19 Best Collaboration Software for Small Teams
24 min. read
Updated on
Share this article
Improve this guide
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial team. Read more
Key notes
- Collaboration software became more essential than ever in any company. However, do keep in mind that software tools don’t always do what they claim.
- Good software of this type will offer a variety of tools that make working remotely feel like an office-based collaboration.
- Task management and assignment is a very important element of collaboration software, and all the options we present you with cover this topic.
Teamwork wins the game, and collaborative software is the solution that offers real-life applications of complex office inter-personal relationships and the related intricacies.
That’s what all reasonable coaches teach their players, but this phrase can be used far beyond the court and applies especially to small businesses.
With today’s technology, it has never been easier to work in a group than it is now, thanks to the Internet.
Companies and businesses can function flawlessly, without employees being in the same room, or on the same continent.
There are numerous tools that allow people to work remotely while keeping communication and productivity on the maximum level, like video conferencing software.
What should I look for in a collaboration app?
The most important aspect of collaborating on any project or idea is communication so look for a tool that offers fast, comprehensive, and simple communication tools.
Another important aspect is the area where you need to collaborate, so it’s imperative to correctly assess your requirements.
But because the professionals’ needs are different, it’s sometimes hard to choose the best, most effective software for remote collaboration when running a small business.
In that manner, we did some research and created a list of the best collaboration software compatible with Windows 10 & 11.
So, read our article, pick the best software for you, gather your team, and start getting the job done.
What are the best collaboration software options to try out?
Monday.com – Ideal for work-from-home environments
Boost your team’s efficiency, production, and alignment by using Monday.com. This is another top-notch team collaboration software that provides a generous energy-boosting set of features.
Get maximum productivity by streamlining your work with Monday.com. Have all your tools files and work centralized in one place for easier team connection, bridging silos, and maintaining a source of truth throughout your company.
Since it keeps all your work, email, calendar, spreadsheets, and much more in one place, you can easily plan, execute and track projects of any amplitude. Simply assign tasks and prioritize your team’s progress.
For better company growth, Monday.com helps you set timelines, milestones, and dependencies for all projects. Also, it implements highly customizable dashboards for a better overview of actual and future goals, making decision-making easier in achieving them.
Monday.com is built to be intuitive, so in time you will feel it adapts to your team. Its tools provide an amazing style to your company’s workflow. In fact, chances are you’ll feel like it’s always Monday on your team.
Other key features include:
- Smart management of all tasks, projects, and complex workflows of any scale
- Customizable dashboards for faster-achieving goals
- Over 200 integrations and custom-built apps to save time
- Automated workflows
- Automatically syncs all your data across apps
- 14 days free trial with no card requirement
Monday.com
Collaborate and organize your team with top-level tools and tons of integrations.ClickUp – Most third-party app integrations
ClickUp is a cloud-based collaboration and team management tool perfect for maintaining good communication between employees and managers.
Built up momentum when working on big projects with smart progress tracking tools and stay on the right track using mind maps. The ultimate visual outline for planning and following project ideas and tasks.
What better way to collaborate better than when you offer your workers integrations for all the platforms you use? ClickUp brings over 1000 app integrations like Slack, GitHub, WebHooks, Google Drive, Dropbox, Google Calendar, and many others.
Since boosting the team’s productivity is a must, ClickUp offers smarter planning with time-tracking insights. If you know how much work was required for a project, you know for sure how to plan your next one.
Know every goal and forecast how close you are to achieving it using smart dashboards updated in real-time by data your team provided through the software. Never miss a deadline and keep improving communication and collaboration between employees,
Also, some main features of ClickUp are:
- Mind maps for amazing visual outlines of projects
- Create checklists, set priorities and task dependencies with ease
- Smart goal tracking for each specific task, money, and many more
- Numerous ways of communication via over 1000 app integrations
- Automation integrations for speeding up efficiency
- Simple teamwork streamlining for smart collaborations.
ClickUp
Integrate smart collaboration through this greatly designed software.OnlyOffice – Best tool for office collaboration
OnlyOffice is a cloud-based collaboration tool that a lot of companies trust for their remote work needs and not only.
In order to use it, you will need a steady Internet connection but you won’t need such a wideband to use it.
And because all happens online, you don’t need to install any big software packages and you don’t need to clean the registries after uninstalls.
Switching to benefits, OnlyOffice comes with an excellent, built-in instant messenger that can replace any classic tool with features including file transfer and multi-user chat support.
As with any successful collaboration software, this app is updated automatically and frequently, but you don’t need to do any modifications to your interface.
