a central repository of all relevant contact information of people involved in a business to ensure seamless communication, including employees, customers, clients, vendors, and other business stakeholders.

Security features

A perfect collaboration tool typically offers security features to include encryption, multi-factor authentication, automatic backups, role-based access, and more.

Other features

Collaboration software offers other useful features, including activity/news feed, dashboard, forms management, Agile/Scrum, and more. Modern collaboration tools include comprehensive analytics and reporting features for team/process monitoring and performance appraisals.

What Are the Key Factors to Consider Before Buying Collaboration Software?

As every business has different collaboration needs and challenges, choosing the best collaboration tools for your company is not easy. Here are some important parameters you can consider for selecting the best collaboration system solutions for your business.

Feasibility for your business

The software must be feasible for your business; it must cost well within your budget, and the Return on Investment or profits (ROI) from its deployment should outweigh its cost. Before buying the software, analyze whether free collaboration tools would suffice or you require comprehensive paid tools (or even advanced higher-priced plans). Also, confirm that the particular collaboration solution is suitable for your specific industry/business. Check the reviews, ratings, and feedback of the software from other users of the same industry.

Features

All collaboration applications offer different features, so it is crucial to ensure that the product you opt for covers all the necessary collaboration tools to satisfy your business needs.

Deployment type

Analyze whether your business needs an on-premise solution or a SaaS-based collaboration system. On-premise solutions have one-time costs, while the SaaS-based software (hosted on third-party servers) vendors typically charge on a per-month basis.

Integrations

The business collaboration software must allow easy integrations with your existing or third-party systems as required; for example, it may require integration with your HR software for employee performance tracking.

Scalability and customization

Choose a software vendor that provides customization in the software solution to match your needs. The solution must also support scalability, which is vital for business growth.

User training and customer support

Collaboration tools are generally easy-to-use, but the software vendor must provide user training if needed. Also, confirm that the software provider offers prompt need-based customer support.

Additional costs

Analyze and discuss other possible costs involved with collaboration software implementation with the software vendor to include installation, training, maintenance, integrations, customer support, hardware costs, etc. 

Take a demo

Before finalizing the collaboration system, leverage the free trial version if available to ensure that the solution offers all you need and is user-friendly. Else, request the collaboration software vendor to conduct a demo session for your relevant staff or target users.

What Is the Average Cost of Collaboration Systems?

The cost of collaboration solutions depends on numerous parameters. Factors that predominantly affect the pricing of the collaboration tools include:

  • Features it offers
  • Number of users
  • Number of projects
  • Storage space
  • Deployment type

Numerous free collaboration software options are available for businesses who need simple collaboration tools without affecting their business budget. Some software vendors also offer free versions or freemiums of collaboration systems; for example, Brosix offers a free version that allows up to 3 free users and Wrike up to 5 users. Other popular top collaboration tools that offer free versions include Asana, Trello, Beesbusy, MyChat, and OpenProject. These software solutions provide multiple feature-rich packages and higher storage space in the paid plans. Please refer to GoodFirms’ blog on free and open-source collaboration systems for more free collaboration system options.

It is possible to avail paid packages of reliable collaboration software for as low as $3 per month; for example, G Suite. You can get numerous top collaboration system packages within $12 per month. Brosix costs $4 per user per month, Taiga $5 per user per month (allows unlimited users and projects), Wrike $9.8 per user per month, Trello $9.99 per user per month, Asana $10.99 per user per month, and Beesbusy costs $11.99 per month for one license.

Some popular and reliable collaboration systems that cost a bit higher include Backlog at $35 per month (for up to 30 users, 5 projects, 1 GB storage) and Basecamp which costs $99 per month for unlimited users and projects.

Top collaboration tool vendors are generally transparent about the pricing of their collaboration systems. Still, before you plan to buy one, you must confirm with the vendor about hidden costs (if any) related to installation, maintenance, system upgrades, integrations with other systems, data migration, customer support, etc. Additionally, vendors typically offer customization at extra costs based on the complexity of your requirements. All these can significantly influence the pricing of collaboration tools.

Why Refer to GoodFirms’ List of Top Collaboration Software?

