Tag: office 365

What is Email Hosting and How to Find Best Email Hosting Service
Are you looking to get an email hosting service for your business?

Creating a custom email address for your website or organization with your brand helps build trust and credibility. With the right hosting service, you can easily manage and secure your emails.

In this article, we will show you what email hosting is and how to find the best email hosting service.

What is Email Hosting?

Email hosting is a service you can use to have your own domain names as for email addresses, with storage for email content and attachments. You can create business email addresses by subscribing to an email hosting provider.

The difference between using email hosting vs. free email providers like Gmail or Yahoo is that you get to use your brand name in the email address.

For instance, a free email service will use its own domain name in the email address. It will look like this: john.doe@gmail.com.

On the other hand, you can create branded email addresses using an email hosting service. Your emails will look like this: john.doe@example.com

Why Use an Email Hosting Service?

Using an email hosting service makes your emails look more professional. It helps build credibility and trust with your audience. A branded email address also leaves a lasting impression on your users and creates brand awareness.

Besides that, you get enhanced security with email hosting. Many providers offer 2-factor authentication (2FA), spam protection, anti-phishing and anti-spoofing features, end-to-end encryption, and more.

Another advantage of using an email hosting provider is that you get increased storage capacity. Standard email service would offer limited storage space, which can quickly run out. However, email hosting services can offer extended storage options.

Let’s see what factors you should consider when finding the best email hosting service.

How to Choose the Best Email Hosting Service?

When it comes to choosing the best email hosting provider, you should consider the following things:
- Email Storage – Each email hosting service will allot a specific storage space for your mailbox. You should choose a service that offers flexible storage options to store attachments and other email content.
- Email Protocols – There are different email protocols like IMAP, SMTP, and POP3. They help with email deliverability and accessing emails on different devices. When you’re selecting an email hosting service, see how the provider supports these protocols.
- Email Security Features – One of the advantages of email hosting is the advanced security features it offers. The best services should offer end-to-end encryption, spam protection, scan attachments for viruses and malware, 2-factor authentication (2FA), and anti-phishing features.
- Email Aliases – You can create additional email addresses or aliases without creating a new account. This allows you to forward emails addressed to the alias to your main account. When picking email hosting, check if the provider lets you create email aliases.
- Pricing – An email hosting service will cost you money, so when deciding on a provider, you should take prices into consideration. Some services offer multiple pricing plans with different features and storage limits. We recommend choosing a host that fits your budget.
Now, let’s look at some of the best email hosting services you can choose.

Finding the Best Email Hosting Service

There are many email hosting providers in the market. Here are some of the best services you can choose from.

1. Google Workspace

Google Workspace, previously known as G Suite, is an email hosting service that offers a lot of value. It offers flexible plans that are great for all types of businesses and enterprises.

The best part about Google Workspace is that you can use Gmail for your custom-branded emails. You won’t have to map Gmail to other email hosting providers, which saves a lot of time and complexity.

At WPBeginner, we use Google Workspace and can honestly say it is the best email hosting provider.

Another benefit of using Google Workspace is that you get to use multiple Google products along with setting up a professional email address in Gmail. For instance, you get Google Drive storage, Google Docs and Sheets access, Google Teams, and more.

With Google Workspace, you get storage space from 30GB going all the way to 5TB. Plus, it offers up to 1000 participants in video meetings. Besides that, you’ll get tons of security features like 2 step verification, phishing and spam protection, an ad-free email experience, and more.

That said, Google Workspace can be expensive for startups or small businesses. It’s more suitable for organizations that don’t have budget limitations and can explore custom plans as well.

Pros:
- Use a branded email address with Gmail
- Get 30GB to 5TB of storage
- Phishing and spam protection
- Multiple security features
- Access to different Google products
Cons:
- Expensive pricing plans, especially for small businesses
- It doesn’t offer an unlimited storage option
Pricing: Google Workspace prices start from $6 per user per month, and you get 30GB of storage. There are other plans that offer more storage, security options, and other features.