OnlyOffice provides management features for all major tasks that your business requires. Users get built-in document management and editing features, email management, CRM, project management features, and calendars.
This tool allows real-time collaboration by enabling users to review and leave comments on team projects as other team members work on that same project.
This can greatly improve productivity and time management as it lets users improve their projects right away with quick feedback.
Only Office has various subscription plans depending on the size and needs of your business.
Other key features include:
- Up-to-date data encryption for your documents
- Supports third-party plugins
- Advanced document management and editing features
- Email management
- CRM, project management features, and calendars
OnlyOffice
Do all your online work in perfect conditions with this excellent cloud collaboration app.Smartsheet – Best project assessing tool
As an award-winning work management software, Smartsheet comes in aid of every aspect of a business. See how easy is to collaborate on projects to finish them earlier than the deadline.
Accelerate planning by empowering your teams to work together with speed and accountability, getting all projects done successfully.
Since collaboration is key to a business’s prosperity, Smartsheet is here to provide all the necessary systems. It already integrates the software you already use, like Slack, Teams, Dropbox, Google Drive, Salesforce, and many more, all that to boost employees’ productivity.
While knowledge is essential in planning goals and achieving them, you can now unlock real-time visibility for all your workers. Enhance the reports you create with real-time metrics, and summaries of progress across all projects.
Also, to boost efficiency when doing standard tasks, you can now automate any repetitive process. Optimize employees’ work by automating routines and manual tasks by leaving them with the freedom to focus on more important projects.
Create a dynamic portfolio by having a holistic view across your business. Moreover, standardize key project elements to increase velocity and improve collaboration between every other employee.
Lastly, the main key features of Smartsheets are:
- Secure via administrative visibility and enterprise-grade security controls
- Scalable for any type of business
- Unified by having all data in one place, accessible and updateable in real-time
- Driven by the user, automate workflows and create a better work environment
- Simple to collaborate through the app, whether you are inside or outside the organization
Smartsheet
Keep all your employees connected with themselves and with ongoing projects.Wrike – Great for scheduling
Wrike is a cloud-based project management tool, suitable for any team or organization. This software has all features required from a serious project management service.
Wrike allows you to manage all the aspects of a project. Set deadlines, create individual tasks, set subcategories, and more. Assignments can be further assigned to team members.
There are also some additional options, like the ability to set deadlines, write comments, manage tasks, and more. Integration with other services works great, so users may add various attachments.
Privacy in Wrike is highly valued, unlike in some other project management tools. Since you have to invite people to join the project, even if they’re part of the team, you ensure you will work in a closed environment on that project with no distractions.
If you’re not working on a project, you can create folders, where other types of files are put. Folders even allow you to sort projects, for better management.
For better management of your work, Wrike is customizable to perfectly suit your organization and yourself. Get an amazing workflow with pre-existing templates, as well as team-specific item types and automation that streamline processes.
Wrike comes as a free version with upgrade options, depending on your needs.
Other key features include:
- Support for external collaboration
- Live progress updates
- Shareable dashboards
- Interactive Gantt charts
- Mobile app integration
Wrike
The best option for a project management tool that offers amazing capabilities.ZoHo Projects – Best for team management
ZoHo Projects is a subdivision of ZoHo that specializes in team collaboration, project management, planning, and assigning work tasks to employees.
With an already big platform behind it, ZoHo projects focus on project and team productivity and efficiency. With great features, this software will prove that everything can be simpler.
Communication is key for ZoHo, so it features built-in chat and chat rooms for fast project updates, notifications, feedback, and employee improvement overall. Also, you can assign roles as well as use mentions to attract any user’s attention to a specific chat, topic, or feedback.
If you have a big business, your workers will encounter plenty of specific obstacles, for that ZoHo has forums where employees can post problems and solutions for any problems, as well as tips and tricks for efficiency.
Combine all these features with others from time management, automation of standard tasks, personalized and sophisticated charts and reports as well as some amazing ZoHo integrations with all its other apps.
Let’s also see the key features of ZoHo Projects;
- Feeds so everyone knows what is happening in your organization
- Gantt charts for amazing overviews
- Task automation for time-saving and more productivity
- Timesheets so no minute it’s lost
- Very customizable, user friendly, and adaptable to any type of user
- Intuitive UI for easy browsing and getting used to the interface
ZoHo Projects
All the needed communication features combined with a perfect work environment.Coda.io – Perfect for projects tasks and deadlines
Coda.io is a cloud-based collaboration software that it’s based on documents, spreadsheets, and table creation to ease the work and get a better overview of your business team.
