Here are some of the best team chat and workspace platforms for replacing email in day-to-day team coordination, grouped by what they’re best at:

1. Slack

Best for: Fast-moving teams that want flexible chat and lots of integrations.
Why people choose it:

• Channels for projects, teams, and topics
• Strong search and file sharing
• Huge integration ecosystem
• Easy to adopt and widely used

Tradeoffs:

• Can get noisy
• Important decisions can get buried
• Full email replacement usually needs good channel discipline

2. Microsoft Teams

Best for: Organizations already using Microsoft 365.
Why people choose it:

• Deep integration with Outlook, Word, Excel, SharePoint, and OneDrive
• Good for meetings, chat, and collaboration in one place
• Strong enterprise admin/security features

Tradeoffs:

• Interface can feel heavier than Slack
• Can be less intuitive for casual chat-first use

3. Google Chat + Google Workspace

Best for: Teams living in Gmail, Drive, Docs, and Calendar.
Why people choose it:

• Tight integration with Google Workspace
• Good for lightweight team coordination
• Docs-first collaboration works well

Tradeoffs:

• Chat experience is simpler and less powerful than Slack/Teams
• Fewer advanced workflow features

4. Discord

Best for: Community-style teams, startups, and informal collaboration.
Why people choose it:

• Excellent voice/video channels
• Real-time chat feels natural
• Flexible spaces and quick communication

Tradeoffs:

• Not ideal for more formal business workflows
• Admin, compliance, and document organization are weaker than enterprise tools

5. Mattermost

Best for: Security-conscious teams and self-hosted deployments.
Why people choose it:

• Open-source and self-hostable
• Good for regulated industries or internal infrastructure teams
• Similar workflow to Slack

Tradeoffs:

• Smaller ecosystem
• More IT overhead if self-hosted

6. Rocket.Chat

Best for: Teams wanting open-source, self-hosted chat with customization.
Why people choose it:

• Open-source
• Flexible deployment
• Good for internal communication and compliance needs

Tradeoffs:

• Can require more setup and administration
• UX may not feel as polished as Slack

7. Zoho Cliq

Best for: Teams already in the Zoho ecosystem or seeking value pricing.
Why people choose it:

• Integrated with Zoho apps
• Good automation and team chat features
• Often more cost-effective

Tradeoffs:

• Less common than Slack/Teams
• Smaller ecosystem and mindshare

8. Twist

Best for: Async, email-like team communication with less interruption.
Why people choose it:

• Threaded conversations
• Reduces real-time noise
• Good for distributed teams that don’t want constant pings

Tradeoffs:

• Less suited to high-speed, live coordination
• Smaller ecosystem

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How to choose

A good replacement for email usually depends on your team style:

• Need the broadest adoption + integrations: Slack
• Already on Microsoft 365: Microsoft Teams
• Already on Google Workspace: Google Chat
• Need enterprise control or self-hosting: Mattermost or Rocket.Chat
• Want async-first communication: Twist
• Need voice-heavy, informal collaboration: Discord

Practical note

Most teams don’t eliminate email entirely. They usually move:

• Day-to-day coordination → chat/workspace tool
• Formal approvals, external communication, legal notices → email
• Persistent documentation → docs/wiki/task system

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a shortlist by company size (startup, SMB, enterprise), or
2. a feature-by-feature comparison table.