Slack vs Microsoft Teams: Communication Platform Comparison

The Communication Wars

Every company needs a communication platform. Slack and Microsoft Teams have emerged as the two dominant players—and the choice often comes down to your existing tech stack.

Let's break it down.

The Core Question

Ask yourself: Is your company Microsoft-first or tool-agnostic?

If you're already paying for Microsoft 365, Teams is essentially free and deeply integrated with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint.

If you use a variety of tools (Google Workspace, Notion, Asana, etc.), Slack's integration ecosystem is unmatched.

Messaging Experience

Slack Wins on Polish

Slack pioneered modern workplace messaging, and it shows. The threading is intuitive, channels are well-organized, and emoji reactions are a cultural phenomenon.

Little touches matter:

• Scheduled messages
• Reminders
• Status updates
• Workflow Builder

Teams Wins on Features

Teams bundles more:

• Video calling built-in
• File storage (SharePoint)
• Wiki pages
• Live transcription

But the interface is busier. Finding things can be frustrating.

Winner: Slack 🏆 — for messaging UX

Video Calling

This is where Teams excels. Video meetings are native, high-quality, and include:

• Meeting recordings
• Live captions
• Breakout rooms
• Together mode

Slack's Huddles are great for quick calls, but for formal meetings, most Slack users still reach for Zoom.

Winner: Teams 🏆

Integrations

Slack has 2,400+ integrations in its app directory. From Jira to Salesforce to Figma—if you use it, there's probably a Slack integration.

Teams integrates deeply with Microsoft tools but has fewer third-party integrations. The Power Automate platform adds flexibility, but it's more complex.

Winner: Slack 🏆

Pricing Reality

Slack

• Free: 90-day message history, 10 integrations
• Pro: $7.25/user/month
• Business+: $12.50/user/month
• Enterprise Grid: Custom

Microsoft Teams

• Free: Surprisingly capable
• Essentials: $4/user/month
• With M365 Business Basic: $6/user/month
• With M365 E3: $36/user/month (full Microsoft suite)

The Real Calculation: If you're already paying for M365, Teams is essentially free. That's a compelling argument.

Who Should Choose What?

Choose Slack If:

• You're a startup or tech company
• You use diverse tools (not Microsoft-centric)
• Developer experience matters
• You want the best messaging UX
• Third-party integrations are critical

Choose Teams If:

• You're already on Microsoft 365
• You need robust video calling
• Document collaboration is frequent
• You're an enterprise with compliance needs
• Budget is a concern (it's essentially free with M365)

Our Verdict

Slack is the better communication tool in isolation. It's more polished, has superior integrations, and pioneered this category.

Teams makes sense if you're in the Microsoft ecosystem. The deep integration with Office apps and included pricing make it hard to justify paying extra for Slack.

For pure messaging: Slack. For Microsoft shops: Teams. It really is that simple.