Kontur.Talk alternatives: 7 team chat apps for work communication in 2026
We break down alternatives to Kontur.Talk for team chats and work communication, comparing features, pricing and deployment options.
Kontur.Talk is a service for video meetings, webinars and team chats from SKB Kontur: meetings for up to 400 participants, live streams for up to 10,000 viewers, online whiteboards and a team chat app.
We picked seven team chat apps that cover the same work communication needs. We compared them on verifiable criteria: chat features, what the license includes, whether pricing is public and deployment.
What is Kontur.Talk
Kontur.Talk is a video calling and business communication service from SKB Kontur. The product started as an internal replacement for Skype for Business: Kontur began building its own WebRTC-based solution for its teams. In February 2022, Talk launched on the open market.
Today the platform has five components: video meetings for up to 400 participants, a team chat app, webinars and live streams for up to 10,000 viewers, online whiteboards and an app for meeting rooms. The chat app was added in April 2024. It has direct and group chats, channels, threads, reactions, polls and pinned messages, with chatbots and integrations available through the API. The platform's AI features include meeting transcripts with timestamps and speaker labels, automatic meeting notes with decisions and owners, and thread summaries in chats.
How we compared
- Chat features: threads, folders, bots and AI agents, API. Everything that makes up day-to-day work in a team chat app.
- What the license includes: what comes with one subscription (chats, meetings, tasks) or whether each product is sold separately.
- Public pricing: whether you can find out the price without talking to a sales rep.
- Meetings inside chat: which video calls are built into the app and with what limits.
- Deployment and status: cloud, on-premise, the Russian Software Registry, certifications.
Pricing and feature data is current as of August 2026 and may change, so check the vendors' websites.
Kontur.Talk alternatives for work communication
Pachca
Pachca is a team chat app for mid-size and large businesses with advanced integrations and AI agents.
Key features:
- a platform for connecting AI agents natively, with all the tools you need: CLI, Agent Skills, an OpenAPI spec and developer docs in llms.txt;
- not just SaaS but also hybrid on-premise (BYOK), which gives you full control over your data;
- cross-chat threads, for fast collaboration: you can @mention a colleague into a thread even if they aren't in the chat;
- video conferencing for up to 1,000 participants with recording, screen sharing, moderation, transcription and summaries;
- open API, event audit log, built-in DLP and AD/SSO integration.
Pachca is listed in the Russian Software Registry. It has more than 1,000 customers, including Lamoda, Ivi, Burger King, Renaissance Health, Yandex products and major banks: PSB and Alfa-Bank.
The main limitation is that there's no webinar mode with landing pages and attendance stats.
Deployment: cloud / hybrid on-premise (BYOK)
Pricing:
- Free Starter plan
- from 159 ₽/mo per user: the base plan, support included
- from 399 ₽/mo per user: SSO, Active Directory, hybrid on-premise (BYOK) and advanced security features
- 20% off with annual billing, 75% off for educational institutions and nonprofits
MTS Link Chats
MTS Link Chats is the chat app within the MTS Link communication platform. The platform grew out of the Webinar service and is built around meetings, webinars and training. Chats support group chats, threads, chatbots and integrations via API and webhooks, and calls in chats support up to 1,000 participants. There's transcription and automatic meeting summaries.
It's a good fit for companies that already run meetings and webinars in MTS Link and want to keep work chats in the same ecosystem.
That said, the chats themselves have no folders, voice messages are mobile-only, and the bot platform and AI agent support are limited.
Deployment: cloud / on-premise
Pricing:
- Free version: meetings for up to 30 participants, 60 minutes each, and a chat history of 2,000 messages
- "Коммуникации" subscription (meetings + chat app): from 15,600 ₽/year per user with 30 licenses down to 4,268 ₽/year with 300 or more
eXpress
eXpress is a secure team chat app. Chats with threads and channels, tag-based folders, video conferencing for up to 512 participants, email, tasks and SmartApps. Its main selling point is security: FSTEC certification, GOST cryptography and support for air-gapped environments. Its customer stories include rollouts at small, mid-size and large businesses, as well as in the public sector.
Limitations: no workspace-wide search and no administration via API, and bots and AI agents only work in chats. Full functionality is available only on-premise.
Deployment: cloud / on-premise
Pricing:
- Free public version
- 200 ₽/mo per user (SaaS); enterprise licenses start at roughly 3,000 ₽/year per user according to public sources, and the exact price depends on the package and hosting
VK WorkSpace
VK WorkSpace is VK Tech's communication platform: a team chat app (formerly VK Teams), email, video conferencing, cloud storage and docs. The chat app supports group chats and channels, threads, folders and smart folders, and bots with an official Bot API. It's evolving into a super app, with email, calendar and document co-editing living right next to chats.
