8seats vs Eleven for Business

8seats is a work messaging platform for frontline and deskless teams. Rooms support team-wide broadcasts, Tables organize focused group conversations, and Direct Messages provide private one-to-one chats. Employees can join with a phone number rather than a company email address. An admin dashboard manages users and communications across locations, and teams can connect with external guests and partners. Organizations can customize the app's look and feel. The maker says messages are encrypted in transit with TLS 1.3 and at rest with AES-256; role-based permissions govern conversation access, and administrators can remove access instantly. The Starter plan is free for up to 10 employees, with unlimited guests, 365 days of message history and 1 GB of storage. Business costs $2.99 a month, billed user/mo, with monthly and yearly options. 8seats is available on Android, iOS, macOS, web and Windows. Its stated audiences include retail, hospitality, facilities management, transport, logistics and construction teams.

Eleven for Business is encrypted group chat for small businesses that want to keep conversations off another party’s servers. It supports spaces, groups, direct messages, file sharing, reactions, replies, threads, GIF search, and link previews. Spaces also offer scheduled reminders, morning summaries, and a helper that can answer questions and build small apps. The service works in a browser and has native Mac and iPhone apps; its business page also says it runs on warehouse Android devices. Businesses can invite clients by link and remove them when a job ends without provisioning guest accounts. Messages and attachments are encrypted on devices, while the server stores and relays ciphertext it cannot read. Self-hosting is available at no charge with the same apps and features. The Free plan costs nothing and includes every feature, up to three spaces, and 1 GB of files per space. Business costs €11 a year, billed annually, and provides 11 GB of storage per person, pooled for the space.