Slack

What is Slack

Slack is a cloud-based team communication and collaboration platform designed to centralize workplace conversations, files, and workflow integrations. It organizes discussions into persistent channels that can be public or private, supports direct messages and group DMs, and provides threaded replies so teams can keep conversations focused. Slack is widely used across departments — engineering, product, marketing, sales, HR — to reduce reliance on email for day-to-day coordination.

The platform scales from small teams using the Free Plan to large enterprises using the Enterprise Grid offering. Slack stores searchable message history, integrates with dozens to thousands of third-party applications, and includes built-in voice and video calling, although many teams pair Slack with specialized video platforms for large meetings. Administrators can configure security controls, workspace settings, compliance exports, and single sign-on (SSO) to match organizational policies.

Slack also provides developer-facing features through the Slack API and an app directory where teams can add bots, workflow builders, and custom integrations. The combination of real-time messaging, asynchronous threads, and integration capabilities positions Slack as both a communication layer and an automation hub in many engineering and business tool stacks.

Slack features

Slack's feature set covers core messaging, collaboration, administrative controls, integrations, and developer tools. Core messaging features include channels, direct messages, message threads, reactions, and search across messages and files. Channels can be organized around teams, projects, clients, or any topic, and can be set to public or private visibility depending on needs.

For collaboration and content, Slack supports file uploads, shared file previews, pinned items, and simple document previews. Built-in calls allow voice and video calls with screen sharing for quick meetings; some advanced calling features are tied to higher plans or complementary services. Slack also has an in-product workflow builder for automating repetitive tasks — for example, routing daily standup check-ins, onboarding checklists, or incident alerts.

Integration features are central: Slack offers a large app directory with first-party and third-party integrations that post notifications, create and update items, and surface contextual data inside channels. Popular integrations include developer tools, CI/CD systems, calendars, ticketing systems, and CRM platforms. Administrators can control app installation permissions and configure granular OAuth scopes for custom apps.

Security and administration features include two-factor authentication (2FA), SAML-based single sign-on (SSO), workspace and org-wide settings, audit logs, data retention rules, and enterprise-grade compliance tools available on advanced plans. For large organizations, Enterprise Grid adds centralized administration across multiple workspaces, more extensive policy controls, and continued support for regulatory requirements.

What does Slack do?

Slack provides a central, searchable place for teams to have real-time and asynchronous conversations. Messages are grouped into channels that persist over time so new team members can catch up on context. Users can mention teammates to direct attention, create threads to keep responses organized, and react to messages for lightweight acknowledgement.

Slack connects tools and systems into those conversations: build custom integrations or install existing apps that post alerts (build server failures, support tickets, new leads), let users take actions from messages (create issues, update incidents), and surface external content inline. This reduces context switching because teams can see notifications and act on them without leaving Slack.

On the operations side, Slack enables configurable retention and export of messages and files, role-based admin controls, and secure access via SSO and SCIM provisioning. These capabilities make Slack usable for companies that must meet compliance or auditing requirements while maintaining day-to-day agility.

Slack pricing

Slack offers these pricing plans:

• Free Plan: $0/month with limitations on message history, integrations, and administrative controls
• Pro: $8/month per user (billed annually) with full message history, extended integrations, group calls, and more admin tools
• Business+: $15/month per user (billed annually) with enterprise support, advanced identity management, and compliance features
• Enterprise Grid: Custom pricing for large organizations with multi-workspace administration and advanced security

View Slack's current pricing tiers for the latest rates and enterprise options.

How much is Slack per month

Slack starts at $8/month per user when billed annually for the Pro plan. Monthly billing options are often available at a slightly higher per-user rate; administrators should check the account billing page for exact month-to-month pricing. Pricing can also vary with regional currency, seat count discounts, and promotional offers.

Enterprises that need centralized administration across many workspaces typically move to Enterprise Grid, which uses custom quotes based on active users, compliance needs, and support levels. Slack sometimes bundles add-ons or negotiated services into enterprise contracts, so large organizations should request a tailored quote.

How much is Slack per year

Slack costs $96/year per user for the Pro plan when billed annually at $8/month per user. For the Business+ plan, annual billing is typically $180/year per user at $15/month per user. Annual billing offers the lowest per-user cost compared with month-to-month plans and is common for teams planning steady growth.

How much is Slack in general

Slack pricing ranges from $0 (free) to $15+/month per user. The Free plan covers basic messaging and a limited number of integrations and message history. Paid plans incrementally add full message history, larger integration limits, advanced security and compliance, and enterprise support. Large organizations often require custom pricing due to the scale and additional administrative needs.

Check Slack's current pricing tiers for region-specific rates, volume discounts, and any new plans or changes.

What is Slack used for

Remote teams: Slack is widely used by distributed teams to recreate informal office communication with channels for general topics, project work, and social interaction. Persistent channels preserve context and make onboarding easier because new members can read past conversations and shared files.

