Top 50 Online Collaboration Tools for Productive Teams in 2018

Organizations today are spoilt for choice when it comes to online collaboration tools. The market for document-centric team collaboration software alone is expected to grow 10% from 2018 to 2023. It’s clearly not a question of whether a solution is available, but of which tools are most suitable to meet a company’s needs.

Whether small or large, remote or on-site, teams can use online collaboration tools to share ideas, streamline workflow, track progress, and communicate more effectively. Many of these tools are designed to be scalable, making them attractive for planning and implementing on both personal and enterprise-level projects.

We put together a list of 50 team collaboration tools that can be deployed in both small and large group settings. These tools offer multiple functionalities, but we’ve categorized them according to their main purpose.

We’ll also list the best features of each online collaboration tool, as well as their prices, where available.

Project Management

Asana

Best features

• • Highly intuitive, visual, and customizable

• • 100+ integrations for emails, tickets, files, etc.

• Users can appoint admins to control usage

Price

• • Free / $9.99 a member per month (Premium)

• On request (Enterprise)

Backlog

Best features

• • Great for developer teams; includes bug tracking

• • Visual charting and simple interface

• Mobile and tablet apps

Price

$0 to $175 per month or $1,200 per year, ranging from 10 users working on one project to enterprises with unlimited projects

Basecamp

Best features

• • Easy-to-follow discussion boards

• • Automatic check-ins encourage regular project updates

• Reports across every team and project

Price

• • $99 per month

• Discounts for teachers, students, and non-profit organisations

Monday (formerly DaPulse)

Best features

• • Simple to use; no training required

• • Offers multiple project management template boards

• Drag and drop documents

Price

• • $25 to $4,798 per month ranging from 5 basic to 200 enterprise users

• Custom pricing for 200+ users

Jira

Best features

• • Integration with 3,000+ apps

• • Visual planning and reporting tools

• Bug and issue tracking

Price

$10 to $700 per month, ranging from 10 to 100 users

Podio

Best features

• • Enables custom structure with clearly defined roles

• • Very stable (99.99% uptime in 2017)

• Built on top of an open API so it’s great for developers

Price

$0 to $24 per month

ProofHub

Best features

• • Interface is available in more than 6 languages

• • Improves accountability with detailed logs

• Comes with IP restriction capabilities for security

Price

$50 to $99 per month ranging from 40 projects and 15GB storage to unlimited projects and 100GB storage

Scoro

Best features

• • Includes financial management, CRM, and quoting capabilities

• • Highly customizable

• Comes with mobile app

Price

€19 to €49 a user per month

SwiftKanban

Best features

• • Highly intuitive and visual

• • Provides decision analytics

• Varied deployment options, including public cloud and on-premise

Price

On request

Trello

Best features

• • Very easy to learn

• • Simple interface

• Allows creation of branded boards

Price

Free

WorkflowMax

Best features

• • Provides templates for instant quote creation

• • Streamlined invoicing function

• Capabilities for creating job costs and purchase orders

Price

• • $15 to $250 per month ranging from 1 to 50 users

• Optional upgrades

Wrike

Best features

• • Easy-to-understand data reporting

• • Made for marketing teams

• Easily scalable

Price

• • $0 to $34.60 per user per month

• Price on request for enterprise plan

Zoho Projects

Best features

• • Integrates with numerous apps

• • Easy use of Timesheet for billing hours

• Advanced analytics and business intelligence for reporting

Price

$20 to $125 per month, ranging from 15 users working on 10 projects to 25 users with unlimited projects

Brainstorming

Brainsparker

Best features

• • Provides random creativity prompts

• • App works on mobile, tablet, and Apple Watch

• The company also offers an online creativity ‘academy’

Price

Free

Coggle

Best features

• • Collaborative mind-mapping tool

• • Each change is automatically saved

• Drag and drop images; add floating text and images

Price

$0 to $8 a member per month

ConceptBoard

Best features

• • Works well for remote or on-site collaboration

• • Brainstorm directly in the unlimited boards or collect all ideas there
  • Every team member can add sticky notes or scribble thoughts and ideas 
  • Enables faster review and approval cycles

Price

• • Free plans with unlimited boards are available
  • Premium plans starting at $7 per user a month
  • For on-premise solutions, individual offers are created via the pricing plan

