Overview

Connect is built for communication among employees, partners, and vendors, with collaboration tools for turning discussion into shared work. Its breadth makes it a better fit for organizations seeking an internal hub than for teams looking only for a focused chat or project tool. The employee directory, news publishing, page builder, audience targeting, and single sign-on support add useful intranet functions to that mix.

Zoho was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Chennai, India.

Key features

Communication and collaboration

Feeds, direct messages, group chat, channels, announcements, polls, questions, and forums cover both broadcast updates and ongoing discussion. Groups add dedicated spaces for team conversations and file sharing, with task management alongside them. That range can help organizations bring everyday communication into one service; it may be unnecessary for a team that needs only a simple messaging channel.

Tasks and company knowledge

Tasks and boards let teams organize projects, assign responsibilities, and follow progress. Manuals provide a place for reference material, while articles can organize company guidance on subjects such as leave, hiring, training, and ethics. These tools make Connect useful as a shared organizational resource, though the product’s emphasis is on combining them with communication rather than specializing in project management.

AI, integrations, and controls

Zia offers writing assistance, sentiment analysis, post summaries, and town hall highlights. Listed integrations include Zoho apps, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Jira, and Zapier; Zoho Flow connects Connect with more than 200 business apps. This should help teams link their existing services, particularly within Zoho’s own ecosystem.

Zoho describes encryption, invitation-based membership, granular user data controls, and password-protected exports, and states that Connect is GDPR compliant. Zoho also says Connect does not collect, use, store, or maintain protected health information for its own purposes, which it says supports an organization’s HIPAA compliance. That statement is not a claim that Connect itself handles protected health information.

Pricing

Connect has a free plan and a free trial. The free plan is shown as free, with a comparison cap of up to 5 users. A Zoho help page describes the post-trial free plan as allowing up to 25 users, with active groups, boards, manuals, and custom apps limited to three each. Because those user caps differ, confirm the applicable limit before choosing the free tier for a team of more than five.

The paid starting rate is $0.40/user/mo (annual). Starter is for 25 users and includes 25 GB of file storage and 10 Zoho app integrations; its price is custom pricing. It may suit a small organization that needs a defined user allowance and Zoho connections, but teams should weigh its 25-user scope and storage allocation against their needs.

Enterprise and Ultimate both start at 10 users and include 2 GB of file storage per member. Their prices are custom pricing, and both can be billed monthly or yearly, with yearly billing saving up to 20%. Ultimate is therefore not a published price step for larger teams alone; compare its fit with Enterprise directly before deciding. Classic support is free. Premium Support is available for Enterprise and Ultimate for 20% of the license fee, with a stated three-hour response time and weekday 24-hour email and live chat coverage.

Platforms

Connect is available on the web, Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux, and offers an API. Desktop downloads are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, while Android and iOS have native mobile apps. This range is useful for organizations with mixed devices and operating systems.

Who it's for

Connect is a strong fit for organizations that want internal communication, team collaboration, task tracking, and company guidance in one service, particularly those already using Zoho apps. Its free tier may work for a small group if the applicable user cap and three-item limits on active groups, boards, manuals, and custom apps are sufficient. Organizations needing a clearly defined free user allowance or a focused specialist tool should compare alternatives before committing.

Pros and cons

Pro: Communication spans feeds, messaging, channels, and forums, so teams can handle both broad announcements and smaller discussions in one place.
Pro: Groups, task boards, manuals, and policy articles extend the service beyond conversation into coordination and shared reference material.
Pro: Desktop and mobile apps cover major operating systems, with API access also available.
Con: The free-plan user limit is presented as both five and 25, making it difficult to judge eligibility without confirming the applicable cap.
Con: Starter is limited to 25 users, while Enterprise and Ultimate start at 10 users; organizations must assess those scopes alongside their storage needs.
Con: Paid plan prices are custom pricing, so the stated annual starting rate does not by itself establish what a particular organization will pay.

Alternatives

For a different intranet option, compare Intranet Software. Appspace Intranet is worth considering if a free plan for two Premium Users, one Appspace Device ID, and 5GB storage and monthly bandwidth meets your needs. HubEngage may fit organizations seeking a free Starter plan for up to 200 users that includes communications, social features, recognitions, surveys, and instant messaging.

Silverpeas offers a free basic collaborative platform, but requires IT skills, hosting at your expense, and does not support additional modules on its free offer. MangoApps is a paid alternative with its Communications & Intranet plan priced at 9.00 USD per month, billed from 200 employees. Axero is another paid option, with its Standard plan including workspaces and groups, communication tools, content management, notifications, task management, and gamification.

Blink may suit organizations seeking a paid Core plan at 4.50 USD per month, billed per user per month, with company branding, internal communications, real-time collaboration, and a knowledge hub. eXo Platform offers a paid Silver plan with one space, 1 GB storage per user, and a 10-user minimum. Jalios Intranet is another paid alternative.

Verdict

Choose Zoho Connect if your organization wants communication, team tasks, and company knowledge in one cross-platform hub, especially if Zoho apps are already part of your workflow. Its main advantage is the breadth of functions in a single service; look elsewhere if you need a dependable free-tier user cap or want a specialized tool with a straightforward published price.

	Microsoft Viva Connections	Zoho Connect
Free plan	No	Yes
Free trial		Yes
Paid from	$2/mo	Free
Platforms	Android, iOS, Web	Android, api, iOS, Linux, macOS, Web, Windows
Free plan	No	Yes
Paid from	2 /user/mo	0.4 /user/mo
News publishing	Yes	Yes
Mobile access	native	native
Audience targeting	Yes	Yes
Employee directory		Yes
Page builder		Yes
SSO support		Yes

Microsoft Viva Connections vs Zoho Connect

Microsoft Viva Connections

Zoho Connect