Google Chat vs Slack

Pick up to 4 tools and see their free plans, entry prices, platforms and limits in one table. Every fact comes from each vendor's own pages, checked 7 November 2026.

Compared on	Google Chat Free trial · from €6.80/user/mo Visit Remove	Slack Free plan · from $7.25/user/mo Visit Remove
What it is	Direct messages and spaces inside Google Workspace, with Meet and Gemini built in	Team messaging built around channels, with huddles, canvases and workflow automation
Free plan	No	Free plan keeps 90 days of message history, allows up to 10 app integrations, and limits huddles and Slack Connect external messages to 1:1
Cheapest paid plan	€6.80/user/mo billed annually (Google Workspace Business Starter (includes Chat))Google Chat pricing	$7.25/user/mo billed annually (Pro)Slack pricing
What it covers	Chat has no separate price; it comes with a Workspace subscription. Price shown in EUR, excluding tax, with a 1-year commitment. Google also lists a 50% intro price (EUR 3.40) for a limited period.	List prices. Slack also lists a 50% promotional price for the first 3 months on monthly Pro billing for teams that buy online within 7 days of creating the workspace. Members active in a 28-day period are billed.
Free trial	14-day trial of Google Workspace for people not already using it	None stated
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
Integrations (vendor's figure)	Not stated	Over 2,600 apps in the Slack Marketplace
Open source	No	No
Good for	Teams that already use Google Workspace for email, Docs and Meet Organizations that want chat without paying for a separate messaging tool Teams building small custom chat apps with webhooks or AppSheet	Teams that want channel-based conversation with a large set of connected apps Companies that need to message people at other organizations through Slack Connect Workspaces that want to automate approvals and routine requests without code
Watch out for	Sold only as part of a Google Workspace subscription, not on its own Some features are available only on Business and Enterprise plans Whether personal Google accounts can use Chat free was not stated on the pages read	The Free plan keeps only 90 days of message history and 10 apps Group huddles and group external messages need a paid plan Single sign-on needs Business+ and above
Made by	Google	Slack Technologies (Salesforce)

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

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