Best Collaboration Tools for 2020 (Top 10 Reviews)

Online collaboration is one of the most important aspects of the modern workplace, especially for big teams. The increase in the amount of published information changed the way we work and manage our daily tasks. This information explosion makes it more difficult to stay organized and it can lead to chaos when there is a data overload. This is where a good online collaboration tool comes in. Collaboration software can make a great team even better, more efficient and productive. It also helps employees to work more closely together instead of being cut off from one another.

There are many collaboration tools currently on the market, but which one is more suitable when it comes to specific collaboration needs? Most off-the-shelf software is quite generic and may not be as flexible and universal as you’d expect. To this end, let’s look at the pros and cons of 10 popular collaboration tools. From this list you may find the most suitable collaboration tool for your needs.

1. Google Suite

License: Commercial, starting from $6 per user per month to $25.

Website: https://gsuite.google.com/intl/en_sg/

Google Suite enables you to do a lot on one single platform: document sharing, task management, calendar, chat, email and video. It integrates everything that could maximize your work efficiency. Gmail, Hangouts, or Calendar let you easily communicate with others; Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other tools are for teamwork; Drive provides a good solution for file storage.

Pros: It is one of the best collaboration tools in the industry. Hangouts are really effective when it comes to following up on team conversations. Online collaboration makes document writing easy. It’s simple to leave notes and edit documents, and access them seamlessly across devices and locations. You are able to manage your email, cloud storage, calendar, shared documents, spreadsheets, Slides, and so much more from one place.

Cons: It’s a bit expensive compared to most of the tools listed below. It comes with a learning curve by integrating so many tools in a platform, and the customer service is not so appealing and easy to get a hold of. Sometimes, they take a long time to update their iOS apps with the latest features, something that doesn’t happen for Android. Also, the Google Drive app for macOS needs some work to be up to standards.

2. Lark

License: Free, premium plans start from $2.50 per user per month to $20.

Website: https://www.larksuite.com/?md

Like G Suite, Lark is feature-complete and includes chats, email, video, calendar, document sharing, cloud storage, and many other third-party apps. It’s the true all-in-one collaboration platform built to maximize efficiency and bring joy to the workplace. You can access files from any computer or mobile device, so that members of the team could be just about anywhere in the world. This makes it easy to work together, regardless of the location of the employees. Even better, deadlines, task management, and support (provided through a Bot in Lark) are all built into communications. Everyone is able to speak to the right person wherever they are. This makes it much easier to keep a steady and organized workflow on a project.

Pros: Lark aims to be an all-in-one collaboration and communication platform. It surely has the best mobile experience compared to other tools, and comes equipped with some amazing features. Chats can be set to auto-translate and one can use emoji reactions to avoid flooding a chat with replies. Its videoconferencing features, like in Zoom, allow meetings to be recorded and shared. Meeting groups and notes provide for a good online experience. Cloud-based documents are easy to edit and share. Ultimately, unlike other collaborative software, Lark offers a free version and good customer service that are sure to attract the attention of small and medium size companies.

Cons: Like Google Suite, using Lark is a little difficult at first, as it takes a while to master all its features and functionalities. However, it provides good support and they are willing to quickly solve issues. When you begin to get familiar with the tool, you will surely find this newcomer a good choice, also taking into consideration it was only launched in 2019.

3. Microsoft Teams

License: Free, premium plans start from $12.50 per user per month to $20.

Website: https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software

Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based application for business communications that helps manage chats, meetings, file sharing, and workflows in a single place. Microsoft Office remains the most used and therefore important office suite out there, and while there are competitors such as OpenOffice and G Suite, they still haven’t caught up to the same level of functionality and ease of use.

Pros: Like Google Suite and Lark, Microsoft Teams with built-in Office 365 apps makes communication more effective. You can get your team on the same page with group chats, online meetings, calling, and web conferencing. There’s no doubt that Office 365 has the highest level of functionality among the various other tools.

Cons: Support is not so good and this may annoy you if you want to raise an issue. Everything is cloud based and it takes a lot of time to update files, even after you purchase a subscription. It also becomes expensive over time and local installations often need to be reactivated due to bugs in the authentication system.

4. Slack

License: Commercial, premium plans start from $6.67 per user per month to $12.50, and with a higher Enterprise Grid.

Website: https://slack.com/intl/en-cn/

Slack is a popular enterprise collaboration app that offers a variety of features including conversations, video or voice calls, integrated file sharing, and other third-party apps. You can share channels with companies and businesses you regularly work with — like clients, vendors, and partners — to bring all the right people into the same room.

Pros: It’s easy to get started. It replaced emails with quick messages, letting you pin important files and chats for easy access, keeping everyone in the loop and information not locked away in an inbox. There are also a lot of integrations to simplify your life.