2. Hostinger

Hostinger is one of the fastest WordPress hosting services in the market. If you’re just starting a new WordPress website and selecting a web hosting provider, then Hostinger offers free email addresses with each pricing plan.

The best part, you don’t have to pay extra for email hosting, and you get to create up to 100 email addresses. Each mailbox also gets 1GB of storage space.

The web hosting plans also include free domain names, WHOIS protection, free SSL certificates, unlimited bandwidth, website backups, and more. This makes Hostinger great value for money.

That said, Hostinger also offers standalone email hosting plans, which are powered by Titan. This allows you to get more storage space, up to 50GB.

Other features include an inbuilt calendar and contacts, auto-reply, email templates, follow-up reminders, up to 10 email aliases, IMAP/POP3 support, spam and phishing protection, anti-virus and malware checker, and much more.

Pros:
- Get free email hosting with web hosting plans
- Fast performance and load times
- Up to 50GB storage space
- 24/7 customer support
- Free domain name and SSL certificate
- Advanced security features
Cons:
- High renewal costs
Pricing: Hostinger offers an exclusive 80% discount to WPBeginner users on web hosting plans, with prices starting from $1.79 per month. If you want more email addresses, then consider getting the WordPress starter plan for $2.69 per month.

3. Bluehost

Bluehost is the largest WordPress hosting company in the world that lets you create professional email addresses. You can use your domain name to set up domain-specific emails.

Just like Hostinger, you get email hosting included in the web hosting plan with Bluehost. Not to mention, you also get a free domain name, SSL certificate, and much more.

Bluehost email hosting offers a custom inbox and calendar. You can also schedule tasks and automatically save contact information. Depending on the plan you get, Bluehost offers up to 80GB storage and 50 email aliases.

Besides that, you get different security features like spam filters, antivirus, safe unsubscribe service, real-time anti-phishing, file encryption, and more. Bluehost also supports different email protocols, including IMAP and POP.

Bluehost is the best solution if you’re looking to purchase a hosting plan or already using Bluehost for your WordPress website. Its email hosting plans are affordable and offer tons of features for businesses of all sizes.

Pros:
- Free domain name, CDN, and SSL certificate
- 3-month free trial for email hosting
- Advanced email security options
- Up to 80GB storage space & 50 email aliases
- Quick and easy setup
- Great customer support
- Officially recommended by WordPress
Cons:
- High domain renewal prices
Pricing: Bluehost offers an exclusive 73% off for WPBeginner users on hosting plans, with prices starting from $2.95 per month. You can use our Bluehost discount coupon to get started.

4. Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 is another popular email hosting service that is similar to Google Workspace. You can easily set up a professional business email using Office 365 and get access to a bunch of tools offered by Microsoft.

Microsoft 365 offers up to 50GB of storage with each mailbox. Plus, you get advanced security features like spam and malware cloud-based email filtering, multifactor authentication, custom permissions, password policy creation, and more.

Aside from that, you can use other tools like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, OnePoint, Publisher, SharePoint, and more. You also get up to 1TB of cloud storage and real-time monitoring of online threats for your mailboxes.

Microsoft Office 365 is a great solution for sites or organizations that are looking to use Microsoft Suite for their operations. If you’re confused about whether to pick Google vs Microsoft, then please see our comparison between Google Workspace and Office 365.

Pros:
- Create branded emails using Outlook
- Get 50GB of storage for mailboxes
- Access powerful Microsoft tools with a professional email address
- 1TB of cloud storage
- Advanced security features
Cons:
- Expensive pricing plans
- It can be tricky to use, especially for beginners
Pricing: Mircosoft Office 365 prices start from $6 per user per month. There are higher pricing plans that include more features and advanced security options.

5. Namecheap

Namecheap is one of the cheapest email hosting providers on our list. It’s also a popular domain registrar and helps you find custom domain names for your business.

