Fuze vs. Slack

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Fuze
Score 6.9 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Fuze is a cloud-based unified communications platform that includes IP PBX voice service, video conferencing, and collaboration tools such as content sharing and instant messaging capabilities. It also integrates with a wide range of popular CTI, CRM, and click-to-call solutions.
$15
per month
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…
$8.75
per month per user
Pricing
FuzeSlack
Editions & Modules
US Outbound
$0.02
Per Minute
Fuze Meetings
$15
Per User/Per Month
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FuzeSlack
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo 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
FuzeSlack
Considered Both Products
Fuze
Chose Fuze
Teams and Slack where our predecessors to Fuze. Fuze is miles beyond both because the others lack the BPX integration to make them fully-featured. Teams did have a cleaner interface, and Slack did have a better team chat with replies and grouping. Overall, I think the loss of …
Chose Fuze
They all have different usages, Fuze makes it feel like we are using a phone even if we use it from our laptops. We also wanted to have one centralized VOIP system, for example, we have Webex as our meeting system and Slack as our instant messaging system. Definitely much …
Chose Fuze
Fuze does not stack up against NVM or Five9 at all. Fuze is such an inferior product to NVM. inContact and Serenova have great platforms as well but I haven't used them first hand yet. All these other plaforms plug into Salesforce well as Fuze does not. Fuze needs to …
Chose Fuze
We wanted to replace the legacy PBX systems across all US regions & we found Fuze is really interesting because of the cloud-based subscription-based model solution. We wanted to bring some change to our user to upgrade it to the next level & we found Fuze is very innovative …
Chose Fuze
Fuze is on par with its feature set of any cloud pbx provider I have seen.
Chose Fuze
We started looking at inContact, Jive and Five9. We went with Fuze because it was cheaper. Now we're going to go with something a little higher end
Chose Fuze
For hardware phone replacement, none. It was an HQ decision and we had to work accordingly.
Chose Fuze
Overall, Fuze is better organized, easier to navigate and faster to get up and running that GoToMeeting was. I strongly prefer Fuze from both an end user and also administrators perspective.
Chose Fuze
Our final selection came down to Fuze and RingCentral as the two vendors who met most of our organization's specific requirements. In the final selection it was a combination of Fuze's single user application format and their overall pre-sales handling of our account that won …
Slack

No answer on this topic

TrustRadius Insights
FuzeSlack
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Fuze and Slack are two communication platforms with very different features, but with some areas of overlap. Both provide video conferencing and collaboration capabilities to certain extents. Fuze’s core identity is as a VoIP provider, with robust video conferencing, calling, and contact center capabilities. Based on reviewer demographics, it is more commonly used by midsized companies and enterprises. 

Slack’s core function is messaging and collaboration, with a wide range of integrations into the rest of businesses’ collaboration or development tools. The messaging platform is commonly used across business sizes. 

Features

Both Fuze and Slack have strong features to suit their target audiences but they serve very distinct needs. 

Fuze stands out for its robust calling and video conferencing capabilities. These functions are very robust, including high-quality screen sharing. It also offers more advanced call routing and contact center capabilities, which help manage inbound calls from clients, customers, and prospects. 

In contrast, Slack’s specialty is its role as a collaboration hub. It offers a superior messaging infrastructure that businesses can customize to their needs. It also has an immense range of prebuilt integrations, which allows businesses to centralize communications across multiple applications to the Slack dashboard. 

Limitations

While Fuze and Slack both excel in their respective niches, they are limited beyond their core roles. 

Fuze lacks any mature messaging functionality in the product. It’s support for collaboration functions beyond the actual meetings, such as file sharing, are also not as developed. There are also fewer prebuilt integrations available. This requires post-implementation developer work to integrate Fuze with businesses’ other technologies. 

In contrast, Slack’s face-to-face communications offering are very weak compared to its messaging capabilities. The platform’s video chatting feature is still immature at best, with lower quality and far fewer features available compared to true video conferencing and VoIP products. It’s also very reliant on third party integrations for its expanded range of capabilities. For instance, Slack lacks any scheduling capabilities for meetings or events, relying instead of integrations with apps like Google Calendar to deliver this ability. 

Pricing

Fuze’s pricing is a set amount per minute of communication, based on what product or service is being used and where the communication is going to. Calls in the U.S., Canada, much of western Europe, and East Asia range from $.02-$.40 per minute for outbound tolled rates and can be several times higher for toll-free rates. Fuze meetings that are “Dial-In” range from $.08-$.75/min, and dial-out is free. Call recordings cost $.02/min.

