With CalenTask, I can easily prioritize tasks and focus on what matters. It keeps me on track and productive, day in and day out.
.svg){kind=logo}
insghits
Yac is a team communication app that helps teams share complex information and updates without ever needing a meeting by using asynchronous voice messages and screen shares.
Teams can share voice messages with a group or in a one-on-one with a colleague. Recording links can also be shared anywhere (even with people who don’t have Yac), such as in email, on social media, etc.
Yac is the perfect solution to issues like meeting overload and Zoom fatigue, because it enables asynchronous communication and collaboration. You can stop struggling to coordinate schedules while watching the usable time drain from your calendar (and your team’s calendars).
With an async communication like Yac, colleagues can respond to messages at a time that works best for them. They can also get the whole picture with a voice message or screen share instead of trying to work out intentions from an email or a Slack thread.
Because it’s centered around voice communication, teams can pick up on the nuances of conversation that are difficult to gauge in text-based communication. This puts a stop to endless clarification loops and miscommunication, and it helps to build relationships.
Yac offers a completely free plan so you can immediately start sending voice messages and eliminating unnecessary meetings.
The Teams plan starts at just $3 per user per month (billed annually).
Yac is here to change the way remote teams work, communicate, and hold meetings by enabling them to do it asynchronously. It’s an incredibly easy-to-use tool that helps your team make more time for what matters. People who love Yac share our belief that async communication and collaboration is the future.
Like Yac, Twist is another tool that’s taking part in the async movement. By integrating with a number of popular tools and keeping notifications to a minimum, Twist is hoping to be one of the top async tools.
Twist’s interface looks like something between text messages and email, but they actively encourage users not to expect an immediate reply. When you try to direct message (DM) someone, Twist gives you this message:
"Don't expect an immediate response. Teams are more productive when everyone can disconnect to focus and respond when they're ready. Instead of saying 'You there?' just ask your full question and check back in later."
Twist doesn’t include audio or video calls like some of the other platforms in this list—and we think this is a good thing. It’s committed to its async promise.
Twist has a completely free plan for up to 500 members and 5 integrations. Their Unlimited plan is $5 per user per month and comes with unlimited message history, members, integrations, and more.
No one needs their work day to be constantly bombarded by notifications. People love Twist’s effort to decrease disruptions throughout the workday.
Known as a popular gaming chat app, Discord is becoming a go-to tool for building startup communities and helping teams improve communication.
Discord allows users to create private, invite-only servers that are dedicated to a specific team or topic. Create your own Discord server to keep all team communication in a single place, or start an online community for people interested in your industry or business.
One of the more unique features of Discord is that users create a single profile that they then use to access each of the servers that they’re a part of.
Discord’s main tool is completely free. However, they do offer a Nitro plan for users who want a more VIP experience. This plan is $99.99/year or $9.99/month and comes with upgraded emojis, larger file uploads, the ability to support a server, and more.
Discord isn’t a dry business tool—it wasn’t purpose-built for businesses at all. Many people prefer it as a way to create a unique online community that engages members and gets them discussing popular topics surrounding your industry.
Slack is one of the more well-known communication tools in the remote work space. It’s ideal for text-based team messaging, sending direct messages to coworkers, file sharing, and creating channels for specific projects and discussions.
It sports a simple two or three panel interface with channels and direct messages in alphabetical order along the left sidebar, a screen for sending messages, and the ability to create threads so conversations stay (somewhat) organized.
Slack has recently added a voice clips feature to their tool, but messages are limited to three minutes. You can, however, use integrations to send voice messages (like Yac’s Slack integration).
Slack has a free plan with limited storage and saved messages. Pro plans start at $6.67 per user per month (billed annually) to view all message history and access even more premium features.
By now most people have used or heard of Slack, meaning they can easily jump right in and start communicating. It’s a tool to house the back and forth that usually takes place over email, helping teams get closer to inbox nirvana.
Mattermost is an open source collaboration tool for developers. It’s ideal for anyone needing customization or who is concerned about their teams’ and conversations’ privacy.
This means your team can download the app and host it on your own servers. When talking about sensitive topics like new apps, tools, and other developments, many developers don’t want to risk holding conversations on a third-party server.
