How Virola compares to other corporate messengers
Try Virola for Free
Choosing the right communication platform is one of the most critical decisions for any remote or hybrid team. With so many options on the market, from industry giants like Microsoft Teams and Slack to community-focused platforms like Discord and secure alternatives like Mattermost or Wire, it can be challenging to determine which tool aligns best with your organization's specific security needs, hardware limitations, and daily workflow preferences.
To help you make a confident and informed decision, we have compiled a comprehensive, feature-by-feature comparison. The table below evaluates Virola alongside Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zulip, Mattermost, Element, Discord, Rocket.Chat, Troop Messenger, and Wire.
Dive into the details
Every organization has unique priorities. Whether your team relies heavily on simultaneous usage of multiple accounts across different application profiles, needs limitless meeting recordings without third-party bots, or simply wants the ability to make notes to store key information, the right features make all the difference.
Explore the detailed comparison table below to see exactly how Virola measures up against the competition across pricing, performance, deployment, and collaboration capabilities:
Slack
MS Teams
Zulip
Mattermost
Element
Discord
Rocket.Chat
Troop Messenger
Wire
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per user | Free up to 10 online users with all features included; starting from $0.40 per user/month | Free with limited functionality; starting from $4.38 per user/month | Free for individuals; for business starting from $4.00 per user/month | Free with limited functionality; starting from $6.67 per user/month | Free limited-use edition for evaluation; starting from $10 per user/month | Starting from $5.00 per user/month | Free; Nitro Basic ($2.99/mo or $29.99/yr); Nitro ($9.99/mo or $99.99/yr) | Free with core features for small teams; starting from around $8.00 per user/month | Starting from $2.50 per user/month | Free for up to 5 users; starting from €7.45 per user/month |
| RAM consumption | 100 MB – 1 GB, depending on the load | 300 MB to – GB, depending on the load | 150 MB – 1.8 GB | 250 MB – 450 MB | 300 MB – 600 MB | Up to 1.5 GB, depending on the load | Active use: 200 MB – 500 MB | 300 MB – 600 MB for desktop app | 300 MB – 500 MB during active use | 250 MB – 450 MB during standard use |
| Anonymity during registration | Doesn't require phone number or corporate e-mail | Email required | Microsoft account required | Email required | Doesn't require phone number or corporate e-mail | Can register without phone/email (Matrix) | Email required | Corporate email and phone number required | Corporate email required | Doesn't require phone number or corporate e-mail |
| Self-hosted | ||||||||||
| Open-source | Open-source web client | |||||||||
| Air-gapped deployment |
With sovereign package |
|||||||||
| Works in LAN | ||||||||||
| Simultaneous connection to several workspaces | ||||||||||
| Text messages format | Text, LaTeX, Code, Markdown, HTML | Inline code, code blocks, text, built in WYSIWYG for text styling | Basic text styling, markdown, inline code, code blocks, snippets, block quotes, checklists, live texts | Text, LaTeX, Markdown | Text, Markdown, LaTeX, code blocks | Text | Text, Markdown, code blocks | Markdown, code blocks, LaTeX | Markdown, code snippets | Markdown, codeblocks, hand-drawn notes |
| Personal notes | ||||||||||
| Meeting recording |
Without limitations |
Through integration |
||||||||
| Built in task manager | ||||||||||
| Screen sharing | ||||||||||
| Remote control | ||||||||||
| Chat history storage | Without limitations | 90 days (Free) / Unlimited (Paid) | Based on M365 Retention Policies | Limited on the Cloud Free plan (10,000 messages); unlimited on Cloud Standard/Plus plans and self-hosted | Cloud Free: Limits chat history to the most recent 10,000 messages per workspace; Cloud Professional/Enterprise without limitations; self-hosted without limitations | Without limitations | Unlimited (Cloud-synced) | Without limitations | Without limitations | Local Storage Only / No Cloud Sync |
| Search in chat history | ||||||||||
| Limitation for transferred files | Server capacity dependant | 1 GB per file; 5 GB total in free accounts. The files storage limitation depends on the package | Maximum file size: 250 GB per file. Total organization storage: Usually 1 TB plus 10 GB per user license purchased | 5 GB for free cloud version. No limitation for self-hosted version | Customizable by admin | 10 MB for free accounts (standard) / 100 MB for premium-tier accounts. No hard limit for self-hosted | Free Users: 10 MB; Nitro Basic: 50 MB; Nitro Full: 500 MB | Server capacity dependant | Paid plans start with 150 GB and go up to 1 TB for file storage. The limitation for the transferred file depends on the payment plan | Personal Users: 25 MB per file. No limitation for self-hosted |
| User permissions | ||||||||||
| Guest user accounts | ||||||||||
| User profile cards | ||||||||||
| Split view mode |
With the help of pop-out architecture |
|||||||||
| View own and participant's network quality | ||||||||||
| Low bandwidth mode |
Through plugin |
Through plugin |
Through plugin |
Below you can have a closer look at the key areas where Virola stands out in this competitive landscape.
Uncompromising security and privacy
Unlike many popular cloud-based messaging services, Virola is deliberately designed to give you complete, uncompromising control over your corporate data. We offer a self-hosted server option that can be seamlessly installed on your own operating systems (including Windows, Linux, and macOS).
For organizations operating under strict compliance or security requirements, Virola supports fully air-gapped deployments, a critical security measure that is entirely absent in platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord.
Furthermore, Virola supports anonymous registration, allows you to strictly define team-wide or user-specific permissions, and gives administrators the power to manage guest access and user roles.
Optimized performance and efficiency
A common frustration with modern collaboration software is excessive system resource usage. While heavyweights like Slack, Teams, and Discord are well-known for their high RAM consumption, Virola is engineered to be a low-impact, highly efficient application.
You can run Virola smoothly alongside your heavy professional applications without draining your device's memory.
Additionally, Virola is fully capable of operating over a Local Area Network (LAN), meaning your team can continue to communicate, send files, and collaborate effortlessly even if your external Internet connection goes down.
Built for true collaboration and productivity
Virola goes beyond simple text messaging by consolidating your essential workflow tools into one unified workspace. Instead of forcing you to toggle between third-party apps, Virola features a built-in task manager and issue tracking system where you can instantly convert chat messages into actionable tasks.
For team communications, Virola features an incredibly robust native audio and video conferencing engine. During meetings, you can utilize the split-view mode to comfortably multitask, monitor both your own and other participants' network quality to troubleshoot connection issues, and use the helpful sidebar view.
For deep collaboration or IT troubleshooting, Virola even includes a native remote control feature, allowing room participants to securely control your screen when you need hands-on assistance.