With Namecheap email hosting, you get up to 15GB of email storage and up to 30GB of file storage space. It also lets you create unlimited aliases in the highest pricing plan, along with mobile sync support.

Other than that, Namecheap supports SMPT, IMAP, and POP3 email protocols. It also offers decent security features like 2-factor authentication, anti-spam protection, and email storage security.

Namecheap is an excellent option for startups and new website owners who are looking for a cheap email hosting service.

Pros:
- Affordable pricing plans
- Unlimited aliases with the Ultimate plan
- Offers document viewer, calendar, contacts, and other tools
- Supports SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 protocols
- Mobile sync support
Cons:
- Basic security features
- Limited storage size, even in the Ultimate plan
Pricing: Namecheap email hosting plans start from $1.24 per month for 1 mailbox. You also get a 60-day free trial to try the service.

6. Rackspace Email

Rackspace Email is the next email hosting service on our list. It offers a lot of solutions to SaaS companies, including an email hosting solution for small businesses.

The service offers a 100% uptime guarantee, which means it is highly reliable. It has data centers spread across the world and you get 24/7 support in case anything goes wrong.

Besides that, Rackspace offers 25GB mailbox storage space and up to 30GB file storage space. You also get unlimited aliases, group lists, and email forwarding rules. It even offers free email migration from another provider.

Pros:
- A reliable email hosting solution
- 24/7 customer support
- 25GB mailbox storage
- Easily integrates with Microsoft Office 365 tools
- Spam and virus protection
Cons:
- Requires a high learning curve to use the service
- You’ll need to pay extra for email archiving
- Limited additional features
Pricing: Rackspace email prices start from $2.99 per user per month. You also get a 14-day free trial to try the service.

7. Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail is one of the most popular email hosting services in the market. It offers a secure platform to host emails and create a branded email address.

With Zoho, you get dedicated apps for desktop and mobile to manage and organize your emails. Other than that, it offers up to 50GB of mailbox storage, domain aliases, email forwarding, and offline access.

One of the standout features of Zoho Mail is its SecurePass email. This allows you to send confidential information over emails using a passcode.

Besides that, it supports IMAP and POP3 protocols, up to 1GB of email attachment options, anti-spam and malware protection, email encryption, and more.

Pros:
- Easy-to-use email hosting platform
- Dedicated apps for mobile devices
- Strong security features
- Send password-protected emails with SecurePass
Cons:
- Pricing per user can be expensive for small businesses
- Integration with third-party tools is tricky
Pricing: Zoho Email prices start from $1 per user per month and you get 5GB of mailbox storage.

Which Email Hosting Service Should You Choose?

After reviewing multiple email hosting services, we believe that Google Workspace is the best solution for your email needs.

For starters, it lets you use Gmail with your custom-branded email domain name. Plus, you get access to other powerful tools included in the Google Workspace suite.

At WPBeginner, we also use Google Workspace and highly recommend it.

That said, if you’re looking for a more affordable email hosting service, then you can give Hostinger and Bluehost a try. Both are perfect if you’re just starting a new website since they include email hosting in their web hosting plans.

We hope this article helped you learn what is email hosting and how to find the best email hosting service. You may also want to see our guide on the best email marketing tools and the ultimate guide to boost WordPress speed.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to ourÂ YouTube ChannelÂ for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us onÂ TwitterÂ and Facebook.

The post What is Email Hosting and How to Find Best Email Hosting Service first appeared on WPBeginner.
28.09.2023
How to Connect Microsoft Outlook to WordPress (Step by Step)

Are you looking for a way to connect Microsoft Outlook to WordPress and send emails from your WordPress site?

Connecting Microsoft Outlook with WordPress helps improve email deliverability by making sure that your emails reach your subscribers’ inboxes, even if you are sending a lot of them.

In this article, we will show you how to connect Microsoft Outlook to WordPress, step by step.

Why Use Microsoft Outlook to Send WordPress Emails?

Microsoft Outlook is a great option for business owners who regularly use Office 365.

