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This is an editorial research comparison based on official documentation, pricing pages and the sources listed below — how we review. Prices and plans change often; confirm on the vendor’s site.
Slack and Microsoft Teams are the two default choices for team chat. For a tech company, the decision is rarely about messaging itself, since both do channels, threads and DMs well. It is about everything around it. Which tool will your code host, issue tracker and AI coding agents post into? How do meetings work? What will it really cost once you count the rest of your software bundle?
This comparison is for founders and engineering leads at small and mid-sized software companies. Chat is the connective tissue of a team’s stack, so it is worth reading alongside our pillar guide to project management tools for software teams, which covers how chat, trackers, help desks and CRMs fit together.
This is an editorial research article based on Slack’s and Microsoft’s official pricing pages, licensing notices, help and documentation pages, and the European Commission’s published case documents, checked in October 2026. Microsoft prices come from its licensing news pages and its Microsoft 365, Teams and Copilot plan pages, and Teams limits come from Microsoft Learn. We did not run our own tests.
Quick verdict
In our assessment, Slack is the stronger choice for developer-centric companies that live in GitHub, Linear or Jira and want AI coding agents in the conversation. Its app ecosystem, Slack Connect and the new Slack Code channels are built for that. Microsoft Teams is the better value when you already pay for Microsoft 365. Teams comes bundled with the Business suites, its meetings scale to 300 people on those plans, and identity and compliance sit in one Microsoft tenant. If your company runs on Google Workspace or a mix of tools, Slack is usually the easier fit. If it runs on Outlook, SharePoint and Entra ID, Teams usually is.
At a glance
| Dimension | Slack | Microsoft Teams |
|---|---|---|
| How it is sold | Standalone per-user plans: Free, Pro, Business+, Enterprise+ | Inside Microsoft 365 Business suites, as Teams Essentials, or as a separate Teams licence alongside “no Teams” suites |
| Free plan | 90 days of message history, 10 apps, 1:1 huddles; content older than a year is deleted | Microsoft Teams (free), listed for personal use: group calls of up to 60 minutes and 100 participants, 5 GB of cloud storage |
| Entry paid price | Pro: $7.25 per user/month yearly, $8.75 monthly | Teams Essentials: $4.00 per user/month, paid yearly |
| Meetings | Huddles: up to 50 participants on paid plans, 25 with video | Up to 300 people on Business suites and Teams Essentials; up to 1,000 on enterprise plans |
| External collaboration | Slack Connect: channels with up to 250 organisations on paid plans | Shared channels and guest access; external participants in shared channels need Entra work or school accounts |
| AI | Summaries and huddle notes on Pro; Slackbot agent, recaps and AI search on Business+ and Enterprise+ | Copilot Chat enhancements added to Business suites in 2026; Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed separately |
| Coding agents | Slack Code channels; Slack’s partner list includes Claude, Devin, GitHub Copilot, Factory, CodeRabbit and Vercel | Agents through apps and bots; for example, Factory supports delegation from Teams |
Price and packaging: standalone vs bundled
This is the core difference. Slack is a standalone subscription. Teams is usually part of a bundle you may already be paying for.
Slack’s plan line-up is Free, Pro, Business+ and Enterprise+. AI features are built into the plans rather than sold as a separate add-on on the current pricing page. Slack labels Pro’s features “Basic AI” and Business+’s “Advanced AI”. Enterprise+ is now listed publicly at $45 per user/month on annual billing, through sales. Slack’s Fair Billing Policy charges only for active members: someone who takes no action for 28 days stops being billed and you get a prorated credit. That matters for companies with many occasional users.
On the Microsoft side, prices changed twice in the past year. From November 1, 2025, Microsoft again sells its enterprise suites with Teams included to all customers worldwide, alongside “no Teams” versions. A standalone Teams Enterprise licence for those suites rose to $8.55 per user/month. Then on July 1, 2026, Microsoft raised list prices on several suites: Business Basic went from $6.00 to $7.00 and Business Standard from $12.50 to $14.00, while Business Premium stayed at $22.00. Microsoft says standalone Teams SKUs were not part of that update, and its November 2025 table lists Teams Essentials at $4.00, unchanged.
A useful way to read Microsoft’s prices is the gap between each suite and its no-Teams version. After July 2026, Business Standard costs $14.00 with Teams and $10.79 without, so Teams adds $3.21 per user/month to that bundle at list price. If your company needs Word, Excel, Outlook and SharePoint anyway, adding Slack Pro means paying $7.25–$8.75 per user on top of the no-Teams suite, instead of about $3 for Teams.
