Slack vs Microsoft Teams: Which Should Your Team Use?
Slack vs Microsoft Teams compared: pricing as of October 2026, free plan limits, meetings, integrations, AI and which suits your team best.
Mythex Team · · 6 min read
Choose Microsoft Teams if your company already uses Microsoft 365, because it's included in most business plans and ties chat, meetings, Outlook, OneDrive and Office files together. Choose Slack if chat is the centre of how your team works, you rely on lots of third-party apps and bots, or you collaborate with many outside companies that already use Slack. As of October 2026 Slack Pro is $7.25 per user a month billed annually, while Teams Essentials is $4 per user a month and Microsoft 365 Business Basic, which includes Teams, is $7.
Slack vs Microsoft Teams at a glance
| Slack | Microsoft Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Salesforce | Microsoft |
| Strength | Fast, flexible chat and a big app ecosystem | Chat plus meetings plus Microsoft 365 in one |
| Free plan (as of Oct 2026) | 90 days of message history, up to 10 integrations | Meetings up to 60 min and 100 people, 5 GB storage per user |
| Entry paid price (as of Oct 2026) | Pro $7.25/user/month annual ($8.75 monthly) | Teams Essentials $4/user/month paid yearly |
| Suite option | — | Microsoft 365 Business Basic $7/user/month paid yearly ($8.40 monthly) |
| Higher tier | Business+ $15/user/month annual ($18 monthly) | Microsoft 365 Business Standard $14/user/month paid yearly |
| Meetings | Huddles for quick audio and video | Full meetings: up to 300 people and 30 hours on paid plans |
| Best for | Chat-first teams, startups, tech companies | Microsoft 365 organisations |
Sources: Slack pricing, Microsoft Teams business plans, Teams Essentials, Teams Free and Microsoft 365 business plans, checked October 2026.
How we compared
We compared the plans, prices and limits each company publishes on its own pricing pages, as of October 2026, in US dollars. We didn't run hands-on performance tests. Microsoft sells Teams both on its own and inside Microsoft 365 bundles, so we list both, and we note where the bundle changes the value. Where a page didn't state a figure, such as a participant limit for Slack huddles, we left it out.
Pricing as of October 2026
Slack
- Free: $0. Messages are saved and searchable for 90 days, with up to 10 app integrations. Slack lists basic AI features such as conversation summaries and recaps, though its FAQ says Free and Pro get only a limited trial of Slackbot.
- Pro: $7.25 per user a month billed annually, or $8.75 monthly. Unlimited message history and integrations.
- Business+: $15 per user a month billed annually, or $18 monthly, with what Slack calls advanced AI.
- Enterprise+: contact sales.
- New-team offer: Slack advertises 50% off Pro or Business+ for 3 months on monthly plans bought online within 7 days of creating a team. It doesn't apply to annual plans.
See Slack pricing.
Microsoft Teams
- Teams Free: $0. Meetings with up to 100 participants for up to 60 minutes, unlimited chat, and 5 GB of cloud storage per user. See Teams Free.
- Teams Essentials: $4 per user a month, paid yearly. Meetings up to 30 hours with up to 300 participants, and 10 GB of cloud storage per user. See Teams Essentials.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $7 per user a month paid yearly, or $8.40 with a monthly subscription. Adds business email and web and mobile Office apps alongside Teams.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $14 per user a month paid yearly, adding desktop Office apps.
Microsoft also sells Microsoft 365 plans without Teams at a lower price. See Microsoft 365 business plans.
What that means in practice: for a 20-person team, Slack Pro is about $145 a month on annual billing. Microsoft 365 Business Basic for the same team is $140 a month and also covers email, file storage and Office on the web. If you were going to buy Microsoft 365 anyway, Teams costs you nothing extra. If you use Google Workspace for email and docs, that bundle advantage disappears.
Chat experience
Slack is still the reference for team chat. Channels, threads, emoji reactions, search and a fast, uncluttered interface make it easy to follow many conversations at once. Teams that run on chat, like engineering, support and startups, tend to prefer it.
