Over the past few weeks, I’ve been diving into some of the big differences between Microsoft Teams and Slack. I’ve used both services thoroughly at two separate jobs, and some of the topics I’ve already covered include retention policies, price, as well as our general argument for why I think Teams is better.
In the fourth entry to our series, I’ll now take a look at another key area where the two collaboration services share some space — apps and integrations. Where is Slack better than Teams in this area? And where is Teams better than Slack? Let me dive deeper.
Slack edges out Teams with 800+ integrations
One of the biggest advantages of Slack over Microsoft Teams is the number of integrations (or “apps”) it supports. For businesses, the more integrations a service supports, the more convenient it is to use. That also means more streamlined workflows, especially when it comes to common tasks like pulling reports, filing tickets, or starting sales calls.
Currently, there are well over 800 integrations (or “apps”) listed on the Slack store. Slack even encourages developers to build apps for the collaboration service, so that means the possibilities are endless.
These apps all range from productivity options like Google Drive, or Google Calendar to more marketing and finance apps like HubSpot, or CouplaMessenger. There’s also everyone’s favorite integration with Giphy, and a connector for Microsoft’s rival, Salesforce.
There are even integrations with other collaboration services like Zoom and DropBox — which are all available on Teams as well. Naturally, though, some of these integrations with Google apps are not found on Teams, and integrating Google services wouldn’t as easy.
That’s not to say that Slack doesn’t integrate with Microsoft services. You can still add the Office 365 apps to Slack. It’s possible to connect an Outlook calendar to see reminders, set up invites and more. You also can send Outlook emails to Slack and share OneDrive files, but the Microsoft integrations essentially end there.
Teams integrations are slowly growing and catching up to Slack
At the time of publication, Microsoft Teams currently holds roughly 202 integrations and apps. Just like with Slack, the options range from analytics, collaboration, finance, and productivity. Some examples include Sociable, YouTube, Quizlet, Twitter, Google Analytics, and Facebook Pages.
While that number is still small compared to what is offered with Slack, Microsoft is actively encouraging developers to build apps for Teams. That means that for the average company, the integrations with certain third-party services might not be in Teams. However, it isn’t an entire loss.
The greatest integration with Teams is with Microsoft’s own services. Since it is included with Office 365, you can get access to Planner, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more. Also included is OneNote for all notetaking tasks. Not everyone might need access to a service like Asana, or Trello as Microsoft already offers an alternate included with Teams. Why pay more for a service that you can get for free?
…It’s a bigger problem for Teams
As much as I love Microsoft Teams, there’s still a problem with it, and a need to look at the other side of the story. While Teams does offer some of the same integrations like Slack, it is bundled as part of the Microsoft Office 365 moniker.
As I’ve argued before, that is great for powerhouse organizations, businesses, and Fortune 500 companies already on board with Office. That’s why we’ve seen Teams become so popular since it first launched.
For the little company, though, it might not make much sense. Yes, there is a free tier, but Microsoft Teams is still associated with Office, which, in turn, associated with the enterprise. Why hop on board with Teams, if going with Free Slack and its 800+ integrations will do better? There are plenty of alternatives, and not everyone needs Office 365, and this is part of a larger problem for Microsoft Teams that needs to be addressed.
