Microsoft Teams vs. Slack vs. Skype for Business Comparison

We are living in the era of the virtual meeting. The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 ensured that video conferencing and virtual messaging would remain a hot product long into the future, as remote work has become the norm in many businesses.

But there are many different team collaboration solutions available these days. This article will compare Microsoft Teams vs. Slack to determine the best team collaboration software of the two. Then we’ll look at Slack vs. Skype vs. Teams to find the best features, shared by some or all of these platforms, in a team collaboration software comparison. Furthermore, how does MegaMeeting stand up against these companies? Which platform is best for your business?

Microsoft Teams vs. Slack

In 2017, software giant Microsoft introduced an integrated set of apps, platforms, and services called Microsoft Teams. Their plan was for Teams to grow to become the best team collaboration software in the world by becoming a fully integrated hub, not just for chat and collaboration, but also for video conferencing, calling, file sharing, and more. It was an ambitious plan that only a global software giant could pull off. How did they do?

Today, Microsoft Teams has more than 13 million daily users and another 19 million that use the platform weekly. That’s pretty impressive in just two years. But how does Teams compare to instant messaging (IM) giant Slack, which has been valued at around $20 billion and was recently purchased by Salesforce for nearly $10 billion more than the valuation?

In a head-to-head review of Microsoft Teams vs. Slack, you can see Slack has a lot going for it. For example, it was reported that just four years ago, Microsoft looked into buying Slack. When that didn’t work out, Microsoft put more effort into developing the chat features found today in Teams.

But in a team collaboration software comparison, Slack stands up against Microsoft in only one key area, and that is IM. Slack launched in 2014, thus beating Microsoft in their IM game by three years. According to its history, Slack had instant success, receiving 8,000 users in the first day and another 15,000 by the second week it launched. That first year, the app grew 5 to 10% a week. Slack expanded its product over time by integrating with Google Drive, Asana, GitHub, Zapier, and Salesforce. These platform integrations allowed better customer and content relationship management, document management and collaboration, and even code version control.

Interestingly, it was the world of software engineering that grew enamored with Slack. When comparing Microsoft Teams vs. Slack from a business perspective, Teams has become a go-to for the average business, while Slack was always hip for developers.

But again, these products are slightly different. Microsoft Teams wants to be your business hub by integrating email, document management, video, IM, and project management all under one umbrella. Slack, by contrast, is primarily an IM tool, although today, there are more than 2,000 integrated apps and 750 bots on the Slack App Directory. But that didn’t stop the war between Microsoft Teams vs. Slack for the title of best team collaboration software.

But what about competitor Skype, the self-titled “Godfather” of video conferencing? When looking at Slack vs. Skype vs. Teams, how do these three solutions stand up?

Slack vs. Skype vs. Teams

Skype has been around since 2003 and was one of the first video conferencing solutions on the market. (Fun fact: MegaMeeting launched in October of that same year). In 2011, Skype was acquired by Microsoft, while MegaMeeting has remained firmly autonomous from M&A activity in the field.

Skype has undergone a lot of changes unrelated to feature rollouts over the years. For example, watch for Skype for Business to retire this summer, only to be replaced by the Microsoft Teams product. Still, when looking today at Microsoft Teams vs. Skype for Business vs. Slack, there are some benefits to the Skype product that make it, despite some of the ups and downs of the brand, a desirable option for video conferencing.

First, Skype (not Skype for Business) is still free for up to 50 meeting participants at a time. The service allows Voice over IP (VoIP) calling to landlines and mobile phone numbers, for a fee. Skype lacks some of the modern features found in today’s video conferencing solutions, but it’s evolved some interesting features, such as:

·         Meet Now, which lets you click to start a chat or video conferencing session without signing off on an account.

·         IM chat as part of its video conferencing solution, so in this area it does compete with Teams and Slack.

·         There are live subtitles on Skype for 11 languages, from Chinese and German to Japanese and Russian. If you have a global workforce, this is a great tool.

·         Like the Teams video conferencing solution, Skype has a whiteboard feature with a laser pointer and drawing tools.

So, is Skype for Business vs. Slack a better option? It depends on what you need. Skype is a good option for video conferencing for small businesses, because it is free. However, Slack is a better option if your goal is to set up an easy-to-use IM platform to keep your teams communicating.

Yet these two solutions do not compare with Microsoft Teams, which has a huge, feature-rich platform that serves as a hub for everything your business needs. There is one problem — it’s expensive, and likely best suited for mid-to enterprise-level organizations.

Who Has the Best Team Collaboration Software?

The real question we posed at the beginning of this article, which was, in a head-to-head comparison of the best team collaboration software, which was better, Slack, vs. Skype, vs. Teams? The answer always rests within the context of your budget and business case.

However, we believe no team collaboration software comparison is complete without the addition of MegaMeeting. Our platform has the longevity of Skype without the ups and downs of a corporate acquisition. MegaMeeting is as cleverly feature-rich as the biggest players in the industry without the hefty costs associated with a vendor like Microsoft Teams. Find out what sets us apart. Click here to start your free 14-day trial and experience one of the best team collaboration software tools on the market.

MegaMeeting solves the biggest challenges of modern video conferencing. For users, it is an all-in-one platform that delivers both video conferencing and webinars in a single, simplified interface. For attendees, it is 100% browser-based, making it highly accessible; joining a meeting is instantaneous from a single click. For enterprises, it is highly customizable, with white-labeling options for a private branded solution. For developers, it is API-driven and easy to integrate.

Powered by WebRTC, Node.js, React, and GraphQL, it is a cutting-edge platform that is fun and easy to use for users and developers alike.