Yammer alternatives are collaboration and employee communication tools that replace or complement Microsoft’s enterprise social network (now called Viva Engage). Teams look for alternatives when they need clearer chat, better mobile access for frontline staff, richer intranet features, tighter governance, or simply lower cost. The best options split into a few camps: enterprise social networks, modern intranets with social features, company-wide chat platforms, and open‑source or privacy‑first tools. Your choice should match how your people work day to day, not just a feature checklist.
How to decide whether you need a Yammer alternative
Start with outcomes, not logos. Define the top three behaviours you want to improve in the next 90 days—examples: faster leadership updates, fewer reply‑all emails, or higher knowledge reuse.
Pick an enterprise social network if you want open, organisation‑wide conversations and leadership comms at scale.
Pick a modern intranet if you also need structured content—policies, forms, pages—alongside social features.
Pick a chat‑first platform if speed and small‑group execution are the priority.
Pick open‑source or self‑hosted if data residency, customisation, or cost control drive the decision.
Measure success with simple KPIs: time to reach all employees with an announcement, monthly active users per department, median response time in critical channels, and search success rate (people find what they need in <2 minutes).
Key capabilities to compare
Decision first: shortlist tools that hit these non‑negotiables for your environment.
Reach and access: Native mobile apps, offline access, SMS fallback for non‑desk staff, SSO with your identity provider.
Information architecture: Spaces or communities, posts vs. pages, tagging, and search that can index files and comments.
Moderation and governance: Roles, approval workflows, retention, export, and clear audit trails.
Integrations: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, file storage, HRIS for user provisioning, and webhook/API access.
Security and compliance: SSO, MFA, encryption in transit/at rest, DLP options, retention policies, and common frameworks (ISO 27001, SOC 2). If you’re in healthcare or financial services, confirm sector‑specific needs before pilots.
Analytics: Post reach, engagement by org unit, best time to post, search queries, and content decay alerts.
Usability: Compose, mention, attach, and poll in one flow. If common actions take more than three clicks, adoption drops.
Pricing model: Per user per month vs. per site; minimums; add‑ons for analytics or intranet; and total cost over three years, including admin time.
Popular Yammer alternatives by scenario
Pick a platform that matches your primary use case. The same vendor can appear in multiple categories; that’s normal because suites overlap.
Company‑wide communication and social engagement
Choose these if leadership visibility, open dialogue, and community groups come first.
Workplace from Meta: News Feed‑style updates, groups, live video for town halls, and familiar UX. Strong mobile experience helps reach frontline; you’ll need to check governance settings if you’re heavily regulated.
Workvivo by Zoom: Culture‑centred feed, shout‑outs, employee recognition, events, and integrations with HR and collaboration tools. A good fit when you want a central “home” that feels social but still structured.
Staffbase and Seismic LiveSocial competitors: Employee app plus intranet with strong editorial controls and targeting. Ideal for corporate comms teams who plan campaigns and need guaranteed reach.
EveryoneSocial and similar advocacy tools: Best when you want to enable employees to share corporate content externally while keeping an internal hub for discussion.
Modern intranets with social features
Pick these if you publish policies, run workflows, and need an authoritative home for company content—plus comments, reactions, and communities.
SharePoint with Viva Connections: Deep Microsoft 365 integration, robust page and document management, and native governance. Add Viva Engage or another social tool for open discussion if needed.
MangoApps: Intranet, news, forms, tasks, and communities in one package. Good for organisations wanting an all‑in‑one hub without stitching multiple tools together.
Unily, LumApps, Simpplr, Happeo, Igloo: Packaged intranets with strong personalisation, search, and publishing features. Check each for governance depth, analytics, and mobile UX before shortlisting.
Bitrix24: Intranet plus CRM, tasks, and chat. Broad scope, attractive for SMBs that want many features under one brand, though admins should sanity‑check which modules they will actually use.
Chat‑first collaboration for teams
If speed and small‑group work matter more than big‑room announcements, go chat‑first and add an intranet later.
Microsoft Teams: Real‑time chat, channels, meetings, and tight 365 integration. Use “channels for projects; communities for culture” as a rule—Teams for execution, an ESN for broad comms if required.
Slack: Excellent integrations and lightweight automation with workflows. Use public channels for cross‑team transparency and shared knowledge; pair with an intranet for long‑lived content.
Chanty, Flock, and Twist: Leaner, lower‑cost chat tools for smaller organisations or teams that want focused discussion. Twist’s thread‑first model suits async collaboration.
Basecamp: Simpler toolkit that blends message boards, to‑dos, schedules, and docs per project. Works well for compact teams that don’t need enterprise social features.
Open‑source and self‑hosted options
Choose these if you need full control, customisation, or to keep data on‑premises.
Mattermost and Rocket.Chat: Slack‑like chat with self‑hosting options and strong API surfaces. Good where security policies restrict SaaS but teams still want modern chat.
Discourse: Forum‑style discussions with long‑form threads, categories, polls, and plug‑ins. Great for knowledge that should be searchable and persistent rather than ephemeral chat.
