Group messaging apps are helpful communication tools for getting in touch with several people at once to share information, collaborate, and even manage a project.
Here is a list of messaging apps. Some are for simple group messaging. Others facilitate advanced team collaboration and integrate with productivity tools.
Group Messaging Apps
GroupMe lets you chat with everyone via push or SMS. Add anyone to a group via her phone number or email address and start chatting over SMS immediately. Choose when and what type of notifications you receive. Mute specific chats or the entire app. GroupMe is part of Skype. Price: Free.
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Messenger from Meta is for text, voice, and video chat. Send a link to everyone for a group video chat, even if they don’t have Messenger. Have one-on-one meetings or bring the whole group together. Host up to 50 people with no time limits. When text isn’t enough, hit record and send a voice message. Add filters, masks, and effects to your video chats. Price: Free.
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Slack is a messaging app for business teams. Message or group chat with anyone inside or outside your organization and collaborate as you would in person. Work in dedicated spaces called channels where the information is always accessible and searchable. Share channels with external companies and businesses. Automate routine actions and communications. Talk it out over voice or video calls. Share your screen as needed. Drag and drop files directly into Slack. Price: Free plan with 90-day message and file history. Premium plans start at $7.25 per month.
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Signal is a messaging and voice app with end-to-end encryption. Share text and group chats, voice messages, photos, videos, GIFs, and files — for free. Signal uses your phone’s data connection, avoiding SMS and MMS fees. Choose disappearing message intervals for each conversation. Everyone in the thread shares the same setting. Price: Free.
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Microsoft Teams is an app to chat, call, meet, and collaborate. Chat with a group or one-on-one. Message a colleague directly, send a group chat to the team, hop on a call, or share your screen. Organize your conversations, files, and apps in one place to keep the team in sync. Move email threads into quick chats. Share photos and documents with one person or the team for real-time collaboration. Edit files together in real time with Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Price: Free plan offers unlimited chat with friends and family. Premium plans start at $4 per month.
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Ryver integrates group messaging, task management, and voice and video calls. Create channels for large forums, groups, or individuals. Collaborate via chat, topic-threaded chats, and voice and video calls with screen sharing. Turn conversations into trackable tasks in a task manager. Automatically receive social media posts, news articles, and RSS feeds. Price: Plans start at $69 per month for up to 12 users.
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Google Chat is a messaging and group conversation app built within the Google Workspace suite. Securely connect with anyone you work with, and take group work to the next level with shared chat, files, and tasks. Easily find past conversations or files with Google’s search, and let bots and smart suggestions help you connect with participants and get more done faster. Use Chat in Gmail or as a standalone app. Price: Workspace starts at $6 per user per month.
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WhatsApp is free for text messaging, voiceover IP, and video calling, with over 2 billion users in 180 countries. With WhatsApp Business, connect with customers via group chats to share messages, photos, and videos — up to 256 people at once. Name your group, mute or customize notifications, and more. Send PDFs, documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows. Price: Free. Business app is free for first 1,000 conversations.
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Flock is a messaging and team collaboration app. Organize your conversations and manage all your work in channels to hit your business objectives. Use a private channel for focused discussions or a public one for team members. Launch a video call within a chat or channel, and share your screen for details. Access a suite of collaboration tools: shared to-dos, polls, rich note sharing, reminders, file sharing, and more. Add guests on Flock, and specify their chats and channels. Price: Free for small teams for 10,000 messages. Premium plans start at $4.50 per user per month.
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Twist makes collaboration easy by managing conversations with threads and organizing channels by topics, projects, or clients. There are no “online” or “offline” status indicators, and teammates know they can take their time to come up with a thoughtful response instead of feeling pressured to respond immediately. Price: Free for one month of messages and up to five integrations. Premium is $6 per user per month.
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Discord is a web-based communication app for text, voice, and video chat — popular with gamers. Start your own community and invite others to join. Discord servers are organized into topic-based channels to collaborate, share, meet, and chat. Hang out in group channels or talk privately with direct messages. Customize moderation tools and permission levels to group your teams, organize meetings, and more. Create moderators, give members access to private channels, and more. Price: Free. Premium plans start at $2.99 per month.
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Chanty is an easy-to-use team chat and collaboration app. It features instant messaging between members (one-to-one messages, public and private conversations), discussion threads, unlimited searchable message history, team-book hub, file and screen sharing, audio and video calls, voice messages, file and screen sharing, and task management with a Kanban board. Price: Free for teams with up to 10 members. Business plan is $3 per user per month.
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Rocket.Chat is a customizable open-source communications platform for real-time conversations across devices on the web, desktop, or mobile. It features free audio and video conferencing, guest access, screen and file sharing, live chat, two-factor authentication, encryption, and unlimited users, guests, channels, messages, searches, and files. Price: Community edition is free. Enterprise is $7 per user/month.
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WeChat, a messaging and social media app from Tencent, has over 1 billion monthly users. Create group chats with up to 500 members, and run group video calls with up to nine people. Share your real-time location with the tap of a button. Post photos, videos, and more to share with friends on your personal Moments stream. Record short videos to post in your Time Capsule before they disappear in 24 hours. Price: Free.
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iMessage is Apple’s instant Internet messaging service in iOS. Start a group conversation with your friends and family, give the group a name, and add or remove people from the group. Mute notifications or leave a group conversation altogether. Express yourself with bubble, full-screen, and camera effects. Recover individual messages or entire conversations that you deleted in the Messages app. Price: Free.