Slack offers 3 pricing packages for its platform. The Standard package, at $6.67/user/month when billed annually, is designed for SMBs and offers the core collaboration mechanisms, including group video calls and screen sharing. The Plus package, at $12.50/user/month when billed yearly, adds additional administrative tools and more guaranteed uptime. The Enterprise Grid plan, which is priced by quote from the vendor, adds unlimited workspaces, data loss prevention support, a dedicated customer success team, and HIPAA compliance. 

Features
FuzeSlack
Cloud PBX
Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Product A and Product B
Fuze
5.5
111 Ratings
37% below category average
Slack
-
Ratings
Hosted PBX5.178 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)6.073 Ratings00 Ratings
User templates5.060 Ratings00 Ratings
Call reports6.192 Ratings00 Ratings
Directory of employee names5.1107 Ratings00 Ratings
Call Management
Comparison of Call Management features of Product A and Product B
Fuze
6.5
107 Ratings
25% below category average
Slack
-
Ratings
Answering rules7.099 Ratings00 Ratings
Call recording6.089 Ratings00 Ratings
Call park7.073 Ratings00 Ratings
Message alerts6.193 Ratings00 Ratings
VoIP system collaboration
Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Fuze
7.1
91 Ratings
12% below category average
Slack
-
Ratings
Video conferencing7.077 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio conferencing7.190 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile apps
Comparison of Mobile apps features of Product A and Product B
Fuze
8.0
103 Ratings
0% above category average
Slack
-
Ratings
Mobile app for iOS8.094 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile app for Android8.077 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Fuze
-
Ratings
Slack
8.0
623 Ratings
4% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings7.8427 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings6.961 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings7.8361 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.2393 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings9.4596 Ratings
Search00 Ratings8.3604 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings7.5273 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Fuze
-
Ratings
Slack
8.8
631 Ratings
10% above category average
Chat00 Ratings9.6630 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings8.9627 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings9.3615 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings8.2409 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings7.8408 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings8.9110 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings8.7182 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings8.9120 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Fuze
-
Ratings
Slack
8.5
598 Ratings
7% above category average
Versioning00 Ratings8.2324 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings8.4536 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings8.6523 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings8.1424 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings8.3408 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings8.4358 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings9.0211 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings9.0450 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FuzeSlack
Small Businesses
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.6 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.6 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Score 9.1 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FuzeSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
6.9
(115 ratings)
9.2
(633 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.7
(20 ratings)
9.9
(25 ratings)
Usability
7.1
(12 ratings)
9.0
(249 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(3 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
7.4
(88 ratings)
9.8
(68 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(111 ratings)
8.9
(5 ratings)
Configurability
8.7
(3 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(3 ratings)
8.8
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.8
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.6
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
FuzeSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
Fuze
Fuze has way more capability than we need for our small office so it might be best suited for large installations, call centers, and complex environments. Our office is small and our needs [are] minimal, so when we need support we are challenged to understand the support person due to our lack of technical sophistication. We sometimes feel like we should switch to a solution more geared for consumers or SOHO. Nevertheless, Fuze provides reliable service at [a] reasonable cost that meets our needs, and because support is rarely needed we are happy with them most of the time, i.e. when support isn't needed.
Read full review
Salesforce
Slack is great for tracking commits to new coding projects. You can take parts of code that still need to be implemented later and easily search through the history of comments if there is something that goes wrong with a code commitment. It can be difficult for people that only like Teams to adjust to a new platform if you are using both to communicate.
Read full review
Pros
Fuze
  • Support Team - the best I have ever worked with. They help 24/7 on any issue I could come across. Usually it is an item I could fix myself and they fix it and show me how to fix the same issue if I have it in the future.
  • Contact Center - We do Commercial Collections involving Sales and Collections. We have 50 people on the phone at one time. Contact Center lets a Manager listen live and gives help if the rep needs help selling or collecting.
  • Pandemic 2020 - without Fuze we would have been unable to work for 3 months. They saved our "rears" since we already had all their services up and running for years.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Huddles Run smoothly without any interferences.
  • Smooth individual calls quick and easy without any interruptions.
  • seamless notifications across multiple devices
  • The ability to easily tag a team member to urgently attend to a specific escalation.
  • Slack being user friendly and able to integrate easily with other platforms and apps.
  • How to easily open up different channels for different escalations and needs.
  • a safe direct messaging option.
Read full review
Cons
Fuze
  • Desktop application stability and compatibility with certain hardware.
