Microsoft Teams alternative: 4 open source, European options

Four free software tools replace Microsoft Teams today. For an SME or a non-profit, we recommend Nextcloud Talk: chat, video calls and shared files on one server. For French State services, the answer is Visio and Tchap, the La Suite numérique tools. Matrix (with the Element app) suits large organisations that want federated messaging. Jitsi Meet is enough if you only need video conferencing.

You do not have to leave everything at once: since September 2025, Microsoft must sell Microsoft 365 without Teams. You can replace Teams first and keep Word, Excel and Outlook while you prepare the next steps.

Teams uses to replace

Teams covers four uses, and an alternative must handle the first three:

• team chat, in channels or private
• video meetings with screen sharing and external guests
• files shared in each team (stored in SharePoint)
• telephony (Teams Phone), a separate topic handled with a telephony provider.

Comparison

Replace Teams first, without leaving Microsoft 365

On 12 September 2025, the European Commission closed its investigation into the tying of Teams with Microsoft 365 by making four Microsoft commitments binding:

• sell versions of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 without Teams, at a reduced price
• let customers on long-term licences switch to these versions without Teams
• ensure interoperability between the suite and tools competing with Teams
• let customers export their Teams data to use it elsewhere.

The first two commitments last seven years, the last two ten years.

A full move to free software can therefore happen in stages, one tool at a time, with a Microsoft 365 subscription that shrinks at each stage:

flowchart TD
  A["Stage 1<br/>Teams replaced by Nextcloud Talk<br/>Microsoft 365 without Teams kept"] --> B["Stage 2<br/>OneDrive and SharePoint<br/>replaced by Nextcloud"]
  B --> C["Stage 3<br/>Exchange and Outlook replaced<br/>by European email"]
  C --> D["Stage 4<br/>LibreOffice on desktops<br/>Microsoft 365 subscription ended"]

Starting with Teams has a practical advantage: video calls and chat are quick to test with a pilot team, without touching files or email.

Nextcloud Talk

Talk is part of Nextcloud. It offers team chats, video calls, screen sharing, polls, breakout rooms for large meetings and external guests by link. Apps exist for Android, iOS and desktops. Because it lives in Nextcloud, a file shared in a chat is also a server file, with its permissions and versions, much like files in a Teams team.

One practical limit: without a dedicated signalling server (High Performance Backend), calls degrade quickly. Nextcloud's documentation mentions about twenty participants at best, with video off. In our lab, Talk without that server became unusable beyond 3 or 4 people. We therefore always install it, with a TURN relay on port 443 for participants behind a corporate firewall or on 4G.

Meeting recording also needs a dedicated server. Existing Teams conversations do not move into Talk: they are exported and archived.

Visio and Tchap, for the public sector

On 26 January 2026, the French government announced that Visio would replace Teams and Zoom across all State services by 2027. Visio and Tchap are part of DINUM's La Suite numérique, and the State hosts them for its staff.

Visio runs in the browser, with nothing to install. It is built on LiveKit and handles meetings of more than 100 participants, with several screen shares, recording and dial-in by phone. Automatic transcription and meeting summaries are in beta. Its code is released under the MIT licence, and an organisation can install it on its own servers.

Tchap is the French State's instant messaging service, built on Matrix and Element. It is reserved for public servants, who can invite outside partners into a room. Outside the State, the equivalent is a Matrix server with Element, covered below.

Covering Teams uses takes Visio, Tchap and a file tool. La Suite's file tool, Fichiers, is still at version 0.x. The status of each tool is detailed on our La Suite numérique page.

Matrix and Element

Matrix is an open, federated messaging protocol: different servers talk to each other, like email. Tchap is built on Matrix. The Element app provides chat and, with Element Call, video calls. The Synapse server has been AGPL-licensed since 2023.

Matrix suits organisations that need messaging at scale, or that work with other organisations on Matrix. It needs a separate file and calendar tool, and running a Synapse server takes time.

Jitsi Meet

Jitsi Meet, Apache 2.0 licensed, provides browser-based video calls with no account needed for guests. A public instance runs on meet.jit.si. It has no permanent team chat and no files, so it works alongside a chat tool.

Migrating from Teams

1. Inventory: teams, channels, external guests, recurring meetings, shared files.
2. Install Nextcloud and Talk, with the signalling server and the TURN relay.
3. Four-week pilot with a volunteer team.
4. Copy team files to Nextcloud team folders.
5. Export and archive Teams conversations, with the export tools Microsoft must provide since the 2025 commitments.
6. Half-day training per group, then switch.

Our recommendation

For a company, a non-profit or a local authority, Nextcloud Talk covers Teams uses and keeps files, calendars and document editing in the same place. Features and limits are detailed on our Nextcloud page. To replace all of Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 migration. For the public sector, see La Suite numérique.

Sources

• Visio, video conferencing for public servants, numerique.gouv.fr, January 2026
• La Suite Meet (Visio), GitHub repository, MIT licence
• Commission accepts commitments offered by Microsoft to address competition concerns related to Teams, European Commission, 12 September 2025
• Nextcloud Talk: scalability and High Performance Backend, Nextcloud documentation
• Sustainable licensing at Element with AGPL, Element
• Jitsi Meet, GitHub repository, Apache 2.0 licence