Nextcloud Talk and Nextcloud Hub: File sync, chat, and collaboration in a self‑hosted suite. Suits IT teams that already run Nextcloud and want to centralise.
When Yammer (Viva Engage) is still the right answer
Stick with Viva Engage if you live in Microsoft 365, rely on AAD for identity, and want tight integration with Outlook, SharePoint, and Teams. You’ll get community discussions, leadership Q&A, storyline posts, and topic organisation without adding another vendor. If your pain is adoption or governance rather than features, fix those first: clarify which tool to use when, switch on SSO and MFA, train champions in each department, and set retention and naming standards. A clear “Runbook for Comms” often raises engagement more than switching platforms.
Feature‑by‑feature comparison: what to look for
Decision first: score each candidate 0–2 on the following, then shortlist the top two.
Posting and formats: Standard posts, long‑form articles, image and video support, live streaming, polls, Q&A, and announcements with pin/boost features.
Targeting and segmentation: Audience lists by department, location, language, and employment type; mandatory reads for compliance content; and acknowledgement tracking.
Communities and groups: Public vs. private, guest access, templates for common use cases (onboarding, ERGs, project updates), and content archiving rules.
Events and live video: Town halls, internal webinars, live reactions, recording, and automatic captions across major languages.
Search and discovery: Semantic search across posts, pages, files, and comments; recommended content; and topic tags with ownership.
Recognition and culture: Badges, kudos, employee spotlights, and integration with HR recognition programmes.
Mobile and frontline: Lightweight app, kiosk mode, QR‑code onboarding, shared device support, and push notification controls that respect shifts.
Administration: Central policy management, community templates, data export, and eDiscovery connectors.
Integration depth: Connectors to Teams/Slack, HRIS sync for org charts and manager relationships, calendar, and file systems.
Analytics: Post reach, unique viewers, engaged minutes, breakdown by audience, cohort analysis for new joiners, and “silent segments” detection to spot under‑reached groups.
Pricing patterns and budgeting
Expect three models:
Per‑user monthly fee for the social/intranet layer. Enterprise features (analytics, SSO, advanced governance) often sit in higher tiers.
Suite bundling: Chat, meetings, files, and social in one licence. Useful if you want one invoice and tighter integration.
Self‑hosted: Lower recurring fees but more admin time. Factor in patching, backups, monitoring, and compliance reporting.
Build a three‑year TCO. Include licences, implementation services, migration effort, training time, and the opportunity cost of running two systems during transition. Many organisations find the hidden cost is content cleanup, not licences.
Common pitfalls when replacing Yammer
Tool sprawl: Swapping one tool for two. Keep a simple “use this for X, that for Y” policy and enforce it in onboarding.
Half‑migrations: Leaving the legacy tool in read/write mode. Move it to read‑only after cutover and point users to the new home.
Over‑engineering: Custom workflows and plug‑ins before adoption stabilises. Ship a clean MVP, test feedback, then extend.
Ignoring frontline workflows: If 40% of your staff don’t sit at desks, prioritise mobile UX, SMS fallback, and kiosk access.
Missing champions: Adoption hinges on visible leaders and department champions posting weekly, not just IT announcements.
Migration plan from Yammer to an alternative
Keep momentum by shipping in phases while maintaining trust in communications.
Inventory and classify: Export communities, members, and content. Label by owner, activity level, and retention needs.
Decide disposition: Migrate, summarise, or archive. Move policy content into your intranet; summarise long discussion threads into FAQs; archive stale chatter.
Clean your taxonomy: Standardise names, tags, and templates before import. Agree rules for community names (Dept‑Topic‑Location, for example).
Run a 30‑day pilot: Pick 2–3 departments with engaged leaders. Test posting formats, events, and search success. Fix blockers, then scale.
Communicate the cutover: Announce a freeze date for new content in Yammer. Keep it read‑only for 90 days with clear banners linking to the new platform.
Train and empower: Short, role‑based sessions for leaders, moderators, and employees. Share a one‑page “when to use” guide.
Measure and iterate: Track reach, active users, first‑response time, and search outcomes weekly for the first quarter.
Security, privacy, and compliance checkpoints
Make security a gating criterion, not an afterthought.
Identity and access: Enforce SSO and MFA. Use SCIM/HRIS sync to manage joiners, movers, leavers in <24 hours.
Data lifecycle: Define retention by content type. Keep HR cases and safety notifications longer than general chatter.
eDiscovery: Confirm you can place holds, export content with context, and prove chain of custody.
Privacy and DLP: If people share customer data, set sensitive info types and outbound blocking rules. Train moderators to spot risky posts.
Regional constraints: If you operate across borders, confirm data residency options and subprocessors. Document this in your DPIA.
Which alternative fits which company size?
Start‑ups and small teams: Choose a chat‑first tool like Slack or Teams with a lightweight knowledge base (Notion, Confluence). Add social posting later if needed.
Mid‑market (200–2,000 employees): A modern intranet with social features (e.g., Simpplr, Happeo, MangoApps) or a comms‑centric platform (Workvivo, Workplace) works well. Prioritise analytics and mobile.
Large enterprises: If you’re standardised on Microsoft 365, Viva Engage plus SharePoint often wins on integration and governance. If you want a separate social layer, shortlist Workvivo, Staffbase, or Workplace and test at department scale.
