Slack's HIPAA support sits on Enterprise plans with no published price, so most healthcare teams end up looking elsewhere. For a small office that wants Slack's layout, Yodl ($10 a month for 5 people, BAA on every plan) is our first pick. For a hospital or large group, TigerConnect or Hypercare do things Slack never will, like role-based routing and on-call schedules. Microsoft Teams is the pick if you already pay for Microsoft 365.
Why healthcare teams leave Slack
Slack is a good product with a bad fit for clinics. As of November 2026, Pro is $8.75 per user a month on monthly billing or $7.25 annual, and Business+ is $18 or $15. Neither comes with a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), the contract HIPAA requires before a vendor may hold protected health information (PHI), which is anything that identifies a patient and relates to their care. Slack's help pages say you must be on an Enterprise plan and execute a BAA, and even then PHI is allowed only in messages and files, you must monitor with DLP tools, and Slack cannot be used to communicate with patients. Enterprise+ is contact sales. Prices change, so verify on the vendor's site.
A 6-person office is not going to buy an enterprise contract to tell the provider that room 3 is ready. So the search for a Slack alternative in healthcare is really a search for the Slack layout, channels and threads and search, with a BAA on a plan a small team can buy, or for clinical tools that go further than Slack ever did.
How we chose
- A BAA on the plan the team would actually buy.
- Price for 5 people, with the billing catch noted.
- How close it feels to Slack: channels, threads, mentions, search.
- What it adds for clinical work: on-call, roles, EHR context.
- Honesty about limits, including our own.
The list at a glance
| Tool | Price for 5 people as of November 2026 | Signs a BAA | Free tier | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yodl (Team plan) | $10 a month flat, 5 users included | Yes, every plan | No | Small offices that want Slack's layout at a flat price |
| Microsoft Teams Essentials | $20 a month ($4 per user, paid yearly) | Yes, by default on commercial plans | Yes (consumer Teams, not covered) | Offices already on Microsoft 365 |
| Google Chat (Workspace Business Starter) | $35 a month annual or $42 flexible | Yes, accepted in the Admin console | No (14-day trial) | Offices on Gmail |
| Zenzap Business+ | $50 total a month, up to 5 users, plus an unpriced HIPAA add-on | Yes, as a paid add-on | Yes (unlimited users, 1 GB) | Frontline teams that prefer a WhatsApp feel |
| Hypercare Starter | $40 to $50 a month ($8 or $10 per user; billing toggle unlabeled) | Yes, Starter and up | No (90-day trial) | Clinics that need on-call schedules (on the Plus plan) |
| TigerConnect | Contact sales, no published pricing | Yes, standard BAA published | Not published | Hospitals and health systems |
| Mattermost | Contact sales (per activated user, prepaid annual) | No BAA statement found on its pages | Yes (evaluation edition) | IT teams that want to self-host |
The tools, one by one
Yodl
Yodl is first because it is the closest thing to Slack's layout with a BAA on a $10 plan. Public and private channels, direct messages, group DMs, threads, reactions, mentions, saved messages and full-text search will feel familiar to anyone coming from Slack. The Team plan is $10 a month for one location with 5 users and 20 GB; extra users are $2 and extra locations $10. Admins get an audit viewer with CSV export, retention controls, legal hold, channel roles and a 13-gate HIPAA readiness checklist. What it lacks compared with Slack: huddles and calls, an app marketplace, SSO, and a finished iPhone app (it is in beta; the web app works on any phone).
Microsoft Teams
Teams Essentials is $4 per user a month paid yearly, and Microsoft's HIPAA BAA applies by default on commercial plans through its Online Services Data Protection Addendum. Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $7 adds business email and 1 TB per user. Teams has channels and threads, but it is organized around meetings and files, and many small teams find it heavier than Slack. If you already pay for Microsoft 365, it is the obvious move.
Google Chat
Google Chat comes with Workspace: Business Starter is $7 per user a month annual or $8.40 flexible. The admin accepts the BAA in the Admin console, and Google lists Chat among the services covered. Spaces and threads cover most of what a small team used Slack for; third-party add-ons are outside the BAA.
Zenzap
Zenzap is built for frontline teams, with WhatsApp-style chats, AI agents, to-dos and a WhatsApp migration tool. Business+ is $50 total a month for up to 5 users with the annual toggle selected by default; larger tiers show 'Book a Demo'. HIPAA compliance with a signed BAA is an add-on with no published price. Less like Slack, more like the group chat your staff already have.
Hypercare
Hypercare adds what Slack never had: role-based routing and pager replacement on Starter, and on-call schedules and code team activations on Plus. Starter is listed at $8 a month with a second price set at $10, Plus at $15 or $19, and the page does not label which price is annual. Starter and up include a signed BAA; the 90-day trial does not. Pick it when the on-call schedule is the problem you are solving.
TigerConnect
TigerConnect is hospital-grade: role-based messaging, dynamic on-call teams, alerts from nurse-call and monitoring systems, EHR patient context and escalation of unanswered messages. There is no pricing page, its standard BAA is published, and it is sold to hospitals, health systems and large groups. A 10-person clinic will find the sales cycle longer than the implementation.
Mattermost
Mattermost is the self-hosted Slack lookalike: channels, threads, playbooks and a REST API on your own server. Pricing is contact sales on prepaid annual per-user licenses, with a free evaluation edition. Its docs say running it as part of a HIPAA-compliant infrastructure needs a deployment team trained on HIPAA, and our research found no BAA statement on its pages. Right for an organization with IT staff, wrong for an office manager.
Which one for your team
- Hospital or health system: TigerConnect, budgeted as a project.
- Clinic that runs on an on-call schedule: Hypercare.
- Small office that liked Slack's layout: Yodl, $10 for 5 people and $2 per extra person.
- Already paying for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: Teams or Google Chat.
- Staff who want the WhatsApp feel: Zenzap, with the HIPAA add-on quoted first.
- An IT team that wants to own the server: Mattermost, with the HIPAA work on your side.
If the small-office option is the one you need, Yodl is $10 a month for 5 people with a signed BAA, on the pricing page. You can also read Yodl vs Slack.
Slack's BAA is an enterprise feature. Small offices get the same layout with a BAA from Yodl at $10 flat, hospitals get clinical routing from TigerConnect or Hypercare, and Microsoft 365 shops already have Teams.
Frequently asked questions
Can a clinic use Slack Pro if staff avoid patient information?
Only if no PHI ever enters it, and in a clinic almost every message touches a patient. Slack itself says HIPAA support requires an Enterprise plan and an executed BAA.
Which Slack alternative feels most like Slack?
Yodl and Mattermost keep the channel, thread and mention layout most closely. Teams and Google Chat have channels but are organized around meetings and documents.
Does Microsoft Teams need a separate BAA?
No. Microsoft says its HIPAA BAA is available by default through the Online Services Data Protection Addendum to covered entities on commercial plans. The free consumer Teams is not in scope.
Is Mattermost HIPAA compliant?
Our research found no BAA statement on Mattermost's pages. Its docs describe HIPAA as something your deployment team has to build around the self-hosted server.
What does TigerConnect cost?
TigerConnect does not publish pricing. Its standard BAA is published, and quotes come through its sales team.