Slack
Slack is a channel-based work platform where your team, apps, and AI agents like Slackbot collaborate in shared conversations.
Slack's bet is that AI agents belong in the same room as your team, and it is shipping that faster than anyone: Slackbot runs Deep Research on open-ended questions, builds dashboards as chat surfaces, and Slack Code lets a whole team review a coding agent's work in one thread instead of on one developer's laptop. Pick Slack if your work already spans a dozen SaaS tools and you want the coordination layer that saves the most time; Slack Connect plus Salesforce approvals in-channel is a real advantage over Teams. Think twice if you are all-in on Microsoft 365 or need on-premises deployment. And check the AI tiers before you commit: Slackbot Deep Research and Enterprise Search sit at Business+
Verified 6h ago · liveness 97/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/slack
- Engineering teams coordinating GitHub, Jira, and agent-assisted code review in shared channels
- Sales teams that want Salesforce records and Agentforce visible inside conversations
- Async-first remote teams using Clips, Canvas, and Huddles with AI meeting notes
- Organizations rolling out AI agents like Claude or Agentforce into everyday workflows
- Regulated organizations that require on-premises deployment
- Teams that will stall against the free plan's 90-day history and 10-app limit
- Companies fully invested in Microsoft 365 where Teams bundles Office apps more tightly
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Skip Slack if you need on-premises deployment for compliance reasons, or if your organization is all-in on Microsoft 365 and values Office app bundling over Slack's agent platform.
Enterprise Key Management is an add-on on the Business+ plan rather than included
Slack fits mid-size to large organizations: Free covers basic chat with a 90-day history cap, Pro at $4.38/user/mo billed monthly (3-month 50% promo; normally $8.75) covers unlimited history, Business+ at $9/user/mo billed monthly (3-month promo; normally $18) adds advanced AI and Slackbot, and Enterprise+ at $45/user/mo billed annually adds Enterprise Search. Cheaper than Microsoft 365 E5 at scale; more expensive than Discord or Mattermost for chat-only teams.
In short
Slack — Slack is a channel-based work platform where your team, apps, and AI agents like Slackbot collaborate in shared conversations. Best for Engineering teams coordinating GitHub, Jira, and agent-assisted code review in shared channels, Sales teams that want Salesforce records and Agentforce visible inside conversations, Async-first remote teams using Clips, Canvas, and Huddles with AI meeting notes. Free to start; paid plans from $4.38/user/mo.
What's new in Slack
Checked todayAcross the latest 3 updates: 3 changelog entries.
Slack for Mac 4.52.178
Mac desktop app updated to version 4.52.178 with bug fixes and code cleanup for smoother performance.
Slack for Mac 4.52.171
Mac desktop app updated to version 4.52.171 with bug fixes and code cleanup.
Slack for Mac 4.52.162
Mac desktop app updated to version 4.52.162 with bug fixes only, no major changes this week.
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Slack? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: October 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Channel-based messaging organized by project, topic, or client
- Direct messages and group DMs for private conversations
- Huddles for audio and video with screen sharing and AI meeting notes
- Clips for async video and audio updates in a floating picture-in-picture mini-player
- Canvas rich documents with a table of contents
- Lists for tracking tasks, approvals, and project progress
- Workflow Builder no-code automation plus code-based workflows
- Slackbot personal AI agent for summaries, Q&A, and task handoff
- Slackbot Deep Research for open-ended investigative questions
- Slackbot full-screen mode for focused agent work
- Slackbot skill sets grouping up to 25 skills invoked together
- Slackbot slide generation from a conversation thread
- Slackbot surfaces that build reports and dashboards in chat
- Slackbot sandboxed code execution
- Slack Code channels where teams and coding agents collaborate
About Slack
Slack organizes work into channels by project, topic, or client. Messages, threads, and direct messages sit alongside Huddles for audio and video meetings with AI meeting notes, and Clips for async video and audio updates that play in a floating picture-in-picture mini-player. Canvas holds long-form documents, Lists track tasks and approvals, and Workflow Builder automates handoffs through clicks or code. Slackbot is the in-product AI agent: it summarizes missed conversations, answers questions, generates slides and dashboards from a thread, and executes sandboxed code. Recent additions include Slackbot Deep Research for open-ended questions, a full-screen Slackbot mode, skill sets that group up to 25 skills you invoke together, Slack Code channels where teammates and coding agents plan and review in one thread, and an Agents & Tools landing page in the sidebar. Slack Connect extends channels to outside partners and clients, Enterprise Search reaches across connected systems such as Seismic, and the marketplace carries over 2,600 apps including Salesforce, Agentforce, GitHub, GitHub Copilot, Google Drive, ChatGPT, Claude, Zoom, Asana, Jira, Box, Vercel, and Workday. Salesforce approvals can now be completed inside Slack, and CRM capabilities bring Salesforce records into channels. It fits organizations coordinating across departments and with external vendors; if you need on-premises deployment or fully unbundled AI at the entry tier, look elsewhere.
