Slack vs Microsoft Teams for Small Business: Which Chat Tool Wins in 2026?

Slack launched in 2013 and became the darling of startups and tech companies. The whole vibe is fast, modern, focused on chat. Channels for topics, DMs for private conversations, integrations with every tool you can think of.

It's built by people who understood that email sucks for quick team communication. Over the years they've added video (Huddles), canvas docs, and workflow automation, but the core is still really good team chat.

Microsoft Teams showed up in 2017 as Microsoft's answer to Slack. It's part of the Microsoft 365 bundle, which means if you're paying for Office already, you get Teams included. The app tries to be chat, video conferencing, file collaboration, and calendar all in one.

This is powerful if it all works together, overwhelming if you just want to send messages to your team. Microsoft has poured resources into it, and honestly the gap with Slack has closed a lot since 2020.

Slack just feels faster. Opening the app, switching channels, sending messages - everything is snappy. Threads work intuitively (reply to a message, conversation stays organized).

Search is really good - type a keyword, find that conversation from 6 months ago. Emoji reactions, GIFs, custom emoji - all the little things that make chat feel less corporate. I've watched teams move from email to Slack and genuinely become more responsive.

Teams feels heavier. The app takes longer to load, switching between chats and channels isn't as smooth. Threading exists but feels tacked on - replies can get lost.

The interface tries to show you everything at once: chat, meetings, files, calendar. This makes sense if you use all of it, but if you just want to chat, it's cluttered. Notifications are honestly a mess - you'll miss messages even when you think you're paying attention.

Slack Huddles work for quick voice chats with your team. Video works, screen sharing works, but it's clearly not the focus. For serious video meetings, most Slack teams still use Zoom or Google Meet.

The integration with those tools is seamless, so it's not really a problem. Slack knows it's not a video-first tool and doesn't pretend to be.

Teams is legit good for video. It's basically Zoom-level quality built into your chat app. Screen sharing, breakout rooms, meeting recordings, background effects - all included.

For small businesses doing client calls or remote standups, having good video built in saves paying for Zoom separately. The calendar integration means scheduling meetings is easier too.

You can share files in Slack, and there's a files tab to see everything. But actual document collaboration? That happens in Google Docs or Notion or whatever you use. Slack is the communication layer, not the document layer.

This works fine if you already have a docs solution. Some teams actually prefer keeping chat and docs separate.

Teams is deeply integrated with OneDrive and SharePoint. Edit Word docs, Excel sheets, PowerPoint together in real-time without leaving the app. For small businesses already on Microsoft 365, this is genuinely convenient.

No more emailing files back and forth or managing versions. The file organization can get messy though - figuring out where a doc lives between Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint is confusing.

This is where Slack dominates. 2000+ integrations with basically every business tool. GitHub notifications in a channel, Salesforce updates, Google Calendar reminders, custom webhooks - if it exists, there's probably a Slack integration.

For tech companies especially, these integrations are the reason they use Slack. Building connected workflows across tools just works better.

Teams has integrations, but way fewer and they're often clunkier. The Microsoft ecosystem integrations (Office, Power BI, SharePoint) work well. Third-party integrations exist but aren't as polished.

If your stack is mostly Microsoft, you're fine. If you use a mix of tools like startups do, you'll hit limitations. The Power Automate option helps but requires more setup.

Slack Connect lets you create shared channels with other companies, clients, or partners. Works smoothly once set up. Great for agencies working with clients or partnerships between companies.

The free version limits this feature, but paid plans make external collaboration feel native. No switching between internal and external apps.

Teams handles guest access and external meetings well. Invite someone from outside your organization to a meeting or add them as a guest to specific channels.

The meeting experience for external people is solid - they don't need a Teams account to join video calls. For small businesses working with clients, the meeting features alone make this valuable.