Overview
Slack launched in 2013 and quickly became the default communication tool for tech companies, eventually growing to 65+ million daily active users before being acquired by Salesforce for $27.7 billion in 2021. In 2025-2026, Slack has aggressively invested in AI across all paid plans, adding conversation summaries, thread recaps, and intelligent search that make navigating busy workspaces significantly easier.
AI Features — 86/100
Slack AI, available on all paid plans, adds: conversation and thread summaries that condense lengthy discussions into key points, huddle notes that automatically document audio conversations, daily recaps highlighting important updates you missed, and intelligent search that understands natural language queries and finds information across channels.
Integration Ecosystem — 98/100
With 2,600+ apps in the Slack App Directory, Slack functions as the central nervous system of your tool stack. GitHub notifications, Jira updates, PagerDuty alerts, Google Drive previews, and Salesforce records all surface directly in channels. For developers, Slack's API and bot framework enable custom integrations that rival dedicated workflow tools.
Pricing
| Plan | Price (Annual) | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 90-day history, 1:1 Huddles, 10 integrations |
| Pro | $7.25/user/mo | Full history, group Huddles, unlimited integrations, AI |
| Business+ | $12.50/user/mo | SAML SSO, data export, advanced compliance |
| Enterprise Grid | Custom | Unlimited workspaces, eDiscovery, HIPAA compliance |
The Bottom Line
Slack is the productivity hub for modern teams, especially those in the SaaS and technology sectors. If your organisation already uses Microsoft 365, Teams may be the more economical choice. For everyone else, Slack's integration depth, developer-friendly architecture, and increasingly powerful AI features make it the best team messaging platform available.