
Ask HN: Slack Alternatives? - maest
I run Slack on Firefox and it&#x27;s gotten to the point where the app is unusable, mostly because of the ridiculous memory consumption.<p>This was noticed not just by me but by my entire team.<p>So, at this point, it makes sense to move away from Slack.<p>What are some alternatives? In terms of features:
* channels and private messaging
* share images and files
* (maybe) support for some of the automated commands you can integrate with Slack.
======
Legogris
Apart from already mentioned Mattermost[0] and rocket.chat[1], Matrix[2] and
their main client Riot[3] is seriously worth checking out. It's a quite
ambitious effort for decentralized, federated IM / group communication.
There's still some work left on the protocol in terms of federated identity,
which should not be necessary of you're looking to replace Slack. I haven't
spent significant time with it in the past year or so, but from my
understanding it's starting to become production ready.

IMO there's value in pushing for decentralized, federated alternatives. Would
be interested to hear from people who have used it in anger.

[0]: [https://mattermost.com/](https://mattermost.com/) [1]:
[https://rocket.chat/](https://rocket.chat/) [2]:
[https://matrix.org/](https://matrix.org/) [3]:
[https://about.riot.im/](https://about.riot.im/)

------
potatochup
Mattermost is a self hosted clone, zulip is an option too although it's not a
direct copy. We've also used discord and MS teams

~~~
Freak_NL
Mattermost is really nice, and is self-hosted. If you run a self-hosted
version of GitLab as well, the GitLab omnibus may be interesting, because it
contains Mattermost as well.

[https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/)

~~~
lloeki
Indeed this makes upgrading the whole enchilada a breeze.

Watch out though, the MM database is not backed up by the GitLab backup
scripts.

The script I wrote: [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-
gitlab/issues/2493](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/issues/2493)

The general issue tracking vendored software backup:
[https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-
gitlab/issues/1927](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/issues/1927)

------
rkangel
We used Zulip in a previous team and it was great. The topics system is the
killer feature (like a much better version of Slack's threads).

The mobile apps weren't brilliant 9 months ago, but they were in the early
stage of a rewrite in react native, so the situation has likely improved as
that has matured.

~~~
rvense
Zulip's topic system looks fantastic for keeping things organised over time. I
wish we could use it instead of Slack.

~~~
ykevinator
We use zulip and most of the time the topic thing is used by accident. We also
tried slack but it was too bloated. Honestly hip chat was the best platform we
ever used. Maybe we will try rocket chat.

~~~
aero31aero
> the topic thing is used by accident

It has been designed to be used _with_ the topics and there is no workflow
that allows you to avoid topics. I'm not sure what you mean by using topics by
accident.

~~~
Uw7yTcf36gTc
probably started with a 'general' topic and people never created other topics.

------
viraptor
Have you looked at ripcord?
([https://cancel.fm/ripcord/](https://cancel.fm/ripcord/)) It's not the most
amazing UI right now, but it's light and functional. And it works with the
existing slack service.

Otherwise, have you tried contacting Slack? They've done a lot of improvements
recently. My memory usage in FF barely goes over 30mb normally. If you're way
over that, maybe you're running into some specific bug they'd want to fix.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Seconded. It's not amazing UI in terms of modern design sensibilities, but to
me, it's an improvement over Slack. Snappier, higher information density. And,
of course, very lightweight.

------
yurylifshits
Hi all! Check out Openland. We are YC W18 company and are building a next-
generation general-purpose messenger. It completely replaced Slack for us
internally (remote team of 12). Totally free now.

What we have:

    
    
        Apps for every platform
        Voice calls and conferences
        Group chats and channels
        Mentions, replies, forwards
        Emojis, emoji reactions, and stickers
        Threaded comments
        Link previews
        Rich text formatting
        Keyboard shortcuts
        File attachments and previews
        Message search
    

Invite:
[https://openland.com/invite/h2BGtL](https://openland.com/invite/h2BGtL)

~~~
darekkay
Is there a landing page? I'm getting redirected to the invite page when
opening openland.com

I think few people (especially on HN) are okay with giving away their email
without seeing at least a glimpse of what your app is doing.

~~~
yurylifshits
Current landing page: [https://openland.com](https://openland.com). A new
landing page is coming soon.

Use the invite above to sign up and bypass the waitlist.

------
nicebill8
Keybase.io is free and encrypted. Subteams, chat, file sharing and encrypted
git support.

~~~
riffraff
And oddly enough, a cryptocurrency wallet now.

