Slack price: How Much Does Slack Cost for Various Slack pricing Plans and Tiers
HC
Admina Team
2023/09/04
What is Slack?
In the growing era of remote work and online collaborations, Slack has emerged as a powerful business communication tool. This platform is known for its ability to free users to bring all your communication together, making workspaces more productive and efficient. For businesses considering integrating this tool in their daily operation, one crucial factor to consider is its cost. In this article, titled 'Slack Pricing: How Much Does Slack Cost', we will delve into all aspects of Slack's pricing structure, helping you make an informed decision about whether it's the right tool for your business.
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As a pivotal communication tool in the professional sphere, Slack is known for streamlining collaboration by merging functions of the email, instant messaging, file sharing, and social media, all integrated into an easy-to-use interface. Employers and employees alike can utilize Slack to share their thoughts and ideas, circulate necessary documents, arrange and manage virtual meetings, and oversee all project-related communications.
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Slack goes a step further in organizing these dialogues by creating 'Channels', each dedicated to a specific topic, thus avoiding the confusion and congestion caused by lengthy email threads. The interoperability of Slack with countless other applications fortifies it as a comprehensive tool for boosting productivity.
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Whether employees are physically present in an office or working remotely, Slack ensures a smooth and steady stream of dialog. Prior to using Slack, keep a few things in consideration: your unique Slack name, your list of Slack Channels, chat windows, and names of people you have engaged in a conversation with.
Creating your Slack instance, users can select unique names, which then forms a part of their unique URL. The chat options in Slack include a direct message (DM) for person-to-person chat and Channels for group discussions. While the direct messages and Channels can be either public or private, the DMs between a maximum of eight users always remain confidential.
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How much does Slack cost?
Slack provides a range of pricing tiers to cater to diverse business requirements, presenting an effective solution for small scale operations as well as comprehensive packages for bigger companies. A free version is available, perfect for smaller functions, equipped with one-to-one voice and video call features, the capacity to sift through 10,000 messages and integration of up to 10 apps.
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For businesses seeking more expansive features, Slack presents a Pro plan at $7.25 per user per month (when billed annually), providing features like unlimited searchable messages, guest access, and group voice and video calls. There is also a Business Plus plan priced at $12.50 per user per month (when billed annually) adding on 24/7 support and guaranteed continuity of service.
For your convenience, here is a snapshot of the corresponding features and costs:
- Free: $0; 90 days of message history, file storage, 1-1 audio and video calls and up to 10 app integrations.
- Pro: $7.25; unlimited search and apps.
- Business+: $12.50; 50 participant audio and video calls, guest access, 99.99% assured uptime SLA and SSO.
Nonetheless, for businesses having unique demands, Slack offers custom pricing through their Enterprise Grid plan. For this, specific requests can be forwarded to their sales team for a detailed review and pricing.
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Slack’s Freemium plan
Designed specifically for small businesses and teams seeking to consolidate their communication channels, Slack's Freemium plan has been a favored option since its inception.
Through instant messaging, voice and video call features, file sharing provisions and an impressive archive of the most recent 10,000 messages, Slack upgrades chaotic email systems into neatly organized dialogues. Moreover, this package allows one-on-one conversations, group discussions and interaction with up to 10 external entities.
Although Slack's competitors, Ryver and Flowdock, lack a freemium plan, something unlike Slack's cost-free package has been available since its advent. Ordinarily, the notion of utilizing an effective productivity tool at no cost sounds immensely attractive. However, it’s vital to understand the business economics that prevent any tool from being fully accessible without a fee.
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Therefore, Slack's Freemium plan, while quite beneficial, does come with its limitations when compared with more premium alternatives, specifically in facets like historical message searching, app integration, and calling capabilities. Nonetheless, these constraints don't negate the effectiveness and value of Slack's Freemium package. It effortlessly facilitates coherent and efficient team communications, marking itself as a viable entry point for teams steering towards improved productivity.
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Slack Free plan : 90 Days of message history and file storage
Slack's Freemium Plan, though a popular choice among small teams and businesses for efficient project coordination, operates on the premise of a 90-day historical retention policy. This policy, while enabling a substantial degree of business communication, puts some limitations in place. One of the most significant limitations is its ‘ephemeral’ message storage system, whereby messages, including all attachments and files, are preserved up to a three-month period, beyond which they cease to be accessible.
