What it does
Collab keeps your working contacts in one place. You send a connection request to another Hoq account, they accept, and you can message them directly or in a group conversation. Presence shows who is online, idle or away.
Shared lists are checklists you can hand to a connection as viewer, commenter, editor or owner. Editors and owners can change items; anyone with a grant can read. Messages arrive live over a websocket, with a five-second poll as a backstop.
You can sort contacts into your own groups, follow people, mute them or block them. A block stops direct messages between the two accounts.
In numbers
4,000characters in one message
4sharing roles: viewer, commenter, editor, owner
4presence states: online, idle, away, offline
Specifications
| Connections | Two-sided: one account requests, the other accepts or declines. Following is one-sided. |
|---|---|
| Conversations | Direct and group conversations with unread counts. Messages are up to 4,000 characters. |
| Live delivery | New messages are pushed over a websocket to the people in the conversation after they are saved. |
| Sharing roles | Viewer, commenter, editor and owner. A share goes to one person, a group, or a link with a random 128-bit token, and can carry an expiry date and be revoked. |
| Presence | Online, idle, away or offline, plus where you currently are. |
| Blocking | A direct message between a blocked pair is refused. |
| Sign-in | Hoq ID single sign-on. Hoq ID tokens are encrypted at rest. |
Features
12 features, all shipped. Listed from the product's code and documentation; each row shows the day it was last checked.
| Connection requests | Ask another Hoq account to connect; they accept or decline, and either side can remove it. | |
| Follow | Follow someone without needing them to accept. | |
| Your own groups | Create named groups and add or remove members. | |
| Block and mute | Block a person to stop direct messages, or mute them to quiet them. | |
| Presence | See which of your connections are online or idle. |
| Direct messages | Start or reopen a one-to-one conversation and send the first message in one step. | |
| Group conversations | Start a titled conversation with several members. | |
| Unread counts | Each conversation tracks what you have read, with a total unread count. | |
| Live updates | New messages arrive over a websocket, with polling as a backstop. |
| Shared lists | Make a checklist, add, edit, tick and delete items, and share it. | |
| Role-gated access | Owners and editors change a list; any other grant can only read it. | |
| Share links | Share to a person, a group or a link, with an optional expiry, and revoke it later. |
Your data
| Where it is kept | Connections, messages and lists are stored in Hoq Collab's own database on Hoq servers. |
|---|---|
| Getting it out | No export is offered yet. |
| If you leave | No account-closing step is offered in Collab yet. |
APIs and standards
- Web app at https://collab.hoq.app/app/collab
- JSON API: POST /api/collab with an action name (signed-in session)
- Standard: WebSocket
Compared
| Checked 2026-11-01 | Hoq Collab | Slack Free | Slack Pro with Slack Connect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per user per month | No price shown on collab.hoq.app | $01 | $7.25 billed annually, $8.75 billed monthly1 |
| Message history | No retention limit in the product | 90 days1 | not published1 |
| People outside your organization | Any Hoq account, after it accepts your connection request | 1:1 DMs only1 | DMs, group chats and channels with up to 250 organizations, each on a paid plan2 |
| Audio and video calls | None | Huddles, 1:1 only1 | Huddles with screen sharing for groups1 |
| Shared lists | Checklists shared as viewer, commenter, editor or owner | not published1 | Slack Lists included1 |
| Channels | None; direct and group conversations only | not published1 | Included1 |