GoodFirms stands as the most reliable source for the list of the best software in numerous categories, with over 30,000 unbiased reviews from verified customers and a listing of over 60,000 services and software. GoodFirms’ insights are based on information gained from industry leaders worldwide and verified user reviews. We perform extensive research and rigorous analysis to handpick the list of best collaboration software for you.

Because every business has different requirements, GoodFirms offers multiple filters to sort and shortlist the top collaboration tools based on prominent features, business size, pricing models, deployment type, devices supported, and more. Leverage this list of the best collaboration system software summarized by GoodFirms and select the right collaboration tool to streamline and up-surge your business.

Comparison of Collaboration Software: Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Asana, Trello, and monday.com

FeatureGoogle WorkspaceMicrosoft TeamsAsanaTrellomonday.com
Company BackgroundDeveloped by Google, Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is a cloud-based productivity and collaboration suite that includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and more, designed for individuals, businesses, and teams to communicate, collaborate, and work together effectively.Developed by Microsoft, Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that integrates with Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and offers features such as chat, video conferencing, file sharing, task management, and integration with Microsoft's productivity tools and services.Asana is a web-based project management and collaboration platform that helps teams organize tasks, track work progress, manage projects, and collaborate in real time, offering features such as task lists, boards, calendars, timelines, dashboards, and integrations with popular productivity tools.Trello is a web-based project management tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to help teams organize and prioritize tasks, track project progress, and collaborate effectively, offering features such as customizable boards, task cards, checklists, attachments, due dates, labels, and integrations with other apps and services.monday.com is a cloud-based work operating system (Work OS) that enables teams to manage projects, workflows, and processes in one centralized platform, offering features such as customizable workflows, boards, timelines, dashboards, automation, integrations, and collaboration tools for planning, tracking, and executing projects.
Target AudienceBusinesses of all sizesBusinesses of all sizes, particularly Microsoft usersTeams of all sizesTeams of all sizesTeams of all sizes
PricingFreemium, paid plans start at $6/month per userFreemium, paid plans start at $4/month per userFreemium, paid plans start at $10.99/month per userFreemium, paid plans start at $5/month per userFreemium, paid plans start at $8/month per user
FocusIntegrated suite of productivity tools (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, etc.)Communication and collaboration hubProject management, task managementAgile project management, Kanban boardsWork operating system, customizable workflows
StrengthsFamiliar suite for many users, real-time collaboration, cloud-basedIntegrates seamlessly with Microsoft products, good for communication and meetingsPowerful task management features, clear project timelinesSimple, visual Kanban boards, easy to learn and useHighly customizable, flexible workflows, automation capabilities
WeaknessesLimited free storage, some advanced features require paid plansLess intuitive for non-Microsoft users, it can be overwhelming with featuresIt can be complex for simple projects, with limited file storage in a free planLacks some advanced features of Asana or monday.comA steeper learning curve compared to Trello can be expensive for large teams
Best forBusinesses seeking a familiar and integrated suite of productivity toolsBusinesses already using Microsoft products, prioritizing communication and collaborationTeams needing robust task management and project planning featuresTeams prefer a visual Kanban board approach to project managementBusinesses seeking a highly customizable work operating system with automation

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Is Collaboration Software Important for Your Business?

In the absence of appropriate collaboration tools, businesses commonly face collaboration challenges like communication gaps, lack of transparency, difficulties with knowledge sharing, handling shared files/documents, task delegation, monitoring workflow, remote working, tracking team members’ performance, and more.

By deploying reliable collaboration software, businesses can eliminate these issues. The software offers centralized control, improved communication with team/clients, automation of repetitive tasks, ease of file-sharing, synchronous editing, time-saving, better monitoring of the workflow, improved efficiency, and enhanced productivity. Online collaboration software offers all these benefits in real-time. The collaboration management software thus assures a streamlined workflow and team management at a nominal cost. For details, please check the GoodFirms’ Buyer’s Guide for Collaboration Software.

What Is the Best Collaboration Software for Businesses?

No single solution is the best for all. The best collaboration system software for your business is the one that satisfies your specific business needs and has positive feedback from other similar companies of the same industry as yours. You can refer to GoodFirms’ list of top collaboration software with the features, pricing, and reviews of the most popular solutions and select the one that matches your requirements and fits your budget. Also, for better shortlisting and selection, leverage the filters provided for business size, popular features, deployment type, pricing model, and more.