Engineering and DevOps: Development teams use Slack to receive build and deployment notifications, route incident alerts, and run on-call workflows. Integrations with CI/CD, monitoring, and issue-tracking systems surface operational data in channels so teams can respond quickly.

Cross-functional collaboration: Product, marketing, sales, and customer support teams use Slack to coordinate launches, share updates, and escalate customer issues. When linked to CRM and ticketing systems, Slack acts as an operational hub for cross-team workflows.

Information sharing and knowledge retention: Because Slack stores searchable history (on paid plans), it functions as a lightweight knowledge repository. Teams use pinned messages, shared files, and channel naming conventions to organize recurring resources and documentation.

Pros and cons of Slack

Pros:

• Centralized conversations: Channels and threads reduce fragmented email chains and keep related discussions in one place.
• Rich integrations: Extensive app ecosystem and the Slack API enable automated alerts, bots, and workflow automation that connect external tools directly into conversations.
• Searchable history: Paid plans retain full message and file history, improving institutional memory and onboarding.
• Flexible access: Desktop, web, and mobile clients provide consistent experiences across platforms.

Cons:

• Notification overload: Without clear channel hygiene and notification practices, teams can experience high noise and distraction.
• Cost at scale: Per-seat pricing can become costly for large organizations, especially when many users are infrequent participants.
• Fragmentation risk: Multiple workspaces and excessive private channels can fragment information and complicate discovery.
• Limited synchronous meeting capabilities: While Slack offers calls and screen sharing, some teams prefer dedicated video platforms for larger meetings and webinars.

Balancing channel governance, notification settings, and integration policies helps teams keep Slack productive rather than distracting.

Slack free trial

Slack does not usually run a time-limited free trial in the same way SaaS products do because the Free Plan is available indefinitely for small teams. Teams can sign up for the free workspace and then upgrade to a paid tier when they need features such as full message history, more integrations, or enterprise-level security.

For organizations evaluating Slack at scale, vendors commonly offer a trial period or pilot on a paid plan through a sales engagement so admins can test compliance exports, SSO, and provisioning before committing. Enterprises negotiating contracts can request proof-of-concept deployments and temporary access to higher-tier features for evaluation.

To evaluate Slack, create a test workspace, invite representative users from different teams, connect a few critical integrations, and simulate typical workflows such as incident alerts, standups, or customer notifications to measure the operational impact.

Is Slack free

Yes, Slack offers a Free plan for small teams with messaging, channels, direct messages, and a limited integration set. The Free plan imposes limits on searchable message history and the number of integrations that can be configured, and lacks advanced administrative controls available on paid plans.

Teams that require unlimited message history, administrative controls, SSO, and compliance tools should evaluate the Pro or Business+ plans or request an Enterprise Grid quote for large deployments.

Slack API

Slack provides a mature, well-documented API ecosystem at the Slack API documentation. The platform supports building bots, slash commands, interactive message components (buttons, menus), event subscriptions, and OAuth-based app installation. Developers can create apps that post messages, respond to user actions, and query workspace data within the permission scope granted by workspace administrators.

Key components of the API include the Web API for direct method calls, the Events API for subscribed workspace events, and the Real Time Messaging (RTM) API for websocket-style real-time connections (though many new apps use Events + Web API patterns). Slack also offers the Bolt SDKs in multiple languages to simplify common development tasks and samples for common use cases like ticket creation, alert routing, and standup bots.

For enterprise scenarios, Slack supports granular OAuth scopes, app manifest configuration, and workspace-wide app approvals. Admins can restrict which apps can be installed and use enterprise controls to audit app usage. Slack also provides developer tools for testing and a sandboxing approach for local development.

Check the Slack API documentation for integration guides, rate limits, permission scopes, and developer best practices.

10 Slack alternatives

• Microsoft Teams — Full-featured collaboration platform tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 services, offering channels, video meetings, and Office file collaboration.
• Discord — Originally focused on gaming communities, Discord provides persistent voice channels, text channels, and lightweight moderation tools suitable for informal team communication.
• Google Chat — Integrated with Google Workspace, Google Chat offers spaces, threaded messages, and deep integration with Drive and Calendar.
• Zoom — Primarily a video-first platform, Zoom offers chat channels and meeting-centric collaboration that teams sometimes use alongside other messaging tools.
• Mattermost — Open core messaging platform offering on-premises and cloud deployments, favored for self-hosting and data control.
• Rocket.Chat — Open source team chat that supports self-hosting, customization, and on-premises data storage for security-conscious organizations.
• Flock — Team messaging with built-in productivity apps, focused on small and medium businesses with lower-cost plans.
• Twist — Asynchronous-first team messaging that emphasizes threads and reduced real-time noise for focused workflows.
• Chanty — Simple team chat with a built-in task management layer for small teams.
• Workplace from Meta — Social-graph-oriented collaboration platform aimed at large organizations with features like groups, live video, and directory integration.

