10 HipChat Alternatives (True & False Competitors Reviewed in 2017)
HipChat is a team communication platform that was launched in 2010 and later acquired by Atlassian. Employing a freemium business model, HipChat pricing is quite simple — it comes free in a basic plan and quite affordable (at $2 per user per month) in a HipChat Plus plan featuring group video chat, group screen sharing along with unlimited message history and file storage.
HipChat is also available on-premise, offering a self-hosted solution for companies. Another HipChat benefit is getting an in-depth integration with other Atlassian products such as Jira, Confluence, BitBucket and Bamboo. In case you are a fan of these apps ecosystem, HipChat could bridge them all together.
We’ve taken a look at different apps that people are asking Google Keyword Planner to compare with HipChat more often. It turns out not every HipChat alternative people are searching for is a true competitor. Let’s see which apps are real HipChat alternatives and whether they are worth a try.
1. Hipchat vs Chanty ✅
Can Chanty replace HipChat?
Yes. Chanty is a simple AI-powered business messenger our team is building. It’s designed for the needs of the small teams at work. Currently the product is going through the beta stage and not everything we’ve planned is implemented yet. While it’s tempting to roll out all of the exciting features and functionality at once, we believe in building a product together with our customers, so we are letting them see what Chanty is from the very beginning.
Here’s a brief comparison of Chanty and HipChat. If you’d like to become a part of our amazing beta test community and participate in the development process, feel free to sign up here.
How is Chanty different from HipChat?
HipChat Chanty Message history limit 25 000 searchable messages for free on Basic plan Unlimited in all plans Storage limit 5GB storage limit on a free plan
Unlimited in the Plus plan
10GB storage limit Free plan
20GB on Plus plan
Paid plan $2 per user, per month $4 per user, per month or
$3 per user, per month if paid annually
Integrations Yes Coming soon Video chat Yes Coming soon Screen sharing Yes Coming soon AI powered No Coming soon Workflows No Coming soon
What makes Chanty different is the AI component that predicts your responses. This way you spend more time working and less time communicating. You can also use workflows functionality to facilitate the discussions around your company business processes. Moreover, we’ve made sure the searchable message history is unlimited to prevent the frustration from losing important conversations.
2. HipChat vs Slack ✅
Can Slack replace HipChat?
Yes. Slack is a well-known communication and collaboration tool for teams. The combination of a powerful search, a number of integrations, a slick UI and charismatic copywriting made thousands of teams fall in love with Slack. When compared with HipChat, you’ll notice the significant, almost 4-times difference in Slack’s pricing right away. Although the brand managers at Slack turned it into a very cool product right from the beginning, it lacked some of the functionality you’d typically find at HipChat. Slack finally introduced video calls only in 2016 and screen sharing in 2017.
How Slack is different from HipChat?
HipChat Slack Screen sharing, Video calls Yes Yes Integrations Unlimited in all plans 10 max for a free plan
Unlimited in paid plans
Pricing $2 per user, per month $6,67 per user, per month in a standard plan or
$12,50 per user, per month in a plus plan
Storage space 5GB storage limit free plan
Unlimited in a paid plan
5GB storage limit free plan
10GB in a standard plan
20GB in a plus plan
Message history limit 25 000 searchable messages in a free plan 10 000 searchable messages in a free plan Self-hosted solution Yes No
Choosing HipChat free plan over Slack’s is basically receiving more for less. You get to enjoy more searchable messages, unlimited integrations and storage space for less money. HipChat could be a better decision when it comes to in-depth integrations with other Atlassian products.
3. HipChat vs Campfire ✅
Can Campfire replace HipChat?
Yes, if you are using Basecamp. Seems like all the major CRMs add the team chat functionality within their apps lately. E.g. Bitrix24 and Basecamp are following this trend. Launched in 2006 as a team communication tool, Campfire has been merged into Basecamp and currently, the standalone version of Campfire chat isn’t available. However, if you have a Basecamp account, you can still use it along with other Basecamp features.
How Campfire is different from HipChat?
HipChat Campfire Notifications settings You can customize your notifications and even set the volume at which you’d want to receive them Notifications are hardly customizable. You receive notifications for everything, even things you don’t want to know Conversations You can see all the conversation rooms at the left sidebar of your chat You need to open the Campfire menu to see all the conversations and notifications Switching to another conversation One-click Several clicks Usability Somewhat friendly Unfriendly
As you can see HipChat UX wins over Campfire chat. If you are willing to make your team communication project-focused and your company uses Basecamp, Campfire could be a natural extension. However, some of the companies who are already using Basecamp prefer other team communication tools to Campfire as they meet their needs better.
4. HipChat vs Flowdock ✅
Can Flowdock replace HipChat?
Yes. Founded in 2009 Flowdock was acquired by Rally Software in 2013. This team communication tool is overall pretty simple to use, with an interesting approach to threads that are highlighted in different colors so you don’t lose the conversation you need. Unlike HipChat, it doesn’t have a lite product version. Instead, Flowdock offers its product for free to the small teams of five and students.
How Flowdock is different from HipChat?
HipChat Flowdock Free options Freemium Free for teams under 5 and students Paid options $2 per user per month $3 per user per month Integrations Yes Yes Built-in video conferencing, screen sharing, audio and video calls Yes Integration with Appear.in Notifications Desktop push
Mobile push
SMS
Desktop push
Mobile push
If having direct audio, video calls as well as having screen sharing options without installing integrations is a deal breaker for you, Flowdock is unlikely to meet your team needs as it uses third party integration with Appear.in. However, what our team has appreciated while trying out Flowdock for about a week is the ability to hashtag any message in the conversation and then go back to it later via hashtag search.
