Slack
Team Communication · Free · since 2013
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Slack is the dominant team messaging platform, used by millions of teams worldwide. It organizes conversations into channels, supports threads, file sharing, and has thousands of integrations.
The free tier is generous for small teams but limits message history to 90 days. Paid plans start at $7.25/user/month, which adds up quickly for larger organizations.
pros
- Massive integration ecosystem with 2,400+ apps
- Excellent search across all messages and files
- Familiar interface that most people already know
- Strong API for custom bots and workflows
cons
- Expensive at scale — costs add up fast with large teams
- Can become noisy and distracting with many channels
- Free tier limits message history to 90 days
- Desktop app is resource-heavy
top Slack alternatives
Microsoft Teams All-in-one communication platform with chat, video meetings, and Office 365 integration. Free 
Discord Voice, video, and text communication platform originally built for gaming, now used by communities and teams. Free M Mattermost Open-source, self-hosted team messaging platform for organizations that need data sovereignty. Free 
Rocket.Chat Open-source communication platform with team chat, video, and omnichannel customer engagement. Free 
Element Decentralized, end-to-end encrypted messaging built on the Matrix protocol. Free 
Google Chat Team messaging built into Google Workspace with Spaces, threads, and deep Google app integration. $6/user/mo Slack compared
Slack vs Microsoft Teams · Slack vs Discord · Slack vs Mattermost · Slack vs Rocket.Chat · Slack vs Element · Slack vs Google Chat · Slack vs Lark · Slack vs Twist
more team communication tools
Microsoft Teams All-in-one communication platform with chat, video meetings, and Office 365 integration. Free Discord Voice, video, and text communication platform originally built for gaming, now used by communities and teams. Free M Mattermost Open-source, self-hosted team messaging platform for organizations that need data sovereignty. Free Rocket.Chat Open-source communication platform with team chat, video, and omnichannel customer engagement. Free Element Decentralized, end-to-end encrypted messaging built on the Matrix protocol. Free Google Chat Team messaging built into Google Workspace with Spaces, threads, and deep Google app integration. $6/user/mo