Slack vs Teams: what to look for when your team includes remote assistants

Both are good chat apps. The difference is what you already pay for, and what you need around the chat when your team includes a remote assistant.

What if you also need to see what your assistant got done?

Slack and Teams keep the conversation. Running a remote assistant takes three more things: the jobs they repeat every week, the logins they use, and a report of what got done. Most owners add a password manager, a time tracker and a doc of SOPs on top, and pay for each one.

Routines: the jobs your assistant repeats, written as steps they tick off
Shared logins: share a login with one assistant, and revoke it when they leave
End-of-day reports: what got done and the hours worked, as a PDF or a link

Slack vs Teams at a glance

Prices in US dollars as listed on slack.com and microsoft.com on 7 October 2026, before any introductory discounts.

Cheapest paid plan: Pro: US$7.25 per user a month, billed yearly (US$8.75 monthly) / Teams Essentials: US$4 per user a month, billed yearly
With email and Office apps: Not included / Microsoft 365 Business Basic: US$7 per user a month, billed yearly, with Outlook, Word, Excel and a business email address
Free plan: 90 days of message history, up to 10 apps / Free version for anyone, including small businesses
Calls on the free plan: One-to-one huddles / Group calls up to 60 minutes, up to 100 people
Calls on paid plans: Group huddles with screen sharing / Meetings up to 300 people and 30 hours, with recordings (Essentials)
Apps: Over 2,600 in its app directory, including Google Drive and Salesforce / Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook come with Microsoft 365 Business plans

The verdict, if you work with remote assistants

Pick Teams if your business already runs on Microsoft 365: it comes in the plan, next to Outlook and Word. Pick Slack if you want the chat app over 2,600 other apps plug into, and you're fine paying per person for it. Both handle chat and calls well. What neither is built around is your assistant's day: the jobs they repeat, the logins they use and the report you read at 6pm.

The hidden cost of paying for Slack on top of Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel and a business email address for US$7 per user a month, billed yearly. On its own, Teams Essentials is US$4. Slack Pro is US$7.25 per user a month, billed yearly, on top of whatever you pay for email.

Instructions from three months ago: Slack Free hides them

Slack Free keeps messages saved and searchable for 90 days. If you give your assistant instructions in chat, what you wrote in March is out of reach by July. Slack Pro keeps the full history, and Teams Essentials keeps unlimited chat you can refer back to.

Which is better for your daily call with your assistant?

Either is plenty for a daily check-in. Slack calls are huddles: one-to-one on Free, group calls with screen sharing on Pro. Teams Essentials runs meetings of up to 300 people for up to 30 hours, with recordings and transcripts, so it's the stronger pick for long client meetings.

How to decide between them

Pick Teams if you work in Outlook, Word and Excel, or you run long client meetings.
Pick Slack if you want your chat connected to the rest of your tools, from Google Drive to Salesforce.
Pick Crewhall if you have a Catalyst assistant, or plan to: it puts their routines, logins and end-of-day report next to the chat.

Slack, Teams, or something built for assistants?

Crewhall is our app. Catalyst built it for clients who work with our remote assistants, and it comes with every placement. It has chat, calls with screen sharing, routines, shared logins, SOPs and the end-of-day report in one place. It isn't sold on its own, so if you don't work with assistants, Slack or Teams is the better pick.

See Crewhall

Sources

Slack: slack.com/pricing, read 7 October 2026
Microsoft Teams: microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-business-options, /essentials and /free, read 7 October 2026
Crewhall: the app itself, checked 7 October 2026

Frequently asked questions

Is Slack better than Teams?

It depends on what you already use. If your business runs on Microsoft 365, Teams comes with it and is the easier choice. If you want the chat app with the most add-ons, pick Slack. With remote assistants, the bigger question is where their routines, logins and daily report live.

Is Slack like Teams?

Yes, mostly. Both have channels, direct messages, threads, file sharing and calls. Teams leans on meetings and Microsoft 365. Slack leans on apps, with over 2,600 in its directory.

Which is cheaper, Slack or Teams?

Teams. Teams Essentials is US$4 per user a month billed yearly, and Microsoft 365 Business Basic with Teams is US$7. Slack Pro is US$7.25 per user a month billed yearly, or US$8.75 billed monthly.

Can I use Teams without Microsoft 365?

Yes. Teams Essentials is Teams on its own, at US$4 per user a month billed yearly, with meetings of up to 300 people and 10 GB of cloud storage per user.

Is Slack free?

Yes, with limits. Slack Free keeps 90 days of message history, connects up to 10 apps and allows one-to-one huddles only. Group calls and full history start on Pro.

Which is better for working with a remote assistant?

Either works for chat and calls with one assistant. The harder part is everything around the chat: the jobs they repeat, the logins they use and a daily report of what got done.