All industries · alternatives
Alternatives to Slack
22 all industries tools sit alongside Slack in this directory. Below is what separates each from Slack on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 17
- Cheaper to start
- 9
- Slack starts at
- Free, then $7.25/month
Why people look past Slack
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Slack has a free tier, and starts at $7.25/month against a category median of $13.5/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Video conferencing that's easy, reliable, and secure
- Starts $7.74 a month dearer, at $14.99/month.
Pure instant messaging — simple, fast, secure, and synced across all your devices
- Starts $2.26 a month cheaper, at $4.99/month.
Free time tracker for teams
- Starts $3.26 a month cheaper, at $3.99/month.
Project management & team collaboration software
- Starts $7.25 a month cheaper, at Free.
The CRM that works for you, not the other way around
- Starts $16.75 a month dearer, at $24/month.
Design anything. Publish anywhere.
- Starts $10.75 a month dearer, at $18/month.
Every Slack alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slack (this page) | Free, then $7.25/month | - | - | |
| ZoomVideo communication and collaboration platform with screen sharing and meeting recording capabilities. | Free, then $14.99/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Slack |
| TelegramMessaging platform with group chat and channel capabilities, free and open-source. | Free, then $4.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs Slack |
| Clockify | Free, then $3.99/month | Freemium | 4 | vs Slack |
| Basecamp | Free | Freemium | - | vs Slack |
| Folk | Free, then $24/month | - | 3 | vs Slack |
| Canva | Free, then $18/month | - | 3 | vs Slack |
| HubSpot | Free | Freemium | - | vs Slack |
| Airtable | Free, then $20/month per editor | - | 4 | vs Slack |
| Bill.com | Free, then $49/month | - | 3 | vs Slack |
| Google Analytics | Free | Freemium | - | vs Slack |
| Forest | Free, then $39.99/year | - | - | vs Slack |
| Calendly | Free, then $10/month | - | 4 | vs Slack |
| Grammarly | Free, then $12/month | - | 2 | vs Slack |
| LastPass | Free | Freemium | - | vs Slack |
| ChatGPT | Free, then $20/month | Freemium | 2 | vs Slack |
| Any.do | Free, then $4.99/month | - | 2 | vs Slack |
| Bitwarden | Free, then $3/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Slack |
| Gusto | $49/month | - | - | vs Slack |
| Google Workspace | €3.4/month | Subscription | - | vs Slack |
| Expensify | $5/month | - | - | vs Slack |
| BambooHR | $10/month per employee | Subscription | - | vs Slack |
| Freshdesk | $19/month | Subscription | - | vs Slack |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Slack badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (17)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
Cheaper than Slack (9)
Entry price under Slack's $7.25/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
What you would be giving up
Slack is most often brought in for team communication, project coordination, customer support, remote work, cross-functional collaboration. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Slack is broadly right and the question is cost, the Slack pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the All industries category lists everything the directory holds, and best all industries tools ranks them.
Slack runs on web, ios, android, macos, windows, linux. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Slack alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Slack?
- 22 other all industries tools are listed in this directory, led by Zoom, Telegram, Clockify, Basecamp. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Slack?
- 17 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Zoom, Telegram, Clockify, Basecamp, Folk.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Slack?
- Yes. 9 of the alternatives below start under Slack's $7.25/month: Telegram at Free, then $4.99/month, Clockify at Free, then $3.99/month, Basecamp at Free, HubSpot at Free.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Slack?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Slack has a free tier, and starts at $7.25/month against a category median of $13.5/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Slack?
- Slack is most often brought in for team communication, project coordination, customer support, remote work, cross-functional collaboration. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Slack?
- None of the all industries tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Slack alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, All industries, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored slot runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Slack against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Slack covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every all industries tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the All industries category, 22 tools beside Slack. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.