Kevin JohnsonSlack is an instant messaging program for the workplace developed by Slack Technologies in 2009. The San Francisco-based platform offers a centralized collaboration hub that connects professionals.
In 2021, Salesforce acquired Slack for $27.7 billion to expand its portfolio. Slack Channel Chief Richard Hasslacher predicts Slack will be part of every solution from Salesforce system integrators (SIs).
Innovative companies like Accenture, Atrium, Deloitte, IBM, KPMG, and PwC have already developed industry-focused services featuring Slack. Atrium created a joint Tableau-Slack offering for wealth and asset management firms. In 2022, Slack contributed over $1 billion to Salesforce’s revenue. [1]
Slack enables virtual workspaces and provides information, tools, and online networking opportunities. The platform has more than 2,500 apps.
In Sep 2022, at Dreamforce, Salesforce introduced Salesforce Canvas to integrate all Slack apps. Canvas will connect productivity systems with record systems to deliver time-saving automation and more information.
The new workspace will act as a digital headquarters where teams can communicate, collaborate, build low and no-code apps, and serve customers without leaving the Slack platform. Slack will have to outperform strong competitors like Office 365, Adobe Acrobat, Google Workspace, Atlassian Confluence, and Yammer. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of Slack’s top 15 competitors and alternatives:
1. Microsoft Office 365
Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: Redmond, Washington
Microsoft 365 is a comprehensive suite of collaboration and productivity solutions offered by Microsoft. The platform offers several products that compete with Slack, including Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, and OneDrive. In 2021, Microsoft employed over 182,200 people.
The main competitive advantage of Office 365 over Slack is its impressive list of integrated products. In Oct 2022, Microsoft enhanced Office 365 with new features.
Users can now insert and embed online videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Stream, Flip, Ted, and Slideshare in Teams, Whiteboard web, and Windows app, making Microsoft Office 365 the top Slack competitor and alternative. [3]
2. Adobe Acrobat
Year founded: 1993
Headquarter: San Jose, California
Adobe Acrobat is a suite of web services and application software offered by Adobe Inc., a multinational computer software company. The suite comprises Acrobat Reader, Acrobat, and Acrobat.com. In 2022, Adobe had over 25,000 employees.
Adobe Acrobat leverages the capabilities of Adobe Document Cloud to help users view, create, manipulate, print, and manage files. In Sep 2022, Adobe introduced a new feature for Acrobat Pro that allows users to create online forms and embed them on their sites.
The company also unveiled a payment reader that checks PDF documents to determine payment options. Adobe Acrobat is one of the best Slack alternatives. [4]
3. Google Workspace
Year founded: 2006
Headquarter: Mountain View, California
Google Workspace combines collaboration, communication, and productivity tools offered by Google Inc. The platform provides Google Meet, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Keep, and Calendar.
In Jan 2022, Google launched Meet Companion Mode, which allows users to chat by text, create polls, share screens, and access host controls from PCs or the web.
Google Meet is an optimized version of Slack, built for businesses using Google Workspace. It supports instant audio and video calls, breakout rooms, and virtual rooms for teleconferences. Like Slack, Google Meet allows users to share files, set up meetings, and deliver presentations.
In 2022, Google integrated video into Google Slides and added automatic meeting transcriptions and video framing on Google Meet, making Google Workspace a comprehensive alternative to Slack. [5]
4. Atlassian Confluence
Year founded: 2002
Headquarter: Sydney, Australia
Confluence is an onsite wiki offered by Atlassian, the parent company of Jira and Trello. Atlassian offers workflow automation, communication, and collaboration solutions. In 2022, Atlassian had 5,752 employees.
Confluence and Slack help users search for answers online and engage with like-minded professionals. However, the main competitive advantage of Confluence is its longer-form articles that enable in-depth and richer conversations.
In Jul 2022, Atlassian rolled out fixes to secure the Questions for Confluence app. Users rely on this app to access and leverage Confluence Server and Confluence Data Center. Atlassian Confluence is one of the top Slack alternatives for professionals. [6]
5. Yammer Social Software
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Yammer is an enterprise social networking service owned by Microsoft Corp. Companies use the platform to streamline private communication between employees and departments, but it also supports external interactions between organizations.
Yammer is part of the Microsoft 365 product portfolio, including Teams and Outlook. So, users can leverage these tools to boost collaboration and productivity.
According to a 2022 SWOOP Analytics study, participation in Yammer doubled as more companies adopted hybrid and remote work. The study analyzed over 21 million Yammer interactions from 4.7 million employees across 97 organizations.
Yammer is one of the best Slack alternatives for private communication within organizations. [7]
6. Chatter
Year founded: 2018
Headquarter: Los Angeles, California
Chatter is a business social network offered by Salesforce, Slack’s parent company. It boosts team collaboration by connecting employees. Like Facebook, Chatter users can create groups, follow other users, and exchange information using status updates.
Salesforce Chatter and Slack streamline professional communication, but Chatter focuses on internal interaction. Employees can view profile pages and information streams, share data, and swap files via Chatter.
The platform can also be used to initiate support cases, design custom events, approve expenditure summaries, and add actions to third-party apps like Slack and Jive. Salesforce Chatter is one of the best alternatives to Slack for employee communication. [8]
7. Zimbra
Year founded: 2005
Headquarter: San Mateo, California
Zimbra is a collaborative software suite that offers an email server and a web client. Its open-source email platform powers hundreds of millions of mailboxes in 140 countries. In 2022, Zimbra had over 500 million users.
