MTS Link alternatives: 7 team chat apps for work communication in 2026

MTS Link is an online communication platform from the MTS ecosystem: meetings, webinars, whiteboards and the MTS Link Chats team chat app.

We picked seven team chat apps that cover the same work communication needs. We compared them on criteria you can verify: chat features, what the license includes, whether pricing is public and deployment options.

What is MTS Link

MTS Link is an online communication platform from MTS. Until 2023, it was called Webinar.ru: the company had been running webinars since 2008, MTS acquired it in 2022 and rebranded it a year later.

Today the platform includes more than ten products: Meetings, Webinars, Chats, Boards, Tasks, Courses, Forms, Docs and Mail. The chat app, MTS Link Chats, supports group chats, threads, message search, chatbots and integrations through the API and webhooks, and calls in chats support up to 1,000 participants. Built-in AI features include meeting transcripts, automatic meeting notes and discussion summaries. The products are listed in the Russian Software Registry, and there's an on-premise version for isolated networks.

How we compared

• Chat features: threads, folders, bots and AI agents, API. The things that make up everyday work in a team chat app.
• What the license includes: whether one subscription covers chats, meetings and tasks, or each product is sold separately.
• Public pricing: whether you can find out the price without talking to a sales rep.
• Meetings inside the chat app: which video calls are built in and what the limits are.
• 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.

MTS Link alternatives for work communication

Pachca

Pachca is a team chat app for large and mid-sized businesses with rich integrations and AI agents.

Highlights:

• 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: @mention a colleague to bring them into a thread, even if they aren't in the chat;
• video meetings for up to 1,000 participants with recording, screen sharing, moderation, transcription and summaries;
• an 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 such as PSB and Alfa-Bank.

The main limitation: 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 organizations and nonprofits

Kontur.Talk

Kontur.Talk offers chats and video meetings from SKB Kontur. The platform grew out of video calling, and chats complement meetings, webinars and online whiteboards. The chat app has pinned messages, chatbots and group tags. Meetings support up to 400 participants, with AI transcription with timestamps and automatic meeting notes.

The service is aimed at organizations where online meetings are central to how they work: training, team meetings, working with branch offices. Chats are an add-on to any paid video meeting plan, and the platform can be deployed in the cloud or on your own servers.

The main limitations are in the chats themselves: there are no folders, voice messages or guest access, tasks aren't built in and AI agents aren't supported. Pricing for the main plans is available on request.

Deployment: cloud / on-premise

Pricing:

• Free "Старт" plan: meetings for up to 50 participants, no chats
• Chats: 1,500 ₽/year per user, added to any paid video meeting subscription; meeting plan pricing on request

eXpress

eXpress is a secure team chat app for business and the public sector. At its core are work chats with threads and channels, plus video conferences for up to 512 participants, email, built-in tasks and SmartApps. Folders are tag-based and can hold direct and group chats, channels, individual messages and contacts. Its main selling point is security: FSTEC certification, GOST cryptography, end-to-end encryption and support for isolated networks. eXpress is used by small and mid-sized businesses, large companies and the public sector, with customer stories covering rollouts for anywhere from 100 to 10,000+ users.

The limitations show up in everyday use: there's no workspace-wide search and no admin through the API, and bots and AI agents only work in chats, so you can't @mention an agent in a thread. Full functionality is only available with an on-premise deployment.

Deployment: cloud / on-premise

Pricing:

• Free public version
• 200 ₽/mo per user (SaaS); enterprise licenses start at 3,000 ₽/year per user according to the vendor's price list, with the exact price depending on the configuration and hosting

VK WorkSpace

VK WorkSpace is a communication platform from VK: a chat app, email, video conferencing, cloud storage and documents. The chat app (formerly VK Teams) is fully featured: group chats, threads, folders, bots and admin through the API. It's evolving into a super app, with email, a calendar and document co-editing living right next to chats.

Pricing is public: from 309 ₽/mo per user for the full set of services. Video conferences support up to 100 participants on the base plan and up to 500 on the custom plan.

Limitations: there are 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 plans.

Deployment: cloud / on-premise

Pricing:

• Free ad-supported version: up to 5 users
• "Базовый": 309 ₽/mo per user; "Расширенный": 499 ₽/mo; self-hosted version: custom quote

Yandex Messenger

Yandex Messenger offers work chats as part of Yandex 360 for Business. Along with the chat app, the subscription includes email, Disk, Docs and Telemost: video meetings with no time limit and up to 500 participants per call. There's AI meeting note-taking with short summaries.

A good fit for companies that already use Yandex services and want chats, email and meetings in one place.

That said, some enterprise features are limited: the bot platform is only available on pricier plans, there are no flexible notification settings, scheduled messages or outgoing webhooks, and support only answers by email. There's no AI agent support. There's no classic on-premise option either: the service runs only in the Yandex 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: 549 ₽/mo

Compass

Compass is a chat app for work communication. It offers team chats, calls for up to 1,000 participants and tools for working with messages and files. One unusual feature: team engagement analytics. It's available in the cloud and as a self-hosted version.

At the same time, Compass has limited tools for managing large teams: there's no web version, no admin through the API and no bulk adding to chats. For everyday use, it lacks 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. It offers a channel structure, threads, team workspaces and a focus on internal work communication. There are isolated teams (separate branches of the workspace with their own chats and members), plus voice messages and scheduled sending.

That said, the product's development is closely tied to the Mattermost architecture. Limitations: there's 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

Data as of August 2026, based on official websites and our comparison of team chat apps across 100+ criteria.