The calendaring, desktop interface and photo-sharing are all accommodating in GroupMe. If you don’t know how you’ll use group text messaging, then start with GroupMe as your first experiment.
Free with some advertising.Ideal for: Families; clubs, fraternities; sports teams; a group of travelers; dinner groups; social fun.Platform: Smartphone/tablet app and web-based interface are both available.
If you’re uncertain what tool to try for group text messaging, give GroupMe a test drive, and then try WhatsApp next.
Free for one year then a dollar per year after that.Ideal for: Groups of personal friends; project groups of users who are very tech-savvy; people who don’t mind keeping their messages confined to smartphones (i.e., no desktop messaging).Platform: Android and Apple smartphone app, NO desktop.
If you don’t need to manage critical deadlines and group workflows like tasks/updates/reminders/dates, then Slack is really a good option for its group and one-on-one conversation features. Shared documenting is helpful for some groups.
Free for basic features—$7/month if you want advanced features.Ideal for: Volunteers; smaller project working groups who have an attentive administrator to steward the Google Calendar; groups who need to co-author documents together.Platform: Smartphone/tablet app and web-based interface are both available.