Pricing is public: "Базовый" is 309 ₽/mo per user with calls for up to 100 participants, and "Расширенный" is 499 ₽/mo with calls for up to 300 participants, SSO and audit logs. Mobile apps are distributed through RuStore and directly from the website.
Limitations: no file previews, group tags or custom reactions, and bots and AI agents only work in chats, with no mentions in threads. SSO and on-premise are only available on higher-tier plans.
Deployment: cloud / on-premise
Pricing:
- Free "С рекламой" version for up to 5 users
- "Базовый": 309 ₽/mo per user, "Расширенный": 499 ₽/mo; "Индивидуальный" with on-premise: on request
Yandex Messenger
Yandex Messenger is the work chat app in Yandex 360 for Business. Along with the chat app, the subscription includes email, Disk, Docs and Telemost, which offers video meetings with no time limit and up to 500 participants on higher-tier plans. There's AI meeting notes with a short summary.
It's a good fit for companies that already use Yandex services and want chats, email and meetings in one place.
That said, some business features are limited: the bot platform is only available on pricier plans, there are no notification settings by time and type, no scheduled messages and no outgoing webhooks, and email is the only listed support channel. There's no AI agent support. There's also no classic on-premise: the service runs only in Yandex's cloud.
Deployment: cloud
Pricing:
- Free version with limitations
- "Чаты и звонки" plan (Messenger, Telemost, Calendar, Disk): 199 ₽/mo per employee; the plan with meetings for up to 500 participants is 549 ₽/mo.
Compass
Compass is a team chat app for work communication. It offers team chats, calls for up to 1,000 participants and message and file tools. One unusual feature is team engagement stats. It's available in the cloud and as an on-premise version.
At the same time, Compass lacks tools for managing large teams: there's no web version, no administration via API and no bulk adding to chats. For everyday use, it's missing public chats and pinned messages, and there's no AI agent support. SSO and Active Directory are only available in the on-premise version.
Deployment: cloud / on-premise
Pricing:
- No free plan since January 2026
- 390 ₽/mo per user on the "Бизнес" plan, 490 ₽/mo on-premise
Loop
Loop is a team chat app built on Mattermost. A channel-based structure, threads, team workspaces and a focus on internal work communication. It has isolated teams (separate branches of a workspace with their own chats and members), plus voice messages and scheduled sending.
Limitations: no video call recording and no app in RuStore, and bots and AI agents only work in chats.
Deployment: cloud / on-premise
Pricing:
- Free version with limitations
- "Командный": 119 ₽/mo per user, "Профессиональный": 199 ₽/mo, 20% off with annual billing; on-premise on request
Comparison table
| Service | Free plan | Price per user | Chat folders | Voice messages | Tasks | Meeting transcription | On-premise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kontur.Talk | ✓ | 1,500 ₽/year | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pachca | ✓ | from 159 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | hybrid on-premise (BYOK) |
| MTS Link Chats | ✓ | from 4,268 ₽/year | — | mobile only | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| eXpress | ✓ | 200 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| VK WorkSpace (VK Teams) | ✓ | 309 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Yandex Messenger | ✓ | from 199 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | — |
| Compass | — | 390 ₽/mo | — | mobile only | — | — | ✓ |
| Loop | ✓ | from 119 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
Data as of August 2026, based on official websites and our comparison table of team chat apps across 100+ criteria.
Frequently asked questions
Standalone team chat apps where chat is the core product: Pachca, eXpress, Compass and Loop. In MTS Link, chats are part of a video meeting platform, while VK WorkSpace and Yandex Messenger combine chats with email, docs and cloud storage. If you need chats, tasks and calls for up to 1,000 participants in one license, go with Pachca.
Pachca (Starter), Loop, Yandex Messenger, eXpress (public version) and VK WorkSpace (version for up to 5 users) all have free plans. The free version of MTS Link includes meetings for up to 30 participants, 60 minutes each, and a chat history of 2,000 messages. Compass has had no free plan since January 2026.
Among the apps on this list, eXpress: FSTEC certification, GOST cryptography and support for air-gapped environments. MTS Link, VK WorkSpace, Compass and Loop also support classic on-premise.
Prices for the main plans aren't published on the website and are quoted on request. The free "Старт" plan includes meetings for up to 50 participants, up to 40 minutes long, with no chats and no cloud recording. Paid plans differ by limits: "Профи" offers up to 100 participants and 10 GB of cloud recordings, "Бизнес" up to 200 participants, "Бизнес Плюс" up to 400 with meeting notes and simultaneous interpretation, and "Безлимит" and "Сервер" (on-premise) are priced individually. Chats are a paid add-on: 1,500 ₽/year per user for cloud plans and 2,900 ₽/year for the "Сервер" plan. Add-on prices are published on the vendor's pricing page.
Yes: Pachca transcribes and summarizes video calls, MTS Link provides meeting transcripts and automatic meeting notes, eXpress transcribes calls, and Yandex 360 offers AI meeting notes in Telemost.