Behind the Verdict
Slack has spent the last two years rebuilding itself as an agent platform rather than a chat app, and the current release notes make that shift concrete. Slackbot is no longer just a summarizer: the changelog shows Deep Research pulling from Slack sources and the web, skill sets grouping up to 25 discrete skills that you invoke as one, full-screen mode for focused agent work, and Slackbot Surfaces that render dashboards and reports directly in chat. Slack Code changes how engineering teams review AI output — instead of one developer babysitting a coding agent on their laptop, the whole team convenes in a code channel to write prompts, plan, and review in one thread. That is a genuine workflow difference, not a prompt wrapper. The platform layer is where Slack still outruns Microsoft. The marketplace carries over 2,600 apps, and the scraped integrations span Salesforce, Agentforce, GitHub, GitHub Copilot, Google Drive, ChatGPT, Claude, Atlassian, Zoom, Asana, Jira, Box, Vercel, Workday, and Seismic. Salesforce approvals can now be completed inside Slack, CRM data surfaces in channels, and the MCP tool for Lists lets AI agents read, write, and manage Slack Lists directly. Enterprise Search, which reaches across connected systems like Seismic alongside Slack content, is the single feature Teams has no clean answer for. Weaknesses are mostly packaging, not capability. Advanced AI, Enterprise Search, and CRM capabilities sit at Business+ or above; on the published pricing page, several CRM items like tracking leads and deals, managing support emails, and preparing for meetings are marked 'Upon Request' rather than included. Slackbot carries plan limits even on Business+ and Enterprise+, and Slack's own pricing FAQ links to a separate page for Slackbot plan limits and additional access — so budget for AI credit consumption above the seat price. The free tier's 90-day message history and 10-app cap will stall a real team quickly. Slack is the right pick for engineering-heavy or sales-heavy organizations coordinating across a dozen SaaS tools, especially those wanting Salesforce and Agentforce in the same thread as the conversation. It is the wrong pick if you are fully invested in Microsoft 365 and want Office bundles, or if compliance rules require on-premises deployment — Slack is cloud-only. Check the AI tier math before signing: the feature you actually want is often one plan up.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Slack actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
Create a Slack Code channel, invite the team and a coding agent, and write prompts together to plan a feature. The agent drafts code while the team reviews and comments in the same thread.
Outcome: Code review happens in one shared thread with full context, instead of scattered across one developer's laptop and a PR description.
Connect Salesforce to Slack channels so account records surface where deals are discussed. Approvals and lead tracking happen in-channel without switching to the CRM.
Outcome: Deals move forward with CRM context in the conversation instead of requiring reps to toggle between Slack and Salesforce.
Record a Clips video update, pin it to a channel, and let teammates watch in the floating mini-player while scrolling other channels. Huddles with AI meeting notes capture live discussions.
Outcome: Team stays current across time zones without scheduling meetings, and meeting notes are generated automatically.
Use Cases
- Real-time team communication across departments using channels and threads
- External collaboration with clients and vendors via Slack Connect
- Running Salesforce approvals and tracking leads and deals without leaving Slack
- Automating ticket creation, approvals, and data entry with Workflow Builder
- Catching up on missed messages with AI summaries, daily recaps, and AI search
- Coordinating agents like ChatGPT, Claude, and Agentforce for code review and data lookup
- Managing projects with Lists, Canvas, and shared files inside Slack
- Reviewing a coding agent's work together in a Slack Code channel
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-09-15
Limitations
- Slack is cloud-only, with no on-premises deployment option, which is a blocker for some compliance-heavy industries.
- The free tier caps searchable message history at 90 days and app integrations at 10, plus Slack Connect and Huddles at 1:1 only.
- AI features exist on Free and Pro at a basic level, but advanced AI, Enterprise Search, and CRM capabilities such as tracking leads and deals require Business+ or Enterprise+, and CRM items are sometimes marked 'upon request' rather than included.
- Slackbot carries plan limits even on Business+ and Enterprise+.
- On paid tiers, AI credit usage can add costs beyond the seat price.
- Slack's uptime has seen occasional incidents, so it is not ideal for teams that require guaranteed 99.99% availability.
- List prices are quoted in yen and differ substantially between monthly and annual billing.
as of 2026-10-08
Verification history
We have re-verified Slack 20 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Showing the 6 most recent of 20 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Slack tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Free
$0/mo
Ideal for
Small teams or pilots testing whether Slack fits their workflow before committing to paid seats.
What this tier adds
Free entry point: 90-day message history, up to 10 app integrations, 1:1 Huddles and external messages, basic AI including Slackbot and AI search, SAML SSO, SCIM, and native data loss prevention.
