VK Teams alternatives: 7 team chat apps for work communication in 2026
We look at alternatives to VK Teams and VK WorkSpace for team chats and work communication, comparing features, pricing and deployment options.
VK Teams is the team chat app in VK Tech's VK WorkSpace platform: the subscription bundles chats with email, calendar, drive, documents and video conferencing.
We've rounded up 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 prices are public and deployment options.
What is VK Teams
VK Teams grew out of the Myteam messaging app. After the company rebranded as VK, the app became VK Teams in 2022, and today it's developed as part of the VK WorkSpace platform.
Today VK WorkSpace is twelve services in one subscription. The chat app supports group chats and channels, threads, folders and smart folders, and bots with a Bot API. Video conferences support up to 500 participants. There's an AI Assistant that summarizes meetings, emails and chats through a bot. The platform's services are listed in the Russian Software Registry, and large companies can deploy on-premise.
VK Tech distributes its mobile apps through RuStore and directly from its website: in June 2026, VK apps became unavailable in the Russian App Store, and in July they were removed from Google Play.
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 built into chat: what 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. Check the vendors' websites.
VK Teams alternatives for work communication
Pachca
Pachca is a team chat app for large and midsize businesses with advanced integrations and AI agents.
Highlights:
- a platform for connecting AI agents natively, with all the tools you need: a 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, so employees can work together quickly: @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, an 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 education organizations and nonprofits
MTS Link Chats
MTS Link Chats is the chat app in 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 of up to 30 participants for 60 minutes, 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
Kontur.Talk
Kontur.Talk is chat and video meetings from SKB Kontur. The platform grew out of video conferencing, 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 transcripts 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 concern the chats themselves: no folders, no voice messages and no guest access, no built-in tasks and no support for AI agents. Pricing for the main plans is available on request.
Deployment: cloud / on-premise
Pricing:
- Free "Старт" plan: meetings of up to 50 participants, no chats
- Chats: 1,500 ₽/year per user, added to any paid video meeting subscription; meeting plans on request
eXpress
eXpress is a secure team chat app. Chats with threads and channels, tag-style folders, video conferences for up to 512 participants, email, tasks and SmartApps. Its main selling point is security: FSTEC certification, GOST cryptography and support for isolated networks. Its customer stories include small, midsize and large businesses as well as the public sector.
Limitations: there's 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); corporate licenses start at roughly 3,000 ₽/year per user according to public sources, and the exact price depends on the package and hosting
Yandex Messenger
Yandex Messenger is work chat 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 plans. There are AI meeting notes with short summaries.
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's no notification scheduling or filtering by type, no scheduled messages and no outgoing webhooks, and email is the only support channel listed. 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 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 tools for working with messages and files. One unusual feature: team engagement stats. It's available in the cloud and as a self-hosted version.
At the same time, Compass is limited when it comes to managing large teams: there's no web version, no administration via API and no way to add people to chats in bulk. Everyday features like public chats and pinned messages are missing, 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. There are isolated teams (separate branches of the 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VK Teams | ✓ | 309 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Pachca | ✓ | from 159 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | hybrid on-premise (BYOK) |
| MTS Link Chats | ✓ | from 4,268 ₽/year | — | mobile only | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kontur.Talk | ✓ | 1,500 ₽/year | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| eXpress | ✓ | 200 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Yandex Messenger | ✓ | from 199 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | — |
| Compass | — | 390 ₽/mo | — | mobile only | — | — | ✓ |
| Loop | ✓ | from 119 ₽/mo | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
Data as of August 2026, from official websites and our comparison table of team chat apps across 100+ criteria.
Frequently asked questions
Standalone apps where chat is the core product: Pachca, eXpress, Compass and Loop. In MTS Link and Kontur.Talk, chats are part of video meeting platforms: MTS Link sells chat and meetings as a single "Коммуникации" subscription, and Kontur.Talk offers chats as an add-on to a video meeting subscription. If you need chats and calls for up to 1,000 participants in one license, go with Pachca.
Pachca (Starter), Loop, Yandex Messenger, eXpress (public version) and MTS Link (meetings of up to 30 participants, chat history of 2,000 messages) all have free plans. Compass has had no free plan since January 2026, and Kontur.Talk's free plan includes video meetings only.
Among the apps in this roundup, eXpress: FSTEC certification, GOST cryptography and support for isolated networks. MTS Link, Compass, Loop and Kontur.Talk also support classic on-premise.
The app is sold as part of a VK WorkSpace subscription. According to the official pricing page: "Базовый" is 309 ₽/mo per user (teams of up to 300 people, calls for up to 100 participants), "Расширенный" is 499 ₽/mo (up to 500 people, calls for up to 300 participants, SSO and audit logs) and "Индивидуальный" with on-premise is priced on request. Until August 10, 2026, the plans cost 259 and 459 ₽; the official page now lists monthly billing only. The free ad-supported version ("С рекламой") covers up to 5 users and video conferences for up to 25 participants; a test domain is free for 30 days, and the first month of a paid plan costs 1 ₽.
Yes: Pachca transcribes and summarizes video calls, MTS Link produces transcripts and automatic meeting notes, Kontur.Talk offers transcripts with timestamps, eXpress transcribes calls and Yandex 360 offers AI meeting notes in Telemost.