GroupMap

Best features

• • Comes with 60+ brainstorming templates

• • Includes various group decision-making tools

• Comes with a reporting function for transparency

Price

$0 to $100 per month ranging from 1 to multiple map creators

LucidChart

Best features

• • Online and collaborative diagram creation

• • Comes with numerous integrations

• Highly suited to sales teams

Price

$0 to $9.95 per month

MindMeister

Best features

• • Online mind-mapping tool

• • Integrates with MeisterTask for simple project management

• Comes with built-in presentation mode

Price

$0 to $12.49 per user month ranging from basic to business deployments

Notism

Best features

• • Collaborative app for design, prototyping, and workflow

• • Comes with video collaboration feature

• Easy to switch forth between past and current versions

Price

$7.65 to $41.65 per month ranging from five projects with five collaborators to 40 projects with 40 collaborators

Stormboard

Best features

• • Virtual whiteboard interface for real-time idea sharing

• • Includes project planning and tracking

• Provides instant meeting notes

Price

• • $0 to $83 a user per month

• For enterprise plan, price on request

Issue Tracking

Freshdesk

Best features

• • Enables collaboration within customer support teams

• • Works with email, chat, social media, phone

• Extensive reporting suite

Price

$0 to $99 an agent per month

i-Sight

Best features

• • Allows case management, from investigation through to closure

• • Easy to use; learn quickly after one training session

• Comes with workflow alerts and case status alerts

Price

On request

Pontem

Best features

• • Identifies risks before they materialize

• • Great for startups

• Comes with mobile apps

Price

$5 to $500 per month, ranging from small teams to site license

Communication

Concept Inbox

Best features

• • Purpose-built for discussions on design inspirations and videos

• • Emphasizes communication of feedback

• Enables tracking of changes and app prototyping

Price

€14 to €99 ($17 – $118) per month ranging from one user with three projects to 10 team members with unlimited projects

Flock

Best features

• • Includes file sharing, organization, and advanced search

• • Allows guest users to protect privacy while collaborating with clients

• Users can convert discussions into tasks with to-do lists

Price

$0 to custom monthly pricing ranging from 10K searchable messages and 5GB file storage to unlimited searchable messages and 20GB storage

GoToMeeting

Best features

• • Easy launch for one-click video meetings

• • Desktop and mobile options

• Toll-free conferencing option

Price

$19 to $49 per month ranging from 10 to 100 participants

Inbox by Zendesk

Best features

• • Shared team email

• • Team members can talk among themselves

• Email organization and notification

Price

Free

RecordIt

Best features

• • Fast screenshot recording (up to 12 frames per second for the Pro version)

• • Comes with API to enable app integration and sharing

• Offers private recording

Price

$0 to $29 one-time fee

Ryver

Best features

• • Provides task notification options

• • Incorporates team task manager, including Kanban boards (a workflow visualization tool)

• Voice conversation functionality

Price

$0 to $99 per month ranging from 6 to an unlimited number of users

Slack

Best features

• • Machine learning enables intuitive searching of conversations, decision, and projects

• • Integrates with numerous apps; has open API for users to build their own

• Offers an enterprise version with additional administrative, compliance, and security features

Price

$0 to $12.50 per user per month

Zoom

Best features

• • Allows up to 500 video participants and 10,000 viewers

• • Allows for different video conference meeting rooms

• Great for webinars and town hall meetings

Price

• • Meeting plans: $0 to $189.99 a month per host

• • Conference room plans: $49 a month per room or port

• • Webinar and event plans: Starts at $40 a month per host for 100 attendees

• Plus add-ons

File Sharing

Box

Best features

• • Real-time note taking functionality

• • Enables uploads from mobile phone

• Optimized for enterprise use (workflow, cloud migration, encryption, etc.)

Price

• • $5.80 to $28.70 a user per month

• Price on request for enterprise plans

Dropbox

Best features

• • DropBox Paper enables brainstorming and sharing of drafts and inspiration boards

• • Comes with desktop and mobile app

• Scalable from personal to enterprise use

Price

$8.25 per month for individual use with up to 1TB storage or $20 per user a month for teams with as much storage space as needed

Google Drive

Best features

• • Enables creation of various file types (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.)

