Microsoft Teams or Slack? We put two of the collaboration services head-to-head.
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the market for video conferencing and collaboration tools has exploded. With this creating such a competitive environment, these digital tools have had to carve out particular niches for themselves. Some have focused on improving productivity, for example, others have looked to prioritize ease-of-use. In this climate, two of the most popular communication platforms are Microsoft Teams and Slack. With many organizations looking to adopt a hybrid working model that would allow employees to split their time between the office and home, remote communication tools like Slack and Teams could continue to play a major role in working life for years to come — their developers will certainly be hoping so. But how should businesses choose between Teams and Slack, particularly with both platforms offering a high-level service. While the two programs may look and feel similar on the surface, a closer comparison reveals some key differences. In this guide, we’ve collected all the information you need to decide whether Teams or Slack is best for your business, comparing plans and pricing, features, security and more. For many businesses, price will be a deciding factor concerning which digital tools they use. The good news is both Teams and Slack offer free plans — although each comes with slightly different features thrown in. With Slack’s free plan, for example, businesses can add an unlimited number of users and messages. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand only allows up to 500,000 users with its free plan — although this is effectively unlimited for all but the largest enterprises. One major difference is the fact that users of the free Slack plan can only search up to 10,000 archived messages. While this may seem like a lot, losing access to important messages feels like a significant drawback. Generally, the free version of Teams comes with fewer limitations. With users able to access screen sharing and small-scale video conferencing.
