Slack vs. Microsoft Teams in 2025: Which Collaboration Hub Fits Your Team?
The work-chat wars are heating up: Slack and Microsoft Teams now serve a combined 360 million daily active users. Teams leads with 320 million DAU, while Slack retains a loyal base of ≈42 million power users. Both platforms excel at file-sharing, chat, and voice/video—but each shines for different cultures and tech stacks. Below is a data-driven comparison to help you choose (or justify using both).
Quick Stats at a Glance
| Criterion | Slack (Pro Plan) | Microsoft Teams (Business Basic) |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Active Users | ≈ 42 M DAU | ≈ 320 M DAU |
| Price (USD / user / mo, annual) | $8.75 (Pro) | $6.00 (Business Basic) $4.00 (Essentials) |
| native video limit | Huddles ≤ 50 people | Meetings ≤ 300 (≤ 1 000 on E-plans) |
| Third-Party Apps | 2 600+ directory apps | 1 900+ listed apps* |
| Best For | Startups, dev teams, API tinkerers | Enterprises, M365 customers |
*Microsoft doesn’t publish an official count, but analyst tallies hover near 2 000 integrations.
Strengths & Weaknesses in Detail
Slack: Speed, UX, and an Open Ecosystem
- Lightning-fast search. Slack indexes every message and file; predictive modifiers (“in:channel from:@alex after:Feb1”) surface answers in milliseconds.
- 2 600+ public integrations plus a thriving bot community—ideal for CI/CD alerts, Jira tickets, or GPT-powered assistants.
- Granular channel culture. Topic-centric channels keep information silo-free and discoverable.
- Weakness: Native video caps out at 50 participants (Huddles). You’ll need Zoom or Google Meet for all-hands.
- Weakness: Heavy threads and emoji can feel chaotic for formal workflows.
Microsoft Teams: Deep Office Integration & Enterprise Controls
- Bundled with Microsoft 365. If you already pay for Word, Excel, Outlook, etc., Teams is effectively “free.”
- Video scale. Host 300-person meetings on Basic plans or up to 1 000 attendees on E3/E5 licenses.
- SharePoint & OneDrive storage. Every channel maps to a SharePoint folder, simplifying retention and DLP policies.
- Enterprise compliance. eDiscovery, legal holds, and data-loss prevention are native.
- Weakness: UX feels heavier; switching tenants or orgs requires multiple clicks.
- Weakness: Fewer plug-and-play bots than Slack (though growing fast).
Decision Matrix: When to Pick Which
• You build software or iterate fast? Slack’s API and app directory outpace Teams for dev-centric automations.
• Your org already lives in Outlook and SharePoint? Teams keeps workflows in one license and one security model.
• You need large-scale webinars or town halls? Teams’ 1 000-participant meetings trump Slack’s 50-seat huddles.
• You want best-in-class search, emoji culture, and slick UI? Slack delights end-users and fosters community.
• You must satisfy ISO/SOC2 archiving rules out-of-the-box? Teams’ compliance center is hard to beat.
Presence Pilot Loves Both
Regardless of your chat camp, Presence Pilot plugs straight into each platform via one-click OAuth. Once connected, we poll “active/away” status every 15 seconds to 15 minutes (your choice) and store immutable logs for payroll, ISO 27001, or SOC 2 audits—without screenshot creep.
Got one team on Slack and another on Teams? No problem. Presence Pilot’s unified dashboard shows real-time presence and historical trends across both workspaces, letting you benchmark productivity and spot coverage gaps in minutes.
Final Thoughts
Slack excels at agility; Teams wins at scale. Either way, modern companies need trustworthy visibility into who was online when. With Presence Pilot bolted on, you can enjoy the best of both worlds—flexible collaboration plus audit-ready accountability.
Still undecided? Book a live demo, or browse the FAQ to learn how Presence Pilot safeguards privacy while delivering rock-solid data.