You can use your existing Microsoft Outlook account to send emails to your subscribers from your WordPress website.

The best thing about using Outlook is that it allows you to send a lot of emails at once. You can send up to 10,000 emails per day, which is a much higher limit than other mailing services.

If you have a busy online store, this will help you send receipts, tracking info, and abandoned cart emails to all your customers.

Another benefit that Microsoft Outlook provides is that you don’t have to use the default WordPress PHP mail() function to send emails.

There are many issues with the default mailing method. Plus, many WordPress hosting services don’t have PHP mail properly configured, which leads to email deliverability problems.

Your emails can end up in the spam folder because email service providers like Gmail can’t detect the email sender.

However, you can easily overcome this issue using an SMTP service provider to send emails in WordPress through your Outlook account.

What Is SMTP?

SMTP, or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, is an industry-standard technology for sending emails.

It uses proper authentication, ensuring that your emails reach your users’ inboxes and don’t end up in the spam folder.

To send your emails, you can connect popular services like SendLayer, SMTP.com, Brevo (Previously Sendinblue), Office 365 / Outlook, Gmail, Amazon SES, and more.

That being said, let’s see how you can connect your Microsoft Outlook account to WordPress.

Video Tutorial

If you prefer written instructions, just keep reading.

How to Connect Outlook to Your WordPress Site

The easiest way to add Microsoft Outlook to WordPress is by using the WP Mail SMTP plugin. It lets you securely use the Microsoft API to authenticate your site’s emails.

We will use the WP Mail SMTP Pro version for this tutorial because it includes an Office 365 / Outlook.com integration.

There is also a free version of WP Mail SMTP with multiple integrations, but it doesn’t let you connect your Outlook account with WordPress.

Set Up WP Mail SMTP

First, you will need to install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin on your WordPress website. You can refer to our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: It’s important to remember that the Outlook mailer will only work if you have an SSL certificate on your website. You can check out our guide on how to set up SSL on a WordPress site.

Upon activation, you can connect your Outlook account by going to WP Mail SMTP Â» Settings from your WordPress admin area.

On the settings page, you will see the ‘From Email’ and ‘From Name’ settings. You can skip these settings because your Outlook account’s settings will override them.

Below that, you will see different options next to the Mailer settings.

Go ahead and select ‘Outlook’ as your Mailer option.

Next, WP Mail SMTP will show a new section with settings for your Outlook account.

It will look like this.

To find the Application ID, Application Password, and Redirect URI, you must create a web application within a Microsoft Azure account. Don’t worry; we will walk you through how to do this step by step.

We recommend keeping the WP Mail SMTP Outlook settings open in a separate tab or window, as you will need to return to this page to enter the information.

You can use your existing Microsoft email account (Live, Outlook, Hotmail, Office 365, etc.) to log in to Microsoft Azure. Keep in mind that if you do so, then all your WordPress emails will be sent from that email address.

If you don’t have a Microsoft Outlook account or prefer to send messages from a different email address, you can go to the Microsoft Azure website and create your account. Just make sure that the account you create includes the permissions to send emails.

The account is free to create, and you don’t need any paid services to set up the mailer. However, Microsoft will ask you to enter your credit card information to reduce spam signups.

After that, you can log in to the Microsoft Azure Portal using the email address you want to use.

Create an Application ID

Once you have opened the Azure Portal, go ahead and click the ‘All services’ option from the sidebar on your left.

On the next screen, you will see different services offered by Microsoft Azure.

You can scroll down to the ‘Identity’ section and click on the ‘App registrations’ option.

After that, you will need to click the ‘+ New Registration’ button.

This will create your application.

Now, you need to enter a name for your application. This is for your own use, so you can change the name whenever you want.

For example, you can name it something like ‘WP Mail SMTP: yourdomain.com.’

As for the ‘Supported account types’ section below, it is a best practice to select the ‘Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Azure AD directory – Multitenant) and personal Microsoft accounts (for example, Skype, Xbox)’ option.

