Skype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.
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
Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
Slack
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
Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
Slack
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No 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.
Skype for Business is easier to maintain in an all Microsoft environment. It syncs better with the AD and Outlook. Video and Audio calls are way better than the beta on Slack. On the mobile apps side, Slack clearly wins. Skype for Business has a really bulky apps on either …
Most people are familiar with Skype (having personally used it), and Skype for Business has an approachable learning curve. It's also functional across multiple platforms and well-supported for smartphones, which makes it an easy choice when onboarding new clients/vendors. It …
I have to use Skype for Business because its the only "approved" IM client. I also use Slack and there are some better collaboration options with Slack. Plus Slack is more fun to work in. But it doesn't integrate with anything else we have so it can not be fully used by everyone.
Slack has a bit higher sound quality on calls but does not have a very comfortable GUI and not very good notification sounds. On the other hand, you can connect several accounts to Slack client, as for Skype for Business you can connect only one account and run only one …
It is easier to chat on Slack and whatsapp.Skype For Business is much better for video collaboration that ClickMeeting. We have a problem with ClickMeeting because it uses Flash technology and not every browser supports this technology well. I think that long-term we will use Sk…
Slack has a highly loved functionality, the channels. This is really missing from Skype for Business, but other than that, functionality wise, they pretty much the same, and Skype for Business does a great job when it comes to communication and collaboration. The integration …
I personally like to use Slack for quick meetings with my colleagues. It feels intuitive, fast, and has good screen-sharing functionality. Google Hangouts is another similar tool that I have used. It has worked well and I have not had any problems with it.
I wouldn't have selected Skype. I feel GoToMeeting had license issues for the company we used it in and billing issues. Zoom was effective most of the time but didn't have easy interpersonal communication. Slack has instant messaging, but not video chat. In theory, Skype …
Skype for Business was selected because it was a legacy tool in our organization. It will be replaced with Microsoft Teams in the next year or so. This is a welcomed change. Teams is much more current, engaging, and offers more capabilities and intonations with other O365 …
Depending on what you wish to use it for, I believe there are better options out there than Skype for business. For an IM service, Slack is a lot more streamlined and user friendly. It is also a lot more customisable. Google Hangouts / Google Meet is a good alternative for …
The three are great tools, but each one have its set of benefits. Lync it's getting out of market, but certainly it still has a great market to those companies that are not worried with external communication, for example. Teams and Slack, have already this approach, but both …
Skype for Business and Slack are actually very similar, Slack allows you to use gifs on your messages. Skype for Business has been used by my company for a long time and some people just got very used to that. Other than that, many partners also use Skype for Business as only …
Skype for Business is more limited than Microsoft Teams or Slack but it was already in place at the organization and thus was the solution we continued to use. Teams has a more complete integration with the Microsoft suite of products and the same is true with Slack and …
This app integrates the features and functionality of Slack and Zoom into one app. This, when coupled with other MS platforms like Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, and others makes this app a very compelling option when compared to others.
Skype for Business makes it easier to group contacts and receive offline/online notifications. It is a great way to make small-group contacts and discuss things over text and phone. It makes business calls more manageable and more interactive to organize. It's helpful if I need …
Skype enables me to have a conversation with people worldwide via calls or messaging, which is extremely convenient. We can share our work or presentation during the call by sending files, images, and even screen sharing. As a result of its superior video and audio quality, …
Most of the above applications are more suited to the newer age smaller companies that can experiment and switch. Our primary use case for Skype for [Business] was an enterprise software for large-scale communication using Microsoft's suite of products and authentication at a …
Verified User
Manager
Chose Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
We're working to transition away from Skype for Business and onto one of the alternatives. Working with Skype for Business, many of the features feel "last-gen" and while it's not terrible and it gets the job done, the alternatives have more team collaboration utilities and …
It’s the most used tool in each company and I had to interact within my career on this software many times. Already part of the package of Office 365, it’s formally the most common step to learn the management role. It can be the great launch of your business growth and a …
Skype for Business worked best for our company as it was easy to sync our calendars to Skype. It's been a great software to use to communicate within the company.
