Slack

Slack is a messaging and collaboration platform for work, owned by Salesforce. Conversations are organised into channels by team, project or topic, which keeps discussion searchable and open to the people who need it, instead of buried in email threads.

Alongside channels and direct messages, Slack offers huddles for quick audio and video calls, canvases for shared documents, Workflow Builder for automating routine tasks, connections to thousands of third-party apps, and Slack Connect for working with people outside your organisation. AI features such as conversation summaries are included in the paid plans.

Key features

• Channels and messaging. Public and private channels, threads and direct messages, with search across message history.
• Huddles. Lightweight audio and video calls started from any conversation; the free plan supports one-to-one huddles only.
• Slack Connect. Shared channels and direct messages with partners, clients and vendors outside your company.
• Canvases. Shared documents that live inside channels and direct messages for notes, plans and reference information.
• Workflow Builder. Automates routine processes; paid plans add custom workflow steps, and Business+ adds conditional branching.
• Apps and integrations. Connects to other work tools; the free plan allows up to 10 apps.
• Slack AI. Paid plans include AI tools such as conversation summaries and huddle notes; Business+ adds file summaries, translations and workflow generation.

Who it is for

Slack is used by startups, small businesses, engineering and product teams, agencies and large enterprises. Developers often use it for alerts and integrations with code and incident tools. Small teams can begin on the free plan, growing teams usually need Pro for full message history, and larger organisations with compliance needs such as data residency, legal holds or data loss prevention look at Business+ or the enterprise plans.

Pricing at a glance

Slack shows prices in the visitor's local currency. Its pricing page did not display US dollar prices when we checked on 7 October 2026, so amounts are not listed here; check the page from your own location.

• Free: no charge, with 90 days of message history, up to 10 apps, one-to-one huddles and one-to-one external messages.
• Pro: paid per user per month, billed monthly or annually. Adds unlimited message history, group huddles and unlimited apps.
• Business+: paid per user per month, billed monthly or annually. Adds advanced AI, conditional workflows and more administration.
• Enterprise+: pricing through sales; adds features such as legal holds, information barriers and unlimited workspaces.

Prices as checked on 7 October 2026; confirm on the vendor's pricing page.

Things to consider

• On the free plan, only the last 90 days of messages and files are accessible, and Slack's help centre says older data is deleted after one year.
• The free plan limits integrations to 10 apps and huddles and external messaging to one-to-one.
• Advanced compliance features such as data residency, native data loss prevention and legal holds are reserved for enterprise plans.
• Busy workspaces can become noisy; clear channel naming and notification habits matter as much as the plan.

Getting started

1. Create a workspace for free at slack.com.
2. Set up a few channels by team or project and invite colleagues.
3. Connect the apps your team relies on, staying within the 10-app limit on the free plan.
4. Read Slack's plans and features guide before deciding which plan you need.