However, if you don’t see this option in your account types, then you can also select the ‘Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Azure AD directory – Multitenant)’ option.

After that, scroll down to the Redirect URI settings.

You can leave the dropdown settings to ‘Web’ for the first field in the form.

For the second field, you will need to enter the redirect URI address given in the WP Mail SMTP Outlook settings.

To find the Redirect URI, simply return to the WP Mail SMTP settings tab or window from your browser. Then copy the web address that is given in the ‘Redirect URI’ field.

You must paste the URL into the Microsoft Azure app registration form.

Next, just click the ‘Register’ button.

Microsoft Azure will now take you to another screen where you will see the Application (client) ID.

Simply click the ‘copy’ icon to copy your application ID.

After that, you can enter the application ID into the WP Mail SMTP settings.

To do that, you need to head over to your WP Mail SMTP settings window and paste the value into the ‘Application ID’ field.

Create an Application Password

Once you have entered the application ID, the next thing you need to do is create an application password.

You can start by clicking the ‘Certificates & secrets’ option in the sidebar on your left.

On the next screen, you can skip the Certificates section and scroll down to the Client Secrets section.

Then, just click the ‘+ New client secret’ option to add a client secret.

You will now see a new overlay window slide in from the right. In this window, you can enter a description and select a time period for the app password to expire.

Microsoft Azure lets you select a preset expiry time (3 months, 6 months (recommended), 12 months, 18 months, and so on), or you can set a custom timeframe.

We recommend selecting one of the preset settings when you are first starting out. You can always change the password expiry time to custom settings in the future.

When you are happy with the settings, just click the ‘Add’ button.

Then, Microsoft Azure will generate an application password. You can click the ‘Copy to clipboard’ trigger to copy the password under the Value column.

Next, you will need to enter this password in your WP Mail SMTP settings.

To do that, return to the WP Mail SMTP settings and then paste the password into the ‘Application Password’ field.

Set Up API Permissions

After setting up the Application ID and Application Password in WP Mail SMTP, the next step is to add API permissions.

To get started, you can click on the ‘API permissions’ option from the menu on your left.

Next, go ahead and click the ‘Add a permission’ button.

You will find it in the top-left corner.

When you click the button, a new window will slide in from the right to request API permissions.

You will have to select the ‘Microsoft Graph’ option to set up API permissions.

On the next screen, Microsoft Azure will ask what type of permissions your application requires.

You can select the ‘Delegated permissions’ option.

Next, you will see multiple options to select permissions.

However, an easier way to find the right settings is by entering the term ‘send’ in the search bar under the ‘Select permissions’ heading.

After that, you will have to select the ‘Mail’ tab from the options that appear and then click the checkbox for ‘Mail.Send.Shared’.

When you are ready, simply click the ‘Add permissions’ button at the bottom.

You will have to repeat the API permission steps by clicking on the ‘+ Add a permission’ button and selecting ‘Microsoft Graph’. However, this time, you need to select the ‘Application permissions’ option.

Now, you can enter the same search term, ‘send’, in the ‘Select permissions’ search bar.

When you see the Mail tab, click on it and then select the checkbox for ‘Mail.Send’.

Next, go ahead and click the ‘Add permissions’ button.

After setting up the API permissions, you will have to go back to the WP Mail SMTP settings and click on the ‘Save Settings’ button to finish the Outlook mailer configuration.

When you save the settings, you will have to scroll down to the Authorization section in the WP Mail SMTP settings.

Then, click the ‘Allow plugin to send emails using your Microsoft account’ button.

As soon as you click on the button, you will be redirected to the Microsoft permissions form.

All you have to do is click the ‘Yes’ button at the bottom. This will allow WP Mail SMTP to connect to your Microsoft account.

After that, you will be redirected back to the WP Mail SMTP settings page.

A notice will appear at the top showing that you are ready to send emails through Outlook.

You can now send a test email to check if everything works properly.