• • Download compatibility with MS Office and various file types

• Customizable privacy settings per file or folder

Price

• • $0 to $99.99 per month ranging from 15GB to 10TB

• Options for extra storage

Hightail

Best features

• • Purpose-built for sharing feedback and creative reviews

• • Varied file type support for high-resolution previews

• Dedicated spaces for clients to view files

Price

$125 to custom pricing per month ranging from 3 to 10+ team members

MediaFire

Best features

• • Immediate sharing through multiple platforms, including social media

• • Multiple gadget application, including Apple TV

• Offers detailed security log for professional usage

Price

$0 to $80 per month ranging from 10GB to 100TB

OneDrive

Best features

• • Files can be accessed even when offline

• • Enables document creation with Office 365

• Supports document scanning using mobile phones

Price

• • Personal plans: $0 to $99.99 per month, ranging from 5GB to 5TB

• • Business plans: $60 to $120 a year per user, ranging from 1TB to unlimited storage

• Option for purchasing Office 365 software suite

SugarSync

Best features

• • Enables remote wiping of data

• • Allows online backup of files, including folder structure

• Files can be distributed in view-only mode

Price

$7.49 to custom pricing per month ranging from 500GB for one user to custom storage for 10+ users

Zoho Workplace

Best features

• • Also comes with team communication and document creation functions

• • Cloud-stored files can be managed via phone or tablet

• Integrates with various Zoho bundles, including CRM

Price

$2 to $8 a user per month

Collaborative Digital Asset Management

AssetBank

Best features

• • Good user experience; easy to use

• • Allows uploading of any type of file

• Enables file editing prior to downloading

Price

£330 to £1,100 ($448 to $1485) per month ranging from 100GB to 1TB

Bynder

Best features

• • Great tool for real-time collaborative edits and approvals

• • Offers auto-formatting for channels and file types

• Allows sharing of an interactive branding style guide

Price

On request

Flight by Canto

Best features

• • Sharing through restricted portals and with expiration dates

• • Easy searching and saving of files even after migration from Box, Dropbox, or Google Drive

• Incorporates approval process to ensure compliance with brand guidelines

Price

On request

IntelligenceBank

Best features

• • Functionality for reviewing and approving creative assets

• • Allows editing of artwork

• Incorporates marketing project management

Price

On request

Widen

Best features

Users can convert files into different formats on the fly

Integrates content analytics for measuring creative strategies

Offers web-to-print templates

Price

On request

Team Morale & Feedback Measurement

15Five

Best features

• • Has features for recognizing team members’ achievements and contributions

• • Encourages weekly feedback and response, including top management levels

• Includes a one-on-one meeting agenda software tool

Price

$7 a person per month to custom pricing for a tailored solution

Impraise

Best features

• • Real-time collaborative feedback, including performance and manager reviews

• • Encourages peer coaching by enabling one-on-one conversations

• Allows anonymous feedback

Price

On request

Team Metrics

Best features

• • Survey tool with benchmarks for interpreting scores

• • Offers scientifically validated metrics, including team morale

• Allows anonymous feedback

Price

Free

TINYpulse

Best features

• • Dashboard provides an overview of the health of the company’s culture

• • Provides sentiment analysis and machine learning to recognize trends

• Comes with features for team member appreciation and peer-to-peer recognition

Price

On request

Weekdone

Best features

• • Allows team members to report progress and provide feedback

• • Offers visualization for performance trends and for company, team, and personal goals

• Allows private notes and discussions

Price

• • Free for 1-3 users

• • $6.50 to $6.25 per user per month ranging from four to 400 users

• Custom pricing for 400+ users

Not One-Size-Fits-All

Despite the abundance of collaboration tools on the market, their effectiveness depends on how they are deployed within a company. Each organisation needs to choose software that can help them meet their goals and that suits the way their teams work.

For instance, one study shows that “technical difficulties” are a major problem in the use of collaboration tools, and that many employees feel that their company failed to understand the business needs before implementing technology.

On the other hand, when employees get a say in choosing collaboration tools, they are more engaged in using them.

So remember that in the end, the tools can only be as good as their implementation.

An Online Collaboration Tool For Visual Projects

Collaborating online can come with a host of problems though, especially when it comes to visual projects. Issues include endless feedback loops, the inability to share projects properly with teammates, and switching back and forth between Slack to email where comments and change requests get lost in the mix. We feel your pain.

This is why we’ve created Piktochart For Teams, an online collaboration tool for those creating visuals in teams. Watch the below video to learn more, and as always, feel free to reach out to us.