Microsoft Teams dominates enterprise markets with 360+ million monthly users and integrated Office 365 ecosystem, while Slack leads in user experience with superior search, threading, and focused team collaboration at $12.50/user/month premium pricing.
Slack vs Microsoft Teams — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Choose Microsoft Teams if you're an enterprise with existing Microsoft 365 licenses, need integrated Office apps, or require 1TB file storage per user—it offers unmatched ecosystem integration and 45% lower per-seat costs. Choose Slack if your team prioritizes superior user experience, advanced search capabilities, and focused collaboration workflows, even at higher cost.
Cloud-based team messaging and collaboration platform with advanced search and thread-focused conversations.
Enterprise collaboration platform integrated with Microsoft 365 suite, offering messaging, video calls, and Office app integration.
Slack vs Microsoft Teams — Comparison Data
Structured comparison data for Slack vs Microsoft Teams with 216 attributes.
Paid Workspaces/Users (Enterprise Adoption)
Annual Subscription Cost (Pro, 100 users)
Maximum video call participants (free tier)
Monthly Subscription Cost (Pro/Standard)
Maximum Video Conference Participants (Free)
Maximum Free Tier Group Meeting Duration
Advanced Chat Features (Channels, Threading, Workflows)
3-Year Total Cost of Ownership (1,000 users)
Enterprise Deployment Adoption (500+ seat orgs)
3-Year TCO Advantage for 1,000 Users with M365
Free Tier Meeting Duration for Group Calls
Global Enterprise Video Conferencing Market Share (2024)
Annual TCO (1,000 users, 3-year average)
Slack vs Microsoft Teams — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Slack vs Microsoft Teams.
Yes. Microsoft Teams Pro costs $6.00/user/month compared to Slack Pro at $12.50/user/month—making Teams 52% more affordable. Teams offers additional value through 1TB OneDrive integration vs Slack's 100GB workspace, and included Office 365 apps. For organizations with existing Microsoft 365 licenses, Teams is often included at no additional cost.
Which platform has better search functionality?
Slack has significantly superior search with full-text indexing, boolean operators, and advanced filters across all historical messages. Microsoft Teams' search is functional but less powerful, especially in the free tier. If your team frequently needs to find past conversations and files, Slack's search capabilities are a decisive advantage.
Can I use Teams or Slack without Microsoft 365?
Yes, both platforms work independently. Slack requires no Microsoft products and operates as a standalone service. Teams also functions without Microsoft 365, though you miss out on the native Office integration benefits. However, Teams' primary value proposition centers on Microsoft 365 integration, so standalone Teams is less compelling than standalone Slack.
Which platform is better for large enterprises?
Microsoft Teams is better for large enterprises due to 360 million monthly users providing ecosystem dominance, native Microsoft 365 integration, superior file collaboration in Word/Excel/PowerPoint, and significantly lower per-seat costs. Slack leads in user experience but scales better for cost-conscious large organizations using Teams.
Slack's free version includes 90-day message history, 5GB file storage, and unlimited users. Teams free version offers 60-minute group video calls for up to 100 people, 5GB per user OneDrive storage, and unlimited chat history. Teams' free tier is more generous for video conferencing; Slack's free tier better for message searchability.