To send a test email, simply go to WP Mail SMTP Â» Settings and then click on the ‘Email Test’ tab at the top.

When you are happy with the settings, just click the ‘Send Email’ button at the bottom.

After sending the email, you must go to your inbox.

Here, you can check whether you received the test email.

We hope this article helped you learn how to connect Microsoft Outlook to WordPress. You may also want to check out our comparison of the best email marketing services for small businesses and our complete guide on how to add web push notifications in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to ourÂ YouTube ChannelÂ for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us onÂ TwitterÂ and Facebook.

The post How to Connect Microsoft Outlook to WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

10.07.2023
14 Best Team Communication Tools for Small Business (2022)
Are you looking for the best team communication tools for your small business?

As businesses move to remote work, they need tools to communicate with team members. Choosing the right tools can boost productivity, enhance morale, build community, and enhance efficiency among your team.

In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best team communication tools for small businesses.

These tools are based on our hands-on experience because we have been a remote company since we started in 2009, and now we have over 200+ team members across 45 different countries. As a remote company, our teams use several of these tools to collaborate.

How to Choose The Best Team Communication Tool for Your Business?

There is a growing need for better team communication tools as more and more businesses adapt remote and hybrid work culture.

For a small business website, these tools improve employee communication and enable them to work more efficiently.

However, there are just so many different communication tools available that it becomes hard to decide which one to choose without spending too much money.

First, you need to decide what kind of tools your team needs to work better.

For instance, if your sales team needs to make calls and follow up on leads, then you need a virtual business phone system like Nextiva and RingCentral.

Similarly, if you need to make sure that teams can collaborate on different projects, track progress, and get work done, then Slack + Asana may be the right tools for your business

You can save money by not opting for separate tools for the same tasks.

For instance, if you are using Google Workspace, then Google Meet is the perfect alternative to Zoom. Similarly, Office 365 with Microsoft Teams will save money on Slack + Zoom.

Tip: See our comparison of Google Workspace vs Office 365 to see how they stack up against each other.

1. Nextiva

Nextiva is the best omnichannel communication toolkit for businesses. It combines phone, chat, audio/video meetings, contact management, and more in one communication suite.

Employees can collaborate via chat, SMS, and video calls. Their business phone service offers toll-free numbers and teams can share the same phone numbers to easily manage contacts and leads.

Nextiva offers easy-to-use automated reminders for teams and customers around forgotten tasks, follow-ups, or check-ins to increase workplace productivity.

Plus, it integrates with popular calendars, email, Google Workspace, Microsoft teams, and many more.

We use Nextiva in our own business because it helps us get a virtual business phone number that can be shared across our team members, so we can help our customers. The auto-attendant feature helps guide the call to the right person.

Pricing: $18.95 per user per month

2. Slack

Slack is the most popular small business team communication tool on the market right now.

It is used by many Fortune 500 companies like IBM, T-Mobile, NASA, Target, and more.

Slack offers a digital HQ for businesses and teams. You can organize your virtual workspace in channels. These are chatrooms where your teams can collaborate and post updates. Team members can also do 1:1 chats.

Slack also comes with audio calls, video updates, and integration with almost all top productivity tools, CRM software, virtual phone services, and more.

We use Slack in our management company, Awesome Motive, because it allows for asynchronous communication across teams. Slack has notification features that respect timezones considering we have team members in 45 different countries.

Pricing: Paid plans start from $7.25 per user per month.

3. Google Workspace

Google Workspace is Google’s business productivity suite of applications. It includes Google Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Google Meet, Chat, Forms, Sites, and more.

You can use your own domain name for your Google Workspace account and create a professional business email address for yourself, your teams, and your employees.

Your team space will be hosted on Google’s cloud infrastructure which makes it very fast, reliable, and an extremely secure internal communication tool.

We have been using Google Workspace for over a decade for our business email address. It gives you the familiar Gmail and Google calendar interface which your team will love. We use the Shared Drive feature for cloud storage which is really good for access control on documents & files.

