Huddling around a conference table seems like a distant memory. Virtual brainstorming sessions and online meetings are the norm.
But are they always as productive as you’d like?
68% of employees find inefficient team meetings as their top productivity killer.
A collaborative environment can significantly improve productivity by reducing wasted time—in meetings or otherwise.
The right digital collaboration tool can help you get there faster through solid task management or streamlined communication.
Consider the relative merits of ClickUp vs Microsoft Teams. They’re strong options for keeping teams connected, organized, and efficient. So, which one will suit your team best?
Read on to find your perfect match!
What is ClickUp?
ClickUp isn’t simply a collaboration tool. It’s designed to be a true all-in-one workspace where your tasks and conversations converge. Known for its powerful project management features, it has the most critical capabilities you’d expect from any top-notch work management tool.
From recording and sharing your screen to co-creating and editing documents with your team, this software can single-handedly manage your discussion threads and tasks in the same window. The result? Reduced app overload so your team can do more without jumping between tools all day.
Features like Custom Fields, Custom Views, templates, and Task Dependencies keep projects running smoothly, while @mentions, Assigned Comments, and contextual Chat threads keep everyone on the same page. Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise, ClickUp adapts to your team’s style and transforms how you get things done.
ClickUp features
Let’s break down some of ClickUp’s collaboration features.
Feature #1: Record async videos with ClickUp Clips
Suppose you missed a crucial meeting. How would you prefer to catch up? Go through disjointed email threads to try to piece together what happened, or just watch a recorded summary of the meeting your colleague shared with you? The choice is obvious, and that’s what ClickUp Clips are for.
A great communication tool for remote work, training, or video explanations, ClickUp Clips combine screen recording and video messaging with task management. You can use them to easily create tutorials, give visual feedback, or explain complex processes. You can also turn parts of the video transcript directly into ClickUp Tasks.
ClickUp neatly organizes and saves all your videos in the Clips Hub, making it easy to find them later. You can also share them in different ways—like embedding them directly in ClickUp Tasks, sending them as links, or downloading the videos.
Feature #2: Coordinate your weekly meetings with shared calendars
Want to integrate meeting management directly into your workspace? Use ClickUp Meetings!
One of the best features is how it connects meetings to actual outcomes. You can schedule meetings, take detailed notes, produce agendas, and turn discussion points into tasks—all in one place. Important decisions and action items won’t get lost in the shuffle.
You can also carry over notes and action items to the next meeting, so you have a clear record of what’s been discussed and decided. This helps you track project progress, follow up on pending items, and ensure accountability—all in a easy-to-use interface.
💡Pro Tip: Start and attend Zoom Meetings directly from your tasks or chats in ClickUp with ClickUp’s Zoom Integration. Transition from task discussions to video calls without leaving ClickUp!
Plus, with ClickUp’s ready-to-use communication templates (like the ClickUp Conference Management Template), you can build a solid plan that makes every meeting more productive and keeps a clear record of team commitments and project updates.
If you ask us, we’d suggest giving the ClickUp Meetings Template a shot.
This fully customizable, pre-built framework provides a solid foundation for you to get started. It comes with:
- A set of predefined Custom Statuses to monitor task progress(e.g., Scheduled, In Progress, Open, Closed)
- Priority levels and categories for better visibility into each meeting’s stage. This makes it easy to track progress and ensure action items and discussion points aren’t missed
- Multiple viewing options to suit your team’s workflow: Traditional list view, visual Kanban board, Calendar, and an embedded conversation thread
Feature #3: Take notes and auto-transcribe your meetings
ClickUp Brain, the platform’s native AI, is a smart knowledge assistant within your workspace.
Its auto-transcription feature actively converts your video content into searchable knowledge. This makes it easy to scan through videos, jump to specific timestamps, and pull out specific discussions, decisions, or explanations without watching the entire recording.
The AI tool can also auto-generate meeting notes and agendas, plus summarize meeting minutes in seconds.
Team members can even ask questions about a video, and ClickUp Brain will comb through the transcripts to provide relevant answers.
Plus, this tool automatically generates action items and subtasks during discussions. So, by the time your meeting ends, all key decisions and responsibilities are captured and ready for follow-up.
This way, your productivity amplifies, and you never lose sight of valuable insights in hours of footage.
Bonus feature: Going the extra mile with instant chats and whiteboards
What if you immediately need to discuss something with your team members? Turn to ClickUp Chat. It brings all your one-on-one and team conversations, comments, updates, and project activity together in one place, so you can seamlessly transition from discussion to action without switching apps.