How Do Collaboration Tools Support Remote Working?

Collaboration software tools enable seamless remote working by offering a unified platform for workflow activities, team communication, meetings, audio/video conferencing, file sharing, synchronous editing, whiteboards for synchronous working, instant messaging, etc.

Remote teams typically need a unified group collaboration software or online collaboration platform. Online collaboration systems allow audio/video calls, meetings, and screen-sharing features that help the team members work together as comfortably and efficiently as they would in the office setting. Top collaboration tools support flexible remote working that improves work-life balance, employee satisfaction, and productivity.

What Are the Necessary Features of Collaboration Management Software?

The prominent or must-have features that collaboration software typically offers include:

  • Project and task management
  • Instant messaging/chat
  • Audio/video calls and conferencing
  • Synchronous document management
  • Informative calendar
  • Interactive dashboard
  • Powerful search
  • Centralized repository
  • Whiteboard
  • Role-based access controls
  • Analytics and reporting

What Are the Factors That Influence the Pricing of Collaboration Tools?

The cost of collaboration software depends on numerous factors, including the core factors that significantly affect the pricing and the secondary factors that may pose additional/hidden costs. These include:

Core factors:

  • Features
  • Number of users
  • Number of projects
  • Deployment type
  • Storage

Other factors:

  • Installation
  • Integrations (with existing systems and third-party)
  • Customization
  • System upgrades and maintenance
  • User training
  • Customer support

How Much Does Collaboration Software Cost?

Collaboration system vendors typically provide multiple plans or packages to suit businesses of different sizes and varied needs. Some collaboration solutions allow a free version or freemium apart from multiple paid plans; for example, Podio, Asana, Backlog, and Confluence.

Among paid solutions, it is possible to get reliable collaboration software for less than $10 per month; for example, Confluence costs $5 per user per month, G Suite $3, and Trello $9.99 per month. The advanced or higher-priced collaboration software packages allow more users and projects and offer higher storage. For example, Backlog costs $35 per month for the starter plan covering 30 users, 5 projects, and 1 GB of storage. Backlog’s premium plan costs $175 per month and allows unlimited users, unlimited projects, and 100 GB of space. Please check the Buyer’s Guide for Collaboration Software for details on pricing.

Are There Any Free Collaboration Tools Available?

Yes, there are multiple free collaboration software options available in the market. Small businesses with budget constraints can avoid costly collaboration solutions, save costs, and enhance profits by leveraging these tools to streamline their business processes. For details, please refer to our blog on Best Free and Open Source Collaboration Systems.

Are Collaboration Systems Secure?

Yes, the top collaboration management software solutions available in the market typically provide robust, multi-layer security features to ensure security. You must still inquire with the software vendor about security features related to:

  • Data backup and storage
  • Data integrity
  • Data sharing
  • Encryption
  • Access controls
  • Vulnerability scanning


As security is a significant concern for a business, it is also worth considering and comparing the customer reviews, ratings, and feedback for multiple collaboration systems before finalizing one. You can refer to the list of best collaboration system solutions compiled by GoodFirms and get the relevant information.

Who is the best-rated collaboration software on GoodFirms?

We have listed 245+ collaboration software on our platform based on reviews & ratings. Here are the top collaboration platforms, include:

Who are the free collaboration tools on GoodFirms?

The free online collaboration tools on GoodFirms, based on verified client reviews and ratings, include:

Who is the open-source collaboration software on GoodFirms?

The open-source collaboration software on GoodFirms, based on verified client reviews and ratings, includes:

Who are the cloud-based collaboration tools on GoodFirms?

The cloud-based collaboration tools on GoodFirms, based on verified client reviews and ratings, include

Who are the project management collaboration tools on GoodFirms?

The project management collaboration tools on GoodFirms, based on verified client reviews and ratings, include

Who are the document collaboration tools on GoodFirms?

The document collaboration tools on GoodFirms, based on verified client reviews and ratings, include:

Who are the video collaboration tools on GoodFirms?

The video collaboration tools on GoodFirms, based on verified client reviews and ratings, include:

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