Feature deep‑dives: what “good” looks like
Announcements and leadership comms
Good platforms let you tag an announcement, target by audience, notify via mobile push and email, and track acknowledgement. Great platforms add suggested posting times based on historic engagement, auto‑generated summaries for skimmers, and leadership Q&A with upvoting.
Communities and knowledge
Good platforms support spaces with owners, templates, and expiry rules. Great platforms auto‑suggest related articles, highlight unanswered questions, and flag “stale” content for review after 90 days.
Search that actually works
Good search indexes titles and body text. Great search understands synonyms, ranks by recency and engagement, and lets admins see failed queries to plug content gaps.
Mobile for frontline
Good mobile apps deliver push notifications and basic posting. Great apps support kiosk or shared device logins, offline drafting, and quick actions like acknowledge, vote, and escalate.
Analytics that inform action
Good analytics show post views and reactions. Great analytics segment by department and location, highlight silent audiences, and recommend who should reshare content to reach hold‑outs.
Practical shortlists by need
Replace Yammer with a like‑for‑like social layer: Viva Engage (if you’re already in Microsoft 365), Workplace from Meta, or Workvivo.
Build a single home for news, policies, and engagement: MangoApps, Simpplr, Unily, LumApps, or Happeo.
Speed up project collaboration and reduce email: Microsoft Teams or Slack, with channel conventions and a knowledge base.
Self‑host with strong control: Mattermost or Rocket.Chat for chat; Discourse for discussions; Nextcloud Hub for an all‑in‑one approach.
Governance and “which tool when” guide
Publish a one‑page policy and stick to it.
Announcements that must reach everyone: Post in the enterprise news channel on the social platform and cross‑post to email for compliance.
Project discussions and files: Use Teams or Slack channels, not social posts.
Policies and reference: Store in the intranet; link from social posts to the canonical page.
Questions with long‑term value: Use a Q&A or forum space (Discourse, or knowledge app) so answers are searchable.
Recognition and culture: Use the social feed with a standard tag (e.g., #kudos) and monthly highlights.
Accessibility and inclusion
Accessibility increases reach. Prioritise tools that provide keyboard navigation, screen‑reader support, adjustable text size, and high‑contrast modes. For inclusion, require captions on all videos, auto‑translate for major languages, and scheduling options that respect shifts and time zones. Build guardrails against harassment: clear community guidelines, moderator escalation paths, and easy reporting.
Implementation timeline template
Week 1–2: Discovery, stakeholder interviews, tool selection, and security review.
Week 3–4: Configure identity, branding, base communities, and content templates. Define naming conventions and retention.
Week 5: Pilot with two departments. Collect feedback on posting, notifications, and search.
Week 6: Migration prep—export, clean, and map content. Write comms for cutover.
Week 7: Soft launch—open to more teams, keep Yammer read‑only for reference.
Week 8: Full launch, training, and leadership campaign. Publish first 90‑day content calendar.
Week 9–12: Optimise based on analytics, close gaps in search, and standardise community templates.
FAQs
Is switching from Yammer disruptive?
It doesn’t have to be. Run a phased pilot, keep the old system read‑only for 60–90 days with redirects, and provide quick reference guides. Most disruption comes from taxonomy and permissions confusion, not the software itself.
Can I keep Microsoft 365 and still change?
Yes. Many organisations use Teams for chat and meetings, SharePoint for pages and documents, and replace only the social layer with a platform like Workplace or Workvivo. Confirm identity, calendar, and file integrations to avoid duplicate logins or storage.
What about cost?
Expect a range from a few dollars to over £10 per user per month depending on suite and features. Build a three‑year TCO that includes implementation, training, and content cleanup. Savings often appear in reduced email volume, faster incident response, and better policy compliance.
How do we improve adoption?
Lead from the top, seed meaningful communities, and publish a consistent posting rhythm. Appoint champions in each department, run monthly “Ask Me Anything” sessions with leaders, and celebrate useful posts in a digest. Make it easier to do the right thing than the old way.
Do we need both an intranet and a social network?
Often yes. Use the intranet for authoritative, versioned content; use the social layer for conversations, recognition, and questions. Link between them so there’s one canonical source for each document and one place to talk about it.
Decision framework: choose in 15 minutes
If you want organisation‑wide conversations with strong mobile reach, shortlist Workvivo and Workplace.
If you want a structured home for content plus engagement, shortlist Simpplr, LumApps, Happeo, or MangoApps.
If your pain is team execution and meetings, prioritise Microsoft Teams or Slack and keep Yammer only for all‑hands comms.
If data control is paramount, shortlist Mattermost/Rocket.Chat (chat) and Discourse (forum).
Score each on the non‑negotiables, run a 30‑day pilot, and decide. Tools are a means; the win comes from clear norms and steady leadership engagement.
That’s what “Yammer alternatives” covers: a spectrum from social networks to intranets, chat platforms, and open‑source forums. Choose the one that fits your workflows, secure it well, and ship clear guidance so people know where to post, where to find answers, and how to stay in the loop.