Turn any message into a task with just a click. ClickUp’s AI can capture context from your conversations and create detailed tasks ready for execution, saving you from the hassle of manual entry. Plus, mentioning a task or document in a chat automatically creates links to those items.
👀 Did You Know?
Other AI tools within ClickUp chat include AI Answers from your chat history and connected apps, plus AI CatchUps to summarize threads you missed.
Need to have a live discussion? SyncUps in ClickUp Chat allows for video and audio calls right within your workspace. You can share your screen, link tasks during the call, and even have AI summarize the meeting and create action items with the FollowUps feature afterward.
If you and your team are more visual, whiteboard-huddling types, ClickUp Whiteboards are perfect for you. They allow you to map ideas, design workflows, and hold strategic discussions in one place.
💡Pro Tip: Use these whiteboard templates to save time and organize your ideas quickly. They help you work efficiently and kickstart teamwork by getting your team on the same page.
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/user per month
- Business: $12/user per month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain is available on all paid plans for $7 per Workspace member per month
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams is a versatile collaboration hub where you can chat, hold virtual meetings, share files, and work on documents with your team. Its unique integration with Microsoft 365 makes it ideal for companies using that ecosystem, streamlining workflows with apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Available on mobile, Teams keeps you connected anywhere. Teams offers dedicated channels, high-quality audio-video calls, and screen sharing to connect with everyone, whether for a quick check-in or a large virtual event.
Microsoft Teams features
Let’s break down some of Teams’ standout features.
Feature #1: Record meetings and host live events for thousands of attendees
Teams has become a powerful video conferencing tool, supporting up to 10,000 participants with unlimited call duration.
It comes with everything you need for a productive meeting experience: live captions, recording options, screen sharing, and noise suppression to filter out background sounds. Breakout Rooms enable smaller group discussions, while customizable backgrounds and Together Mode create a more natural feel.
However, during highly customized meetings, users have faced slow loading times without a high-bandwidth connection. So, it’s always a good idea to update your browser regularly for the best performance.
Teams supports webinars with up to 1,000 interactive participants and 20,000 view-only attendees, offering registration, host controls, live reactions, attendance tracking, and analytics.
You can invite external partners through guest access and Teams Connect, add them to channels, and securely share files with Microsoft’s robust cybersecurity.
Feature #2: Set up conversation channels and access files directly from the Microsoft suite
Teams is an expert at keeping team communication in one place.
You can set up dedicated channels for different projects or topics, which can reduce message clutter and keep conversations focused.
The General channel is the main hub for team-wide updates (Bye-bye company-wide emails!), while custom channels let you focus on more targeted discussions.
Need someone’s input? Just @mention them to bring them into the conversation—this keeps everyone in the loop.
Another big plus is Teams’ tight integration with Microsoft 365’s document tools. The app allows you to access, share, and edit files and recordings directly from SharePoint and OneDrive, so there’s no need to switch between different platforms.
Feature #3: Simplify your workload with AI tools and bots
Powered by Microsoft Copilot, Teams offers a range of AI tools and bots designed to handle tedious tasks for you.
One of the most useful AI tools is the Recap. Located under the Recap tab in your Teams calendar and chat, this tool can auto-generate:
- Meeting summaries and key points
- Personalized highlights for each attendee
- Easy access to recordings and transcripts
- Meeting agendas and notes
In addition to this, Teams offers a bunch of specialized bots to help you out. A popular example is the TellMe bot, which acts as a smart information relay and gives you quick access to essential organizational information from across Microsoft 365 applications.
Other commonly used bots include the Polly bot for creating and managing polls and the Statsbot for automating report scheduling and delivery.
You can also design your own bots if you need them!
Other relevant Teams features: Instant messaging and reusable whiteboards
One of Teams’ key features is instant messaging that quickly connects people one-on-one or in groups.
The chat interface allows for rich text formatting, file transfer, code snippets, and @mentions to get the right people’s attention, helping teams stay on the same page, even from a distance.
If you need a bigger space to discuss your ideas, you can use the meeting-specific whiteboards to draw, write, and annotate on a shared canvas, recreating the feel of an in-person brainstorming session.
The whiteboard can be saved and revisited, letting teams pick up where they left off in future meetings.
