Slack is a popular software for team communications and a staple for most businesses. While it offers a wide range of functionality for businesses, several of its core features are hidden behind its paid plans.
This article delves into the different Slack plans available, their pricing and benefits, and how Slack's pricing stacks up against competitors. We also discuss ways to save money on Slack pricing and, better yet, offer less expensive alternatives that can serve your business better.
How does Slack's pricing work?
Slack uses a freemium pricing model, combining free and paid plans. While Slack’s free plan offers core functionalities, users cannot access more advanced features. The higher-rated plans give users access to additional Slack features.
Selecting a plan will depend on balancing pricing with your business needs. You’ll need to decide if the extra features you’re paying for with a more premium plan are worth it.
The different Slack plans are:
Free
Pro
Business+
Enterprise Grid
Let’s dive into the features they include and how much they cost.
Slack’s Free Plan: What’s included, and should you use it?
What users can do on the Free plan
Unlimited users and direct messaging
Creation of channels for specific discussions
90 days access to message and file history
Up to 10 integrations with other software
What users can’t do on the Free plan
Limited app integrations
Data exports for all messages
No group video calls
What sort of business may benefit from using this plan?
Small to medium businesses (SMBs) with basic collaboration needs and budget constraints
Startups and small teams
Is it worthwhile for businesses of different sizes?
Valuable for smaller teams and startups
May be limiting for larger businesses
Slack Pro Plan: What’s included, and should you use it?
What users can do on the pro plan
Unlimited access to file and message history
Unlimited integrations with third-party apps
1,000 runs a month for premium workflows
What users can’t do vs. other paid plans
No guaranteed uptime, unlike the Business+ plan
Limited customizations to channel postings and permissions
No data export for all messages
Pricing
$4.38 per user per month
What sort of business may benefit from using this plan?
Growing businesses with expanding collaboration needs
Businesses looking for enhanced support and communication capabilities
Is it worthwhile for businesses of different sizes?
Valuable for mid-sized businesses experiencing increased collaboration demands
Slack Business+ Plan: What’s included, and should you use it?
What users can do on the Business+ plan
99.99% guaranteed uptime
Data exports for all messages
SAML-based single sign-on
What users can’t do on the Business+ plan
Support for data loss prevention and offline backup providers
HIPAA-compliant message and file collaboration
Pricing
$15 per user per month
What sort of business may benefit from using this plan?
Larger teams prioritizing advanced security and analytics
Is it worthwhile for businesses of different sizes?
Suitable for mid-sized to large businesses with complex communication needs
Slack’s Enterprise Grid Plan: What’s included and should you use it?
What users can do on the Enterprise Grid plan
All features available in the other plans
Built-in employee directory
Support for data loss prevention and offline backup providers
HIPAA-compliant message and file collaboration
What users can’t do on the Enterprise Grid plan
The enterprise grid plan gives access to all the features offered by Slack
Pricing
Custom pricing
What sort of business may benefit from using this plan?
Large enterprises with complex communication structures
5 ways to save money on Slack pricing
Depending on the size of your organization, even the cheapest Slack plan can be costly. Here are a few tips you can employ to save money on slack pricing
1. Limit the number of users
The paid Slack plans are calculated based on the number of users. Limiting the number of users registered on your Slack plan can help you save significant money.
Also, remove members from your workspace once they move to other departments or companies so you don’t get charged for them.
2. Pay annually
Most software offers significant discounts for paying for plans annually rather than monthly. For example, Business+ costs $15 when paid monthly, but $12.5 annually. So, by paying annually, you can save a lot of money for your business, which can be put into other endeavors.
3. Downgrade plans and use only the most vital features
Do you need unlimited app integrations and message history? If you don't, you may as well use the free plan. While more features are generally good, you don’t want to pay significantly more for features you hardly ever use.
By analyzing the features of each plan, you can determine which plan will suit the needs of your business best.
4. Switch to an all-in-one application like Lark
With thousands of business software designed for different productivity and collaboration needs, software subscriptions can be expensive. Slack offers great message and chat functionality, allowing team members to easily communicate. However, you need to use other software for other collaboration needs, such as task management. These multiple subscriptions can add up to thousands of dollars, even for a small organization.
Alternatively, Lark helps businesses solve all their collaboration and productivity needs under a single ecosystem and plan. Everything from chats to task management, calendar scheduling, document collaboration, and virtual meetings can be done in Lark.
