Free tools for remote teams

For small distributed teams that need to talk, meet, plan and share without paying per seat. Each pick is chosen on how much its free plan covers, and the limit to watch is noted.

1. 1

   Slack

   Workplace messaging with channels, huddles, workflows, search and AI features for teams.

   Channels and direct messages for the daily chat. The free plan has no time limit, but it saves and searches only 90 days of messages and is limited to 1:1 messaging with outside people.

   • Freemium
   Try Slack (opens the Slack website in a new tab)Read our take
2. 2

   Zoom Workplace

   Zoom's app for video meetings, team chat, phone, whiteboard, mail and calendar in one place.

   Scheduled team meetings with up to 100 participants on the free Basic plan. Meetings are capped at 40 minutes, so long workshops will cut off.

   • Freemium
   Try Zoom Workplace (opens the Zoom Workplace website in a new tab)Read our take
3. 3

   Trello

   Board-and-card tool for organising tasks, with automation and Power-Ups.

   Boards for tracking who is doing what. The free plan gives unlimited cards for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, with 10 boards and 250 Workspace command runs a month.

   • Freemium
   Try Trello (opens the Trello website in a new tab)Read our take
4. 4

   Notion

   Workspace for notes, docs and team knowledge, with AI agents on higher plans.

   A shared wiki for docs and notes. The free plan limits blocks for teams of 2 or more and keeps only 7 days of page history, so check it fits before moving everything in.

   • Freemium
   Try Notion (opens the Notion website in a new tab)Read our take
5. 5

   Bitwarden

   An open source password manager with a free plan and low-cost paid plans for individuals, families and teams.

   Shared team logins in one encrypted vault. The free plan has unlimited devices and passwords, but shares with only one other user.

   • Freemium
   • Open source
   Try Bitwarden (opens the Bitwarden website in a new tab)Read our take
6. 6

   Jitsi Meet

   Open source video conferencing you can use free with no account, or host on your own server.

   Video calls with no account needed. Free to use, Apache-2.0 licensed, with screen sharing, chat and polls. The site names no desktop app, only web, iOS and Android.

   • Free
   • Open source
   Try Jitsi Meet (opens the Jitsi Meet website in a new tab)Read our take
7. 7

   Plane

   Project and knowledge management platform for teams, with cloud and self-hosted options.

   Project planning with board, list, spreadsheet and Gantt views, for teams past Trello's 10-collaborator limit. The free cloud plan allows up to 12 users, with no wiki or integrations.

   • Freemium
   • Open source
   Try Plane (opens the Plane website in a new tab)Read our take