6 European alternatives to Slack and Teams
Slack and Teams are the most used professional communication platforms, but are from the US. Here are 6 European alternatives.
Published on November 6, 2025
Merien co-founded E52 in 2015 and envisioned AI in journalism, leading to Laio. He writes bold columns on hydrogen and mobility—often with a sharp edge.
In many companies, Slack or Microsoft Teams is indispensable. It’s the digital watercooler where projects are launched, successes are celebrated, and new ideas are born. Naturally, you wouldn’t want to discuss your new product launch alongside "don’t forget the milk" messages on WhatsApp. A professional platform is essential for sharing files, collaborating, and occasionally posting vacation photos in the #general channel to make your colleagues jealous.
But precisely because your company’s operations rely on these platforms, a problem arises. This is where business secrets are shared, customer data is exchanged, and personal information is stored—all on the servers of American tech giants. This means your data falls under legislation such as the CLOUD Act, which can grant U.S. authorities access to data, regardless of where it’s stored. For European companies bound by the strict rules of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), this is a growing concern.
Fortunately, you don’t have to choose between convenience and privacy. There’s a thriving ecosystem of European alternatives that match Slack and Teams' functionality while excelling in privacy, data sovereignty, and local compliance. In this edition of "The European Alternative," we’ve compiled the best secure and European chat apps for your business.
The European Alternative
The European Alternative is a series about European tech solutions that prioritize privacy, digital sovereignty, and sustainability. Instead of relying on major American platforms, we highlight the alternatives Europe itself has to offer—transparent, secure, and aligned with European values.
1. Nextcloud Talk: The all-in-one suite with full control
Nextcloud, with its German roots, is more than just a chat app—it’s a complete productivity platform that lets you manage files, calendars, and emails. Nextcloud Talk is the integrated communication module that offers chat, video calls, and webinars. The biggest strength of this open-source platform is its self-hosting capability, giving you full control and sovereignty over your company data since everything is managed on your own server. This makes it the ideal all-in-one solution for organizations that want maximum control over their data and infrastructure. While self-hosting requires technical expertise and maintenance, it’s a powerful guarantee of GDPR compliance for privacy-conscious businesses.
2. Wire: Swiss security at the enterprise level
Wire is known as one of the world’s most secure collaboration platforms, trusted by governments and large enterprises. Although its headquarters are in Switzerland, Wire hosts its data in highly secure data centers within the EU, ensuring full GDPR compliance. The focus is on uncompromising security: everything from chats and conversations to shared files is protected with end-to-end encryption. The open-source code is regularly audited by independent experts, adding an extra layer of transparency and trust. Wire is the top recommendation for organizations with the highest security requirements, such as governments, banks, and healthcare providers. It offers both hosted and self-hosted options.
3. Threema Work: Anonymous, simple, and Swiss precision
Threema Work is the business version of the well-known privacy messenger, excelling in simplicity and anonymity. Its unique feature is that users don’t need to provide personal data to create an account—an anonymous, randomly generated Threema ID is sufficient. This minimizes data collection to the absolute minimum. All communication is, of course, end-to-end encrypted. Like Wire, Threema is a Swiss company, but its servers are located in the EU, ensuring full GDPR compliance. This low-threshold and secure approach makes Threema Work ideal for privacy-first organizations, law firms, and SMEs that want to get started quickly and securely.
4. Olvid: Maximum French security without metadata, and business sectors
Olvid takes security to a new, almost unprecedented level. What makes this French app unique is that there’s no central server managing a user list. This means not only your messages but also your metadata (who talks to whom) are fully protected and invisible to outsiders. It’s the only chat app to receive the highest security certification (CSPN) from the French government and is officially recommended by them. This closed and maximally secure ecosystem is intentionally not connectable to other networks to preserve integrity. Olvid is the ultimate choice for defense, legal, and business sectors where confidentiality is critical.
5. Ginlo Business: The secure and manageable "WhatsApp for business"
Ginlo Business, developed in Germany, positions itself as the secure German alternative to WhatsApp, offering the professional management features businesses need. The platform is designed for fast, direct, and low-threshold team communication. Through a central "Management Cockpit," administrators can easily manage users, groups, and permissions. All communication is fully end-to-end encrypted, and hosting is in Germany, ensuring full GDPR compliance. Ginlo is an excellent choice for organizations seeking a simple, secure, and centrally manageable chat solution.
6. Matrix / Element: Decentralization and openness without vendor lock-in
Matrix is not an app but an open and decentralized communication protocol. Element is the most popular and user-friendly client (the app itself) for this protocol, offering an experience similar to Slack. The real power lies in federation: you can host your own server (or use a hosted version in the EU) and still seamlessly communicate with users on other Matrix servers. This avoids vendor lock-in and creates an open, interoperable network, similar to how email works. While the setup can be more complex than a standard SaaS solution, it’s the perfect choice for innovative companies and tech teams that value decentralization, open standards, and flexibility. This is what NATO uses.
Conclusion: Digital sovereignty starts with communication
While the temptation to choose familiar American names is strong, mature European alternatives exist. These alternatives not only provide the features you need to collaborate efficiently but also guarantee that your company data is protected under strict European privacy laws.