This year the quality of Google Meet calls have improved drastically, so we have cancelled our Zoom subscription and are using Google Meet for our group meetings.

Pricing: Starting at $6 per user per month

4. HubSpot

HubSpot is a business communication suite that offers a Sales platform, marketing tools, CRM software, and more.

It allows your teams to easily manage leads and customers using a robust dashboard. Improving communications between team members and customers to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

Unlike other communication tools on the list, HubSpot doesn’t offer team chat, audio, or video calls. However, as sales software it allows sales and marketing teams to communicate and work together more efficiently.

We use HubSpot to organize our partnership contacts, and it acts as a single source for our various teams.

Pricing: Limited free account, paid plans for marketing, sales, and customer services software with different pricing for each.

5. Asana

Asana is the best project management software for remote teams on the market.

For remote teams, keeping up with their projects and goals is where most communication takes place. Asana makes it super easy for teams of all shapes, sizes, and industries to collaborate and communicate.

Asana doesn’t have chat, SMS, or video conferencing features. All team communication takes place in comments, tasks, projects, and forms. Each task can have its own thread and nothing slips through the cracks.

You can organize work among teams and projects, set long-term goals, add tasks, and then view them in lists, timeline, or card views.

It comes with brilliant tools like templates, rules, forms, and approvals to automate the workflow.

Plus, it integrates beautifully with other popular productivity tools your organization may already be using.

In our business, Asana is an absolute must have. We have tried many other project management solutions like Basecamp, Trello, etc and nothing comes close to Asana. It has provided us with a great way to streamline our internal workflows while giving greater visibility on the progress of each project.

Pricing: Free and paid plans start at $10.99 per user per month.

6. RingCentral

RingCentral is one of the top business team communication toolkits available that offers virtual phone numbers, phone calls, and SMS for teams.

Their business communication suite includes phone, SMS, Fax, Messaging for internal team communications, and video meetings.

For sales and marketing teams they offer rich insights, quality of service reports, comprehensive alerts, and customizable dashboards.

Integrations are also available for Google Workspace, Office 365, popular CRM software, and marketing platformss.

Pricing: Starts at $19.99 per user per month.

7. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is the Slack alternative created by Microsoft. It supportss multiple teams, channels, one on one chats, private channels, audio/video calls, and video conferencing features.

It works well with Office 365 and you can get it with Office 365 subscription as well. Team members can open, edit, and view files within teams and projects.

Microsoft Teams have superior video conferencing features baked in. Each team member can view that a video conference is happening with an icon on the top and can join in if they are invited.

Teams also have shift management feature which allows managers to create shift, manage time-offs, assign members to shifts, and more.

Pricing: Free and paid plans start $4 per user per month or $6 per user per month with Office 365.

8. Zoom

Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing software on the market. It allows you to run video meetings with chat feature.

It is widely used in business, education, government, and finance sector. Zoom also offers business phone services, mail, and calendar to connect your teams under one platform.

We were big users of Zoom, but as the quality of Google Meet has improved, we have switched away from Zoom to reduce costs in our business.

The cost of Zoom really adds up once you go above 10 users in your organization, and then again when your organization grows to 100+ users.

What Zoom is really good for is large 100+ people meeting especially if you want to do random breakout rooms. It’s also really good for customer webinars because Zoom calls are very reliable and quality is top-notch.

Pricing: Limited Free plan, paid plans start at $149 per user per year but the per user pricing increases after 10 users.

9. Chanty

Chanty is another excellent employee communication platform with video conferencing, chat, and project management features.

You can create chatrooms or channels for your teams and view all things happening across your organization under the teambook.

For task management you can create tasks on the fly, view them in lists or kanban view, assign them to team members, and more.

Pricing: Limited free forever plan, paid plans start at $3 per user per month.

10. Ryver

Ryver is another business communication platform that combines various functionalities into one app.

It comes with messaging, task management, and audio/video calls under one roof. It comes with SSO Single Sign-on which allows team members to sign in with the single account used by your organization.

