Author: Michael Gonyar / Source: howtogeek.com
If you have ever worked with a team on a project, you might be familiar with Slack, one of the better-known tools for group communication and collaboration. It’s not the only tool of its kind around, though, so let’s take a look at some alternatives.
What is Slack, and What Makes It So Great?
At its heart, Slack is a chat app. It lets teams chat in different channels, and in private direct messages. It remembers message histories, so it’s easy to go back and find discussions later. Slack is also extensible, offering an app ecosystem that adds everything from productivity and project management tools to analytics, office management, social integration, and more. It’s very easy to use, and you can customize it to do pretty much anything your teams needs.
Slack is free if you just want to chat with your team and don’t need loads of storage. The free version comes with 5 GB total storage—not huge, but it can still hold quite a few documents for team sharing. The free version also lets you search up to 10,000 of your previous messages if you need to reference old material. The free version also lets you use up to 10 third-party apps. You can use the free version for an unlimited amount of time, and with as many users as you want.
Slack also offers two subscription tiers:
- Standard: At $6.67 per user per month (if billed annually), the Standard plan adds unlimited message history, unlimited apps, 10 GB of storage per user, and some enhancements to advanced features like external users, compliance, and group video calls.
- Plus: At $12.50 per user per month (if billed annually), the Plus plan offers 20 GB of storage per user, fast tech support, and more administrative control.
A Slack team can include several thousand members, and in addition to a browser interface, there are dedicated apps for most desktop and mobile platforms.
So, Why Would You Want to Switch?
The main reason you might want to explore alternatives is the cost (if you need the features a paid Slack plan offers). At the per member pricing, the price of a large team can get expensive pretty quick. The fees add up quickly if your chat community is large. (Though it is important to note that you only get billed for the active users under Slack’s Fair Billing Policy.)
And if you want a free option that offers more features than Slack, there are alternatives…
The post The Best Alternatives to Slack for Team Chat appeared first on FeedBox.