Creating documents is easier done than said. Coda is a user-friendly data management app where with the drag and drop principle, everyone can contribute with their work.
All the data can be accessed from one place! The main feature is that Coda acts just like a big database, so all the data that you add can be accessed through other documents and will update every time it’s edited.
It’s perfect if you have some trainees that need an introduction, you can create tutorials with photos and videos, assign them tasks and see their progress in real-time.
A fast way of communicating is essential in a successful team, that’s why Coda brings Slack and Gmail integration so everyone can be informed in real-time about new tasks or priorities.
The bigger the business, the more projects have to be completed. With Coda, you can simplify this work by creating subcategories for each project and assigning teams or other members to continue with the progress.
The main key features of Coda are:
- Simplified doc creation with drag and drop blocks
- Individual task and deadlines assignments
- Database for all information added
- Docs sync and update automatically
- Pop-up notifications and integrations with Slack and Gmail
Coda.io
Facilitate a smarter way of collaboration with features that simplify work and communication.Teamwork – Ideal for project management
This is another comprehensive project management tool that empowers great workflow both at the office and on the go.
Teamwork incorporates powerful features such as task management, project creator, time tracking, or message support under a simple and easy-to-use interface.
This service integrates tons of other productivity apps to allow you and your team to easily conduct each task without unnecessary hassle.
You can integrate Microsoft Office, Gmail, Google Chrome, Slack, MS Teams, and many many more.
To make collaboration easier, this software lets you add contact information not only of your team members but also of your customers and external collaborator. It works as a universal communication platform.
The software also has an integrated live chat option for quick communication. It can be used for instant messaging as well as video conferences. Moreover, it creates temporary chat channels for dedicated projects.
This tool helps you organize employees into teams, departments, or sub-teams.
You can set up each team’s permissions and privacy levels, create overall task plans for each team and further divide the work among individual people.
Teamwork also offers valuable information regarding the status of each task as well as time-tracking options for each employee.
You may generate a list view of all the hours your employee spent on a particular project or how many hours they worked in a specific time period.
The time management feature can also help employees stay organized as it shows live reports of their progress.
Teamwork has a free-of-charge version that includes basic project & task management features, along with some collaboration features such as instant messages. It also has other subscription-based plans with additional features. Each paid plan has a 30-day free trial.
Other key features include:
- Project portfolio generator
- Supports secure file sharing
- Integrated notebooks
- Calendar
- Milestones
Teamwork
Ensure great communication across multiple channels and thoroughly organize each team member’s work for maximum productivity.Asana – Great to-do features
Asana is different than other project management tools. It serves as some kind of an advanced to-do list, with lots of additional options. With Asana, you can set goals for your team, in form of list items.
But these items are interactive, as team members collaborate with each other through them.
This service is extremely flexible. When you create a to-do list with Asana, you can assign it to a team member, set a due date, upload or link to associated documents, add tags, and more.
You may even subscribe to the project and receive notifications about any change.
In terms of communication, there are definitely better options than Asana. However, feel free to combine Asana with Slack, and other popular tools.
Additionally, there’s a general discussion board where team members can discuss the project.
Asana is generally available for free. The free version offers you all the basic options, that are enough for smaller teams.
You can set up a team of up to 15 people, and create unlimited projects and tasks, but with limited Dashboards.
Other key features include:
- Online meetings features
- Project status boards
- Feedback support
- Set teams of up to 15 people
Asana
Take your collaboration skills to another level using this active teamwork software today.Microsoft Teams – Best Microsoft apps integration
Microsoft Teams is a popular meeting and video conferencing software used by millions of people for business or personal calls.
This collaboration tool is clearly made for everyone. You can use the platform to communicate with others at work, at school, or just chat with close friends.
Using this software is ideal for small businesses that need regular meetings to catch up on new projects, tasks, and deals.
If that’s the case, you have conferencing features like recording options, error-free screen share, integrated chat, live captions, a Raise your hand button, and many more.
You can as well organize virtual events for the entire department or company, inviting 1,0000 attendees and broadcasting for 10,000 viewers.
Moreover, you can join last-minute calls from your mobile device and use the audio feature to communicate your ideas on the go.
As the last word, Microsoft Teams is the right platform for hybrid work or school to gather people in the same place.
