Effective communication and collaboration are essential factors in today’s workspaces, particularly for remote and hybrid teams. That is why collaboration tools have become indispensable nowadays. They facilitate real-time communication, document collaboration, and information transfer. Microsoft Teams and Slack are two of the most popular collaboration tools, but how do they compare? In this blog post, we compare the core features of both platforms, exploring their interfaces, communication possibilities, integration options, and finally pricing plans.
Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based collaboration application developed by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft 365 product family. It provides a workspace for real-time communication and collaboration, file sharing, and integration with third-party applications.
Slack is another cloud-based communication and collaboration platform. It was developed by Slack Technologies, which is owned by Salesforce. The platform also offers real-time communication, file sharing, and extensive integration possibilities. Both Teams and Slack are accessible via web, desktop, and mobile apps, making them versatile tools for any team.
Both Microsoft Teams and Slack offer similar layouts and navigation, with messaging centered, and main navigation housed in sidebars on the left-hand side. Both platforms emphasize organized communication and easy access to group chats, direct messages, and integrated apps.
Teams features a sidebar with icons for Activity, Chat, Teams, Files, Calendar, Calls, and more. The platform organizes chats according to groups (teams) or people. It also offers the option to create channels, which are displayed as a subcategory of an existing team.
Slack, on the other hand, utilizes a channel-based architecture. Here, team members can create channels for various topics and select specific individuals to join each channel. Slack’s sidebar contains access to channels, threads, direct messages, as well as the automated Slackbot, an in-app chatbot programmed to respond to specific commands or provide information.
Teams offers communication through messaging, voice, and high-quality video calls. The free plan supports video calls with up to 100 people, while paid plans accommodate up to 300 participants. Teams’ video calls include various features such as meeting recaps, virtual whiteboards, meeting reactions and much more. Users can format text in messages, add emojis and GIFs and share files, which are then stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.
Similarly, Slack provides messaging, voice, and video calls, known as huddles. However, the free plan only supports one-to-one calls, with paid plans allowing up to 50 participants. Both Teams and Slack offer slash commands, but Slack stands out for its more advanced commands that can be highly personalized by you or your team. With Slack, you also have the possibility to customize emojis, chat layouts, notifications, and pin important messages in channels. Shared files can be stored in Google Drive or Dropbox.
As a part of the Microsoft 365 family, Teams lets you easily integrate with all apps in the cloud-based Microsoft 365 suite. These include tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive. Additionally, it supports various third-party applications for project management and meeting organization. Currently, there are over 2,000 app integrations available in Teams.
On the other hand, Slack boasts more than 2,600 app integrations. While it also supports Microsoft integrations, Slack often preferred by teams working with Google Workspace as it provides integrations with multiple Google apps, including Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar and Google sheets. Both Teams and Slack also offer the flexibility to build custom apps and integrations, catering to specific organizational needs.
Microsoft Teams offers a free plan that only requires a free Microsoft account. The plan includes unlimited messages, group calls for up to 60 minutes and 100 participants, 5 GB of cloud storage and data encryption for meetings, chats, calls, and files. Teams also offers different types of Business and Home plans that start at $4 per user per month for Teams as a standalone product.
The Microsoft Teams Essentials package ($4/user/month) from the Business plans includes unlimited messages and unlimited group meetings for up to 30 hours and up to 300 participants. It also offers 10 GB of cloud storage, phone and web support, Microsoft Whiteboard, English live captions, collaborative apps, and much more. The Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan for $6 per user per month and the Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan for $12.50 per user per month include Teams plus further Microsoft services such as OneDrive, Outlook, Word, Excel, and more. They also offer additional features such as user management for up to 300 employees, 1 TB of cloud storage, and webinars.
Slack also offers a free plan that includes one-to-one messages, audio and video meetings, 10 app integrations, 90 days of message history, and one workspace. Slack’s paid plans begin at €8.25 per month for the Pro plan (currently €4.13 per month). This plan includes unlimited message history, unlimited app integrations, group messages, audio and video meetings, and document collaboration.
The Business+ plan for €14.10 per month additionally offers user provisioning and deprovisioning, SAML-based single sign-on, and data exports. Finally, the Enterprise Grid plan provides users with support for data loss prevention, HIPAA-compliant file collaboration, and a built-in employee directory. Pricing for this plan is available by contacting the Slack sales team.
Microsoft Teams offers a variety of helpful features for its users that allow real-time collaboration and communication for a team within a workspace. These include:
Slack offers a range of similar features, but especially excels in its customizable offers. These include:
Ultimately, Microsoft Teams and Slack share many similarities. Deciding which communication platform is the right fit for you will depend on your team’s specific needs, work style, and existing tools. If your team is part of a larger organization that already works closely with Microsoft apps or relies on high-quality video calls for communication, Teams might be the better option for you. However, if your team is rather small and utilizes messages more than calls, Slack could be a better fit. Slack is especially suited for teams that prioritize customizability and extensive app integrations.
Still unsure which tool to pick, or considering switching platforms? Feel free to contact us for further guidance.
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