The Best Free Quip Alternative

What Is Quip?

Quip is a virtual collaboration software founded by Bret Taylor and Kevin Gibbs in 2012. In 2016, Quip was acquired by Salesforce, one of the leading customer relationship management (CRM) tools in the world and Quip is now a vital part of their products. 

This collaborative productivity tool was created with the aim of delivering modern collaboration securely and simply across any device. With Quip, you can streamline your workflow and collaborate on documents and spreadsheets with ease.

Today, Quip has over 2 million users on its platform. Some alternative tools to Quip include Confluence, Slack, Smartsheet, and Microsoft Teams.

Features of Quip

Quip is a collaborative productivity software that can be accessed both on the Web and on mobile. Its main features are: 

• Documents: You can work on the document together, edit in offline mode, add permissions, and view version history for easier updating.
• Spreadsheets: You can process Salesforce data, edit collaboratively, embed sheets in your documents, and access everything on your mobile device.
• Chat: You can comment directly on the documents and communicate more efficiently with your team whether via Team Chat Rooms or 1-on-1 Chats.

Quip also has dozens of simple templates that can help your team collaborate better. While these templates can help you get started, Quip also gives you the flexibility to customize them according to your needs. 

Quip’s customizability is restricted to basic documents which can be limiting if you want to be more creative with your templates. Quip lacks the other features of organizing tasks and documents more intuitively and with better data visualization such as through mind maps, kanban boards, or a list view.

Quip can be used for basic collaboration on documents but it lacks many of the customizable features that are conducive to dynamic teamwork. Effective teams need tools that allow them to do more than the standard legacy tools and, unfortunately, Quip does not offer much more than the usual.

What Are Some Limitations of Quip?

While Quip is a good tool to use for shared documents and spreadsheets, it has limitations that hinder users from fully customizing and collaborating completely such as: 

• Limited customizability
• Static and inflexible data
• No completion history tracking
• No built-in video calls
• Tasks segmented into documents and folders

Although you can use Quip to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets, the file system-like structure makes it difficult to organize and track your progress. 

How Much Does Quip Cost?

Quip has three pricing plans for its customers billed annually. 

• Quip Starter: $10/user
• Quip Plus: $ 25/user
• Quip Advanced: $100/user

There is also a special offer under the Quip Starter plan that will charge customers only $30 for the first five users. Quip Starter has limited functionality while Plus and Advanced offer all the features of the platform, with the latter fully integrated with Salesforce.

What Is Taskade?

Taskade is an online productivity and collaboration tool that was founded by John Xie, Dionis Loire, and Stan Chang in 2017. The Y Combinator-backed startup aims to help remote teams and individuals get work done faster and smarter.

Taskade is where remote teams get work done. With Taskade, you can organize projects and tasks, change between multiple project views, automate repetitive workflows, collaborate via built-in video chat with your team, and more, via an all-in-one unified workspace. 

Get a headstart on your projects and find a suitable structure for your notes via Taskade’s versatile collection of templates. Simply choose from a wide variety of templates and add them to your projects to get started instantly!

Taskade is a supercharged productivity app that both individuals and teams can use to collaborate on projects in real-time.

Taskade is the best free Quip alternative. Get started instantly for free today.

Key Features of Taskade

• Project Views. Visualize your projects in several different ways. Cycle between the List, Mind Map, Org Chart, and Board views to work the way you want. 

  • List View. This is the default view on Taskade. Create new lists here.
  • Board View. This view lets you work horizontally like a Kanban board. Visualize your workflow and tasks in this full-width view.
  • Mind Map View. This view lets you work in a horizontal tree-structured manner and map out what you have in mind.
  • Action View. Work in table view and stay organized with your task due dates, and more.
  • Org Chart View. Break down larger tasks into smaller ones to help you get things done.