The EU unbundling and what it means now
Teams’ bundling was the subject of an EU antitrust case that started with a complaint from Slack in 2020. On September 12, 2025, the European Commission made Microsoft’s commitments legally binding and closed the case without a fine, as The Register reported. The Commission had market-tested them with rivals and customers first. The outline of commitments Microsoft proposed for market testing, published in the Commission’s case file, covers four things:
- Microsoft offers versions of its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites without Teams to customers in the European Economic Area, priced at least a fixed amount below the Teams versions.
- Customers with long-term licences can switch to the no-Teams suites.
- Rival chat tools get interoperability for key functions.
- Customers can export their Teams data.
Microsoft also committed not to raise suite prices only in the EEA. It can raise them there only if equivalent increases apply in the United States. The commitments last seven years, and ten years for the interoperability and data-portability parts.
Is this still relevant in October 2026? Yes, mostly as context. Microsoft’s November 2025 licensing notice lists separate “EEA no Teams” Business suites at the same price as its global no-Teams versions, so EU buyers have the same choice as everyone else, with a legal guarantee behind it. For a buyer outside the EEA, the practical effect is that “Microsoft 365 without Teams plus Slack” is a supported, clearly priced configuration everywhere.
Developer workflow and integrations
Both platforms connect to the tools engineers use, but Slack’s developer ecosystem is deeper and more often the first target for new integrations.
- Code hosts. GitHub publishes official integrations for both Slack and Microsoft Teams. You can subscribe channels to repositories, get updates on issues, pull requests, commits and deployments, and take actions such as commenting from chat. The Teams app also has a variant for GitHub Enterprise Server.
- Issue trackers. Atlassian provides a Jira Cloud app for Teams that can create and update work items, turn messages into work items and show live cards. Jira is also among the apps in Slack’s directory. Linear Asks turns Slack messages and emails (plus web forms on Enterprise) into triage issues. Teams is not one of its intake channels, though Linear lists a separate Microsoft Teams integration. Our Linear vs Jira comparison covers those trackers.
- Coding agents. Slack Code is a new channel type for coding agents. When you mention a supported agent, it can open a code channel holding its plan, repository and branch, diffs, pull request details and a live preview, and teammates can steer or stop it. The New Stack reported that it launched with Anthropic’s Claude, Cognition’s Devin, GitHub Copilot and Vercel, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT to follow. Slack’s Slack Code page now lists more partners, including Factory, CodeRabbit, Lovable and Mistral. It is available on any Slack plan at no extra charge from Slack, though each agent is licensed separately. See our GitHub Copilot review for one of the launch agents. Teams has no equivalent channel type, but agents can still work there through apps. For example, Factory’s documentation lists Slack, Linear, Jira and Microsoft Teams as places to delegate work to its Droid, as our Factory review explains.
Meetings and calls
Teams is a full meetings platform. Microsoft Learn lists meetings of up to 300 people on Business Basic, Standard, Premium and Teams Essentials, rising to 1,000 on enterprise suites. Meeting recordings are limited to 4 hours or 1.5 GB. If you run all-hands meetings, customer calls and webinars, Teams can replace a separate video tool.
Slack’s huddles are designed for quick, informal calls. Slack’s help center says paid plans allow up to 50 participants, with up to 25 on video, and two people can share their screen at once. The free plan limits huddles to two people. Most Slack-first companies also pay for a separate meeting tool, which you should include in the cost comparison. If you also want AI meeting notes across tools, see our comparison of Otter, Fireflies and Fathom.
AI features
Slack’s plan table in its help center lists conversation summaries and huddle notes on Pro and above. Recaps, file summaries, translations, AI search answers, AI workflow generation and the Slackbot personal agent are on Business+ and Enterprise+, and enterprise search across connected apps is on Enterprise+ only. The pricing page’s FAQ adds that Free and Pro users get only a limited trial of Slackbot. If AI is a reason you are choosing Slack, budget for Business+.
Microsoft added Copilot Chat enhancements (inbox and calendar awareness, plus access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint agents) to the Business suites as part of the July 2026 update. The full Microsoft 365 Copilot, which works across Teams meetings and chats, is a separate licence. Microsoft lists the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on at $21.00 per user/month paid yearly, with a promotional $18.00 for the first year on annual commitments bought by December 31, 2026, or $25.20 on monthly billing.