~~~
grenoire
They give you free money for some reason. I was priding myself on never having
any crypto holdings until they forced the cash on me (which, of course, cannot
be complained about on a basis of principle).

~~~
giaour
It does create headaches for those of us who have to report gifts and
extramural income sources.

------
Hates_
Discord ([https://discordapp.com/](https://discordapp.com/))

~~~
Double_a_92
Discord probably has a similar overhead, since neither are native apps but use
Electron instead.

~~~
radicalbyte
It's way better though. None of this weird threaded discussions and other
annoying lock-in features.

~~~
geoah
Threaded discussions are a god-sent in most teams I've worked with. It allows
keeping conversations nice and tidy or just ignore the ones you don't care
about.

------
alexvoda
If you work in the Microsoft ecosystem, Teams is the obvious answer. On my
machine it currently hovers around 82MB.

~~~
gowthamgts12
I have used Teams before, but it's not smooth. Had a lot of UX cramps.

~~~
bartread
How long ago?

We've been using Teams for about 18 months since switching from Slack due to
its prohibitive cost across our whole org[1]. Whilst Teams is far from
perfect, it's got considerably better during that time.

 _[1] We 'd reached the point where the 10000 message limit on the free plan
meant our history was down to a few days, which meant that important messages
were getting lost whilst they were still needed._

~~~
rapsey
On macOS the UI is pretty crampy.

~~~
bartread
Fair comment: I've only ever used it on Windows and iOS. My personal machines
are Macs but I never use Teams on them.

------
ScottFree
Am I the only one who loads the website for some of these alternatives, see
they use flat design and immediately closes the tab?

This isn't a slack alternative, per se, but I really like quip. It lets you
create and share documents. You can then leave comments on a part of a
document and tag other people, who will then get alerted. It lets you have
conversations entirely within in the context of, for example, a design
document. It would be perfect if it also had tight integration with a task
tracker.

------
tontonius
Odd to see that no one recommended ERC the emacs IRC extension

~~~
znpy
on a more serious note, TheLounge is pretty great as a self-hosted web-based
irc client

------
BrissyCoder
Skype for Business. It's for business after all.

~~~
Slackwise
Skype for Business is obsolete, though:

[https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/25/16360072/microsoft-
teams-...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/25/16360072/microsoft-teams-
replacing-skype-for-business)

~~~
BrissyCoder
Yeah I was joking sorry. Obviously Skype for Business is one of the worst
tools for what OP is requesting.

~~~
yodon
You may want to read up on Poe's law[0] on why sarcasm and irony are less
effective than you might expect online.

[0]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law)

------
zzo38computer
Channels and private messaging: You can use IRC. It does that very well. (You
don't even need a IRC client or any other specialized software; you can just
telnet in and that works, and it was actually designed to be able to work
without specialized software. However, using specialized software is better
because it can auto-pong and can prevent what you type from getting mixed up
with what someone else types.)

Share images and files: There are many ways to do this and it can be done
independently of the chat system in use. (However, it would also be possible
for a IRC client to include such integrated features, sending the URL so that
other users can download whether or not they are using the same software as
you do.)

Support for some of the automated commands you can integrate with Slack:
Unfortunately, I do not understand.

------
tmlee
We recently moved to using Basecamp for communication, it has a flat fee for
as many team members you want which is pretty good for a growing company.

Real time Chat feature (Campfire) is built in which is great and intuitive.

However most of our team members are somehow still used to Slack chat
interface.

------
einpoklum
Alternatives:

1\. IRC, and share files and images through web-based sharing platforms and
links.

Simple, low resource consumption, excellent instrumentation and automation
possibilities, logging, etc. Downside - not as convenient as pasting shared
content onto a channel. There are web-based IRC clients as well, but they're
the opposite of private, and few of the benefits of standalone clients.

In extremely extensive use by many groups and organizations, despite not being
fashionable.

2\. Telegram (using the groups feature)

Kind of in the middle between Slack and IRC, I guess. Not sure you can use it
from within the browser though.

Used, for example, by the LibreOffice development community (from which I
noticed this kind of Slack-like use - the LTR/RTL QA volunteers have their own
group.)

------
sgt
I would like an alternative too that uses a native app, not an Electron app
preferably. Something that is very simple will be fine, but it needs to allow
for drag and dropping pictures and documents.

------
haunter
Discord. Yes it's marketed towards gaming communities but it's still good for
everything you mentioned

[https://discordapp.com](https://discordapp.com)

------
nicoburns
Have you updated to the latest version of Slack? Mine is currently sitting at
222mb, which isn't great but it's significantly less memory hungry that it
used to be.

