1v1 Pricing Showdown
Microsoft Teams Essentials vs Slack
Side-by-side pricing breakdown for Team Chat decision-makers
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
When choosing between Microsoft Teams Essentials and Slack for your team chat stack, the right answer depends on three things: your budget, the specific features you actually use day-to-day, and your tolerance for renewal-price increases. Below we lay out the prices each vendor advertises today (verified against their live pricing pages), the plan limits that decide whether they'll fit your team, and the features that differ between them.
Microsoft Teams Essentials starts at custom pricing; Slack starts at $10/mo. The cheaper headline price isn't always the cheaper total cost — renewal pricing, per-user fees, and overage charges can shift the math. Use the plan-by-plan tables below to model your actual spend.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| chat | Yes | — |
| video meetings | Yes | — |
| meeting recording | Essentials+ | — |
| file sharing | Yes | — |
| office integration | Business Basic+ | — |
| outlook email | Business Basic+ | — |
| sharepoint | Business Standard+ | — |
| max participants | 300 (Essentials) | — |
| guest access | Yes | — |
| encryption | Yes | — |
| channels | — | Yes |
| threads | — | Yes |
| huddles | — | Free 1:1, Pro+ group |
| workflow builder | — | Pro+ |
| app integrations | — | 2600+ |
| message history | — | Free 90 days, Pro+ unlimited |
| sso | — | Pro (Google) / Business+ (SAML) |
| compliance exports | — | Business+ |
| hipaa | — | Business+ |
| custom retention | — | Enterprise Grid |
Affiliate links — you pay the same price
Dive Deeper
Microsoft Teams Essentials
About the team chat category
Team chat pricing in 2026 is a commoditization story. Microsoft Teams Essentials at $4/user/mo annual undercuts everyone — if your team doesn't need Slack-specific features (Workflow Builder, third-party integrations), Teams is dramatically cheaper. Slack Pro at $8.75/user/mo annual is 2.2x Teams but wins on third-party app integrations (Zapier, Notion, etc.) and UX polish. Discord remains the community/gaming-first free option that some dev teams adopt. Rocket.Chat and Mattermost compete on self-hosting for data sovereignty. Enterprise Grid pricing is opaque and negotiable.
How to choose between team chat options
Answer three questions. First: are you already in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace? If Microsoft 365, Teams is free or included in your Business Standard ($12.50/user/mo). If Google Workspace, consider Google Chat (free, included). No need for a separate chat subscription. Second: do you need third-party app integrations? Slack wins on ecosystem — 2,600+ apps vs Teams' 1,200+. Third: data sovereignty / self-hosting requirements? Rocket.Chat Starter (free, up to 50 users) or Mattermost self-hosted — both offer enterprise-grade features without cloud commitment.
Building Your Business Stack?
Decision-makers comparing tools often need more than one category. Here are related comparisons:
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Microsoft Teams Essentials or Slack offer a free plan?
- Microsoft Teams Essentials and Slack both offer a free plan.
- Which is better, Microsoft Teams Essentials or Slack?
- Slack scores 9.1/10 compared to Microsoft Teams Essentials's 9/10 in our analysis. Slack ranks higher on features and value, but Microsoft Teams Essentials may suit specific use cases — see the feature comparison above.
- Are there other team chat alternatives besides Microsoft Teams Essentials and Slack?
- Yes. Our [Team Chat pricing comparison](/pricing/team-chat/) page covers all major providers with daily-verified prices. You can also see the [cheapest team chat](/pricing/team-chat/cheapest/) for budget-focused options.