Zimbra offers several features, including SSL, POP3, and IMAP. In Sep 2022, cybercriminals exploited a flaw in Zimbra’s system and infected around 1,600 servers. The company released patches in Oct 2022 to secure its platform and terminate the cyber attack.
Zimbra’s robust features make it a worthy alternative to Slack for collaboration via email. [9]
8. HCL Connections
Year founded: 2019
Headquarter: Noida, India
HCL Connections is a collaboration and communication tool offered by HCL Technologies, an Indian multinational IT services and consulting company. It provides the structure to help remote or onsite teams work together, close information gaps, and boost efficiency.
In Jul 2022, HCL Tech was named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. The company has 210,966 employees working in its offices in 52 countries. [10]
HCL Connections streamlines collaboration by consolidating content, news, conversations, and project tasks in one place.
In Oct 2022, HCL released its new Connections Cedar (v8). This redesigned platform improves the collaborative experience with enhanced usability, supercharged search, and user-friendly content-sharing tools, making HCL Connections a worthy alternative to Slack. [11]
9. Zoho Connect
Year founded: 1996
Headquarter: Chennai, India
Zoho Connect is a collaboration app offered by Zoho Inc., India’s tech giant. The platform streamlines team communication, projects, and processes within the organization. In 2022, Zoho had around 12,000 employees and more than 60 million users.
Zoho Connect and Slack help teams collaborate on projects. The main competitive advantage of Zoho Connect is its integration with Zoho CRM and other Zoho solutions.
In 2022, Zoho Connect was named a leader by G2 Crowd Awards in the Employee Intranet category. The company added automation options and introduced Dashboard with over 40 widgets and a drag-and-drop builder. Zoho Connect is one of the top Slack competitors. [12]
10. SAP Jam
Year founded: 1972
Headquarter: Walldorf, Germany
SAP Jam is a collaboration tool for SuccessFactors owned by SAP SE, a leading software corporation. It is an enterprise social networking solution that connects employees, partners, and customers. In 2021, SAP SE employed around 110,000 people.
SAP Jam connects SAP SuccessFactors users by providing documents and application data to enable seamless collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making. The main benefit of using SAP Jam is its integration with other SAP solutions, including CX, CRM, ERP, SCM, HCM, and HXM.
In 2022, SAP was recognized as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce and Data Integration. SAP Jam is the best alternative to Slack for SAP SuccessFactors users. [13]
11. RingCentral Video
Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: Belmont, California
Formerly Glip, RingCentral Video is an integrated communication platform. It offers free messaging, team chats, group video calls and meetings, collaboration tools, and over 20 custom integrations. In 2022, RingCentral employed around 2,300 people.
The main selling point for RingCentral Video is its centralized management which eliminates the need to switch between apps, tools, and folders. The app enables RingCentral’s Smart Video Meetings platform.
In Nov 2022, Gartner recognized RingCentral as a top player in the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) quadrant and is a formidable Slack competitor. [14]
12. Huddle
Year founded: 2006
Headquarter: London, UK, and San Francisco, California
Huddle is a cloud-based collaboration platform. It offers easy-to-use tools for sharing data and converting files. According to SoftwareAdvice.com, Huddle has a 4.38-star rating versus 4.65 out of 5 for Slack. [15]
Huddle’s intuitive and user-friendly interface makes it ideal for beginners and veterans. The platform offers a robust security feature that secures users’ files and data with encryptions and protocols.
Unlike Slack, Huddle doesn’t provide a Gantt chart and time tracking, but it is easier to integrate and deploy than Slack. Huddle is an affordable alternative to Slack.
13. MangoApps
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: Issaquah, Washington
MangoApps is a cloud-based employee experience platform. It combines employee intranet, engagement, collaboration, training, and content management in a single solution. According to Gartner, MangoApps has a 4.3-star rating.
MangoApps offers an intuitive dashboard and virtual workspaces for employees. In Feb 2022, MangoApps was named a Gold Medalist by SoftwareReviews in its Digital Workplace Data Quadrant Awards.
The company had a Net Emotional Footprint of +92 and scored highly in customer appreciation for creating business value, making it one of the top alternatives to Slack. [16]
14. Rocket.Chat
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Wilmington, Delaware
Rocket.Chat is an open-source communication app. Users can code and customize the app to meet unique business needs and translate chats and conversations in over 20 languages. Like Slack, Rocket.Chat offers audio and video calling and supports end-to-end encryption.
Rocket.Chat caters to businesses that seek customized solutions and full data ownership. In 2022, the company enhanced Rocket.Chat 5.1 with a new Video Conference Call Manager and integrations with Google Workspace apps. These features boost Rocket.Chat’s competitive advantage over Slack. [17]
15. Chanty
Year founded: 2017
Headquarter: New York City, New York
Chanty is a team chat and collaboration app. It supports public, private, and one-to-one conversations, video conferencing, voice messaging, and file and screen sharing. In 2022, Chanty had more than 70,000 teams on its platform.
The platform offers a built-in task manager, pins for crucial messages, an in-app media content player, and robust integrations. Teams with less than ten members can use Chanty’s free plan. But it doesn’t support group audio calls or video calls. Chanty’s paid plan starts at $3 per user per month.
According to Chanty founder Dmytro Okunyev, the platform was created because Slack didn’t meet the needs of every team. Chanty is one of the best alternatives to Slack. [18]
References & more information
Reviews (2022, Dec). Huddle vs. Slack. SoftwareAdvice.com
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