Slack vs Microsoft Teams 2026: Price for 25 Users Compared

For 25 users billed at list price for a year, Microsoft 365 Business Basic with Teams costs $2,100. That is $75 less than Slack Pro alone at $2,175. Teams wins for any team that also needs Word, Excel or a company inbox, because the Slack bill sits on top of a Microsoft suite. Slack earns its price when its app directory matters more than the Office bundle, and a Slack team still has to buy email and documents from somewhere.

Prices on this page were checked on 10 October 2026, on Slack's own pricing page and on Microsoft's licensing price list, which took effect on 1 July 2026. Toolradar data: our team chat ranking evaluates 36 tools as of October 2026, and 8 of its 10 top picks offer a free plan, so most of the strongest options let a team start for nothing.

Slack's price for 25 users

Slack sells four tiers. The Free plan costs nothing, keeps 90 days of searchable messages, allows up to 10 apps, and supports only one-to-one huddles. Pro costs $7.25 per user a month when billed yearly, or $8.75 billed monthly. Business+ costs $15 yearly or $18 monthly, and Slack's page calls it the best-value tier. Enterprise+ has no published price, only a sales contact.

Paying yearly is worth doing. It cuts $1.50 per user a month off Pro and $3 off Business+, which comes to $450 and $900 a year for a 25-person team. Slack also runs a 50% discount for three months on monthly Pro and Business+ plans, but only for teams that upgrade within their first seven days, and it does not apply to annual plans. Budget on the list price, not on the promotion, because a team that misses the seven-day window pays the full rate.

Slack's Free plan has one detail that catches teams out: it deletes data after one year. A 25-person team that wants its history kept should not start on Free.

Microsoft's price for 25 users

Teams is priced inside Microsoft's Business suites on the licensing price list. That list takes effect on 1 July 2026 and shows US dollar prices. The list has no standalone Teams line, so every Microsoft figure below includes a suite. The two columns show the same suite with and without Teams.

The July change raised Business Basic from $6.00 to $7.00 and Business Standard from $12.50 to $14.00. Microsoft says existing customers stay on their current price until they renew. The list prints one price per suite and no billing term, so read each figure as a monthly per-user list rate. A checkout quote can come out different, which is why you should compare the same billing term on both sides before you sign.

The gap between the two columns is what Teams itself costs inside a suite. It is $1.60 per user a month on Basic and $3.21 on Standard or Premium. For 25 users that is $480 a year on Basic and $963 a year on Standard. A company already buying a Microsoft suite pays that small amount for chat. A company that buys Slack anyway still pays for the suite without Teams, and that is the comparison that matters.

What each side gives you beyond chat

Business Basic includes Teams, an Exchange mailbox, 1 TB of OneDrive storage per user, Power Apps and Power Automate, and Office on the web and phone. Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook arrive at Business Standard, according to Microsoft's suite comparison published in June 2025. That is the Basic trade-off: the cheapest suite with Teams leaves out the desktop apps a finance team relies on, so a team that lives in complex spreadsheets should budget for Standard.

Microsoft's Learn documentation limits online meetings to 300 people on Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium and Teams Essentials. Slack's pricing page publishes no huddle size limit, so there is no matching number to set beside it. Slack's real advantage sits in its app directory, and the paid tiers drop the Free plan's 10-app limit. Pro adds group huddles and group conversations with partners in up to 250 organizations, which matters for agencies and consultancies that work with clients in shared channels.

Neither product replaces the other's job. Slack gives no company mailbox and no Office apps, so a Slack company still pays for those. Teams gives you chat inside the same bill as those tools, which is the whole reason it looks cheap next to Slack in a comparison that ignores the suite.

Three ways a 25-person team pays

If you already run Microsoft 365 for email and Office. Business Standard with Teams costs $4,200 a year. Keep Slack Pro and you pay $2,175 for chat on top of $3,237 for the suite without Teams, for $5,412 a year. Move to Business+ and the same setup reaches $7,737. The Teams path costs $1,212 less than the Pro path and $3,537 less than the Business+ path. Those are the numbers a finance lead should see before anyone asks for Slack.

If you need email and web Office, not desktop apps. Business Basic with Teams costs $2,100 a year. A Slack team on Basic without Teams pays $1,620 for the suite and $2,175 for Slack Pro, $3,795 in total. That is $1,695 more than the Teams path. The catch is that Basic has no desktop Office, so a team that needs desktop Excel should compare Standard instead.

