The Teams versus Slack debate has been running for years, and both platforms have evolved significantly. Slack pioneered the modern team chat experience; Microsoft Teams leveraged enterprise relationships and Microsoft 365 integration to become the dominant player by user count. But market share doesn’t determine which platform fits your organization better.
Both tools handle chat, channels, file sharing, and video calls. Both integrate with other applications. Both have passionate advocates and frustrated critics. The meaningful differences lie in ecosystem fit, specific feature implementations, and how each platform approaches collaboration.
This comparison examines both platforms objectively to help you make the right choice for your organization.
Core Platform Overview
Microsoft Teams is Microsoft’s collaboration hub, tightly integrated with Microsoft 365. It combines chat, video meetings, file storage (via SharePoint and OneDrive), and application integration. Teams is included with most Microsoft 365 business and enterprise subscriptions.
Slack is a dedicated messaging platform designed around channels and integrations. It pioneered many collaboration patterns that Teams later adopted. Slack offers free tiers and paid plans, and was acquired by Salesforce in 2021.
Both platforms serve the same fundamental purpose: helping teams communicate and collaborate without drowning in email. How they accomplish this differs in important ways.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Messaging and Channels
Slack’s messaging experience is widely considered more refined. Message threading is cleaner—threads live alongside the main channel without cluttering it. Formatting options are more intuitive. The overall chat experience feels polished, which matters when employees spend hours daily in the platform.
Teams messaging works well but feels slightly less elegant. Threads are functional but can become harder to follow in busy channels. Recent updates have improved Teams’ messaging, narrowing the gap with Slack.
Both platforms support channels (public and private), direct messages, and group conversations. Both allow message editing and deletion. Both support emoji reactions, though Slack’s implementation came first and feels more natural.
Video and Audio Calls
Teams has the edge in video conferencing, particularly for larger meetings. Teams meetings support more participants, offer more robust meeting controls, and integrate seamlessly with Outlook calendaring. Features like Together Mode, breakout rooms, and meeting recordings are well-implemented.
Slack’s huddles provide quick audio conversations, and Slack integrates with video platforms like Zoom. But native video capabilities are less developed than Teams. Organizations heavily reliant on video conferencing often prefer Teams’ built-in capabilities.
File Sharing and Collaboration
Teams integrates deeply with SharePoint and OneDrive. Files shared in Teams channels live in SharePoint libraries. Co-authoring Microsoft documents happens natively within Teams. For Microsoft-centric organizations, this integration is significant.
Slack handles file sharing but doesn’t provide native document storage or co-authoring. Files shared in Slack live in Slack (with storage limits on free plans) or link to external services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box. Organizations using Google Workspace may find Slack’s integration approach more suitable.
Integrations and Apps
Slack has long been praised for its integration ecosystem. The Slack App Directory includes thousands of integrations, and Slack’s API is well-documented and developer-friendly. Many SaaS products built Slack integrations first.
Teams has expanded its app ecosystem significantly and now offers extensive integrations. Microsoft’s market position means most major applications support Teams. Power Platform integration (Power Automate, Power Apps) extends Teams’ capabilities for organizations invested in Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Both platforms support bots, custom integrations, and workflow automation. Slack’s workflow builder is more mature; Teams leverages Power Automate for similar functionality.
Search
Slack’s search is generally considered superior. Finding old messages, files, and conversations is faster and more accurate. Search modifiers and filters help narrow results effectively.
Teams search has improved but still frustrates users looking for older content. Search across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem is powerful but can return overwhelming results. Finding a specific message from months ago remains easier in Slack.
User Experience
Slack’s interface is cleaner and more focused. The platform does one thing—team collaboration—and does it well. Users typically find Slack more intuitive to learn and use.
Teams tries to be more—chat, meetings, files, apps, and more in one interface. This ambition creates complexity. New users often find Teams overwhelming, with multiple ways to do similar things and a steeper learning curve.
However, Teams’ all-in-one approach means fewer context switches for users who would otherwise bounce between separate tools for chat, meetings, and file management.
