In the world of online communication platforms, there are currently two big names, Discord and Slack. Each of them has worked its way up to becoming one of the top names in the industry. However, many users are confused about which platform is the best and which they should use.
However, there is no restriction for users to use either. They can use both platforms at the same time without any problems. However, some users that want to select between one platform or the other for any reason may want to read up on the differences between them first. Given below are the top 10 differences between Discord and Slack.
1) Target audience
First and foremost, the biggest differentiating factor between Discord and Slack is their target audiences. Discord focuses more on a general audience who wants to use the platform for various needs, although they may focus more on gamers.
Slack, on the other hand, focuses on teams as a target audience. Therefore, some may consider Slack a more official solution that allows coordination and cooperation between groups, like businesses, developers, etc.
2) Usability
Discord has more of a general community due to its target audience. Because of the way Discord works, users can join servers and navigate between them effortlessly. Usually, users need an invite link or can join public servers without much effort.
On the other hand, Slack makes it more difficult for users to navigate between different rooms. Discord also allows users to add other users as friends and share their activity with them, which Slack doesn’t.
3) Pricing
Discord is also different from Slack in the way that it charges its users. Discord allows users to use its features or functions without paying anything.
All the usage is unlimited, which is great for users who don’t want to pay to communicate online. Contrastingly, Slack limits its users in the use of its functionalities. For example, it restricts only ten integration with third-party services and up to 10,000 messages stored in history with 4GB of file storage per user.
However, the main limit comes with video and voice calls, where Slack only allows two participants in the free plan. Users can pay for other packages to increase these limits.
4) Customer support
According to users who have tried both platforms, Discord’s customer support is more active and gives prompt replies to customers when they need help. In addition, users can use email, Twitter, or Reddit to get help. For Slack, however, users complain of long wait times to get through to customer support.
While Slack’s customer support isn’t the worst, compared to Discord, it lags. While users won’t need much customer support on these platforms, it is still good to have.
5) Appearance
Due to obvious reasons, both apps are also different in the way they look. However, apart from that, both apps allow users to customize some aspects of the appearance of their apps. For example, Discord only allows its users to choose between light and dark themes for changing their appearance. In contrast, Slack allows users to select one of 8 options for a sidebar.
6) Conversations
Both apps are also different in the way they allow users to have conversations. Discord allows users to join or create servers, where community members come together and chat in channels. These channels can either be voice or text.
On the other hand, Slack has rooms, which are similar to servers. On Slack, users can have public conversations, private channels, or direct messages. Discord also has private channels that server owners can control in the settings.
7) Integrations
When it comes to integrations with other apps, both platforms differ from each other as well. For example, with Discord, users can integrate their accounts with work apps.
The platform allows users to integrate their games and social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, etc., with their Discord account. On the other hand, Slack allows users to integrate their accounts with more than 800 apps. These are mostly work apps, which also support the target audience of Slack.
8) Video and voice calls
Both platforms allow users to make voice and video calls. However, the way both of them work varies. Discord does not have any limits when it comes to calling.
Users can join voice channels or call their friends privately. While there is a limit of 5,000 people per call, it is more than enough for any conversation. Slack, however, limits call to only two users at a time. So if users want to extend the limit, they have to pay for it. The maximum limit on Slack is 15 people per call.
9) Application Programming Interface
Both platforms allow users to integrate different foreign features using their API. For example, with Discord, this API enables developers to develop bots that users can interact with through commands. For example, there are YouTube, music, stock, anime, etc., bots. However, their interaction is limited, and there are no advanced features.
Slack allows users to use their API to use apps, which gives users more advanced features as compared to Discord.
10) Security
Finally, both platforms are different from a security perspective. Discord offers some basic security features, including SSO, 2FA, and client-server architecture to keep user IPs safe. However, Slack has much better security features, including Discord and encryptions and integrations with DLP providers. Slack is also fully compliant with online security standards.
Summary
Below is a summary of the differences.
| Discord | Slack | |
| Target audience | Gamers and general users. | Teams and professionals. |
| Usability | Users need invite links. | More difficult to navigate between rooms. |
| Pricing | Its core features are free. | Some features are free but limited. Users need to pay to remove limits. |
| Customer support | Quick and responsive. | Relatively slower. |
| Appearance | Allows users to switch between light and dark themes. | Gives users 8 options for the sidebar. |
| Conversations | Managed through servers and channels. | Managed through rooms and conversations. |
| Integrations | Integration with games and social media accounts. | Integration with more than 800 apps. |
| Video and voice calls | Unlimited call participants. (5,000 users limit but consider it limitless) | Only 2 participants at a time but users can pay to increase the limit to 15 participants max. |
| API | Allows users to connect bots to their servers. | Allows users to integrate apps, which provides more advanced features. |
| Security | Basic security. | Advanced security with security standard compliances. |