Pro
$4.38/user/mo billed monthly (3-month promo; normally $8.75/
Ideal for
Growing teams that have outgrown the free tier's history and app limits and need group meetings and unlimited integrations.
What this tier adds
Adds unlimited message history and unlimited app integrations over Free, plus group Huddles and group external messages; basic AI is included as on Free; billed at $4.38/user/mo monthly under a 3-month 50% promo (normally $8.75/user/mo).
Business+
$9/user/mo billed monthly (3-month promo; normally $18/user/
Ideal for
Organizations ready for advanced AI, AI workflow generation from a prompt, and AI search with answers drawn from conversations and shared files.
What this tier adds
Upgrades AI from basic to advanced, adds AI workflow generation and AI search with answers; billed at $9/user/mo monthly under a 3-month 50% promo (normally $18/user/mo).
Enterprise+
$45/user/mo billed annually; contact sales
Ideal for
Large enterprises that need Enterprise Search across connected apps and databases, multiple SAML configurations, and Slack Atlas org charts.
What this tier adds
Adds Enterprise Search, multiple SAML configurations, Enterprise Key Management (add-on on Business+), and Slack Atlas; billed at $45/user/mo annually, contact sales.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Slack's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Slack fits mid-size to large organizations: Free covers basic chat with a 90-day history cap, Pro at $4.38/user/mo billed monthly (3-month 50% promo; normally $8.75) covers unlimited history, Business+ at $9/user/mo billed monthly (3-month promo; normally $18) adds advanced AI and Slackbot, and Enterprise+ at $45/user/mo billed annually adds Enterprise Search. Cheaper than Microsoft 365 E5 at scale; more expensive than Discord or Mattermost for chat-only teams.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Slack — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Small teams get a workspace running in under 15 minutes with sign-in and channel creation. Connecting Salesforce, GitHub, or Workday through the marketplace takes 30-60 minutes per integration. Rolling out Slackbot skill sets, Slack Code channels, and enterprise security settings (SAML, SCIM, Enterprise Key Management) is a multi-day project with IT involvement.
Switching to or from Slack
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From Microsoft Teams: export channels and messages, map Teams channels to Slack channels, and reconfigure integrations like SharePoint and OneDrive to Google Drive or Box in Slack
- →From Hipchat: use Slack's importer to bring over channels and message history, then rebuild integrations that were Hipchat-specific
- →From Google Chat: recreate spaces as channels, import message history where supported, and move Drive sharing into Slack file sharing
- →From Mattermost: export the database, map channels, and reconfigure bots and webhooks to Slack's app framework
- →From email-based workflows: replace mailing lists with Slack Connect channels for external partners and Workflow Builder for internal approvals
- ↗To Microsoft Teams: export Slack messages and files, map channels to Teams channels, and rebuild workflows in Power Automate
- ↗To Discord: recreate channels and roles, accept that enterprise security features like SAML, SCIM, and data loss prevention will not carry over
- ↗To Mattermost: export history, redeploy on-premises or self-hosted, and rebuild Workflow Builder automations as Mattermost plugins
- ↗To Google Chat: map channels to spaces, migrate message history, and reconfigure integrations like Drive and Calendar
Integrations
Resources & Guides
- Resourceslack.com
Where work happens
We’re here to help you learn about Slack. Browse our collection of helpful articles and videos and find answers to your questions quickly.
- Guideslack.com
Guides
In-depth how-to from slack.com
- Quickstartslack.com
Where work happens
We’re here to help you learn about Slack. Browse our collection of helpful articles and videos and find answers to your questions quickly.
- Resourceslack.com
Resources Library
Visit our resource library for the latest e-books, training, setup guides and more. Discover how Slack works to suit your specific role and organisation.
- Resourceslack.com
Slack blog
Welcome to the official blog of Slack, your digital HQ. Discover the latest product news, innovations and workplace collaboration tips.
- Resourceslack.com
What’s new
Stay up to date with the latest Slack features and improvements.
- Resourceslack.com
Whats New
Helpful link from slack.com
- Resourceslack.com
Slack updates and changes
See what
- Resourceslack.com
Release Notes
Helpful link from slack.com
Tutorials & Learning
YouTube returned 6 videos for “Slack”, and we withheld 6: 6 could not be judged, because “Slack” is a single word that other videos use for other things. We are showing none, because we could not prove any of them are about Slack.
Tools that pair well with Slack
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Slack, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Lindy
Lindy is an AI teammate in Slack that runs agentic work, drafts your email, and builds the deck.
Plain
AI support infrastructure that unifies Slack, Teams, email, and in-app chat into one queue for B2B teams
Tana
Tana is an agentic meeting platform where AI agents file issues, draft docs, and update your CRM during live calls.
Alternatives to Slack
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