Visualize needing to retrieve a link or document sent to a colleague a year ago; if you're leveraging Slack's freemium plan, it's impossible as the oldest messages gradually get deleted post the 90-day limit. This compels many teams to upgrade to the minimally priced $7.25 per user per month plan, which allows for a more substantial message history.
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Additionally, the freemium plan incorporates an inbuilt file storage feature, where diverse types of files such as documents, images, audio calls and videos can be uploaded for collaborative purposes. Similar to the message history, these files are also accessible for the same 90-day duration, after which they are no longer available. Despite these limitations, Slack's freemium plan still provides a platform for cost-effective and seamless teamwork, though with a capped historical access window.
Slack Free plan Up to 10 apps and integrations
The allure of Slack as a preferred communication tool lies not only in its robust functionality but also in its vast scope for integration. Boasting more than 2,400 available integrations, with new ones added every day, Slack essentially has the potential to be a one-stop-shop for all your productivity apps. If there's a resourceful app on the block, chances are there's a Slack integration for it.
Unfortunately, the free plan only allows connection with up to 10 applications, a limit users might swiftly surpass due to the extensiveness of web tools available. This presents a predicament for active users, compelling them to continuously add and remove integrations to abide by the limit. It is less than an ideal solution as it interferes with seamless operation and collaboration efforts.
The alternative to this integration roulette is upgrading to Slack's premium version, offering unlimited integrations and hence a comprehensive digital workplace. By converging third-party services and internal tools, Slack alleviates the need for frequent transition between different platforms. This significantly enhances real-time collaboration, improves response time, and prioritizes productivity. In essence, Slack's free plan provides a taste of its capabilities, but to fully optimize its potential as a command center, an upgrade to the premium version seems like a worthwhile investment.
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Slack Pro Plan Pricing
Slack’s Pro Plan offers a sophisticated yet affordable communication solution tailored for businesses that require advanced communication features. Billed annually at $7.25 per user or monthly at $8.7510.00 per user, the plan represents an economical choice offering excellent value for money.
The Pro plan includes group video calls for up to 50 individuals and screen sharing capabilities which amplify collaboration within your team. Moreover, businesses have the freedom to integrate unlimited apps to customize the platform according to their operation style. Also, priority support ensures swift problem-solving without delays.
Data security remains a prime concern for businesses. The Pro Plan addresses this concern by featuring an SSL and at-rest encryption, assuring the complete safety of the data.
A significant part of the cost that you pay contributes to the 20GB storage provided for each team member. This ensures that space never becomes a hurdle in sharing business-critical information among your team.
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Considering the advanced features coupled with robust security measures, the Pro Plan proves much more fruitful than its cost. Making it a strategic investment for businesses, irrespective of their size – Small, Medium, Large.
Suppose you're a medium-sized company with around 80 employees and everyone needs to be on Slack. For the Pro Plan, that amounts to a minimum of $700 per month or about $8,400 per year when billed monthly. This is a significant expense, particularly for larger teams. Therefore, It's crucial to note this plan, even with its multitude of advanced features, might hit the company's budget.
Slack Business+ and Enterprise Grid plans
In addition to its standard offering, Slack provides two advanced plans: Business+ and Enterprise Grid, designed to cater to organizations that need exceptional productivity tools tailored to suit their specific needs. These premium subscriptions come at an additional cost, but their added value and features have proven to be potential money savers for businesses in the long-run.
Opting for Business+, users expect remarkable integration with other applications and advanced security. This comes in the form of enhanced management capabilities and compliance features, costing $12.50 per user per month when paid annually or $15 per user per month for monthly payments. Significantly, Business+ assures 99.99% uptime and, in the rare case that this isn’t met, offers refunds as compensation, reducing financial losses caused by downtime. Moreover, Business+ users reap the benefit of round-the-clock support, adding to the enterprise plan and its overall value
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For larger, more complex organizations, the Enterprise Grid plan offers an exemplary suite of features that can be cost-efficient in managing broad-scale operations. With unlimited, interconnected workspaces and shared channels, collaboration becomes effortless and flexible. Additionally, Enterprise Grid offers enterprise-grade security, personalized support, data loss prevention, and a host of other features to ensure a streamlined and secure workflow.
