Discord and Slack are two great platforms that have a lot in common. Most businesses use Slack as it is the most extensive workplace and communication tool. It is the biggest chat app that has been used for years by large companies and enterprises.
Discord is another popularly used platform, and it is mostly known for its voice communication feature. It provides an uninterrupted experience that has been welcomed by the gaming community. PC gamers and prominent YouTubers mostly prefer using it.
Discord and Slack are similar to each other in terms of set-up and features. While being similar, they are equally unique in their own thing. There are several differences between the two platforms that you can choose according to your needs and required features.
Discord is a free alternative to Slack that offers somewhat similar features and some additional ones like voice channels and bots. Discord is great for large open-source teams that bring in thousands of members and requirea big platform for voice and video chat communication.
Comparison between Slack and Discord
Following are the significant differences between Slack and Discord:
Channels
Discord and Slack both include text channels that everyone in your server or the user you invite can access. Discord also includes voice channels that can contain 99 users simultaneously. Moreover, you can set voice channels to “push to talk,” which means that the discord users can only use their microphone when they press the talk button.
On the other hand, Slack doesn’t have any specific channels for voice communication, but you can do a voice call with up to 15 participants.
Threads
Slack provides a handy feature that Discord doesn’t, known as threads. When you are on a channel, you can reply directly to a random person’s comment and start a new thread. This allows you to keep the conversations on topic and the channels un-cluttered.
If the users start multiple discussions on the same channel, they can discuss them in the threads. On the other hand, Discord doesn’t allow you to take conversations to threads. This is why Discord channels become so confusing for users to navigate when different conversations take place simultaneously.
Interface and Ease of Access
Slack allows you to access different channels and messages in one central location. It is very easy to use and navigate around. You can access all the messages, channels, and contacts at the top left corner. Moreover, Slack also allows you to customize themes, for example, changing the sidebar with contacts and apps.
On the other hand, Discord’s interface is a little bit complicated for the new users. The system shows all the servers that are available in the far left corner. For messages, Discord makes you go to the top right corner. However, if you are an active user, it gets easy to find your way around the screen.
Servers
Discord has servers that are similar to Slack’s workspaces. But somehow, there is a difference between the two. The servers are linked with your user account so that you can join all of them by just logging in one time.
In Slack, communication is built around workspaces. There are separate areas where the chat channels of the teams are hosted. When a user logs in to a workspace, they get access to all of the team’s channels and can easily communicate with other users in the workspace.
Video Chat and Screen Sharing
Both Slack and Discord allow you to do video chat and screen sharing. Slack video calls are the same as voice calls. You can call up to 15 participants and press the video button for video sharing.
In Discord, you can access voice chat within voice channels by clicking on the “video” button. Usually, Discord allows ten people to participate in the video chat, but they have extended the limit to 50 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Slack allows you to share your screen from within the video or voice call. It also has a unique feature to mark up the screen of another person during a screen share. You can also take notes and highlight the information that might seem important to you. This feature makes it easy for all team members to work together on a project remotely.
File Sharing
Slack allows you to upload, share, drag, and drop different types of files of up to 1GB. The free pricing plan offers a 5GB file upload limit, while the paid one allows uploading files up to 10GB. Slack organizes the previously uploaded files in a list in case you need to access them. This list makes it a lot easier to navigate to older items.
In Discord, users can only share files up to 8MB within a free plan and up to 50MB per user within a premium plan. Hence, if you want to work with Discord files without any interruption, you will need to use file hosting services.
Integrations
Slack includes thousands of integrations that offer excellent productivity and work apps like Trello, Droplr, Office 365, Zoom, and G-Suite. It has an integration for almost all the apps out there. It is easy to integrate apps directly from Slack’s application directory.
In comparison, Discord has very few integrations. It allows you to start a stream with Twitch and YouTube. It also allows you to share screenshots with Droplr or connect other apps if you have a Zapier account. Discord also includes bots that help automate simple tasks, conduct polls, and moderating your workspace.
Security
Both Slack and Discord have excellent security features, but for some reason, Slack’s security system is stronger than Discord’s. Slack uses SSO, data encryption, and integrations with the top DLP providers. Slack is also very compliant with ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018, SOC 2 and 3, CSA, and EU/U.S. Privacy Shield.
Discord offers similar features like SSO, 2FA, and client-server architecture to keep your IP address secure. Similar to Slack, you can add users to your Discord account if you send out an invitation link. Both of these platforms make sure that nobody can access your server unless you approve it.
Price
Price is the main area where Discord truly shines. Discord offers text, voice, video chat, screen sharing, and security for absolutely free. Doing that means that you can communicate with up to 250,000 co-workers at no extra cost.
You will have to subscribe to the paid plan of Discord known as Discord Nitro if you need higher voice quality and video chat or higher file upload limits. It only costs like $9.99/month or $99.99/year for one server. Slack, on the other hand, is very pricey, especially for large enterprises.
The standard plan of Slack begins at $6.67 per month per person. It is essential to access expensive plans because they include SAML-based SSO, DLP, and many workspaces. So big businesses have to pay thousands of dollars every year for Slack, depending on their size.
Discord vs. Slack – Slack Wins the Spot
Ultimately, Slack is the best option for businesses because it includes many essential features that Discord doesn’t have, such as message threads, several integrations, and complete security compliance. However, you have to pay to access those features, unlike Discord that offers most of its features for free.