Slack is a team communication tool for Small businesses and Enterprise, offered as freemium ($9/mo). Founded in United States in 2013. Popular alternatives include Discord, Twist, Mattermost.
About Slack
Slack is the channel-based messaging platform launched in 2014 by Stewart Butterfield's team and acquired by Salesforce in 2021. It popularized organizing workplace communication into channels by team, project or topic, with threads, direct messages and shared channels that connect separate companies through Slack Connect.
Around messaging, Slack offers huddles for quick audio and video calls with screen sharing, clips, canvases for lightweight documents, lists for tracking tasks and Workflow Builder for no-code automations. Thousands of integrations bring notifications from tools such as Jira, GitHub, Google Drive and Salesforce, and apps let users act without leaving Slack. Slack AI summarizes channels and threads, searches across history and answers questions, and Salesforce's Agentforce brings AI agents into Slack. The free plan hides messages and files older than 90 days and limits integrations, which pushes active teams to Pro; Business+ adds SAML SSO, data exports and a higher uptime SLA, and Enterprise+ supports multiple workspaces, DLP and key management.
Slack fits tech companies, startups and distributed teams that rely on many integrations and fast, informal communication. Constant notifications can hurt focus, and costs add up for large organizations. Microsoft Teams wins in Microsoft 365 companies because it is bundled, Google Chat suits Workspace users, and Discord or Mattermost serve communities and teams that want self-hosting.
Key features of Slack
- Channels, threads, DMs and shared channels across companies (Slack Connect)
- Huddles with screen sharing and canvases for docs
- Workflow Builder and 2,600+ app integrations
- Slack AI: summaries, search answers, recaps
- Lists for lightweight task tracking
- Enterprise security: SSO, DLP, EKM, compliance exports
Pros and cons
Pros
- Best-in-class UX for team chat
- Huge integration ecosystem
- Slack Connect for working with partners
- Reliable search and mobile apps
Cons
- Expensive per seat for large teams
- Free plan's 90-day history limit
- Notification overload without discipline
- Slack AI costs extra below Business+
Slack pricing
Slack uses a freemium model.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 90-day message history, 1:1 huddles |
| Pro | $8.75 / user/mo | $7.25/mo billed annually; unlimited history and apps, group huddles |
| Business+ | $18 / user/mo | $15/mo billed annually; Slack AI, SAML SSO, data exports |
| Enterprise+ | Custom | Enterprise search, DLP, advanced security; contact sales |
Source: slack.com · checked on Oct 20, 2026
How Slack compares in Team communication
- Rank by votes
- #1 / 25
- Starting price
- $9
- Free alternatives
- 5
0 votes from members
11% below the category median ($10/mo)
Free or open-source tools in Team communication
Slack ranks #1 of 25 team communication tools by community votes and is priced below most tools in the category.
Common use cases
- 1Company-wide communication with topic channels
- 2Engineering alerts from CI, monitoring and GitHub
- 3Customer shared channels with Slack Connect
- 4Support triage with workflows and Linear/Jira integration
Best for
Teams of any size that are not already standardized on Microsoft Teams and value integrations.
Not ideal for
Microsoft 365-centric organizations (Teams is included) or teams preferring async-first tools (Twist).
Integrations
- Google Drive
- Jira
- GitHub
- Zoom
- Salesforce
- Asana
- Notion
- HubSpot
- Zapier
- Workflow Builder
Our take
Slack remains the best team chat if you can afford it. Decide early on channel conventions and notification norms, or the tool becomes the distraction it is accused of being.
FAQ
- What is Slack?
- Slack is a Team communication tool: Channel-based team messaging.
- How much does Slack cost?
- Slack uses a Freemium model; paid plans start at $9 per month.
- What are the best alternatives to Slack?
- Community-listed alternatives to Slack include Discord, Twist, Mattermost, Rocket.Chat.
- What does Slack integrate with?
- Slack integrates with Google Drive, Jira, GitHub, Zoom, Salesforce, Asana and more.
- Which platforms does Slack support?
- Slack is available on web, macos, windows, linux, ios, android.
- Who is Slack for?
- Teams of any size that are not already standardized on Microsoft Teams and value integrations.
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