Teams has channels, threads and chat too, but it's a broader app. Chat sits next to meetings, calls, files, calendar and Office documents. That's a strength if you want one place for everything, and a weakness if you just want chat to feel quick.
Meetings
Teams is the stronger meetings tool. It's built for scheduled video meetings, webinars and calls, with paid plans supporting up to 300 participants and meetings of up to 30 hours as of October 2026.
Slack has huddles: lightweight audio and video calls you start from a channel or DM. They're great for quick conversations, but most Slack teams still use a separate tool such as Zoom or Google Meet for large or scheduled meetings. Our Zoom vs Google Meet comparison covers that choice.
Integrations and automation
Slack's app ecosystem is its biggest advantage. The free plan allows 10 integrations and paid plans remove the cap. Bots, alerts from tools like GitHub or your helpdesk, and custom workflows are a big reason developer and operations teams pick Slack.
Teams integrates deeply with Microsoft's own products: SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, Planner and Power Automate. Third-party apps exist too. If your automation runs on Microsoft tools, Teams fits naturally; our Zapier alternatives guide covers Power Automate.
AI features
Both bundle AI into higher tiers. Slack lists basic AI on Free and Pro and "advanced AI" on Business+ as of October 2026, with ongoing Slackbot access on Business+ and Enterprise+. Microsoft sells its Copilot AI for Microsoft 365 separately from the Teams plans above; check Microsoft's pages for current Copilot pricing in your region, as we didn't include it in the comparison.
Working with people outside your company
This often decides it. If your clients, agencies or partners are mostly on Slack, being on Slack makes shared channels easy. If they're large organisations on Microsoft 365, Teams is the path of least resistance. Ask your five most important outside contacts what they use.
Where a custom tool fits
Chat tools are where work gets discussed, not where it gets tracked. A common pattern is a channel full of requests, approvals or orders that someone copies into a spreadsheet by hand. That's a sign you need a small internal tool that does the job and posts a notification to Slack or Teams, rather than more channels.
With Mythex you can describe that tool in chat, such as a request tracker with a form, a status board and sign-in for your team, and publish it to a URL in one click, with a database added when the app needs one. Sending a message to Slack or Teams from the app is done through their webhook or API, which the AI writes as code; see how to add notifications to your app and our list of internal tool ideas for teams. For chat itself, stick with Slack or Teams.
Who should pick which
- Already paying for Microsoft 365: Teams.
- Lots of video meetings, including large ones: Teams.
- Budget is tight and you need chat plus meetings: Teams Essentials or Teams Free.
- Chat-first team, many integrations and bots: Slack.
- Your partners and customers are on Slack: Slack.
- Google Workspace company: Slack is usually the more natural fit, since you won't get the Microsoft 365 bundle value.
Verdict
Teams is the better value for organisations on Microsoft 365, and the better meetings tool. Slack is the better chat tool, with a bigger app ecosystem and a strong presence among startups and tech teams. Decide based on the suite you already pay for and the tools your partners use, then compare the price for your actual headcount.
Questions
Is Slack or Microsoft Teams cheaper?
Teams is usually cheaper, especially if you already pay for Microsoft 365. As of October 2026 Teams Essentials is $4 per user a month paid yearly, and Microsoft 365 Business Basic, which includes Teams, Outlook and OneDrive, is $7 per user a month paid yearly. Slack Pro is $7.25 per user a month billed annually, or $8.75 monthly, for chat alone.
What are the limits of Slack's free plan?
As of October 2026 Slack's free plan keeps messages saved and searchable for 90 days and allows up to 10 app integrations. Paid plans remove both limits. Slack also lists basic AI features on the free plan, with ongoing Slackbot access reserved for higher plans.
Can Slack and Microsoft Teams work together?
They're separate products, so people in one can't simply join a channel in the other. Companies that need both usually rely on shared channels with external partners on the same tool, or a third-party bridge. If most of your partners are on one tool, that's a good reason to pick it.
Is Microsoft Teams free?
Yes, there is a free version. As of October 2026 Microsoft says Teams Free allows meetings of up to 100 participants for up to 60 minutes and includes 5 GB of cloud storage per user. Paid plans raise meetings to 300 participants and 30 hours.