Zoho Cliq

Zoho Cliq is a business communication service that combines team messaging with meetings and tools for managing and extending a workplace chat system. It is strongest for organizations that need administrative control or already use Zoho apps; teams that mainly want a simple chat service may find its broader toolkit unnecessary.

Its free tier makes it possible to start without a subscription, but group size, searchable history, and storage all shape how well it will serve a growing team.

Overview

Channels and guest access support collaboration within a business and with people outside it. Admins can create external channels for working with users at other organizations, and can manage roles, permissions, modules, channels, and user provisioning. Those controls suit managed deployments, where access needs to follow organizational rules, but add little for a small team that just needs a place to talk.

Zoho Cliq connects with Zoho People, Projects, Calendar, and Notebook, as well as Office 365, Twitter, and third-party extensions. Teams already using those services have a reason to consider Cliq as a shared communication layer. Its developer platform also offers APIs, slash commands, message actions, bots, functions, schedulers, databases, widgets, and internal apps—useful scope for organizations that want to build custom workflows, but more than most teams need for routine messaging.

Key features

Plan limits affect everyday use. Free allows 100 participants per group and 10,000 searchable messages; Standard, Professional, and Enterprise raise group capacity to 500 and make searchable history unlimited. The free limits can work for a smaller or quieter team, but active groups may outgrow the participant ceiling, and a finite search archive is a drawback when staff depend on old conversations for reference.

Free and Standard include 100 GB of storage per organization. Professional and Enterprise provide 100 GB per user, which gives larger teams a substantially different allocation model. Meetings support up to 100 participants on lower tiers; higher tiers accommodate 1,000 active participants and 10,000 viewers. That makes higher plans relevant to large all-hands sessions, though the capacity is unnecessary for teams whose meetings remain small.

Screen sharing, whiteboards, calendars, reminders, workflow automation, and AI chat summaries broaden Cliq beyond text chat. Encryption in transit and at rest, SSL, single sign-on, and two-factor authentication are included across plans. Networks is an add-on for Standard and higher, while Professional and Enterprise include three Networks at no extra charge.

Pricing

Cliq uses a freemium model with a 14-day trial. The Free plan costs nothing and includes 100 participants per group, 10,000 searchable messages, and 100 GB of storage per organization. It is a practical entry point for smaller teams, but the search cap and group limit are the main trade-offs.

Standard has custom pricing and raises group capacity to 500, removes the searchable-message limit, and retains 100 GB of organization-wide storage. It fits teams that need roomier group discussions and a full searchable archive without the per-user storage allocation of higher tiers.

Professional and Enterprise also have custom pricing, require a minimum of 10 users, and include 500 participants per group, unlimited searchable messages, and 100 GB of storage per user. They suit larger organizations that need the expanded storage model and higher-tier meeting capacity. Professional and Enterprise each include three Networks; Standard requires Networks as an add-on. After the 14-day trial, a subscription converts the trial account while retaining its data, integrations, and advanced features. Payments are accepted by major cards, PayPal, bank transfer, or check transfer for yearly subscriptions.

Platforms

Cliq supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web, with API access also supported. That broad coverage helps teams keep a consistent service across desktop and mobile systems.

Who it's for

Cliq is a good fit for organizations that want messaging tied to administration, integrations, and custom workflow tools, especially those using other Zoho products. Its large-team capacities and external channels also suit structured collaboration across organizational boundaries. It is less compelling for a small group that needs only basic chat or for a team that would hit the Free tier's group or search ceiling.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Paid tiers offer 500-person groups and unlimited searchable messages, addressing two important limits of Free.
• Pros: Broad administrative controls and a developer platform support governed rollouts and custom workflows.
• Pros: Integrations with several Zoho products and Office 365 can connect chat with tools a business already uses.
• Cons: Free is capped at 100 group participants and 10,000 searchable messages, which can constrain active teams.
• Cons: Professional and Enterprise require at least 10 users, making them a poor fit for very small teams.
• Cons: Standard, Professional, and Enterprise have custom pricing, so comparing their costs requires a quote.

Alternatives

For another free, cross-platform team chat option, Microsoft Teams offers up to 100 participants, 60-minute group meetings, and 5 GB of cloud storage on its free plan. Slack is another freemium choice, though its free plan limits message history to 90 days and apps to ten. Consider Rocket.Chat as another freemium team-chat option, or Lark for a freemium alternative.

Zulip has a free plan with 10,000 messages of search history and 5 GB of total file storage; its Cloud Standard plan is $6.67 a month. Discord offers free voice, video, and text chat across community servers, browser, desktop, and mobile. Wire is worth considering if open-source software is a priority: Wire says its source code is fully open source and available on GitHub for verification. Pumble offers a free plan with unlimited users, message history, and channels, plus 10 GB of workspace storage and up to three apps.

Browse more options in Team chat apps and Team Collaboration Software.

Verdict

Choose Zoho Cliq if your organization wants business messaging with firm administrative controls, Zoho integrations, and room to build custom workflows. Its key advantage is the breadth around chat, especially on paid tiers with unlimited search and larger groups; look elsewhere if you need a low-friction chat service or cannot justify custom-priced plans with minimum seats.