The short answer. Mattermost is the self-hostable one, which is the answer when the chat cannot leave the building. Microsoft Teams and Lark are the suites that bundle chat, meetings, files and documents, and the decision between them is usually made by the organisation rather than the user. DingTalk and Teambition are the same shape in a different market. Mezon is the smaller entrant, and Taskade is the collaborative editor that happens to include tasks and chat. The dividing question is who owns the data, because a hosted suite and a self-hosted chat server are not two products in the same category — one is a service you join and the other is software you run.
This guide covers 7 team collaboration apps for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment. Last verified 2026-10-05.
Quick comparison
| App | What it is | Pricing | Licence | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DingTalk | team collaboration app | Free | not published | 9.0.1 |
| Lark | productivity app | Free | not published | 8.1.22 |
| Mattermost | team collaboration app | Freemium | Apache-2.0 | 6.3.0 |
| Mezon | productivity app | Open source | not published | — |
| Taskade | Mac utility | not published | not published | 4.7.0 |
| Teambition | productivity app | Free | not published | 2.0.3 |
| Microsoft Teams | team collaboration app | Freemium | not published | — |
What actually decides this
- Hosted or self-hosted. A hosted suite is someone else’s computer with your conversations on it. A self-hosted server is your computer with the same conversations and an operator who has to patch it. The second is a commitment measured in years.
- Whether meetings are included. Chat plus video plus screen sharing is a suite. Chat alone is a chat server. Teams that need both and install two products usually end up using one of them badly.
- What the file story is. Files in a chat thread are attachments. Files in a document tree are documents. A suite that does both has to decide which one a given file is, and the answer is usually visible only after someone cannot find it.
- How search works across the suite. Searching messages, documents and files in one query is the actual value of a suite. If each surface has its own search box, the suite is a bundle rather than an integration.
- What leaving looks like. Exporting messages, files and documents is the exit cost. A suite with no export path is a decision you cannot reverse, which matters more for a small team than for a large one.
Our picks
- Mattermost — Its record describes a self-hostable team chat platform with a free desktop client, which is the self-hosted case. Choose it when the chat has to run on your own infrastructure.
- Microsoft Teams — Its record describes chat, meetings and collaboration with a free tier for personal use, which is the suite case. Choose it when the organisation already lives in Microsoft 365.
- Lark — Its record describes a collaboration suite covering chats, meetings, calendars, docs and email, which is the all-in-one case. Choose it when you want chats, meetings, calendars and docs in one suite.
- DingTalk — Its record describes a team communication and collaboration platform, which is the existing-platform case. Choose it when the team is already on that platform.
- Taskade — Its record describes a real-time collaborative editor for teams, which is the document case. Choose it when the collaboration is around a document rather than a channel.
The apps
DingTalk
DingTalk is a team collaboration app for macOS. Team communication and collaboration platform. It is free.
DingTalk is listed with current version 9.0.1.
Full profile and verified facts for DingTalk →
Lark
Lark is a productivity app for macOS. The Next-Gen Collaboration Suite. All your chats, meetings, calendars, docs, and emails in one place. It is free.
What it does. Lark is a productivity superapp for teams. Get chat, docs, meetings, workflow automations & AI for free all in one place.
Lark is listed with current version 8.1.22.
Full profile and verified facts for Lark →
Mattermost
Mattermost is a team collaboration app for macOS. Self-hostable team collaboration platform with a free desktop client for macOS, Windows and Linux, sold as prepaid annual per-seat subscriptions with a free limited-use edition for evaluation. It is released under Apache-2.0. It is freemium.
Strengths. According to the developer, the server can be deployed on Kubernetes, on Azure or Oracle cloud infrastructure, from signed Linux packages, from a tarball, or in Docker. Because it is self-hosted, the conversation and its data stay on infrastructure the organisation controls. The desktop client is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
Trade-offs. No paid plan publishes a price; Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced all require contacting sales for a figure. The free edition is a limited-use build of Enterprise Advanced for technical evaluation, not an unrestricted free tier. Running it means running a server, which is a real operational commitment compared with a hosted messenger. No list prices are published for the paid plans; Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced both route through a sales conversation. The vendor’s download page states the desktop app supports macOS 14 and later, while the Mac App Store listing for the same version states macOS 12.0 — neither page explains the difference.
Not for. Small teams that just want a chat app without running a server — the hosted options are less work. Anyone who needs a published price before talking to sales, because none of the paid plans list one.