Skype for business is just a professional tool compared to all competitors. There are no things that will distract you from finishing your daily tasks unlikely from competitors which are trying to make mix of Fun and Business, but my personal opinion is that a Business tool …
Verified User
General Manager
Chose Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
I think others are easier to use and have the same capabilities. I only use Skype for business because some clients don't have any other alternatives.
Slack and Chatter have great adoption here, for many reasons, including the persistent chat and because it is so easy to deploy.
BUT, there is no real working Windows clients for those solutions, while Skype for Business is available on almost all platforms. Using a web browser …
Slack is more likely to be like internal messaging apps, so it is much more familiar than Skype for Business. Its app is much easier to use and has a nice UI in comparison to Skype for Business. On the other hand, for our day-to-day needs, Workplace by Facebook is much more …
Simply put, Slack is a much more robust and comprehensive tool.
Conversations & discussions in Slack can easily be reviewed & are searchable. Skype for Business doesn't offer this.
Slack offers a clear-cut "Workplace Directory" that's easy to use. Skype for Business didn't quite …
Verified User
Engineer
Chose Slack
I evaluated Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat. Slack stood out for its user friendly interface, powerful integrations and fast flexible communication. Microsoft Teams felt more formal and complex, while Google Chat lacked features. Slack best matched our …
Slack is a much better product, in my opinion! It’s much easier to use than other products, even though it may be similar enough. I would rather use it than any other product like Slack. Our team loves it and it integrates well with other apps like Asana or gmail.
Slack has message history unlike Skype. Also Slack has the ability to share large files, have automations, remainders, schedule messages, integration with multiple tools etc. Whereas Skype does not have all these features. Teams takes up a lot of system resources. Whereas Slack …
Slack is an integral solution for team communication, with an easy to use interface, intuitive access to its different modules, and lighter than its closest competitors. Even though more resource consuming than Google Chat, all the additional features justify the cost-benefit. Th…
Because with monday you can only handle your tasks and manage them while with Slack on top of that you can have a one-on-one conversation with your coworkers, you can schedule different uses and you can include apps so you have everything in one app. I'm happy using Slack for …
Microsoft Teams, Google Chat and Skype for Business were no match for Slack's features, ease of use and integrations. The other products feel like an afterthought or bundle as part of a more extensive offering, so they can't compete with Slack. Slack is easy to use for novice …
i didn't choose Slack - Slack chose me. i am familiar with Skype but i don't know all its functionalities so i cannot say if Slack is better or not. i feel like Skype lags a lot and takes up too much space when replying to another message. Rocket.Chat is great. it could have …
Besides Slack, I have tried using Skype and WhatsApp Business for chat platforms, but they aren't as intuitive or natural feeling to use, and they don't feel like they belong in the business setting. Skype feels old school, and though the video feature is always readily …
Slack is selected by bigger organizations. There is much more flexibility in organizing group chat, team groups. Each notification can be easily noticed and replying is faster. The mobile app is very user-friendly. I enjoyed using it while I'm away from my laptop. I can see and …
Verified User
Analyst
Chose Slack
Slack is very good compared to many other tools and I feel that it is much better and user-friendly than other platforms that I have used. slack is good with communicating and a majority of our projects come out with great success and very few options for room for improvement
Slack has way more features than Skype. On Skype, you could only chat, send files & do video calls. Whereas in Slack, everything looks much more personalized. You could collapse channels & DMs so it's not too crowded on the app. You could set a status and integrate lots of …
I currently have not searched for other vendors compared to slack. Slack has a great reputation and has been with 120WaterAudit for quite some time now. It is fully integrated into our company and everyone has a good time using all of its functions and the ease of use.