Cons: It can get very pricey with a large team. It is a bit hard to cooperate with other companies, as you need an administrator to add a guest to the workspace, and you need to pay a license for anyone who needs access to more than one channel (multi-channel guest).

5. Asana

License: Free, premium plans start from $10.99 per user per month to $24.99.

Website: https://app.asana.com/

Asana is a cloud-based project and task management solution for companies to track the work of employees and get the best out of their collaboration. Using the platform, you can manage tasks and projects, communicate and collaborate on desktops, laptops and smartphones. It is also integrated with various applications like Slack, Dropbox and Google Drive.

Pros: Asana is suited for teams that handle multiple projects at the same time, and works well for companies of any size. The search function lets you quickly locate past work and never lose any file.

Cons: It’s a little difficult to use at first and the user interface can be confusing. Besides that, it can get annoying to keep assigning tasks to yourself. Compared to other previously listed tools, Asana is more focused on project management and doesn’t provide functionalities like video calls.

6. Trello

License: Free, premium plans start from $9.99 per user per month to $20.83.

Website: https://trello.com/home

Trello is an online collaboration tool available both on the web and on mobile apps. It lets you easily organize your projects into boards and work on them with colleagues. All your projects, tasks and teams are easily visible at a glance. It shows you what your team is working on, and at which stage you are. Trello also has a number of integrations with apps like Google Drive, Slack, and Evernote.

Pros: Trello makes it easy to plan, track, and collaborate on projects with a visually simple interface. The Drag-and-drop functionality and ease of use make it a particularly good platform for projects and general workflow management.

Cons: The free version is quite limited and you have to purchase a premium plan before unlocking a number of additional features for better organization. And like Asana, it focuses on project management and you need to switch to different platforms in work environment.

7. Flock

License: Free, premium plans start at $4.50 per user per month

Website: https://flock.com/

Flock is one of the useful collaboration tools when it comes to collaborating on ideas. It is very similar to Slack but is arguably a little less daunting to use and offers more comprehensive communication functionalities. It can search through messages, files and links. Voice and video calls as well as screen sharing are available, no matter to say third-party applications like Google Drive and Twitter.

Pros: Flock is easy to learn and utilize. It makes communicating with your team simpler. It keeps everyone on the same page whether they are in or out of office. It makes sure that everyone has information readily accessible. The Do Not Disturb feature is helpful to focus on your own work.

Cons: The free version provides less functionalities compared to Lark. And every time it is installed on a PC you need to have a specific code to key in, which would be tiresome and a waste of time especially you have a big team. Besides, third-party apps are not available compared to Slack.

8. Podio

License: Free, premium plans start from $9 per user per month to $24.

Website: https://podio.com/site

Just like many other collaboration tools, Podio enables you to share files, manage project and assign tasks. It’s also equipped with quality mobile apps and has an amount of integrations with third-party services like Dropbox, Google Drive and Zendesk.

Pros: Podio is the great as project software. You can track all important tasks and multiple projects at once, which enables you to collaborate with your team and colleagues in a more efficient way. It’s also easy to create a task and store large amounts of information.

Cons: It can be quite tedious to set up initially for it is very customizable, though there are many pre-made modules you can use. Its focus is project management, not a strong all-in-one suite like Google Suite and Lark.

9. Ryver

License: Commercial, starting from $49 per user per month to $399.

Website: https://ryver.com/

Ryver is similar to Slack, aiming to make communication more effective, and to talk over tasks to ensure that deadlines are met. Unlike Slack, you could create as many teams as you want within the app and easily categorize them to boot. It also unifies existing third-party applications easily and guarantees easy access to the team.

Pros: Ryver makes communication, knowledge sharing, collaboration, and culture seamless by providing easier information access to all who need it. And there are some amazing features which let you assign a task to individual members and set a deadline to be completed. You are also able to send documents to someone in a private chat group and search previous conversation.

Cons: Sometimes it is very messy to reply to messages in a team channel. It doesn’t have a free version and is quite pricey compared to all of other collaboration tools.

10. ProofHub

License: Commercial, starting from $45 per month to $89.

Website: https://www.proofhub.com

ProofHub is a web-based task collaboration software that helps to manage work, discuss and communicate with team members and clients at a central place. Teams can effortlessly share ideas, compile files, and organize all important stuff.

Pros: There’s no per user fee so it would be more suitable to big companies. It’s also easy to understand with little to no learning curve.

Cons: ProofHub has the fewest third-party apps compared to all the other collaboration tools listed above. It may not be convenient if you need to integrate other platforms like Zendesk.

Check out the lists below to learn more:

Lark vs. Slack comparison: which is better for collaboration?

Lark vs. Google Suite comparison: which is better for collaboration?

Use tools to collaborate more effectively with your team

COVID-19 support resources | Lark for distance teaching and learning