Slack vs. Microsoft Teams: Which collaboration app is better?

Slack vs. Microsoft Teams: Which collaboration app is better?

Snigdha
By Snigdha | Last Updated on April 6th, 2024 12:59 pm

Though they would never admit it, Microsoft created Teams to compete with Slack. Chat-based collaboration apps are critical for the smooth functioning of any modern business, and Slack and Teams are the two most popular platforms for this purpose. As we were hit by the pandemic recently, the importance of facilitating work from home and remote working emerged as a priority.

Table of Contents

As Microsoft Teams was launched in direct competition with Slack, the future of the app seemed bleak until it was acquired in 2021 by Salesforce - the giant in the enterprise software industry. Before the acquisition, one of Slack's biggest challenges was that Microsoft offered their Teams software free as a part of most of their Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans. However, with Salesforce backing it, Slack can breathe a little easy. In this battle of Slack vs. Teams, often, it is the users who emerge victorious. That’s because, in this competition, both parties strive to outperform the other in all aspects. However, there’s a way that you, as users, can further boost the potential of these useful applications - Appy Pie Connect. You can integrate Slack with thousands of other apps on the platform, explore Microsoft Teams integrations, or even integrate Slack and Microsoft Teams to expand its scope.

Slack vs. Microsoft Teams: Feature & performance comparison

Both the names are massive, and choosing between Slack and MS Teams can be quite a conundrum for users. To help you make this choice, I have put together a feature-wise comparison between Slack and Microsoft Teams to help you figure out which works the best for you. Let’s take a look.

  1. Interface & Ease of Use?

    2. Both the platforms have fairly easy to navigate interfaces with the chat functionality being the focal point. At first glance, you will only notice the stylistic differences. For example, Slack has a more casual, if slightly chaotic look and feel, whereas Microsoft Teams has more of a professional, almost corporate feel. Slack has more customization options on offer while Teams only offers three preset options default (light), dark, and high contrast. Both the platforms have their primary navigation in a sidebar on the left side with Teams focusing subtly on teams and Slack on channels. One aspect where Slack clearly scores better is the search feature. But when it comes to text formatting, Teams is a clear winner with its word processing-like experience where you can edit font color and font size, insert a table, undo and redo typing, apply paragraph style, and more.

  2. Channels

    3. Microsoft Teams and Slack have options for private conversations and channels which can easily be accessed from the sidepanel on the left. In MS Teams, you can create a structured team within the app and lets you add a certain measure of security. As you create a Team for a specific project or a department, a corresponding Office 365 group is automatically created and integrated with Teams and other apps in the Microsoft ecosystem.Additionally, you can also create a private channel which lets you add a layer of security for specific user subsets within the Team. Slack has channel management tools letting the primary owners carry out multiple activities including, managing posting permissions, renaming channels, archiving channels, and more. Also, users can share any given channel with up to 19 other organizations, creating a secure medium for flawless external communication and productive collaboration. In the paid versions, you also have the option to directly send emails to Slack channels using unique email addresses. However,

  3. Meetings

    4. Slack and MS Teams, both have exceptional online audio and video conferencing feature. Teams has years of Microsoft’s experience behind it, and is perfect for catering to small, medium and large sized businesses for their communication needs. Slack, in its free version offers one-one calling which when upgraded to a paid plan allows 15 participants with screen sharing capabilities. Teams, on the other hand offers a free plan that lets you host meetings with up to 250 participants. The paid plan for Teams lets you use Teams live events to host meetings, webinars, and company-wide events on a massive scale with up to 10,000 attendees within, or outside the organization. Clearly Microsoft Teams is a winner here.

  4. Integrations

    5. Teams and Slack both have numerous bots and third-party applications to boost the scope and functionality of the apps while improving the overall user experience. Slack is the clear leader here with more than 1500 third-party applications available. Teams, on the other hand, has the power of Office 365 which offers multiple powerful apps integrated already in the Microsoft ecosystem. Slackbot and Who bot are of great help to the app users when they are looking for specific answers or operations. Slackbot is great for streamlining tasks and automating tasks like setting alarms, reminders, and more. However, with Appy Pie Connect, it is possible to expand the scope of Slack integrations and Microsoft Teams integrations without coding in an affordable way.

  5. Pricing

    6. Both Microsoft Teams and Slack offer a free plan, but offer entirely different features and services in it. Let’s discuss them one by one.

Microsoft Teams Free Plan

In the free plan, MS Teams lets you add maximum 300 users per organization, file storage of 2GB per user and 10 GB shared storage, offers guest access, one on one and group online audio and video conference calls, channel meetings, screen sharing, unlimited app integrations, unlimited chat messages, but does not offer two-factor authentication.

Slack Free Plan

In the free plan, Slack lets you add unlimited users from your organization, 5GB total storage, one on one and group online audio and video conference calls, screen sharing, maximum 10 app integrations, upto 10K most recent chat messages, two-factor authentication, but does not offer guest access or channel meetings.

Top 5 Microsoft Teams integrations

  1. Microsoft Teams and Evernote integration

    2. Microsoft Teams is a fantastic collaboration platform that lets you communicate better within and outside the organization. Evernote, on the other hand, is brilliant for organizing every little aspect of your business and personal tasks.

    Popular ways to integrate Microsoft Teams and Evernote

    • Create a new note on Evernote whenever a new meeting is created on Microsoft Teams.
    • Create a new meeting in Microsoft Teams whenever a new note is created on Evernote.
    • Create a new Channel on Microsoft Teams whenever a notebook is created on Evernote.