You can have multiple teams for a single user account. Most of times will use only one team, though, with multiple channels within it for further discussion levels. Slack permits a lot of third-party service integration. You can fine-tune notifications to only send you an alert …
Having had to use Skype/Lync in a former life as a Fortune 100 contractor, I can say that Slack's ease-of-use, customizability, and solid integrations with online tools puts it far ahead. It's nice to not be beholden to the Microsoft Stack for every little thing, as well. …
Skype was a great product too. It's entirely a paid product. Whereas Slack lets you use it for free just that it will not save the chat history after a few days. Group chatting is very easy in Slack. Also, polling can be easily done. You don't have to use any external software …
Slack has more features and provides higher quality of calls. Also media can be shared easily and be managed apart from messages. For software developers, Slack provides more features than other products, like sharing code snippets, files, and scripts. Slack also has the …
Slack works a lot better than its alternatives. It has smart notifications and a lot less bugs. It is easy to search through messages and files. Also you can pin the message in the channel and start a thread from any message you want in order not to bother others with your reply.
Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams is a remote/virtual team collaboration tool must have...especially if you already use Microsoft tools. Of course, since it now part of an MS 365 subscription, it really doesn't make sense to use anything else. It is easy to use and just works. I'm not sure how anyone who works with digital files/documents and needs to work with other people doing similar work can be effective without such a tool. Of course, there are a number of alternatives like Zoom or Webex, but why pay or use another separate tool if you don't need to. :-)
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
Instant messaging to anyone who we know only by name/email. Even if they're offline, they get the message in missed convos and a notification automatically goes to them via Outlook mail. All conversations are saved and accessible via Outlook.
Video and voice calls are a norm in the WFH scenario, and an average employee has around 4-5 calls a day. Skype gives notifications for upcoming meetings, allows easy scheduling via outlook calendar, and its audio/video quality [is] reasonably good compared to the amount of data it consumes.
Status availabilities - in the WFH scenario, you could be off for lunch, out of office, busy, sharing screens - and might not want to be disturbed. Skype allows you to do that, and in case you're off, ensures that you know that you have missed messages.
Screen sharing - we have to share screens at least once or twice a day with a coworker when working on some issues/features, and Skype easily lets us do that. One of the best things about Skype is that the screen can be shared without being on a video/voice call - which is of immense advantage because oftentimes, you could prefer sharing the screen, while it [is] too noisy to talk.
Connection issues can be hard to diagnose when they come up(as some knowledge of server information may be needed to reestablish as the connection troubleshooting options on the sky are not as user-friendly as the rest of the platform.
Some issues setting up camera/sound could use more info on troubleshooting options with playback sound, video, etc.
Statuses sometimes are unreliable and do not display correctly .
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
The software is simple to install and configure. It is rather simple to explain for correct use. It is possible to profile users for the different functions offered. It is integrated quite completely with Outlook and with Active Directory security. It performs all communication functions well with one or more interlocutors and the possibility of granting control of your computer is convenient.
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.
Very easy to use. Even though Microsoft Teams has a lot of features and integrations, as a user I feel completely comfortable on finding what I need, getting information about the app extensions and using them. It's a very comprehensive tool, intuitive design and does not make me feel tired to be using it. I am glad with the current experience.
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.
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.
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.
I have only had to reach out to the Support team at Skype for Business once with an issue, and I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the quickness and thoroughness of their response. The wait time was short and my question was dealt with politely and clearly, so I would say the support team has it together.
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.
Skpe for business is utilized company wide in regards to my company. Everyone not only uses it, but uses it often. It is an effective way of communicating. It also integrates very nicely with outlook and all conversation history is pushed to a folder within the outlook system. We also have it so that if someone misses a message, they are sent an email reminder saying that there is a message that went unread.
For the below reason I will always choose this app over its competitors: Better audio and video quality, Little to no disconnections or freezing when on a call/video conference Integrates well with mailbox/ calendar/ one drive, and SharePoint is easy to use
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.
Skype for Business has enabled a migration in part away from fixed line telephony and introduced the user to mobile working with a headset which cannot be overstated as being a game changer.
Being able to schedule Skype for Business meetings through Outlook has meant meetings with colleagues without a meeting room has been a great enabler.