Pricing Comparison
Slack Pricing:
- Free: Limited message history (90 days), limited integrations
- Pro: $8.75/user/month (billed annually) — full history, unlimited integrations
- Business+: $15/user/month — advanced security, compliance features
- Enterprise Grid: Custom pricing — large enterprise features
Microsoft Teams Pricing:
- Free: Basic features, limited meeting duration and participants
- Included with Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($6/user/month) and above
- Most organizations already paying for Microsoft 365 have Teams included
For Microsoft 365 customers, Teams is essentially free—the subscription they’re already paying includes it. This makes the cost comparison complex. Choosing Slack means paying for Slack on top of Microsoft 365 (which you probably still need for Office apps) unless you’re a Google Workspace organization.
Ecosystem Considerations
If your organization uses Microsoft 365:
Teams provides native integration that Slack can’t match. Documents live in SharePoint. Calendar integration with Outlook is seamless. The Microsoft Graph connects Teams to the broader Microsoft ecosystem. Choosing Slack means maintaining two ecosystems and accepting integration friction.
If your organization uses Google Workspace:
Slack integrates better with Google’s ecosystem. Google Drive integration, Google Calendar sync, and Google Meet connections work smoothly. Teams works with Google Workspace but requires more configuration and feels less natural.
If you have a mixed environment:
Evaluate which ecosystem is primary. Aligning your collaboration platform with your primary productivity suite reduces friction.
Enterprise Features
Security and Compliance
Both platforms offer enterprise-grade security, including data encryption, compliance certifications, and administrative controls. Teams benefits from Microsoft’s enterprise security infrastructure, including integration with Microsoft Defender and Purview compliance tools. Slack Enterprise Grid provides similar capabilities with its own approach.
For highly regulated industries, evaluate specific compliance certifications and data residency options against your requirements.
Administration
Teams administration happens through Microsoft 365 admin center and Teams admin center, integrated with broader Microsoft 365 management. This is advantageous if you’re already managing Microsoft 365; it’s additional complexity if you’re not.
Slack administration is self-contained and generally considered more straightforward for the platform itself.
Guest Access
Both platforms support external guest access for collaborating with people outside your organization. Teams’ guest access integrates with Azure AD B2B. Slack Connect enables cross-organization channels between Slack workspaces.
Best Fit Scenarios
Choose Teams when:
- Your organization is standardized on Microsoft 365
- Video meetings are central to how you work
- You want one platform for chat, meetings, and file collaboration
- Budget efficiency matters (Teams is included with Microsoft 365)
- Enterprise security and compliance integration with Microsoft tools is important
- SharePoint document management is part of your workflow
Choose Slack when:
- Messaging experience and usability are top priorities
- Your organization uses Google Workspace
- You have extensive third-party tool integrations to maintain
- Your culture values the refined collaboration experience Slack provides
- Development teams prioritize Slack’s API and integration ecosystem
- You’re willing to pay for a dedicated collaboration tool alongside other productivity software
Migration Considerations
Switching between platforms involves:
Content migration. Message history, files, and channel structures need migration planning. Neither platform makes importing from the other seamless.
Integration rebuilding. Workflows, bots, and application integrations need reconstruction on the new platform.
User training. Despite similarities, users need to learn new patterns and interfaces.
Cultural adjustment. Teams that have built habits around one platform need time to develop equivalent patterns on another.
The switching cost is real. Unless current pain is significant, improving usage of your current platform may deliver better ROI than migration.
Making the Decision
Questions to guide your decision:
- What productivity suite does your organization use primarily?
- How important is native video conferencing versus best-in-class messaging?
- What applications need to integrate with your collaboration platform?
- What’s your budget reality—is Teams “free” because you’re already paying for Microsoft 365?
- How much does user experience polish matter to your organization’s culture?
- What security and compliance requirements must the platform meet?
Both platforms work. Both have millions of satisfied users. The right choice depends on your specific context, not abstract feature comparisons.
Evaluating collaboration platforms for your organization? Let’s talk about how Teams or other Microsoft 365 tools fit your needs.