Voice, video, and text chat platform originally built for gamers, now used far more broadly.
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Discord vs Slack
Comparing Discord and Slack to help you pick the right Messaging Apps for your needs.
| Feature | Discord | Slack |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Platforms | Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android | Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Editorial rating | ★ 4.3 / 5 | ★ 4.3 / 5 |
| Starting price | $0/month | $0 |
| Community votes | 26 | 598 |
Discord Pros & Cons
- Free tier is fully functional for most community and informal team use cases, with no meaningful feature gate behind payment
- Drop-in voice channels make it easy to have always-on, casual audio spaces unlike most chat tools, which require scheduling a discrete call
- Server structure with role-based permissions scales well for managing large, organized communities with hundreds or thousands of members
- Strong bot and integration ecosystem lets communities automate moderation, notifications, and custom functionality extensively
- Screen sharing and video calls are built in alongside voice and text, covering most informal communication needs in one platform
- Less suited to formal business communication and compliance needs than Slack or Microsoft Teams, which are built with enterprise governance in mind
- Community/server structure can feel less organized than purely channel-based tools when used for serious work-focused team communication
- Message search and information retrieval across a busy server can be harder to navigate than more structured workplace tools
- Gaming-community origins still show in some default UI conventions and culture, which can feel mismatched for purely professional contexts
Slack Pros & Cons
- Channel-based organization scales much better than email for team-wide communication
- Massive app integration ecosystem connects nearly every other tool a team uses
- Powerful, fast search across message history (on paid plans) makes information genuinely retrievable
- Huddles provide lightweight audio/video calls without the overhead of scheduling a formal meeting
- AI features summarize unread channels and threads, reducing catch-up time after time away
- Free tier's 90-day message history limit means older context becomes permanently inaccessible
- Can contribute to notification overload and "always-on" expectations without deliberate norms
- Per-user pricing adds up significantly for large organizations
- Channel sprawl in large organizations can fragment information across too many places
- Microsoft Teams' bundling with Microsoft 365 creates strong pricing competition for budget-conscious buyers
Verdict: Discord vs Slack
Discord and Slack both serve the Messaging Apps category well, but suit different priorities. Based on community engagement, Slack is currently the more widely adopted choice (598 votes), but the better fit ultimately depends on your specific pricing, platform, and feature requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Which is cheaper, Discord or Slack?
- Discord and Slack use a similar pricing model (both freemium), so the cheaper choice depends on which specific plan tier and feature set you need rather than the base pricing model.
- Is Discord or Slack rated higher?
- Discord and Slack currently hold comparable editorial ratings, so neither has a clear edge — the right pick depends more on which specific features and pricing fit your use case.
- Which platforms do Discord and Slack support?
- Discord is available on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android. Slack is available on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android. Both tools cover a similar range of platforms.
- Can I switch from Discord to Slack (or vice versa)?
- Most messaging apps tools, including Discord and Slack, support data export in standard formats, making migration possible though rarely fully automatic. Expect to manually verify that custom configurations, integrations, and historical data transfer correctly, and budget time for the team to adjust to workflow differences between the two products.
- Should I choose Discord or Slack?
- Discord and Slack both serve the Messaging Apps category well, but suit different priorities. Based on community engagement, Slack is currently the more widely adopted choice (598 votes), but the better fit ultimately depends on your specific pricing, platform, and feature requirements.