What it does. Channel-based team collaboration with direct messages and threads. Self-hosted server: Kubernetes, Azure, Oracle, Ubuntu packages, RHEL/CentOS, tarball or Docker. Desktop clients for macOS, Windows and Linux, plus iOS and Android apps. A Mac App Store build alongside the direct download.
Mattermost is listed with current version 6.3.0.
Full profile and verified facts for Mattermost →
Mezon
Mezon is a productivity app for macOS. A new way to communicate with your team. It’s free, faster, better organized, better for WFH. It is open source.
Full profile and verified facts for Mezon →
Taskade
Taskade is a Mac utility for macOS. Real-time collaborative editor for teams. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Turn business processes into live apps. Build and run CRMs, dashboards, and client portals that use AI agents and automated workflows, all with Taskade Genesis.
Taskade is listed with current version 4.7.0.
Full profile and verified facts for Taskade →
Teambition
Teambition is a productivity app for macOS. Team collaboration tool for tasks, schedules, files, and discussions. It is free.
Teambition is listed with current version 2.0.3.
Full profile and verified facts for Teambition →
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a team collaboration app for macOS. Chat, meetings and collaboration application for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, free for personal use and sold to businesses from $4 per user per month. It is freemium.
Strengths. According to the developer, the free version includes one-to-one calls up to 30 hours, group meetings up to 60 minutes with up to 100 participants, and 5 GB of cloud storage per user. Meeting links can be shared with people who do not have a Teams account, so guests can join without signing up. Chat works with anyone who has an email address or a phone number.
Trade-offs. The free version is explicitly for home and personal use; the vendor states that business use requires a paid option. The free tier caps group meetings at 60 minutes and 100 participants, which is restrictive for anything beyond a small call. Meeting recordings with transcripts and live captions are not available on the free version. There is no self-hosted deployment; the service runs on Microsoft’s infrastructure. The minimum macOS version is not stated in the sources Nuanyue tracks.
Not for. Businesses that want to use it for free, since the free version is for home and personal use only. Organisations that need to self-host their chat, which is not an option with Teams.
What it does. Chat with anyone who has an email address or phone number. One-to-one calls up to 30 hours on the free version. Group meetings up to 60 minutes with up to 100 participants on the free version. Meeting links that people can join without a Teams account.
Full profile and verified facts for Microsoft Teams →
How to choose
- Free of charge. DingTalk, Lark and Teambition — no payment is required.
- No licence fee, source available. Mezon — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
- Freemium. Mattermost and Microsoft Teams — free to use, with paid tiers for additional features.
- Pricing not published in our data. Taskade — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.
Open source: Mattermost and Mezon (2 of 7).
Common mistakes
- Self-hosting a chat server without anyone owning the upgrades.
- Assuming a suite means one search box. Check before moving years of documents into it.
- Using chat attachments as the document store and then losing the file when the thread is archived.
- Choosing a suite for its free tier and discovering the export limit at the point of leaving.
How this guide was put together
Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.
A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.
The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.
Verified 2026-10-05.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose between these team collaboration apps?
There is no single answer — it depends on what you need. This guide covers 7 team collaboration apps: DingTalk, Lark, Mattermost, Mezon, Taskade, Teambition and Microsoft Teams. They differ mainly in pricing model, licence and the trade-offs each one carries. Pick by the trade-off you care about rather than by rank.
Are these team collaboration apps free?
Pricing across this group: free (DingTalk, Lark and Teambition), freemium (Mattermost and Microsoft Teams), open source (Mezon) and not published (Taskade). Where we list pricing as not published, the developer does not state a model we could verify — check their own site before assuming anything about cost. We quote a price only where the record carries one from a stated source, and we never estimate one. Prices change and vary by region and by store, so always check the developer’s own page for the current figure.
Which of these team collaboration apps are open source?
Mattermost (Apache-2.0) and Mezon (not published) are open source.
Do these team collaboration apps support Apple Silicon?
Apple Silicon support is explicitly stated for Mattermost. For the others our data does not carry an explicit statement either way, so we do not infer one.
How do I choose between them?
Start with how you pay: the guide groups these apps by pricing model, because the budget is the constraint most people actually have. Then check the trade-offs listed for each app: the limitations are the part that decides most people’s choice, because they describe what the app will not do for you.
Who should not use these apps?
Mattermost and Microsoft Teams each list an audience they are explicitly not aimed at. Those notes come from the same verified records as the rest of this guide, and they are worth reading before you install anything.
When was this data last verified?
The facts in this guide were last confirmed on 2026-10-05. Every app page carries its own verification dates and source list, so you can check any individual claim.
