Every free communication & messaging tier that clears our bar in 2026: 4 offers meet the criteria and 4 offers are demoted with a named reason. Recorded changes and a published ranking method. We could not confirm today's terms for 5 of them, and on all 5 the page we cite did not answer. Each row says why.
Unlimited chat messages and search. Group meetings up to 60 minutes, up to 100 participants. 5 GB per user file storage. Screen sharing. No meeting recording or webinars on free.
Slack's free plan includes 90 days of message history, up to 10 apps, 1:1 meetings and 1:1 external messages. It does not include AI features, SAML-based single sign-on or SCIM user management. AI conversation summaries start on Pro. SAML-based single sign-on and SCIM user management start on Business+.
Unlimited servers, channels, messages. Voice/video calls (up to 25 in DM groups). Screen sharing (720p/30fps). Go Live streaming (720p/30fps). 25 MB file upload limit. No HD streaming or animated avatars on free.
1-hour group meetings (up to 100 participants). Unlimited 1-on-1 calls (24-hour limit). Screen sharing. Real-time captions. Background effects. No recording or breakout rooms on free. The page we cite for Google Meet names a plan but states no amount, so these limits come from our own record rather than from that page.
Fully free and open-source. End-to-end encrypted messaging, voice, and video calls. Group chats up to 1,000 members. Disappearing messages. Sealed sender. No ads, no tracking. Desktop app. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-15, so we cannot confirm these terms today.
Unlimited 1-on-1 meetings. Group meetings limited to 40 minutes, up to 100 participants. Screen sharing. Virtual backgrounds. Breakout rooms. Local recording. No cloud recording or AI companion on free. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-15, so we cannot confirm these terms today.
Fully free for personal use. End-to-end encrypted messaging, voice, and video calls. Group chats up to 1,024 members. File sharing up to 2 GB. Multi-device support (up to 4 linked devices). Community groups. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-15, so we cannot confirm these terms today.
Fully free core features. Unlimited messages. Groups up to 200,000 members. Channels with unlimited subscribers. 2 GB file upload limit. Cloud-based message sync. Voice/video calls. Bot platform. Public @usernames. Desktop, web, and mobile clients. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-15, so we cannot confirm these terms today.
| Vendor | Free Tier | Key Limits | Durability | Read / catalogue date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Teams | Free | Unlimited chat messages and search. Group meetings up to 60 minutes, up to 100 participants. 5 GB per user file storage.... | stable | 2026-11-07 |
| Slack | Free | Slack's free plan includes 90 days of message history, up to 10 apps, 1:1 meetings and 1:1 external messages. It does no... | stable | 2026-11-09 / 2026-10-18 |
| Discord | Free | Unlimited servers, channels, messages. Voice/video calls (up to 25 in DM groups). Screen sharing (720p/30fps). Go Live s... | stable | 2026-11-07 / 2026-10-15 |
| Google Meet | Free | 1-hour group meetings (up to 100 participants). Unlimited 1-on-1 calls (24-hour limit). Screen sharing. Real-time captio... not confirmed · page names a plan, no amount · 2026-11-09 | stable | 2026-11-09 |
We publish no ranking of these. Nothing we record measures popularity or generosity, so naming a best or a top few would be our preference rather than our data. We hold 4 free communication & messaging offers that clear our bar, each listed with the terms we publish and the date we last read them. Our ranking rule is published at /criteria.
4 offers meet our criteria for this category. All of them carry no recorded change to the terms we publish. The Durability column below says which offer is in which group, and links the dated record behind every change. We do not rank these by how much you get, because the limits are not comparable without reading each vendor's page.