If you need chat and nothing else from Microsoft. This page can only put one price on the table, and it is Slack Pro at the annual rate. Teams Essentials, Microsoft's standalone plan, is not on the licensing price list we used, so this page cannot rank the two on price for a chat-only team. Check Microsoft's Teams plan page for its price before you compare it with Slack Pro's $7.25 per user a month.

Who should pick which

Pick Teams if Microsoft 365 is already your office suite. The incremental cost of chat is small, you get meetings for up to 300 people, and the Office apps you already use stay on the same bill. The cheapest route is the one where Teams rides inside a suite you were going to buy anyway.

Pick Slack if the app directory is part of your daily work, if your team lives in threads with clients or partners, or if your mail and documents already sit outside Microsoft. Accept that Slack adds a line item rather than replacing one. A Google Workspace team should price the chat its own suite includes before it adds Slack, and this page does not do that comparison.

Teams has real weaknesses too. Basic has no desktop Office, the 300-person meeting cap rules out calls above 300 people on Business plans, and the July increase raised the entry suite by a dollar. Slack's weak points are the free tier's one-year data deletion and one-to-one huddles. A Business+ seat at $15 (billed yearly) costs $1 more per user a month than Standard with Teams at its list rate, and Standard also brings the desktop Office apps that Slack never includes.

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Where this fits in the wider stack

Chat is one line in a team budget, and the other lines decide whether the bundle makes sense. Our best team chat apps ranking covers the wider field, including tools that never touch Microsoft's suite. Teams that already pay for Google Workspace should read Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 before they decide where chat lives, because the same suite choice shapes mail, storage and video calls.

Storage is the second line most teams underestimate. If the shared files are heavy, compare the suite's storage with a dedicated tool in our best cloud storage for business guide. For shared whiteboards during a call, best digital whiteboards lists the options that work alongside either chat tool. Teams that need a business mailbox outside a suite can compare Zoho Mail, and anyone who wants meetings recorded and summarized should see best AI meeting assistants. For quick video updates, Loom is the reference.

For project work that runs on top of the chat, our best project management software roundup places the chat tool in the wider workflow, and our Notion review covers the document side for teams that keep their wiki outside Microsoft. Toolradar's own team chat ranking, with its Slack and Microsoft Teams tool pages, carries the tool-by-tool detail for readers who want a second opinion.

How we checked

Slack prices come from Slack's pricing page, read on 10 October 2026, including the promotion terms printed on that page. Microsoft prices come from its licensing price list update, which lists US dollar prices effective 1 July 2026 and the previous prices it replaced. Desktop-app coverage comes from Microsoft's suite comparison for small and medium businesses, published June 2025, and the 300-person meeting cap comes from Microsoft Learn's Teams limits page.

The 25-user totals multiply each list price by 25 users and 12 months, reading each Microsoft price as a monthly per-user rate. They are not quotes, and they assume the list rate applies for the full year. Re-check both pricing pages before you buy, because Microsoft's suite prices changed on 1 July 2026.

Cite this: Techpresso, "Slack vs Microsoft Teams in 2026: Price for 25 Users and Who Wins", October 2026.

FAQ

Is Slack or Microsoft Teams cheaper for 25 users?

Teams is cheaper for any team that already needs Microsoft 365. Business Basic with Teams costs $2,100 a year at list price, against $2,175 for Slack Pro alone, and the Slack team still needs a suite for email and documents.

How much does Slack cost for 25 users?

At list price billed yearly, Slack Pro costs $2,175 a year ($7.25 per user a month) and Business+ costs $4,500 a year ($15 per user a month). Billed month to month, Pro comes to $2,625 and Business+ to $5,400. Enterprise+ has no published price.

Does Microsoft 365 Business Basic include Teams?

Yes. The licensing price list shows Business Basic with Teams at $7.00 from 1 July 2026, and the same suite without Teams at $5.40. Read both as monthly per-user list rates, since the list does not print a billing term. Basic includes Office on the web and phone but not the desktop apps, which start at Business Standard.

Does Slack's free plan have a limit that matters?

Yes. The Free plan keeps 90 days of searchable messages, allows up to 10 apps, and includes only one-to-one huddles. Slack also deletes data after one year on the free plan. Free works for a trial or a pair of people, not for a 25-person team that needs group calls and a full message history.

Can I use Teams without Microsoft 365?

Yes, through Teams Essentials, which Microsoft sells as a standalone plan. The licensing price list does not include it, so this page quotes no price for it. Compare that price with Slack Pro's $7.25 per user a month on the same billing term before you sign.

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