Other main features include:
- Intelligent screen-sharing tools
- Schedule and share meetings
- Team Rooms feature
- Chat and sharing file tools
- Android support and dial-in options
Microsoft Teams
Increase the productivity of your team using Microsoft’s online meetings platform with plenty of collaboration tools.Slack – Ideal for team communication
Slack is one of the most popular collaboration software in the world and definitely is among the most effective ones.
This program offers so many options, that will allow you to organize the communication of the whole team, or organization.
At first look, Slack is just another messaging service, but it’s actually much more than that. You can create group chats, so-called Channels, to communicate with different people from your organization.
Channels are public, so everyone can see what’s going on. Additionally, you may create private channels, which only people within that channel will have access.
Slack is also integrated with many services, like Google Drive, Dropbox, Twitter, and more. Sharing external files with channels is also easy because it works on a simple drag-and-drop principle.
There are free (Lite), Standard, and Plus versions of Slack. Each version offers a set of features according to the price.
The Lite version supports an unlimited number of people, but there are some storage limitations. Also, group chats are not possible, and users can integrate Slack with only one service.
Slack has a free plan that includes most of the above-mentioned features. For additional features and more storage space, you could get a subscription.
Other key features include:
- Multiple workspaces
- Mobile, desktop, and in-browser app
- Compatible with screen readers
- Advanced communication management
Desktop.com – Great app integrations
The solution offered by Desktop.com comes to help you collaborate and organize your tasks smartly, with all the web apps on one platform.
Using this software for small businesses can bring added value to communication. You may do voice or video calls using the chat, transfer files or offer video feedback immediately.
In case you wonder how to increase the team’s productivity or add “Done” faster on your tasks, this tool is handmade for you.
You have effective options like app integrations, including Google Workspace, Gmail, Dropbox, and Trello. Plus, you can search for apps or conversations in a second or get the newest updates in chat.
It’s worth mentioning that workspaces are a great resource for efficiency. You can split different projects and work on what matters without being overwhelmed.
On the other hand, the universal chat supports your team to interact with different clients or users of Slack without other installs.
Hence, forget about limitless tabs on your browser and organize work in a smart way using this cloud organizing program.
Other key features include:
- Multiple workspaces for more projects
- Collaboration tools
- Bookmark manager utility
- Intuitive apps integrations
- Universal chat across more apps
Miro – Great graphical communication
Miro is the industry standard for visual collaboration and planning. It may be used by both small teams looking to boost their workflow and huge companies seeking enterprise-grade controls and support, depending on the chosen plan.
You know where you’re standing, so take a closer look at some of the vast Miro capabilities that are well worth the investment.
The main goal is to improve overall productivity, so this tool makes it extremely simple for users to communicate with each other and share valuable teamwork.
Adding pictures, mockups, sticky notes, and videos make working together fun and relaxing.
The most important features are white-boarding tools such as sticky notes and freehand, unlimited external board viewers, real-time collaborative editing, Asana integration, and more.
There are also more advanced tools, like private board sharing, Azure DevOps and CA Rally integrations, and domain whitelisting which make Miro even more appealing.
When it comes to design, this tool also easily outshines many of its competitors in aesthetics.
Therefore, its functionality and the number of features here presented assure Miro a high position on everyone’s preferences list.
Other key features include:
- Support for employee onboarding
- Premade templates
- Video chat and real-time collaboration
- Advanced encryption
⇒ Get Miro
InVision – Great for design collaboration
InVision is a powerful tool aimed at designers and artists. Its main purpose is to create prototypes of your design, but you can also use it as an effective project management tool.
If you’re working on an app design, for example, bring your ideas to life with Invision. And get useful feedback from your colleagues.
You can use designs from any program, like Photoshop, or Illustrator, and turn them into interactive prototypes. Everything works smoothly, and it will give you a clear idea of what your project will look like.
Anyone from your team may jump in, and leave comments, for an even better understanding. InVision also allows you to start interactive design meetings. Here you can discuss with colleagues about the project, and easily share ideas.
This web-based service is not a classical project management tool, but it surely provides great collaboration options.
InVision is available for free. However, the free version allows you only one project at a time.
Other key features include:
- Real-time shared whiteboard
- Task reminders
- SSL and AES-256 based encryption
- Interactive design meetings
Bitrix 24 – Good for CRM
Within a work environment, not all things need to be serious and boring. Bitrix24 is a software service that will revolutionize the way your team will manage projects and communicate with each other.
The service is available non-stop, and it brings all of the tools you may ever need in order to improve collaboration within the workspace.
Activity stream, group chat, calendars, workgroups, and other collaboration tools are at your disposal, and up until a certain level of functionality, the program is also free as well.