Pricing compared (as of October 2026)
All prices are USD per user per month and exclude tax. Slack prices are from Slack’s pricing page. Microsoft prices are list prices from Microsoft’s licensing news pages (November 2025 and July 2026 updates) and its plan pages, which show them as paid yearly on an annual subscription. Monthly billing costs about 20% more, and Microsoft notes prices may vary by country and currency.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Slack Free | $0 | 90-day history, 10 apps, 1:1 huddles and Slack Connect DMs |
| Slack Pro | $7.25 yearly; $8.75 monthly | Unlimited history and apps, group huddles, basic AI. New teams buying monthly within 7 days get 50% off for 3 months, then standard pricing |
| Slack Business+ | $15 yearly; $18 monthly | Advanced AI, Slackbot, SAML SSO, SCIM. Same 3-month introductory offer on monthly billing |
| Slack Enterprise+ | $45 yearly (via sales) | Enterprise search, enterprise-grade AI, multiple SAML configurations, EMM and DLP |
| Microsoft Teams Essentials | $4.00 paid yearly | Standalone Teams for small businesses; not part of the July 2026 price update |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $7.00 paid yearly, $8.40 monthly (no Teams: $5.40 / $6.48) | Raised from $6.00 (no Teams: $4.40) on July 1, 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard | $14.00 paid yearly, $16.80 monthly (no Teams: $10.79 / $12.95) | Raised from $12.50 (no Teams: $9.29) on July 1, 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | $22.00 paid yearly, $26.40 monthly (no Teams: $18.79 / $22.55) | Same as Microsoft’s November 2025 list price |
| Microsoft Teams Enterprise | $8.55 | Standalone Teams licence for enterprise suites bought without Teams |
See Slack pricing · Compare Microsoft Teams plans
Prices verified against each vendor’s official pricing page (listed under Sources). Plans, promotions and renewal prices change often — confirm on the vendor’s page before you buy.
Which should you choose?
- Choose Slack if your engineers will use the chat tool as a work surface: GitHub and tracker notifications, on-call channels, Slack Connect with customers or contractors, and coding agents in code channels. It is also the natural choice if your company runs on Google Workspace. Visit Slack
- Choose Microsoft Teams if you already buy Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise suites, need meetings for up to 300 people without another vendor, or want chat, files and identity in one Microsoft tenant with one bill. Visit Microsoft Teams
- Consider both only when there is a real split, for example an engineering team on Slack inside a Microsoft 365 company. Expect duplicated costs and a “which channel is this in?” problem.
FAQ
Can I buy Microsoft 365 without Teams outside the EU?
Yes. Microsoft’s November 2025 licensing notice lists “no Teams” versions of the Business suites with global list prices, plus separate EEA variants at the same price. After the July 2026 update, for example, Business Standard without Teams lists at $10.79 per user/month paid yearly. The July notice does not list EEA variants separately.
Does Slack’s 50% discount apply to annual plans?
No. Slack’s terms say the offer applies only to Pro or Business+ bought online on monthly billing within the first 7 days of creating a team. It lasts 3 months, after which standard pricing applies. It does not apply to annual plans or Enterprise+.
What happens to old messages on Slack’s free plan?
Free workspaces can see and search the last 90 days of messages. Slack’s help center adds that free-plan content older than one year is permanently deleted. Upgrading restores access to the previous 12 months of history.
Sources
- Slack pricing
- Slack Help Center: Slack plans and features
- Slack Help Center: Use huddles in Slack
- Slack: Slack Code (code channels)
- The New Stack: Slack has a new channel type, but only agents can create one
- Microsoft Licensing: Microsoft 365 pricing and packaging updates (July 2026)
- Microsoft Licensing: Microsoft 365 and Teams changes (November 2025)
- Microsoft 365: Compare business plans
- Microsoft Teams: Compare plans
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business pricing
- Microsoft Learn: Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams
- European Commission: Outline of Microsoft’s proposed Teams commitments, cases AT.40721 and AT.40873
- The Register: EU regulators let Microsoft off the hook after Teams unbundling pledge
- GitHub integration for Slack
- GitHub integration for Microsoft Teams
- Atlassian Support: Integrate Jira Cloud and Microsoft Teams
- Linear Docs: Linear Asks
- Factory Docs: Delegations (Jira, with Slack, Linear and Microsoft Teams listed)