Integrations are also available for many popular productivity and CRM software.

Pricing: Starting at $69 per month for up to 12 users.

11. Flock

Flock is another good alternative to Slack. It offers voice / video conferencing, chat, to-dos, file-sharing, and more.

Teams can be organized into groups with their own to-dos, video conference, and in-line file sharing.

It has integrations available for all top producivity suites so you can collaborate in real-time in channels.

Pricing: Limited free plan, and paid plans start at $4.50 per user per month.

12. Zoho Cliq

Zoho Cliq is the Slack interactive created by the folks behind Zoho software suite. The company offers Zoho CRM, Notes, Calendar, Email, and several other tools for businesses.

Zoho Cliq offers team chat for real-time collaboration. It includes chats, group chats, project management, video conferencing, voice calls, and more.

It integrates well with other Zoho applications as well as many other third-party software.

Pricing: Limited free plan, paid plans start from $2.7 per user per month.

13. Dialpad

Dialpad offers a collaboration platform for teams and customer support. It includes VoIP service for calls, messaging, group chat, and video conferencing.

It offers omni-channel customer engagement platform as well. Which comes in handy for sales teams to follow up with leads.

It supports Google Workspace and Office 365 integrations. If you operate in multiple countries then Dialpad offerss local number for upto 70 countries.

Pricing: Starting from $15 per user per month.

14. GoTo Meeting

GoTo Meeting is a popular webinar software and video conferencing platform. It makes it super easy to conduct video meetings with teams, clients, and customers.

Their GoTo Connect suite provides phone, text, and meetings. It allows teams to follow up with leads, offer customer support, and stay in touch with chat and text.

The company offers several addon solutions for businesses particularly those providing remote IT support to customers.

Pricing: Free trial for some products, for paid plans you’ll have to contact sales.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Unlike most other businesses in the world, we have been remote since we started in 2009. This means we have 13+ years of experience running a distributed team and managing team communication. Over this period, we have helped thousands of users choose the best team communication tools.

Below are the answer to some of the most frequently asked questions.

What communication tools are most effective in working closely with the team?

Whether you’re working closely with a remote-team or an in-house team, here are the best team communication tools.
1. Google Workspace – Email is essential for working closely with a team. Google gives you gmail, calendar, and Google Drive for file sharing.
2. Nextiva – Essential for phone calls and SMS.
3. Slack – Best for group chat. Although for smaller groups, you can get away with just a simple WhatsApp group.
4. Asana – Great for project management.
What is the most effective communication method for remote teams?

For remote teams, the most effective communication method is a combination of written communication along with verbal face-to-face communication over video calls.

For remote team check-ins, the most effective method is virtual check-in software like Standuply that integrates seamlessly with Slack, and it’s completely asynchronous.

What is the best team communication tool for online collaboration?

For online collaboration, the best team communication tools are Google Workspace and Zoom. With Google Suite, you get Google Doc, Spreadsheet, and Slides all of which allow for collaborative work, and their built-in comment feature is really good.

You can also use Zoom whiteboard which is an excellent virtual communication tool for collaboration.

What is the best team communication tool for asynchronous communication?

The best asynchronous communication tool are:
1. Slack – great for instant messages and group messages. It gives users full control over their time zones and notification preferences. You can also schedule messages to send at certain time in different team member’s timezone.
2. Email – great for asynchronous communication.
3. Loom – allows you to easily record videos and screencasts that can be watched by your team members.
4. Droplr – allows you to create screenshots or quick screen recording to communicate with team members.
Which is the best team communication tool for small business?

In our opinion, the best team communication tool for small business are Nextiva, Google Workspace, Asana, and Slack.

We hope this article helped you find the best team communication tools for your business. You may also want to see our guide on must have tools to manage and grow your business and follow our guide on how to grow a small business on a shoe-string budget.

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The post 14 Best Team Communication Tools for Small Business (2022) first appeared on WPBeginner.
09.12.2022