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You’ll probably agree that the need for remote working and communication has never been greater than in these times when keeping safe is a priority. In that regard, many companies are adopting collaboration software to make remote working operations seamless.
If your company is unsure which collaboration tool will work best for your team, stick around. This article will present an unbiased comparison between Slack and Microsoft teams—two top players in the collaboration software market.
In the end, you’ll be equipped with enough information about both tools to help you choose which is the best for you and your team.
Slack is a robust work-chat app designed for workplaces teams’ efficient collaboration. It currently has millions of subscribers enjoying its freemium and paid plans. The software’s design is compliant with multiple devices and can function on different platforms. More than just a means of communication among team members, Slack also allows upload and sharing of files such as completed projects or ideas.
An amazing thing about Slack is its integration with nearly a thousand third-party apps and services, which delivers an exciting user experience. If you don’t mind a few limited download features, you can sign up for the free plan. However, Slack has other robust plans that involve monthly subscription, which will be discussed later in this article.
This part is a breeze. If you are the team leader in your workplace, and you also want to be the Slack team’s administrator, visit the Slack website and signup with your email. With the name you choose for your Slack group, you can invite your team members via their email addresses.
Slack is app-based and also accessible on the web. However, you’ll get the best Slack experiences by downloading the iOS/Android app or Mac/Windows desktop app. Some features may not be available if your access Slack through the web only.
Slack offers users numerous features that make collaboration among working teams seamless. Here are some major features to look out for when you come onboard.
Every team on Slack has various channels that serve as the building block for teams’ conversations. For example, the channel of your team can be topical; it can also be based on your project, location, etc.
If you are using Slack for a large company, channels can be based on company-wide projects such as sales, marketing, budget, waste management, etc. You can also have private channels on Slack if you need to create exclusive areas on the platform. At any time, you can search for any conversation using channels to review past discussion.
Slack offers audio and video call features, which mean you don’t have to switch to other applications such as Skype or zoom to make calls to your team members. This feature is free and unlimited on the fermium plan, but the operation is restricted to two users. However, the paid version of Slack offers a more robust video conferencing that accommodates 15 people at once.
If you want to get more work done, Slack has a feature that helps to bring in other project management apps into Slack, making it a central command station. You can integrate Asana, Blossom, Trello, Google Drive, Dropbox and other useful apps for a more seamless running of your work operations. The freemium Slack plan has a limitation of 10 apps integration, while the paid plans offer an impressive integration of over eight hundred third-party apps.
Slack comes with an in-built bot system that helps users to find info on the platform quickly.
These assistants can help in taking notes and storing reminders. It comes in the form of a private chat window, where users can store links and see how integrated apps work.
That’s not all; Slack allows integration of other bots such a DiggBot that helps in the search for interesting websites and any news concerning your channels. PaperBot, helps in the organization of links and Spacetime Bot, notifies you of time zones for proper organization of team members in other locations.
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration tool designed for the efficient function of units in an online space. While a group of friends may find Microsoft Teams useful, it’s not a design for family and friends communication; instead, it’s a platform suited for businesses or companies to engage real-time discussion, file-sharing, brain-storming and so much more.
Rumor has it that Microsoft Teams came into the scene because the software giant wanted to expand the capabilities of Skype for business usage. Three years after its launch, Teams had over 13million active daily users, and that figure has since grown to 75 million.
Microsoft Teams has both free and paid versions like its competitor, Slack and companies can have access to whichever plan is suitable. Ideally, the paid version of Microsoft Teams is ideal for larger companies with its unlimited features while some small teams may find the free version useful for a mini setup.
Microsoft allows the integration of third-party apps such as GitHub, Zoom, Asana, Evernote, Salesforce, etc. All tiers of Microsoft Teams, both paid and freemium enable an unlimited number of app integration.
What’s great about Microsoft teams is the integration of teams with Office365. For example, when you create a team for a project, an office 365 group is automatically created which integrates your team members with every application available on office365 suite.
With Microsoft Teams comes a complex bot assistant system called the T-Bot that helps users answer questions and search for information. Even more, users on Teams can integrate WhoBot, a more advanced bot that possesses a graphical artificial intelligence.
It helps users find specific company information, including details of other employees such as their department, skill/job function, etc. And if you want to integrate other bots asides the inbuilt versions, the platform is versatile to accommodate such function.
Microsoft Teams has an advanced conference call capabilities that are available on all tiers of its service. The platform accommodates video and voice call meetings with as many as 250 people at once. What’s more, you’ll enjoy the exclusive recording of conference calls and screen-sharing features.
Microsoft Teams offers data encryption though; this feature is also available on Slack. However, Microsoft raises the security bar by adopting the highest level of compliance on the Teams platform, tagged as the Tier d-compliant level of security. This security level also comes with an exclusive type of platform management that ensures granular control.
Slack pricing
Freemium
Standard plan ($6.67 per user/month)
Slack Plus ($12.50 per user/month)
Microsoft Teams pricing
Similar to Slack, Microsoft Teams also offer a free and paid version
2GB of storage per user and 10GB total shared storage per team for the free version. Upgrading to Office 365 increases that to 1TB of storage for the team.
Free version
Microsoft 365 Business Essentials ($5 per user/month)
Microsoft 365 Business Standard ($12.50 per user/month)
Microsoft 365 E3 ($20 per user/month)
Looking at some of the major features altogether, Slack and Microsoft Teams offer almost the same features to customers with some slight differences. While they both offer integration of third-party apps, Slack puts the ability to work with its 800+ third-party apps on its paid plans leaving its freemium package with only ten apps integration. In contrast, Teams offer limitless integration across all its tiers. What’s more, Microsoft Teams brings in integration with office365 apps for all users on the platform.
Concerning the conference call, Microsoft Teams raised the bar way too high here by allowing 250 participant meetings on its video/voice call feature. As if that’s not enough, this offer is available on all its plans. Large companies who’ll like to engage with many people, especially in this period of a viral pandemic may find Slack less useful with its 15 participants limit on its paid version.
Both platforms display versatility as they are available on, Mac-OS, Windows, Android, iOS and web. However, Slack goes the extra mile with extra compatibility with the Linux operating system, a feature Microsoft Teams doesn’t have. Talking about exclusivity, Microsoft allows recording of online conference meetings and screen sharing.
Freemium lovers enjoy more storage space per user with Slack (5GB) while Microsoft offers 1GB. However, getting to the paid plans, Teams raises the bar again to 1TB while Slack only offers a maximum of 20GB per user for its highest plan.
If we want to make this comparison a contest, Microsoft Teams makes it a bit difficult for Slack. However, both collaboration softwares will work for you, depending on your team’s capacity. If you have a small team of less than 15 with less operational demand, you can opt for either Slack or Teams.
If you are all about freemium, the 5GB storage space offer from Slack should knock your socks off compared to Teams. However, Microsoft Team’s unlimited integration across the board is also compelling assuming your team can make do with 2GB worth of space.
We hope you found this article useful. Here at Cloud Employee, we assist companies looking to hire dedicated offshore developers across many technologies. Talk to us, learn more about how Cloud Employee works, or see our Developer Pricing Guide.
For companies with larger staff strength, there’s no need to beat about the bush as Microsoft Teams offers a more comprehensive package that suits larger groups considering its larger storage space, 250 participants online conference call and more.
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