• Zoom In, Zoom Out. Get a bird’s-eye view of the workflow by zooming out on all project views, or zoom in to focus on a specific area.
• Fold/Unfold. Fold (collapse) a parent task/bullet element to hide its subtasks. Indent outline elements with ⌨️ Tab and unfold lists with ⌨️ Shift+Tab.
• Real-time Communication. Chat and video conference with your team while collaborating in real-time on the same page. 
• 500+ Templates. Choose from 500+ templates across 26 categories to improve your productivity and workflows. Customize existing templates or create new ones across your workspaces.
• Multi-Select. Select and format multiple blocks or bulk assign them as tasks to other team members. You can also copy, paste, or indent selected blocks.
• Customize Sub-Tasks. Customize the format of your sub-tasks at individual levels. Choose from headings, numbered lists, shapes, and more.
• Recurring Tasks. Add due dates with start and end times to tasks within your project and set them to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly.

• Move Tasks. Move and copy selected tasks to other projects across any workspace. You’ll receive a pop-up notification on completion.
• User Roles & Permissions. Manage collaborators and assign user roles/editing privileges (Owner, Admin, Editor, Checker, Viewer).
• Sort Tasks. Sort sub-tasks/children elements by completed/uncompleted stats or the due date. Task sorting can be accessed from a convenient pop-up menu.
• Search. Search within projects or globally across workspaces and subspaces. Instantly browse and jump between projects anywhere in the Taskade.
• Keyboard Shortcuts. Navigate projects, create content blocks, reorder elements, and complete tasks using a set of handy keyboard shortcuts.

• Team Calendar. Aggregate all tasks and projects in a shared calendar. The Taskade calendar integrates with Google (two-way), Apple, and Outlook. 
• Reorder Tasks. Lists in Taskade aren’t set in stone. Reorder tasks and find them a new home with intuitive drag-and-drop mechanics.
• Project History. See all the changes made by you and other collaborators. Click on the entries to navigate to the edited items within the project.
• Version History. Taskade saves snapshots of your project so that you can restore a previous version of your project with a single click.

• Export and Print. You can export your projects as plain text or markdown files. Attach them to emails, presentations, or for print.

• Cloud File Upload. Share files directly from Google Drive, Dropbox, Instagram, and Box in your projects with our integrations.
• Breakdown Larger Tasks. Organize your thoughts with Taskade’s unlimited hierarchy to break down large projects into tasks.
• Quick Search. Use CMD / CTRL + K to jump between any projects within Taskade web and apps.

For an exhaustive list of Taskade’s features, click here.

Taskade Pros

• Free-forever plan is loaded with features
• Real-time collaboration within the same project 
• Free built-in video call and chat function in each project
• Customizable templates to give you a headstart
• Work and chat in the same window, in the same app
• Frequent updates based on user/your feedback and suggestions
• Tabbed workflow for working with multiple Projects

Taskade Cons

• No custom APIs (yet)

Taskade Pricing

Taskade Free Plan

• Unlimited Tasks & Projects
• Unlimited Members & Guests
• Unlimited Folders & Teams
• Templates, Calendar, Repeat Tasks
• Real-time Collaboration
• Built-in Free Chat and Video Call

Taskade Unlimited Plan - Starts from $5/month

• Everything in Free, plus:
• Version History
• Advanced Permission
• Cloud Upload Integration
• 2-Way Calendar Integration

Click here for more information.

Is Taskade Right for You?

Taskade can be used by individuals and teams working from anywhere. Use Taskade individually or collaborate with your team for weekly agendas, team meetings, note-taking, project management, product roadmaps, and more. 

Make use of customizable board views to visualize your projects into digestible smaller tasks. Multiple board views are available even on Taskade’s free plan, allowing you to get more work done the smarter way. 

Collaborate with your team in real-time with free and unlimited chat and video conferencing available on every project. Automatic syncing ensures that your data is always up to date across devices.

Our customizable templates are available even with our free plan. Find the perfect template to help you get started with your project, and customize it to fit your needs!

Taskade is the simplest way to create task lists, checklists, and workflows. Manage projects and get more work done the simple way with Taskade.

Taskade is the best free Quip alternative. Try Taskade for free today.