However, if you want to take advantage of all of the features that this program has to offer, then you might as well subscribe to the premium version. The return on investment will come soon enough from the improved workflow.
More so, Bitrix is extremely customizable, as you can use the self-hosted version of Bitrix24 to run on your server.
This will give you full control over data, source code access, and additional tools, such as helpdesk and e-learning, as well as integration and customization options.
Other key features include:
- Website builder
- Online documents
- Business process automation
- Marketing and HR support
Podio – Great for HR management
Podio is a web-based service that serves as a micro-social network, only for the members of your team (but it doesn’t advertise itself as a social network, though). Everyone from the team creates their own personal account on Podio.
These accounts allow team members to communicate with each other and participate in the working process. Podio is organized into workspaces, where different people from your team can be ‘placed.’
Just like real social-media sites, Podio also supports apps. Some of the apps are the group chat app, Project Management app, Meetings app, and more.
All these apps are available to users in Podio’s own web store. The ability to add various features and options through apps makes Podio extremely flexible and customizable.
Each workspace can have a different set of apps, and different people from the team.
Podio also offers a free account, but it’s quite limited because it doesn’t support project management.
Other key features include:
- Advanced security features
- Automated workflows
- Meeting scheduling
- Unlimited storage
Trello – Great project management tool
Trello is another tool that many people consider a to-do list tool but is actually more. This project management tool is for visual persons because it’s a nice mix of good looks and functionality.
Trello is organized into boards and cards. Boards can be characterized as a workspace, while cards can represent a certain part of the project.
Cards are highly customizable, so you may design each one to your needs. Cards can be a combination of text, images, or other documents.
You can combine different media, to get the most accurate picture of the current milestone.
There’s a good integration with other services and file formats, so you can easily make a card out of PDF documents.
Every team member on board can have a card assigned to himself/herself. Tracking is enabled, so you may always see what’s going on on any card.
There are some missing features, like the ability to mark a milestone as done. However, Trello has the ability to set due dates for cards, and archive them.
Trello is available for free, but with some limitations. Users of the free version can attach cards up to 10MB in size, but the number of cards is unlimited.
There are also Gold, Business Class, and Enterprise versions, which, of course, remove some limitations.
Other key features include
- Lets you set deadlines and add reminders
- Timeline view of project progress
- Multiple templates
- Good integration with other services and file formats
- Easy to use
Skype – Great overall communication tool
Yes, you’ve read it right, we consider Skype a good collaboration tool. You probably won’t find Skype on any other ‘top collaboration tools’ list, but the fact is Skype is used by millions of professionals.
Some smaller companies simply don’t have resources for premium tools, so they choose to stick with Skype. If you ignore occasional bugs, Skype is still a decent choice.
Microsoft’s service has everything a smaller team needs to get the job done. As you probably know, you can call multiple people, chat, make group chats, share files and links, and more.
There’s also Skype for Business, for bigger organizations. Microsoft made Skype integrated with basically any platform, so you can even use the browser version.
So, if you don’t want to experiment with less-known tools, and don’t need any advanced project management tools, Skype is just fine.
Other key features include:
- Whiteboard for Business users
- Screensharing feature
- Support for PowerPoint presentations
- Great integration with other software
- Make group chats, share files and links
AnyDesk
This powerful software was designed specially to offer amazing speeds while also ensuring your online identity is not compromised while using the service.
To ensure that no third parties can collect or record your data, AnyDesk uses TLS 1.2 encryption with an RSA 2048 standard, which is the latest and most secure version available on the market.
Besides the amazing features contained in this software, like powerful encryption, amazing optimization capabilities, and cross-device compatibility, this app also offers you quick access to any of the features, and the power to customize the user interface to your liking.
Any Desk also provides top-level security with TLS 1.2 end-to-end encryption. No one can access your data without permission.
Any desk lets you quickly manage your employees, customers, and other contacts into a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate address book.
You will be able to use the entire set of AnyDesk features on platforms including macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, and, obviously, also the Windows platform.
Other key features include:
- Efficient bandwidth use
- Whitelist access
- Lightweight
- International support
There you go, these are our top picks for collaboration software for Windows 10. Most of these services are suitable for any level of organization and teams of any size.
So, you can take a deeper analysis, and see what program is worth paying for (or not).
To make you, and your team even more productive, make sure to check out our picks for the best mind mapping tools, and timer apps for Windows.
Tell us what you think about our choices in the comments and let us know if you know about some other great project management tool we didn’t mention here.
User forum
3 messages