Mattermost has a completely free option, but if you want them to host it for you, it’s $149 per year. Paid plans start at $10 per user per month, and enterprise plans are available for businesses who need a customized plan.
The ability to shape your team communication tool to fit your specific needs is excellent. Plus, you can keep all your conversations private (important for compliance reasons in some industries).
Asana is another project management tool that has communication and team collaboration aspects to it. Asana keeps track of projects, tasks, and task owners. You can quickly see at a glance where projects stand and expand dropdowns to see tasks and sub-tasks.
You can also add automations in Asana to streamline workflows, like notifying team members when a task they’re waiting on is complete.
Direct communication takes place in the form of comments on specific tasks or on the overall project. Asana is a useful tool for projects with many steps and collaborators, and to keep a record of task-specific messages.
Asana comes with a free plan for small businesses and individuals just getting started with project management. As your projects get more involved, you may want to upgrade to their premium plan, starting at $10.99 per user per month (billed annually).
Asana is a versatile and in-depth project management tool that makes it easy for teams to work together without having to be in the same office—or even the same country. Fans also love the unicorn animation when you tick off tasks on your to-do list.
Ryver considers itself a team collaboration app, meaning it combines both communication and project planning to try and become the ultimate productivity tool. In particular, Ryver competes with Slack’s chat features, Trello’s project management cards, and Zoom’s video call ability.
Within the tool, you can set up topic forums, team chats, and one-on-ones. Ryver also boasts an in-app calling feature for synchronous team communication.
Fans of Ryer talk a lot about its price point for larger teams. Because they offer packages with upper user limits, larger teams that fall under the upper limit umbrella find it to be cost effective.
Ryver doesn’t offer a free plan, though they do have a 14-day free trial to test the tool out before making a commitment. As we mentioned, they offer packages based on a user limit, rather than paying per user.
So, for example, their Starter plan is $49 per month for up to 12 users, scaling to unlimited users for $99 per month.
If your team is already using both Slack, Trello, and Zoom, Ryver is a more affordable replacement. They even call out their competitors on their website, making it easy to see where they excel in comparison.
Chanty is another team collaboration tool that combines both communication and project planning functionality. Teams can send instant messages, make video calls, or create and assign tasks.
Fans of Chanty love their Teambook in particular, which is a central hub of tasks. It’s a great app for anyone working with multiple teams that each have their own projects.
Chanty has a free forever plan for teams of up to 10 members, making it perfect for startups and small businesses. After that, their paid plan starts at $3 per user per month (billed annually).
The ability to turn communication into task management helps people stay organized and makes for a seamless workflow.
Convo is a great tool for office, hybrid, or remote teams. It helps connect coworkers and unify a company’s entire team, no matter how large or widespread.
Convo is a proponent of asynchronous communication (a sentiment we are fully behind at Yac). They advertise their chat feature as a synchronous, bursty communication tool, and their comment feature as an async tool.
Their Starter plan is free for up to 10 users. After that, their Premium plan starts at around $7 per user per month or around $80 per user per year.
The fact that users get a newsfeed to keep up with company activity is a great way to unite everyone and make them feel like part of the team.
Who wouldn’t love an app that positions itself as your “emotional support dog”? Kona is a Slack integration that focuses on company culture and well-being.
It doesn’t take up employees’ valuable time. Checking in is as simple as adding emojis and reacting to questions. The best part is that colleagues can build relationships asynchronously (and don’t have to talk about work).
Kona is free to try and available for immediate download on Slack.
Burnout is serious. Kona redefines check-ins and builds bridges through a lightweight, heart-warming integration.
Microsoft Teams is a part of Microsoft’s business tools suite and is a video and chat communication tool. It’s largely based around real-time and synchronous communication, like meetings and instant messaging.
Organizations that already use Outlook emails and Microsoft Office like to stick within the same suite of tools. For this reason, many have turned to Microsoft Teams as their communication app of choice.
Microsoft Teams alone has a completely free option to sign up and start communicating with your team right away.
To get access to the Microsoft 365 suite, plans start at $5 per user per month (billed annually) for basic tools, or $12.50 per user per month (billed annually) for the full suite.
The ability to access email, communication, content creation, and more, all under the same umbrella brand can be a great team setup—if each tool fits your needs perfectly.
