Microsoft Teams vs Slack

What Microsoft Teams is built to do

Collaborative Editing

Edit an Excel sheet with your team simultaneously during a live meeting.

Live Events

Broadcast major company-wide meetings with Q&A and moderation support.

Together Mode

Use AI to place all meeting participants in a shared virtual classroom or room.

Phone System

Replace traditional office phones with a digital, cloud-based PBX system.

What Slack is built to do

Slack Connect

Securely collaborate with external partners and agencies in shared channels.

Huddles

Start instant audio and video sessions with one click for rapid decision-making.

Workflow Builder

Automate routine tasks like onboarding or approvals without writing a single line of code.

Enterprise Security

Institutional-grade data protection and single sign-on (SSO) support for large firms.

Choose Microsoft Teams if

• Small businesses that only need meetings: Microsoft Teams Essentials is $4.00 per user/month paid yearly, with chat, calls, video, file sharing and 10 GB of cloud storage per user
• Companies that want Teams plus business email and Office on the web — Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $7.00 per user/month paid yearly, with 1 TB of storage per user
• Teams that need the desktop Office apps and Copilot: Business Standard with Copilot at $23.50 per user/month paid yearly

Skip Microsoft Teams if

• You have more than 300 employees — every business plan caps identity and access management at 300 users, so you are pushed to the enterprise SKUs
• You want month-to-month billing: all of these are annual subscriptions that auto-renew, with the monthly figure shown only for comparison
• You need desktop Word, Excel and PowerPoint on a budget — Business Basic is web and mobile only, and Teams Essentials has no Office apps at all

Choose Slack if

• Teams on Pro at $7.25 per user/month billed annually ($8.75 monthly) who need unlimited message history
• Small groups testing the Free plan: 90 days of message history, up to 10 apps and 1:1 huddles
• Companies on Business+ at $15 per user/month annually ($18 monthly) that need group external messaging

Skip Slack if

• You rely on the Free plan long term — history is cut at 90 days and apps are capped at 10
• You need Multi-SAML or unlimited workspaces; those are Enterprise+ and priced only by sales
• Your headcount is large: every plan is per user, so cost scales linearly with the team

Microsoft Teams: pros & cons

• Office 365 Integration: Edit files collaboratively within the app in real-time.
• Enterprise Security: A world leader in data protection and administrative controls.
• Large Meeting Capacity: Host massive live events and webinars for thousands of attendees.
• Included with Office: Available for free with most business Microsoft 365 licenses.
• Performance Issues: The app can feel heavy and sometimes sluggish on older hardware.
• Complex UI: Navigating the channel structure can be confusing for non-technical users.
• Guest Access: Adding external users outside the organization can sometimes be difficult.

Slack: pros & cons

• Powerful Search: Find any file or message from years ago in a matter of seconds.
• Flexible Channels: Organize work by project, team, or even interests to maintain focus.
• Extensive API: Easily build and integrate your own bots and custom workflows.
• High Reliability: Desktop and mobile apps are exceptionally fast and stable.
• Notification Fatigue: Can be highly distracting if not properly configured by the user.
• Free Plan Limits: Access to message history is restricted on the free tier.
• Enterprise Pricing: Per-user licensing costs can add up quickly for large organizations.