Discord or Slack- is one of the most used software for team management and online collaboration, but its restrictions have opened up space for competitors. one of them is discord, which, although it was created as an app to connect gamers, has evolved a lot and today is also used as a corporate tool. Find out which is better, Discord or Slack, in our comparison below.
Slack vs. Discord (Image: Tecnoblog)
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Discord or Slack?
Slack is an online collaboration tool that has a philosophy focused on the corporate environment. However, it is a freemium app and keeps some of its features behind a paywall, such as message history and video calls.
Discord, on the other hand, is a fundamentally free app (today it has an optional subscription plan), which does not limit resources. At the same time, developers have been working on the software to make it a more general platform and less tied exclusively to gamers. As a result, it has been considered an option to Slack and its direct competitors such as Microsoft Teams, Rocket Chat and others.
Follow our comparison and find out which is better, Discord or Slack.
1. Availability
Both services are available on all current communication platforms, but Slack has a slight edge.
| Platform | discord | slack |
| Browser (web client) | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Windows | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| macOS | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Linux | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| iOS/iPadOS | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| android | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Windows Phone/Mobile (legacy) | ❌ | ✔️ |
As a service 2 years older than Discord (2013 vs. 2015), Slack supports Windows Phone/Mobile, which the competitor does not have. Besides, both programs run on the same desktop and mobile systems.
Although Microsoft’s mobile devices today are considered legacy (no official support), it must be recognized that Slack is indeed present on one more platform than Discord.
Winner: Slack
2. Text chat
Discord text chat (Image: Discord/Discord)
Both Discord and Slack support channels, which organize your content into chats. Each chat can be assigned a theme, and the administrator can determine who can and cannot access that room.
The difference is that in Discord, assignments can be given by categorizing users through “roles” or “positions”, which will limit their access to one or another text chat. In Slack, access is individually assigned by the admin, who has to manually grant access to channels.
Discord has one less resource in threads. In it, a reply to a post appears as a single quote, while in Slack, it creates a separate conversation, which may or may not be shown to other chat users, helping to organize conversations better.
Winner: Slack
3. Audio and video chats
Video chat on Slack (Image: Disclosure/Slack)
Both Discord and Slack support audio and video chats on their channels, with a few differences. In Slack, they take the form of an isolated call, where a voice or video call can hold up to 15 people in the paid mode. In free, both support only one-to-one calls.
On Discord, audio calls support up to 99 simultaneous users (!), while video calls allow you to connect up to 10 people simultaneously, both without restrictions. In the latter, the company increased the limit to 50 participants during the COVID-19 pandemic, on a temporary basis. Both allow you to share your screen during voice and video calls, but Slack gives you the option to annotate it.
In any case, Discord’s call support is better than Slack’s, as it doesn’t limit the tools to non-paying users.
Winner: Discord
4. Integration with other apps
Some of the apps supported by Slack (Image: Disclosure/Slack)
Here, Slack’s corporate nature matters. As it is a platform mainly focused on team management, it supports a huge number of apps, which allow you to integrate your functions into the service. There is support for applications such as Trello, Google Drive, Google Workspace (G Suite), GitHub, Zoom, Webex, 1Password and etc, and even calls from Microsoft Teams.
The integration part of Discord, on the other hand, is still tied to its original gamer nature, allowing users to stream to platforms like Twitch and YouTube, as well as supporting services like Zapier (automation of social media posts) and Droplr ( sharing screenshots). And nothing much more than that.
Winner: Slack
5. Extras
Craig is one of several Discord bots (Image: Playback/Discord)
As a more “serious” application, Slack doesn’t invent a lot of fashion and sticks to the basics for corporate use. Discord, on the other hand, offers an extra functionality, the integration with bots created by users, for the most diverse purposes.
Most Discord bots have functions aimed at entertainment purposes, but there are some more general ones like MEE6, which automates user moderation and promotion functions, and Craig, which allows you to record the audio calls of the chats, in a synchronized way. and with good quality, even allowing you to use Discord to record postcasts, such as technocast.
While bots aren’t the same thing as app integration, it’s a feature that Discord has that Slack doesn’t support.
Winner: Discord
6. Security
Data security is important (Image: TheDigitalWay/Pixabay)
Both apps support secure connection, encryption, two-step authentication and SSO. Slack complies with several ISO Information Security protocols, not least because of its corporate nature, where extremely sensitive data circulates every day.
Both platforms give the channel administrator full control, and a user can only join if invited. Discord is especially paranoid about this, and their invites can be customized with limited usage time and clicks.
On the other hand, Discord does not have a very useful feature present in Slack, the mandatory use of 2FA by users. In Slack, the administrator can configure access so that it is only granted to those who have already activated the feature in their accounts, while Discord does not allow such a level of customization, which can be understood as a security flaw.
Winner: Slack
7. Price
Discord channel screen (Image: Playback/Discord)
Slack can be used with a free account, but there are a number of limitations to the features:
- Channels only store the last 10,000 messages;
- Limit of 5 GB of files shared per channel;
- One-to-one audio and video calls only;
- Up to 10 apps integrated into the channel.
Slack’s paid plans are as follows:
- Standard ($6.67/month): Full message history, unlimited app integration, voice and video calls between up to 15 people, collaboration with external tools through secure channels;
- Plus ($12.50/month): Standard plan content, identity management via SSO, real-time synchronization via Active Directory with OneLogin, Okta and Ping Identity, 24/7 support;
- Enterprise Grid (upon request): For large corporations, it contains Plus plan features + high-end enterprise-level management.
Discord, on the other hand, does not limit any of its features upon payment, and all its features are open from the beginning. Discord Nitro just offers more features like file sharing up to 100MB (originally 8MB), emojis and channel boosts.
Winner: Discord
Which one is the best? slack
Slack in the browser (Image: Stephen Phillips/Unsplash)
By 4 points to 3, Slack beats Discord on very specific points: availability across platforms, ability to organize text conversations into threads, support for a large number of apps for integrating features, and stronger security.
On the other hand, Discord has positive points that are difficult to ignore: it supports more users in audio and video chats, it can incorporate different functions through the bots created by the community, and it is completely free, not limiting features with payment.
At the end of the day, choosing between Discord or Slack is a matter of preference and necessity: the former has free access and versatility on its side, suitable for those who want to do “something more” with their team management app, while the latter the second is totally focused on corporate environments, providing simplicity and security.