Microsoft Teams pricing
Home plans
- Microsoft Teams: Free
- Microsoft 365 Personal: $6.99/month
- Microsoft 365 Family: $9.99/month
Business plans
- Microsoft Teams Essentials: $4/month per user
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6/month per user
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50/month per user
ClickUp vs. Teams: Features Compared
Before we go ahead with the nitty-gritty details, here’s a quick overview of the features of both platforms.
Feature | ClickUp | Microsoft Teams |
One-on-one and group video and audio calling | Yes | Yes |
Large-scale webinars | No | Yes, allows up to 1,000 interactive and 20,000 view-only members |
Screen sharing | Yes | Yes |
Video recording | Yes, the Clips Hub stores and organizes files automatically | Yes, recorded meetings are saved in OneDrive |
Instant messaging and chat | Yes | Yes |
Groups, channels, and threads | Yes | Yes |
File sharing | Yes, all files are available within the same platform | Yes, files can accessed directly from Teams with SharePoint and OneDrive |
Mentions and comments | Yes | Yes |
Polls, GIFs, and emojis | Yes | Yes |
Whiteboarding | Yes, has advanced tools to brainstorm and map out ideas | Yes, basic and reusable whiteboards with every meeting |
Live captions and translations | No | Yes |
Auto transcription and note-taking | Yes (for Clips) | Yes |
AI tools for smart summaries and topic search | Yes; summarize conversations, highlight key messages, identify action items, convert videos into a searchable directory | Yes, recap conversations and ask queries to specialized bots |
Shared calendars | Yes | Yes |
Messages-to-task conversion | Yes, directly convert messages into tasks and manage them on the spot | Yes; however, it’s a part of the premium plans |
Document viewing and editing | Yes | Yes; however, it requires switching to a different app |
Multiple project spaces | Yes | No |
Participant permissions | Yes | Yes |
Integrations | Yes, 1000+ integrations with all kinds of business tools, including Microsoft apps | Yes; integrates with 700+ apps |
Meeting templates | Yes | Yes |
Two-factor authentication and data encryption | Yes | Yes |
Mobile and desktop apps | Yes | Yes |
Pricing | Free, paid plans starting from $7/user/month | Free, paid business plans starting from $4/user/month |
And now, let’s compare them in detail:
1. Video calling
ClickUp
Its SyncUps feature makes video calls simple for one-on-one or group discussions. These calls can be recorded and stored in the Clips Hub, where users can comment on and share these clips with people from both within and outside the org.
You can also share your screen and collaborate using whiteboards, with everything auto-saved for easy access later.
Teams
Microsoft Teams supports everything from one-on-one calls to webinars with up to 20,000 participants, including guests.
Calls can be recorded to OneDrive or SharePoint, and there are options for screen sharing, annotations, live captions (with translations), and reusable whiteboards. Custom backgrounds and the AI-driven Together Mode create a natural, in-office feel to reduce fatigue.
🏆 Winner: While ClickUp covers the essentials, Microsoft Teams offers more robust video conferencing tools, making it a stronger choice for larger meetings and webinars.
2. Chat and instant messaging
ClickUp
ClickUp Chat combines messaging and project management in one workspace, letting you easily switch between tasks, comments, and documents. You can even turn comments and meeting notes into tasks, but we’ll expand more on this in a bit.
ClickUp also lets you organize chats by creating Spaces that mirror your team’s structure, making discussions easy to find. For important updates, the Posts feature (similar to Teams’ general channel) provides a central spot for announcements. With options for one-on-one chats, reminders, and SyncUps (audio-video calls), ClickUp Chat is a quick way to stay in touch with your team.
Teams
Fast, real-time messaging for one-on-one or group chats is a key Teams feature that minimizes the need for emails. You can pin messages, format text, and use emojis, GIFs, and custom memes to make chats more engaging.
For important updates, you can mark messages as Important or Urgent — the latter sends repeated alerts to ensure they’re noticed. Target specific people with @mentions, or use @channel to notify everyone in a thread. You also have the option to mute your messages for focused work.
🏆 Winner: ClickUp! Combining project management with communication in one place reduces toggle-tax and enhances focus and productivity.
3. Integrated task management
ClickUp
ClickUp takes pride in turning ideas into action. You can easily turn messages, comments, meeting notes, or standout ideas from whiteboard sessions into actionable tasks and assign them to team members on the spot. Plus, all your tasks stay accessible within the chat, whiteboard, or notes, making it easy to monitor deadlines, priorities, and progress trackers in one place.
