Alternatives to Band (group coordination tool) (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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If you aren't familiar with Band, it's a tool often used for coordinating kids' sports teams, school bands, and similar small groups. You invite people to a private workspace which contains a post feed, events calendar, file repository (for permission forms or injury waivers or whatever), and a chat interface for 1-on-1 or group chats among workspace members.

Is anyone familiar with a similar tool that can be self-hosted?

My kids' groups have tried using a mix of chat/SMS, email, and Google Drive in the past, but fractured communication leads to massive confusion. It's really nice to have all group communication in one place.

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[-] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago

Nextcloud...

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I believe the undertone you're asking for here is "...and FREE", but let me point you in a slightly different direction. Campfire

Pay once, and own it forever. They give you the code so you can host it yourself. Does everything you're asking for, and can be easily extended to provide SMS if you know how to code (they may include an already existing interface for that, but haven't looked through the code in a long time).

It's not FOSS (as in free), but it's fully open-source, you can self-host however you want, and it's a pretty tidy UI/UX experience.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Free is good, of course. But I also have some gripes about how Band functions so I'm interested to see what else is out there. Thanks for the Campfire recommendation; I will check it out.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Well it's the 37Signals team (if you're familiar at all). They make good stuff. It's good to consider supporting any team who makes anything regardless of what you go with, so keep it in mind.

Asking for $10 across a large group families to cover the cost is easy to do.

this post was submitted on 30 May 2025

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