WhatsApp is a basic messaging app owned by tech company Meta (formerly Facebook). While many individuals have the phone app just to chat with friends and family, it can be a great option for dispersed teams as well.
WhatsApp is a completely free app, even if you plan to use the Business API.
WhatsApp’s ease and accessibility make it the perfect communication tool for a startup team just starting out. From discussing ideation to pitching for funding, a simple app like this can be the perfect starting point.
Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing tools available, and its visibility skyrocketed due to the pandemic.
As an easy-to-use synchronous video calling tool, it's no wonder that it has been popular with both individuals and businesses for connecting with friends, family, and colleagues alike.
Zoom has a completely free version for meetings with up to 100 participants and group meeting limits of 40 minutes. Premium plans start at $14.99 per month per license.
If you need to host the occasional one-off video call, or if you’re planning a major virtual event, Zoom is the perfect tool for you. Its ease of use and wide user base make it a great go-to tool.
Just like Microsoft Teams is included within Microsoft’s suite of tools, Google Chat and Google Meet are a part of the Google Workspace. Companies already using Gmail and Google Drive, who don’t want to take on another subscription, can take advantage of these included (albeit basic) features.
Google Chat is a one-to-one and group messaging service, while Google Meet is the video calling tool.
Both tools are included in Google Workspace plans starting from $6 per user per month for Business Starter with several tiers all the way up to Enterprise plans.
There’s virtually no barrier to entry—it’s that basic. When you have your Gmail window open, you can easily send a Chat to anyone in your contacts list and they’ll receive a notification so they can get back to you.
Treebal is an eco-designed team communication app—yes, that’s possible. Everything behind this app has sustainability in mind, like how messages are deleted after 7 days to save on storage.
Plus, Treebal donates half of its revenue to trusted environmental partners to support global reforestation.
Treebal is free for the public and available starting at around $2 per user per month for teams of professionals. Treebal donates 100% of the first month’s revenue to various environmental initiatives and 50% of revenue thereafter.
If you are going to communicate with your team via a team communication app, why not help the environment while you do it.
Troop Messenger is another team communication app that focuses on security first and foremost. With disappearing chats and the ability to self-host, this tool is ideal for mature businesses who rely on privacy.
Troop Messenger doesn’t have any kind of free plan, but they do offer a 30-day trial to test-drive their app. Paid plans start at $25 per user per month.
Troop Messenger has an extensive list of unique features. This tool is meant for established teams that rely on security, and the price point matches. While it’s likely not ideal for every business, there are a lot of security bells and whistles that come with this tool.
Trello is a project management tool that allows teams to collaborate on various tasks. With a Kanban board style interface, team members can create cards for projects, assign tasks, and move the card along each list as it progresses.
This is a great tool for people who like to track work visually and who don’t want a steep learning curve. It’s super simple to use and easy to customize. They even give you plenty of templates for different projects to help you get started quickly.
Trello makes use of text-based comments and emoji reactions to help teams collaborate on projects and individual tasks. You can also upload external videos and add audio links to each card.
Trello has a completely free plan for individuals creating up to 10 different boards. However, if you’re looking to use it for your team, plans start at $5–$10 per user per month (billed annually).
For more premium features, Enterprise plans are available with pricing based on the size of your organization.
As a project management tool, Trello has a very low barrier for entry. A project manager can create a card, describe the task, and assign it to a team member in just a couple of minutes. There’s little to no training needed, meaning teams can dive right into this tool.
Have you found your perfect team communication app yet? It’s essential to find a tool that works well within your team without requiring too much training or effort to onboard.
If you’re looking for a tool that helps you ensure every synchronous chat you have is meaningful and everything else is async, we recommend you book a demo to learn more about Yac.
Insights
With CalenTask, I can easily prioritize tasks and focus on what matters. It keeps me on track and productive, day in and day out.
13 min read
How is a digital brand, (or any brand for that matter) supposed to keep up and keep these users engaged? Communication and collaboration. Adnan, from Buffer, explains that the key to remote working is not where you work but how you work.
At its core, a lot of burnout is a choice. Not that anyone chooses to burn themselves out. Instead, it’s often the result of an entire chain of decisions we make while we’re working that lands us there. And we have a lot of control over each of those inputs.
© Yac Inc. 2025 - All Rights Reserved