5. HipChat vs Mattermost ✅
Can Mattermost replace HipChat?
Yes, if you are not looking for a public cloud solution. Mattermost positions itself as an open source private cloud Slack alternative. In simple words, it means you can’t download Mattermost app and launch it at your computer, like you’d do with HipChat. Instead, you’ll have to deploy and install it on your own company server. Due to a number of contributors to this open source platform, Mattermost is also available in more than 10 languages.
How is Mattermost different from HipChat?
HipChat Mattermost Open source no yes Self hosted yes yes Public cloud yes no Pricing $2 per user per month $1,67 per user per month in Enterprise E10 package
$6,67 per user per month in
Enterprise E20 package
Multi language no English, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Chinese, Korean & Japanese localization Searchable message history 25 000 in a free version,
Unlimited in paid version
Unlimited in all versions
Mattermost app would definitely require a system administrator from your team to set it up. However, if you choose to use their free version, you can enjoy the unlimited number of integrations and searchable messages. The number of languages Mattermost supports is a significant benefit which makes it a good fit for multilanguage teams all over the world.
6. HipChat vs Lync (now Skype for Business) ✅
Can Lync replace HipChat?
Yes. First introduced as Microsoft Office Communicator, later renamed into Lync and finally rebranded to Skype for Business in 2015, this team chat can be used as a stand alone product or as a part of Microsoft Office 365. It seems like Microsoft enjoys building and acquiring various communication tools as they already have a few. Skype, Skype for Business (Lync), Yammer, Microsoft Teams — all of these products are owned by Microsoft. Those who opted for Microsoft team communication tools may enjoy in-depth integrations with other Microsoft package apps at the same price as HipChat.
How Lync is different from HipChat?
HipChat Lync (Skype for Business) Pricing $2 per user per month Starting from
$2 per user per month
Or
$5 per user per month when purchasing Microsoft package
Free options Freemium package with limited options Free for teams up to 25 people Number of Integrations 100s of integrations Around 50 integrations Target market Small and medium businesses Small, medium business and enterprise
If your company is a Microsoft client, Skype for Business would be a proper solution considering its seamless integrations with MS products. Moreover, compared to HipChat with small and medium businesses being its target audience, it’s easy to meet the needs of a large enterprise with Skype for Business thanks to its enterprise-oriented features (such as Group HD video and audio calling for up to 250 people).
7. Hipchat vs Skype ❌
Can Skype replace HipChat?
No. Although Skype is often used for communication at work, its open ecosystem doesn’t allow private team communication and collaboration. Moreover, there are no direct integrations with third party apps (if you are technical though, you can use Skype API to create bots). There is also no file storage, so every time you need to send or resend a file, you’ll be going back and forth doing it multiple times. It also means you won’t be able to perform a file search in Skype unlike HipChat.
8. Hipchat vs WhatsApp ❌
Can WhatsApp replace HipChat?
No. Even though WhatsApp isn’t a team communication tool, we were surprised to discover people often compare HipChat and WhatsApp. To start with some clarity, they are very different products. While both apps are communication tools, they are used for different purposes. WhatsApp is mostly for personal use while HipChat is designed for communication at work. Moreover, WhatsApp is connected to your phone number and it is mostly used on mobile. It would be definitely a hard task to communicate and manage a development team using WhatsApp.
9. HipChat vs Yammer ❌
Can Yammer replace HipChat?
No. Comparing Yammer to HipChat is more like comparing Twitter and Skype. Yammer is basically a microblogging platform — a social network for team communication within a company with ‘like’ and ‘share’ options for the messages. Launched in 2008, Yammer was acquired by Microsoft in 2012. Starting from January 2017 you can’t get a standalone Yammer subscription any more as it’s now a part of Office 365 package where the plans range between $4 and $24. The good thing — you can integrate Yammer with other Microsoft Office products in a seamless and easy way.
10. Hipchat vs Hangouts ❌
Can Hangouts replace HipChat?
No. Hangouts is not a team communication platform like HipChat, Chanty or Slack. It would be wiser to compare it to personal chats like Skype or Viber. If you have a Gmail account you already have Google Hangouts by default. The tool is well-known for its high quality video conferencing functionality. Many companies who use Slack and HipChat still prefer to integrate Google Hangouts rather than using the built-in options when it comes to video team communication.
The true and false HipChat alternatives
While all the apps we’ve reviewed in this article are tools used for communication, being a team chat means creating a closed team universe that is used exclusively for communication and collaboration at work. Having analyzed the 10 different apps that people often compare HipChat with, it’s time to sort things out and decide which of them are real competitors. The ‘True’ column means an app is an instant messenger, serving the same purpose and solving the similar pain points as HipChat does. ‘False’ means the app serves the different purpose and isn’t actually a HipChat alternative.
True ✅
Chanty
Yammer
Slack
Mattermost
Campfire
Flowdock
Lync (Skype for Business)
False ❌
Skype
Google Hangouts
Don’t know which HipChat competitor to choose? Sign up for Chanty beta test and become the part of an amazing community testing out the next generation AI-powered business messenger.
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Originally published at Chanty.
