Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Discourse
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Discourse is an open-source community management and moderation product.N/A
Slack
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020. The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls. The…
$0
per month per user
Pricing
DiscourseSlack
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DiscourseSlack
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*Per active user, per month, when paying once a year. Pro is $8.75 USD per active user when paying month to month. Business+ is $15.00 USD per active user when paying month to month.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DiscourseSlack
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
DiscourseSlack
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Discourse
-
Ratings
Slack
8.1
508 Ratings
5% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings8.1335 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings6.961 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings8.0281 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.4310 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings9.4489 Ratings
Search00 Ratings8.4491 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings7.8204 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Discourse
-
Ratings
Slack
8.8
517 Ratings
10% above category average
Chat00 Ratings9.7517 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings9.1513 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings9.4502 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings8.1325 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings7.8322 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings8.9110 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings8.7182 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings8.8120 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Discourse
-
Ratings
Slack
8.6
489 Ratings
8% above category average
Versioning00 Ratings8.2251 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings8.7439 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings8.8430 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings8.2340 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings8.3330 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings8.4285 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings9.0211 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings9.1361 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DiscourseSlack
Small Businesses
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
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Score 7.5 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
Score 7.5 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Verint Community
Verint Community
Score 8.7 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
DiscourseSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(3 ratings)
9.4
(518 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.8
(24 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(132 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.7
(67 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(4 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
DiscourseSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
[Discourse is by] far the best online forum platform in the industry. It may be a little pricey for people looking for a cheap option for their hobby forum, but for any type of business that relies on a forum, the pricing is more than fair.
Read full review
Salesforce
Slack is definitely well suited according to my experience of using it for over 6 years to be the best platform to have short quick huddles and catch up sessions with your team, More especially if your work environment is a WFH set up. you can easily direct message a colleague regarding something that needs quick attention. making calls is easy and you can basically present a presentation to your team quickly and easy by sharing your screen with them easily. its basically the future
Read full review
Pros
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
  • User Privileges : Teams, Trust Levels, Moderation, Private and Public Threads make it possible to have as much transparency, privacy or power decentralization as one wishes.
  • Gamification: Badges and Achievements can be customized for User Activity and frequent readers and writers.
  • Mailing List mode: Users can choose to use forum threads without the User Interface by subscribing via mailing list mode.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Slack workflows which helps to automate day to day or weekly tasks
  • Slack Huddle which helps to communicate within the app and also the chat is saved in thread
  • Slack To Do Lists which helps to manage small projects
  • Slack Canvas to keep the whole team on the same page
Read full review
Cons
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
  • Some configuration UIs are difficult to follow
  • Not well-suited for managing workflows (grant management as an example)
  • Bulk operations across multiple threads either impossible or difficult to figure out
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Wish I could organize my "save for later" items into folders. It would be nice to store all of the golden nuggets of information I learn. Even better if we could export it out into a word doc to turn into a real article or resource!
  • Use AI to help us find themes around topics and prepare a summary every week/end of day/month so that the entire team can absorb all conversations into one clean space
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
To be more transparent, I give 10 because Slack serves our collaboration needs. It provide us a good platform for team communication relaying important update within the company, it has even mobile app where you can install in your phone to monitor any updates within that team that needs your immediate attention and intervention.
Read full review
Usability
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
At the basic surface, Slack does deliver everything we need - easy to handle, easy to understand. But, as I said earlier, there are the more complex parts which demand more of us and some of them even lack information about how to be used, which is frustrating. If we could have maybe a section with instructions, or maybe if you make the features easier to use, it would be awesome.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
Yes, the app works 24/7. I don't even recall having any period that we could not use since the implementation. Even the maintenance periods are barely noticeable and our work is not impacted by it when it happens.
Read full review
Performance
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
Slack is a soft app, we don't have many issues with it. I recall one or two people complaining about something during our usage period, but I didn't have a bad experience. When the app is slow, usually the problem is with my computer or my internet. The app works just fine.
Read full review
Support Rating
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
I've never had to contact support for Slack which is a great testament to its ease and use. Adding people outside of the organization takes a little getting used to, but ultimately allows for greater collaboration between FTE and contractors. There is no clear alternative to this software, so it's the best we can do for now.
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Implementation Rating
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
I was not part of the implementation team, but I recall being 100% happy and excited to learn and use a new tool. I'm still am to be honest.
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Alternatives Considered
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
Vanilla's mobile functionality was downright awful and it felt like it was stuck in the 2000s. While they have similar features, Discourse blows them away in almost every department. We don't regret switching at all.
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Salesforce
Slack: It's easy to strike up a chat right away with one-click calls or huddles. By simply pressing the call button, both users are involved without the need to arrange a meeting. Microsoft Teams: With calendar invites, time slot choices, and numerous confirmation processes, scheduling even a basic one-on-one meeting can feel laborious.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
  • Community Members are eager to jump into the discussion.
  • Conversations can be tracked easier without the risk of being lost in a sea of messages as people tend to construct their posts more carefully than on any workspace messenger.
  • It's open source and configurable with many other add-ons to help integration with other services.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Slack has significantly improved communication within the organization by providing a platform for quick and instant messaging.
  • Teams can easily collaborate on different projects with Slack’s channels.
  • We have to use Google Drive to send large videos. Would have been good if it could be spent through Slack.
Read full review
ScreenShots