  2. Microsoft Teams and BambooHR integration

    3. BambooHR is one of the most popular HR management software solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. This brilliant cloud-based solution is perfect for streamlining and centralizing all employee information into a single database.

    Popular ways to integrate Microsoft Teams and BambooHR

    • Create a new employee on BambooHR whenever a new user is added in the group's user list on Microsoft Teams.
    • Let employees directly access the feedback left by the manager on any employee in BambooHR can be directly accessed by the employee through Microsoft Teams.
    • Send direct interview invitations from BambooHR through Microsoft Teams without switching back and forth between the two apps.

  3. Microsoft Teams and Pendo integration

    4. Pendo is one of the most popular product analytics apps that help software companies build products that are aligned with customer needs. You can use Pendo to gather feedback, user onboarding, customer journey design, and even feature announcements within your apps.

    Popular ways to integrate Microsoft Teams and Pendo

    • Create a chat on Microsoft Teams whenever a new visitor comes through Pendo.
    • Post a new message to a Microsoft Teams channel of your choice whenever a new visitor is added in the Pendo report.
    • Add a new member in a Microsoft Teams group whenever a new visitor visits through Pendo.

  4. Microsoft Teams and Expensify integration

    5. Expensify is an easy to use expense tracking app that automatically records your receipts and organizes them into usable data. This helps you save time on paperwork and focus on more constructive tasks.

    Popular ways to integrate Microsoft Teams and Expensify

    • Create a new expense report on Expensify whenever a new message is posted to a Microsoft Teams channel of your choice.
    • Create a single expense item on Expensify whenever a new chat message is created on Microsoft Teams.
    • Export report to a PDF document on Expensify whenever a new message is posted to a Microsoft Teams channel of your choice.

  5. Microsoft Teams and Google Calendar integration

    6. The time management and scheduling tool from Google, Google Calendar is one of the most popular free calendar apps. It lets you schedule appointments, meetings etc., organize your daily tasks, and more.

    Popular ways to integrate Microsoft Teams and Google Calendar

    • Add a new detailed event on Google Calendar whenever a new message is posted to a Microsoft Teams channel of your choice.
    • Add a quick event on Google Calendar whenever a new chat is created on Microsoft Teams.
    • Create a new quick event on Google Calendar whenever a new meeting is created on Microsoft Teams.

Top 5 Slack integrations

  1. Slack and Zoho CRM integration

    2. Zoho CRM is an easy-to-use customer relationship management platform that is perfect for small business owners and entrepreneurs to discover, engage, and retain customers.

    Popular ways to integrate Slack and Zoho CRM

    • Create a new entry in a Zoho CRM module whenever you star a message.
    • Add attachment to the selected Module entry on Zoho CRM whenever a new message is posted on a Microsoft Teams channel of your choice.
    • Add or update a contact on Zoho CRM whenever a new user joins Slack.

  2. Slack and Google Drive integration

    3. One of the most popular file sync app, Google Drive lets you store all your files online alongside your Google Docs files, Google Sheets file, photos, and more!

    Popular ways to integrate Slack and Google Drive

    • Create a new file in Google Drive from plain text whenever there is a mention of a username in a public Slack channel.
    • Create a new folder on Google Drive whenever you star a message on Slack.
    • An existing file is copied to Google Drive whenever a message is posted to a specified private channel or multi-dm.

  3. Slack and eBay integration

    4. eBay Inc. is a peer-to-peer marketplace that connects buyers and sellers from all over the world where they can buy anything, from new to used, collectible to rare, fashion to electronics, cars, real estate, and more.

    Popular ways to integrate Slack and eBay

    • Create a new product on eBay whenever a username is mentioned or a word is highlighted in a public channel.
    • Create a new product on eBay whenever a new Snack channel is created.
    • Create a new product on eBay whenever a message is starred on Slack.

  4. Slack and MINDBODY integration

    5. MINDBODY is a business management software for health, wellness and beauty companies and lets them automate everything from business tasks to payroll processing, helping business owners manage their business more effectively.

    Popular ways to integrate Slack and MINDBODY

    • A new appointment is created on MINDBODY whenever a message is starred on Slack.
    • Create a new sale on MINDBODY whenever a message is starred on Slack.
    • Create a new user or update an existing user on MINDBODY automatically whenever a new user joins Slack.

  5. Slack and Salesforce

    6. Salesforce is a customer service platform with unique social capabilities that lets companies align their business processes and customer service strategies to their customers, employees and partners needs.

    Popular ways to integrate Slack and Salesforce

    • Create a new contact on Salesforce whenever a new user joins Slack.
    • Create a new event on Salesforce whenever a message is posted to a specific private channel or multi-dm.
    • Create a new lead on Salesforce whenever a new user joins Slack or a new account is created on Slack.

Slack and Teams integration - Use Cases

  • Whenever a new channel is created on Slack, a corresponding new channel is automatically created on Microsoft Teams.
  • Whenever a username is mentioned, or a word is highlighted in a public Slack channel, a new chat is automatically created on MS Teams.
  • Whenever a new message is posted on a Slack channel you specified, a new message is automatically posted to an MS Teams channel you specified.
  • Whenever a new user joins Slack or a new account is created on Slack, a new member is added automatically to an MS Teams group.
  • Whenever a new message on Slack is starred, a new channel is created automatically on MS Teams.
These are only a few possibilities, and you can explore hundreds of more such actions by integrating these two collaborative apps together.

Related Articles

Snigdha

Content Head at Appy Pie

Most Popular Posts