Ultimately, both these advanced plans by Slack aim to create a conducive and efficient working atmosphere while assuring robust data protection; and though they require a greater upfront investment, they have been proven to save businesses money through increased productivity and reduced risk.
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How to pay less for Slack?
Using Slack can be economically challenging for small businesses, however, there exist several cost-saving strategies. One such strategy is moderating the number of users because Slack's charges are per user unlike other work chat platforms like Ryver that charge per team. A reduction in the number of Slack's users could significantly lower your expenses. However, it's important to strike a balance as reducing the team size on Slack could impede effective communication.
Another cost-effective method is to opt for an annual subscription plan, which is significantly cheaper than paying monthly for plans. This is a common trend in the software as a service (SaaS) industry. Additionally, Slack occasionally offers services credit – a marketing strategy intended to rope you into purchasing a plan. Leverage such offers to save money.
Slack also offers trial versions of free plans you could take advantage of. If you are associated with a non-profit, educational, or coaching organization, you are eligible for a free upgrade to paid plans or a substantial discount.
Remember, even after executing these strategies, Slack might still feel expensive or lack the desired features. In this case, consider exploring alternatives. Also, always monitor Slack’s website and social media pages for promotional or discount offerings to fetch the best value for your investment.
With its wide-ranging options for real-time discussion, Slack has positioned itself as the premier choice for many corporate entities. However, it's understandable if you're exploring alternatives to Slack due to legitimate reasons like budgetary restrictions or a quest for unique features. Other platforms like Microsoft Teams provide deep interoperability with MS Office, and Discord is a suitable platform for less formal team conversations. Trello stands out for its superior project management features while Zoho Cliq serves as a smart software solution. Flock is lauded for its intuitive user interface. With each platform boasting of unique benefits and potential drawbacks, your ultimate choice depends on your team's specific requirements.
If you want to continue using Slack and save costs, there are strategies to adopt. You can minimize the number of users you pay monthly, since Slack's pricing is per-user, unlike other team chat apps, like Ryver, that charge per team. Pay annually to reduce costs compared to monthly payments. Additionally, leverage any credits offered by Slack to familiarize yourself with a plan before purchasing it. Test its functionalities using the trial version, or leverage discounts if your organization qualifies as non-profit, educational, or coaching. However, if Slack still exceeds your budget or does not fulfill your expectations, it might be time to switch to another platform.
Looking for Slack alternatives
In contemporary work culture that predominantly operates remotely, the relevance of communication tools cannot be overstated. Instant communication and collaboration platforms like Slack are widely employed due to their convenience, but there is also an array of alternatives available, each offering distinct features to accommodate diverse business needs.
Arguably, one of the strongest competitors to Slack is Microsoft Teams. Its synergy with Office 365 makes it an appealing choice for major enterprises that utilize Microsoft's extensive suite of productivity software. Discord, originally designed for gamers, has notably superior voice chat features, making it ideal for real-time, voice-based team communication. Mattermost differentiates itself through its high degree of customizability and self-hosting options. And for smaller teams, solutions like Chanty provide uncomplicated, cost-effective solutions.
This comparison of various team communication applications clearly demonstrates that there is a digital workspace team collaboration tool for every organization's specific requisites. Notably, as per the pricing information compiled in our article, several of these alternatives prove to be more economically viable than Slack, and in some cases, they even outdo Slack in terms of their offerings. The high-level takeaway is that in this digital age, organizations have a wealth of options for efficient team communication tools that suit their unique needs and budget.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, Slack's pricing options offer value for a broad range of businesses, from small startups to larger corporations. Offering free subscription tiers to suit different requirements, from freemium to enterprise-grade, Slack proves to be a versatile and cost-effective communication platform. As remote work continues to grow, so too does the necessity for tools like Slack, aiding in productivity and efficiency. Understanding Slack's pricing structure is a key aspect of integrating this tool effectively. The decision largely rests on your specific business needs, size, and budget.
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