5. Use free plans for non-core users
A great way to save money on Slack is by using free plans for non-core team members while reserving premium plans for key members. By limiting paid plans to just a select few core members, you can save money on Slack plans.
How does Slack’s pricing compare to competitors?
Here’s a breakdown of pricing and features offered by Slack and its top competitors.
Lark: The super app that doesn’t slack off
Lark is a comprehensive productivity super app designed to solve multiple business needs in one ecosystem. It gives users access to chat, video conferencing, task management, project management, calendar scheduling, and more under a single payment plan. This allows businesses to streamline work without hopping from one software to another and paying thousands of dollars for different productivity software.
Why choose Lark over other productivity software?
Save money
Rather than spending thousands of dollars for different productivity software to meet specific business needs, you can get a single Lark plan and all the tools you need. For example, we estimate that Lark can help a company of 100 employees using Slack, GSuite, and Zoom save $25,200 a year.
Find out how much Lark can help your company save with the price calculator.
Improve efficiency
Staying busy isn’t the same as being efficient. Lark improves your business’s efficiency, as no extra time or money is needed to switch from one software to another. Your team can complete an entire project without leaving the Lark software. You can do everything on Lark, from ideation, chats, calls, task management, project submission, and review.
Lark also makes the onboarding process as seamless as possible, as new team members don't need to learn several software platforms. This is one of the reasons why up to 37% of technical leaders want to see their company consolidate SaaS tools, which Lark does.
Collaborate seamlessly
Nothing is more frustrating than sending a message on Slack to schedule a meeting on Zoom for a document to be edited in Google Docs. With Lark, you can do all these and more without switching between apps. This enables teams to work together on a project without missing a beat.
Increase security
60% of the world’s Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) believe human error is the biggest cyber-security risk.
Lark reduces this likelihood, as your team members don’t need to log in and out of multiple software daily. Lark also adheres to several strict security and privacy protocols; therefore, you can rest assured that your data is safe.
Why choose Lark instead of Slack?
In addition to the above, one area where Lark stands out is its chat and messaging features. Lark Messenger allows you to share documents, schedule meetings, assign tasks, and approve projects without leaving your chat feed. Want to schedule a video call for 10 am tomorrow? All you need to do is highlight your message, add a task, and pick a time. That’s all. It’s really that simple.
Lark also helps you translate over 18 languages, schedule direct messages to be sent later, and automatically convert audio messages to text if you prefer reading. All these features are designed to help your team take action as fast and seamlessly as possible without breaking up the collaborative process to do other tasks off-app.
Furthermore, you don't need to lose all your Slack data when you move to Lark. Easily import your data from Slack to Lark in just a few minutes.
Common FAQs about Slack pricing
Is Slack’s free plan enough for my business?
This depends on the size of your business. Small businesses and startups can benefit from the free plan. However, the free plan may not offer enough features for mid-sized to larger businesses.
What support is included in Slack Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Plans?
For the Slack Pro plan, you get 24/7 support. For Business+, you get 24/7 support with a 4-hour first-time response. For the Enterprise plan, 24/7 support with a 4-hour first-time response and support for data loss prevention, e-discovery, and offline backup providers.
Can I add or remove users during the subscription period?
You can add and remove new users to your Slack workspace anytime during your subscription period.
To add users, invite them to join your workspace by sending an invitation through their email address
To remove users, access the workspace settings to remove users
Is there a discount for annual billing in Slack?
While you can pay monthly for Slack’s plans, their paid plans are cheaper if you pay annually.
What's Slack’s pricing strategy?
Slack offers a free plan and three paid plans: Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid.
Will Slack lower its prices?
Slack may lower its prices based on market conditions or competition; however, there’s been no long-term reduction of Slack’s prices.
Is Slack more expensive than Teams?
This depends on what you'd like to use the software for. Slack and Microsoft Teams both offer free plans with limited features.
Optimize how you conduct business with Lark
While Slack offers a wide range of pricing plans for different types of customers, it can be expensive for a large team to unlock some of the core features. With worldwide IT spending exceeding $4 trillion in 2022, businesses must take steps to curb spending.
Here’s where Lark stands out. It provides an entire suite of business and productivity tools in an affordable plan. This reduces the need for shuffling from one app to another and greatly reduces the cost of creating a stellar workflow.
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