  • Better installation - Per-user and per-computer installs sometimes compete with one another and/or upgrades fail to install.
  • [The] desktop app is not best for touchscreen-enabled devices due to lack of ability to scroll through messages using a finger or stylus.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Would love a better integration with GitHub. For example, notifications when your PR is updated, when review is requested, @-mention in comments, etc.
  • Improved "Later" tab, for example the ability to create to-do lists or making the "Later" tab into a more powerful to-do list (annotate items with notes)
  • More powerful integrations, e.g. Google Calendar could render a calendar view within Slack, rather than sending the daily schedule
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Fuze
Fuze is a solid application that is a great asset to the business for our sales staff to make daily calls to clients and candidates. Managers can monitor call data and times to keep up to date with team performance, as well as monitor calls for users on their team. The Fuze/MS Teams integration is an exciting prospect that would be very beneficial to us as a business, for seamless integration between the 2 platforms.
Read full review
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
Fuze
Fuze was built with the end-user in mind. It was built to have a common interface on mobile and desktop. Fuze Web is new, and it also has the exact same interface as the desktop and mobile, and they are still working on the ability to make phone calls from the browser itself, currently it can do meetings just fine. Everything about Fuze was built with the end-user in mind.
Read full review
Salesforce
My rating was 7. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly features like channels, threads, and integrations make it excellent for team communication and onboarding. However, its usability is held back by the resource-intensive desktop app and cluttered feeling in large workspaces. The mobile app's performance and unreliable notifications have also been noted as weaknesses.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Fuze
We've had a few outages over the past year. More than other vendors I've used. They usually have outages fixed within an hour. The downside is they do not provide root cause of outages. If they do at takes them at least a month to get it to you
Read full review
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
Fuze
Since Fuze runs across multiple devices and platforms they really strived to make a lightweight interface that is optimized for phone calls, chat, and collaboration. The web client loads fast, the chat is always up-to-date, phone calls arrive on-time. The desktop client is the most feature rich and basically it just adds desktop sharing functionality as well as VoIP for calling, and the mobile client doesn't consume a lot of battery, and it stays running to get phone calls, chats, and can do meetings over Wifi, Cellular Data, or Cellular voice.
Read full review
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
Fuze
Our experience with Fuze support has been overall very positive. Their technicians seem to be well trained and able to handle a variety of requests and issues without unnecessary delays or extensive troubleshooting. Fuze allows enough customer access to avoid the need to call support for every little issue but is ready to assist when issues are beyond our capabilities to resolve.
Read full review
Salesforce
Whenever I've had to troubleshoot an issue with Slack (which, to be honest, has not happened very often), their online documentation has been easy to locate, easy to understand, and effective in resolving my issue. Slack's ever-growing popularity also means that there's a large community of practice out there that can be depended upon.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Fuze
At many of our sites with more than 50 users, Fuze sent someone onsite to train. This worked surprisingly well, as the trainer allowed the users to set the pace and answered TONS of questions. Fuze has a very streamlined training process, their staff is very professional, very knowledgeable and very engaging.
Read full review
Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Fuze
Fuze has vast amounts of training videos and guides on how to use its products and services. There are literally endless-hours of training and I often point end-users to a particular video which addresses the specific needs of the user, for example: how to check voicemail. Or, how to share your desktop, etc.
Read full review
Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Fuze
Personally, I didn't have any trouble getting started with Fuze. It was installed on my computer on my first day and I was good to go! Little to no hiccups. I was not with the company when they first adapted Fuze so I can not speak to the implementation as a whole.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Fuze
Fuze was far more expensive and more complicated to set up. Our current platform took a few days to set up with SSO. Our contact center took a bit longer but works amazingly.
Read full review
Salesforce
I like Slack better than ClickUp, because I would spend 30-60 minutes a day updating my ClickUp tasks. The way ClickUp was used was very micromanaging. I billed by the hour, so I was willing to put in the time to alert the boss what tasks I was working on.
One of my jobs used Hive - I mostly just ran it in the background in case anyone messaged me. I did not use it often.
Read full review
Scalability
Fuze
Fuze does have scalability limits but most of that is how many end-points they can put on a virtual PBX, or VCX as they call them, I THINK its limit is somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000, but we've not had issues with that because we have put users into various VCXs some by location, some by department or function. Either way, we have 7,000 currently deployed, and are going to end up with over 15,000 when we are done, Fuze is VERY scalable.
Read full review
Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Fuze
  • We receive constant negative feedback from mangers about the system not functioning correctly. (This is mainly due to lack of support from Fuze)
  • This has had a positive impact in that the system is cheaper and we are missing less calls due to the functionality of the system.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Slack has been incredibly helpful in connecting various tech apps and ecosystems, creating a more streamlined and responsive process.
  • Slack has made it significantly easier to communicate with our team members across multiple time zones, creating a more engaging environment for our all-remote team.
Read full review
ScreenShots