Paid alternatives to Slack

• Microsoft Teams: Deep Microsoft 365 integration, video conferencing, and enterprise identity controls; often bundled with Office 365 licensing.
• Zoom: Strong for video meetings with added chat and channel features; often chosen when enterprise video quality is a priority.
• Google Chat: Included with Google Workspace, offering native collaboration on Drive files and calendar scheduling within conversations.
• Flock: Lower-cost alternative with messaging, to-dos, and polls aimed at SMBs.
• Workplace from Meta: Enterprise social collaboration with familiar Facebook-like interface and organizational directory features.

Open source alternatives to Slack

• Mattermost: Open source with on-premises hosting, channel-based messaging, and extensive customization hooks for security-sensitive deployments.
• Rocket.Chat: Community-driven open source chat with options for self-hosting, custom integrations, and regulatory control over data.
• Matrix / Element: Decentralized open standard (Matrix) with Element as a popular client; supports bridging to other platforms and self-hosted homeservers.
• Zulip: Open source chat with a stream-and-topic model that enforces threaded conversation structure to reduce noise.

Frequently asked questions about Slack

What is Slack used for?

Slack is used for team communication and collaboration. Teams use channels, direct messages, and threaded conversations to coordinate work, share files, and surface notifications from integrated tools. It replaces many internal emails with real-time and asynchronous messaging and connects external systems through integrations and apps.

Does Slack integrate with Google Workspace?

Yes, Slack integrates with Google Workspace. Integrations allow sharing Drive files into channels with permissions checks, adding Calendar event summaries into channels, and connecting Gmail or other Google services for notifications and quick actions.

How much does Slack cost per user?

Slack starts at $8/month per user when billed annually for the Pro plan. Higher tiers such as Business+ increase per-user costs and add enterprise features, while Enterprise Grid uses custom pricing for large organizations.

Is there a free version of Slack?

Yes, Slack has a Free plan. The Free plan supports unlimited users but limits searchable message history, the number of integrations, and advanced administrative features. It's suitable for small teams or evaluation before upgrading.

Can Slack be used for customer support alerts?

Yes, Slack is often used for customer support alerts. Integrations with ticketing systems and webhooks let support teams receive real-time notifications about high-priority tickets, SLA breaches, and customer escalations directly in designated channels.

Does Slack support single sign-on (SSO)?

Yes, Slack supports SAML-based single sign-on. SSO and SCIM provisioning are available on paid plans, letting administrators manage access through identity providers and automate user provisioning and deprovisioning.

Can I search Slack message history?

Yes, searchable message history is available and unlimited on paid plans. The Free plan restricts the amount of searchable history, while Pro and Business+ keep full history searchable and Enterprise Grid provides additional compliance and e-discovery tools.

What developer tools does Slack provide?

Slack offers a comprehensive API and SDKs. The platform supports the Web API, Events API, interactive components, and the Bolt SDK for common languages. Developers can build bots, slash commands, and full-featured apps that operate within workspaces.

How secure is Slack?

Slack implements enterprise-grade security features. The service supports encryption in transit and at rest, SSO, two-factor authentication, audit logs, and compliance controls; enterprise plans add advanced security capabilities and administrative controls for large organizations. See Slack's enterprise security features for specifics.

Can I export data from Slack?

Yes, data export is supported with plan-dependent limitations. Paid plans and enterprise agreements provide export capabilities, with Enterprise Grid offering org-wide exports and extended compliance features. Administrators can configure retention policies and export settings to meet legal and regulatory needs.

Slack careers

Slack maintains a global presence with engineering, product, design, sales, and customer-facing roles. Career opportunities often highlight work on real-time systems, security, and large-scale integrations. Job listings and role descriptions are available on Slack's corporate careers page, and candidates typically encounter technical interviews, case studies, and culture fit assessments during the hiring process.

Large employers that adopt Slack may also offer internal positions focused on platform administration, integrations, and internal developer experience to manage app ecosystems and governance. These internal roles handle provisioning, app approvals, and training to ensure company-wide usage aligns with security and productivity goals.

Slack affiliate

Slack has an affiliate and partner ecosystem made up of technology partners, consulting partners, and app developers who resell, implement, or extend Slack. Partners help with migration, custom integrations, training, and governance for teams adopting Slack at scale. Businesses evaluating Slack can work with certified partners for pilot deployments and enterprise rollouts.

Where to find Slack reviews

You can find user reviews and comparative analysis of Slack on major software review sites and industry publications. For crowdsourced user feedback, consult product review platforms and case studies that describe real-world deployments, integration stories, and ROI measurements. Also review Slack’s own customer stories and the Slack Help Center for practical usage examples and administrative guidance.

For the most current plan details and official documentation, review Slack's current pricing tiers, the Slack API documentation, and Slack's enterprise security features.