List of Free Online Collaboration Tools

Perhaps one of the best-known collaboration tools around, Google Docs is Google’s answer to the Microsoft Office productivity suite. It has an incredibly pleasant and easy-to-use interface, and anyone who has previously used a productivity suite will easily adapt to it. This tool lets users share links that lead colleagues to documents that are being worked on. They can then just view or edit the documents in real-time. There is also a chat facility available, so users can communicate while they work on documents. It supports up to 10 people at a time on presentations and word processing documents and up to 50 people on a spreadsheet.​ More »

This is a simple free online collaboration room that is ideal for holding virtual brainstorms. Its main feature is its whiteboard, which can be changed by multiple users in real-time. While it doesn’t allow for the upload of documents, it does let users upload and download pictures. Users can also use the tool’s VoIP capabilities to transmit audio. It’s very easy to get started with Scribblar, and signup takes less than a minute. Even users who have never done an online brainstorming session before can learn how to use this tool quickly and easily. More »

This online collaboration tool is browser-based, open source and completely free of charge. While it’s clearly still being worked on, it does have many useful features, especially for small to medium-sized companies. Collabtive can be used for an unlimited number of projects, and your team can have any number of members. This makes it more appropriate for large teams than the free version of Huddle, for example. The tool can be used to set and track time as well as project milestones and also to manage files. Users can download time tracker reports, synchronize their calendars receive e-mail notifications when a document has been changed. More »

In its free version, users can log in for a one-off session as guests. What is great about this is that it’s incredibly easy to get started and immediately start collaborating. This tool is good for those who need a platform to collaborate during a phone conference, so there is no need to e-mail files during the call. In the free version, it’s possible to share pictures, files, and e-mail and also to capture a screen. But it’s important to keep in mind that since no accounts have been created, nothing gets stored in the tool. Therefore, it’s important to save any documents locally so they don’t get lost. More »