------
_eigenfoo
Not free, but a lot of big corps seem to use Symphony:
[https://symphony.com/](https://symphony.com/)

------
jamil7
I'm not a massive slack (or electron) fan but with it open right now in 7
teams it's using around 85mb of memory. It's improved a fair bit.

~~~
threeseed
Slack is a mess for me. I have only 3 teams open but it will routinely freeze
for 10-20 seconds and often will go into the hundreds of MBs.

No problem with Teams so clearly it isn't Electron.

------
fmpwizard
[https://www.flowdock.com](https://www.flowdock.com) , besides all the normal
features you mentioned, it has excellent thread support, which is huge! So you
can have multiple conversations in the same channel/flow during several days
and can just ignore whichever thread isn't for you. We have been using it with
a 100% remote team for over 6 years.

------
muzani
Jandi: [https://www.jandi.com/](https://www.jandi.com/)

Covers most of the use cases of Slack, though a bit less automated commands.

It's cheaper and designed for a lot of enterprise things like factories,
hospital, food industry. They don't advertise so much to the tech industry as
it's hard to peel people from Slack.

disclosure: was paid to help them expand to SE Asia

------
rezmeplease
Discord

It's marketed for gamers yes but bots, darkmode, all the features, all the
compatibility, destroys slack in everyway imo

~~~
willnz
We briefly tried Discord at our company but found it had too high of a
learning curve after previously using Teamwork Chat and Slack.

I guess if you're already a gamer then it makes sense.

------
jasonpeacock
Do you _need_ a chat app?

What if your team just used a number of email mailing lists for channels,
direct emails for private messaging, and having bots send notifications via
email?

Emails give you rich content, asynchronous messaging, cross-platform support,
history, threads, and more.

~~~
GhostVII
One of the nice things about slack (and it's alternatives) is that it is
really easy to hop in a channel and see what is happening in a part of the
company. Lots of times I find a bug or issue with an internal tool, and go to
the related channel, and right away I can see they noticed the issue and are
working on it. With email you don't have that kind of visibility unless you
are sending company-wide emails every time there is an issue with some tool or
system, and that doesn't scale very well.

Also it's nice to be able to search through history for things like error
messages, or just keywords related to what I am working on. Plenty of times I
have just searched for an error and found the solution right away, also not
possible with email unless every single time you discussed an error message,
those emails were sent to everyone (and then new hires still won't have access
to data before they were hired).

~~~
jasonpeacock
No trouble ticketing system to track open/known issues?

No knowledge base/wiki system to share solutions and tips?

Or you can solve all the above by just archiving the mailing lists.

------
matt_oriordan
Check out [https://guild.co](https://guild.co). Quite different to Slack, more
like a private professional version of WhatsApp. We use it to communicate with
professional groups around topics.

------
ajimix
Telegram works great. Free, privacy friendly, you can create channels
(groups), supports bots, super fast with native apps, unlimited cloud storage,
unlimited search history and more.

We've been using it for years in our company with excellent results

~~~
matteuan
I don't know why you're getting downvoted, I think Telegram is a valid choice
sometimes, expecially if your organization is not that big.

~~~
gtirloni
I didn't downvote but for a company-wide tool like that, I'd prefer a solution
with a more established legal presence somewhere. Telegram seems more targeted
at the consumer space.

------
ankit_it09
I just wanted to know why not installing the slack app? I have seen running
any app in FF which polls data every few intervals is really difficult to
maintain, it eats up all the memory and CPU.

~~~
sgt
The Slack app is Electron based and pretty bloated too in my experience. I
want a native app.

~~~
ankit_it09
But I think it's still better than running in FF.

------
jmarkins
Try [https://web.ushare.to](https://web.ushare.to)

\- group chat and private messaging \- video conferencing \- share files \-
integration framework

------
contrived
Yeah, memory consumption. _That 's_ the problem.

Okay, buddy. Guess you'll need to "move away from" every web browser that
loads Slack too, right?

Riiiiiiight...

------
atshakil
Chatwork ([https://www.chatwork.com/](https://www.chatwork.com/))

------
progval
IRCCloud allows sharing images and files, and is compatible with IRC so people
can join from other IRC clients as well if they want to

------
UserIsUnused
A total different approach: Twist.com I suggest reading about their approach
to async communication and the blogs.

------
desipenguin
Twist from doist ? (I've not used it)

------
shubhamaggarwal
[https://www.zoho.com/cliq](https://www.zoho.com/cliq)

------
mscasts
rocket.chat perhaps. But it is still a webapp so the memory consumption will
perhaps be similar.

------
marczellm
For us MS Teams works well. I haven't used Slack so I cannot compare the two.

------
aprdm
Have been using rocket chat for couple of years without issues.

------
coold
RingCentral App, even with phone calls and video conferences

~~~
beezle
My condo assoc. has used Glip for a few years on the free tier without any
issue. You'll need to pay to get compliance exports.

------
gomangogo
Fleep.io

~~~
sgt
How does it compare to Floop.io?

~~~
bnt
2 letters are different.

------
gowthamgts12
flock.com? Haven't used but it will have features similar to Slack.

