Talk market gap analysis

[nimishavijay]

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Feature gap analysis for Nextcloud Talk against other widely used communication tools. If there are any existing issues regarding the features mentioned here, feel free to add links :) cc @jancborchardt

Last updated: May 2024

Talk gap analysis

Features	Microsoft Teams	Zoom	Google Meet	Slack	Discord	Jitsi	OpenTalk	Matrix	BigBlueButton	Talk
Silent messages	❌	❌	❌ not a chat application	❌	❌	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	❌	❌ not a chat application	✔️
Breakout rooms	✔️	✔️	✔️	➕ (add-on or app)	🤖 using a bot	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️
Call recording	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	✔️	✔️ not released yet but in the feature list	❌	✔️	✔️
Moderation & lobby	✔️	✔️	✔️ "waiting room"	❌	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Voting/polls	✔️	✔️	✔️	➕ slack polls add-on	🤖 simple polls bot	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Background blur & custom backgrounds	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️
Rich interactive widgets	❌	❌	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	❌	✔️ More interactivity planned
View time zones or local time of colleagues	✔️ Tutorial	✔️	❌	✔️	❌ technically possible only if they included it in their bio	❌	❌	❌	❌	✔️
Instant disposable meetings	✔️ Support post	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌ #5972
❓ Outlook integration to send invitations	✔️	-	-	-	-				❌ no official add-in on appsource.microsoft.com (but some third-party add-ins exist)	✔️
Phone dial-in	✔️	✔️	❌	➕ technically possible with the dialpad add on	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️
Phone dial-out	✔️	✔️	❌	➕ dialpad add on	❌	✔️	❌	❌	❌ (issue)	✔️
Search messages	✔️ search across everything	✔️	❌ no chat history	✔️ search across everything	✔️ only in one server	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	✔️ separate search for messages and everything else	❌ not a chat application	✔️ advanced search
Filter conversations	✔️ unread chats, meetings, muted	❌	❌ not a chat application	✔️ unread, mentions, custom, including and excluding external people	❌	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	❌	❌ not a chat application	✔️ unread, mentions
Note to self	✔️ Article about it	✔️ personal space in team chat	❌	✔️ "Jot something down"	❌	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	❌ technically if you created a room with no one in it	❌ not a chat application	✔️
Quick slash commands	✔️ Support post	✔️ support post	❌ not for meet but yes for google chats	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	✔️	❌	Smart picker exists, but no Talk commands yet
Bots	✔️ Developer docs about building bots	✔️ zoom apps	✔️ docs	✔️	✔️	✔️ not much docs though	✔️	✔️	✔️ (link, link)	✔️
Threads	✔️	✔️ one level of nesting	❌	✔️	✔️ Post	❌	❌	✔️	❌	❌ #1469
Format messages	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	✔️ only using MD	❌	✔️ only using MD syntax
Live reactions in meetings	✔️ Post	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️ reaction sounds, not emojis	✔️	❌	❌	✔️	✔️
Animated reactions in call	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	❌	❌	❌	✔️	✔️
Reaction sounds in call	❌	❌	✔️ disabled by default	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	✔️ (for raising hand)	❌
Together mode	✔️ Post	✔️ Immersive view	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Change conversation during meeting	✔️ Post	✔️	❌ not a chat application	✔️	✔️	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	✔️	❓ You can have multiple meetings open in tabs. Moderators can easily switch between breakout rooms.	❌ Can be done with opening another tab?
Message drafts	❌ but lots of requests from community	❌	❌	✔️ Drafts folder and indication in conversation list	✔️ but not discoverable, present in search bar	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	❌	❌	❌ #3055
On-prem hostable	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Open source	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Waiting music	❌ But there is an incoming call sound	✔️ stylized ringing tone	❌	✔️ sounds a bit like elevator music, super cute link 🎵	✔️ also cute, sounds retro link to the music 🎵	❌	❌	❌	❌ not really, but workaround: you can play a youtube video for everyone	✔️ stylized ringing tone
Generate transcript	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	❌ 3rd party bots	❌ 3rd party software like jigasi	❌	❌	✔️ (via bot using Whisper or browser)	✔️
Live captioning	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌ lots of requests and workarounds	❌	❌	❌	✔️ (via bot using Whisper or browser)	❌ issue
Live translations	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	❌ 3rd party bots like this one and this one	❌	❌	❌	✔️ (via bot using Whisper)	❌
Send message later	✔️	✔️	❌ not a chat application	✔️	❌ 3rd party bots	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	❌	❌ not a chat application	❌ issue
Compact and expanded messages	✔️	❌	❌ not a chat application	✔️	✔️	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	✔️	❌ not a chat application	❌
Integration with calendar app	✔️ calendar tab in teams	✔️ calendar always available in sidebar	✔️ schedule meeting directly takes you to GCal	❌ need to add a calendar app	❌	✔️ web version integrated with GCal	✔️ has its calendar interface	❌	❌	✔️ scheduling with a Talk room adds participants
Schedule meetings without leaving conversation	❌ you need to navigate to the calendar tab	✔️ calendar always available in sidebar	❌ not a chat application	➕ you need to add a calendar app	✔️ docs	❌ not a chat application	❌ not a chat application	❌	❌	❌ issue
Sidebar view in calls	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	✔️	❌	✔️	❌	❌
Automatically convert timezones in messages	❌	❌	❌	❌	✔️ using a timestamp	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌ issue
Start a whiteboard in a call	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	❌
Filters in video calls	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌ issue
Profile cards	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	❌ (you can see user names and icons, but not more)	❌ in the original idea of profile
Interactive screenshare ("mouse laser pointer")	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	❌ discontinued for security reasons	❌	❌	❌	❌ issue
Stream to Youtube	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	❌
Timer in chat	❌	❌	❌ not a chat application	➕ in chat using /egg command	✔️ countdown using unix timestamps	❌ not a chat application		❌	❌	❌