Teams
Managing tasks in Teams is a perk reserved for Premium members only. With integrated tools like Planner and To Do, you can create tasks, set deadlines, assign responsibilities, and track progress right within the Teams interface. This makes it simple to see project timelines and who’s responsible for what, which helps the team manage projects and deadlines more effectively.
🏆 Winner: When it comes to managing tasks, ClickUp takes the cake with its powerful features, all available in one place without the involvement of other apps (unlike Teams).
4. AI capabilities
ClickUp
ClickUp’s built-in AI tool—ClickUp Brain—automatically transcribes video content in clips, turning it into a searchable database in just a few minutes. You can easily search for important details in the transcripts or let the tool do it.
After meetings, ClickUp Brain can also help summarize meeting notes and create tasks and action items so you have everything organized. It can also catch you up on missed conversations, highlight key messages, and filter out unnecessary details so you can focus on the important stuff.
Teams
Microsoft Teams also has an AI tool that summarizes meetings and produces auto-transcriptions, making it easier for everyone to remember the discussion. It can generate custom highlights for each person, ensuring they get the key points that matter to them.
Teams also has various specialized bots that can answer questions, run polls, and provide statistics. However, finding the right bot can be tricky, as it may take some time to navigate the options.
🏆 Winner: Once again, ClickUp comes out on top thanks to its organized approach, which keeps everything in one place during meetings.
5. Integrations
ClickUp
With over 1,000 integrations, ClickUp easily connects with popular tools such as Google Drive, Slack, Zoom, and GitHub. It allows users to bring in documents, manage communication, and track progress all in one place. You can also customize your workflow by automating tasks and syncing data across all platforms.
Teams
Teams is Microsoft 365’s native collaboration tool, so its integration with the Microsoft ecosystem is unsurprisingly the strongest. It lets you quickly hop between emailing, sharing files, and scheduling meetings using tools like Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint. It also connects with 700+ third-party apps, so users can add extra features to manage projects or design polls directly into their channels.
🏆 Winner: It depends. If your business runs on various tools, ClickUp is your best shot. But if your team is already knee-deep into the Microsoft environment, Teams may be better for you.
6. Pricing
ClickUp
ClickUp’s pricing focuses on its management features and offers a clear-tiered structure to fit various team sizes and needs.
If you’re just getting started, go with the free version. However, if you need advanced features, you can explore the paid plans, which start at $7 per user per month. ClickUp has an Enterprise option for larger organizations, but you’ll need to reach out for pricing details.
Plus, anyone can access ClickUp Brain for an extra $7 per Workspace member each month.
Teams
Microsoft Teams also offers a free option with basic features. The paid plans offer options for personal and business use, making it easier for those who just need chat and collaboration tools to get started at a lower cost.
The personal plans begin at $6.99 per month, while the business plans range from $4 to $12.50 per user per month.
🏆 Winner: Of the two, Teams has the cheapest plan. However, the best choice depends on your needs—advanced project management from ClickUp or integrated communication tools from Microsoft Teams.
ClickUp vs. Teams on Reddit
To better understand this comparison, we reviewed what Redditors had to say about these tools.
Small-business owners tend to love the all-arounder vibe ClickUp brings to the table. With the ability to handle a major chunk of basic business operations, it has become quite popular, especially among startups.
Here’s what GeekyBlogger says:
Meanwhile, some ClickUp users are quite impressed with the new and improved chat features.
Redditor JordyGG says,
Another user responded,
However, some users have complained about its learning curve (due to its customization features) and occasional bugs leading to micro delays from time to time.
MS Teams has a huge following of its own. Some users are big fans of its integration abilities with the Microsoft environment.
However, some Redditors don’t like switching between Teams and Chat sections as they are two separate sections of the platform. Meanwhile, a few others find the learning curve to be quite steep, prompting them to look for alternatives to Teams.
Says graysky311,
If you want to use both team collaboration tools together, you can integrate Teams directly into ClickUp and enjoy the best of both worlds.
Which Collaboration Tool Reigns Supreme?
Between the constant app switching, limited task management, and basic AI in Teams, it’s easy to feel frustrated by the little delays that add up over time.
ClickUp tackles these issues head-on. With powerful task features, customizable dashboards, seamless communication tools, and built-in AI, ClickUp isn’t just a great fit for team collaboration and managing your workflow in one place.
This makes it the champion in our head-to-head comparison!🥇
Ready to bridge the gaps between collaboration and project management? Give ClickUp a try today!