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In today’s remote work environment, communicating effectively from home’s comfort is crucial. A recent Forbes report shows that 12.7% of full-time staffers now work remotely, while 28.2% are in hybrid work arrangements.
Slack and Discord are among the top collaboration tools that power remote working, albeit with slightly different approaches. Let’s find out what to choose between Discord vs Slack for a team of 5-20 remote workers.
In 2015, Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, as heads of a game development studio, discovered that their team was struggling to communicate effectively on gaming sessions. They therefore created Discord, a user-friendly app feature-packed with communication functions.
On the other hand, Slack was first released in 2013 as an internal communication tool for Stewart Butterfield’s game development company. It later gained additional functionalities like voice calls, integration with third-party apps, and file sharing.
When deciding between Slack vs. Discord for community, both apps are similar in allowing people in a chat room to communicate directly through messaging and channels. However, Slack has a slight edge in keeping things more focused and organized, especially when dealing with a business team.
Discord has been steadily gaining ground on this—adding the threads feature was a huge step. But there are still a few nuts and bolts where Slack always seems ahead of Discord.
For instance, Slack users can create a text channel, a feature preserved for server moderators in Discord. With Discord’s free version, users can upload files no larger than 25MB, while Slack allows up to 1 GB. We could go on and on. Slack has all these little text touches Discord lacks.
Audio and Vvdeo calls are not Slack’s strengths. In comparison, Discord built its reputation around audio channels when gamers used to leave it running in their computer backgrounds so that they could communicate with each other.
Audio chats should have very little lag in the context of collaboration, and Discord delivers. Their sound quality is also way better, and they have many bells and whistles that Slacks lacks. For instance, you can adjust the volume level for everyone in the chat.
With both tools, file sharing is a piece of cake, though both place certain limits on their free tiers. With Slack, you can upload files from your device and share 1 GB at a time. Regarding Slacks’s storage capabilities, you can store a maximum of 5GB on the free plan and 10GB on paid plans.
Discord only allows file sharing files in direct messaging and text-based channels. While users get unlimited file storage, sharing is restricted to only 8 MB on Discord Free and 100 MB on Discord Nitro Classic and Discord Nitro.
Slack, being more business-oriented, integrates with over 2,600 other apps and tools. Granted, its free plan restricts users to only ten integrations. Once you upgrade, the Slack App Directory has all the tools you need. Discord doesn’t compete with Slack in this department. Discord doesn’t officially support integrations with collaboration and productivity tools unless you use Discord’s native integrations.
Let’s be honest: Price is a huge consideration when selecting any Slack vs Discord for business. To be clear, if you feel constrained to spending money on your chat platform, then Discord is your obvious choice. Discord’s free version offers more functionalities for general use, startups, small teams, and solo projects.
Slack’s free version offers many essential features; however, it places more restrictions on users, especially on external integrations and message history.
When it comes to paid services, the outcomes are different. With Discord, you’ll be paying for added customization features for the team instead of new functionality.
Slack's paid plans come with increased features designed for businesses, such as unlimited apps, video calls, and advanced support. If you have serious business needs and money is not an issue, Slack’s paid plans blow Discord out of the sky.
Both platforms cater to a slightly different audience, so there isn’t a clear winner in this Discord vs. Slack review. That said, each platform has certain pros in different areas, and the choice is yours to make.
When it comes down to it, Slack is better to use if you require a communication app for your business team to collaborate. However, Discord is more ideal if you are a business owner or content creator looking to gain a community using a chat tool.
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