Resources

MS Teams support website contains detailed tutorials on specific features

[sebastiaanveld]

Not sure if you want additional solutions in this already great comparison, but I would like to add Matrix (#809) to the list. I would say Teams is the reference solution here as being the biggest competitor for all mentioned solutions, not in the last place because it tends to lock customers into the email-Office-Teams frame. IMO "just" chasing Teams to get feature compliant will keep one always behind the curve while the (or at least one of its) missions of NC is the need to do things better to stay relevant. Teams is, in my experience, not so friendly to work with, but part of an ecosystem of MS solutions. I think only having the same feature set may not be enough to convince customers to move to other solutions. To get ahead of the curve Matrix may add the needed features to NC/Talk that Teams does not (yet) have. Matrix adds like the ability to interact with other instances just like a role email provides today. By adding that protocol that would make one less dependent on email which is one of the primary reason customer moved to the cloud (O365, Google). As long as customers are locked in by their email I do not think they see much reason to move. Of cource MS also could implement the Matrix protocol into their solution, I eventually I think they will, but I think the postpone that as long as possible to maintain their lockin on email users. What helps is the increasing interest of organizations to move to Matrix solutions for (private) chat. Being able to integrate NC/Talk into such solutions may help customer to decide to move.

[sunjam]

@sebastiaanveld I think what you mean by Matrix is you'd like for Talk to support Matrix Federation API.
This could allow Talk server-to-server federation, but also to Matrix / Teamspeak / Gitter, etc.

• 🌏 Federated Conversations Overview #5723 is also worth referencing.

[nickvergessen]

View time zones of colleagues

• Has been implemented for 26+ with Show local time in avatar menu server#35979

[jancborchardt]

Please note this is not another place for feature requests – use the issue templates for that. Here we want to have a quick overview of the market and competitors.

[nickvergessen]

@nimishavijay want to check the state of "Drafts" across the other platforms?
Related Talk issue is #3055