Slack Community Pricing: Pros, Cons & Alternatives
Thinking about building a Slack community? Slack is widely used, but other tools often provide more unique features and pricing structures that may align better with your community goals.
This article explores Slack community pricing to give you an overview of costs, the pros and cons of the platform, and alternative solutions.
What Is a Slack Community?
At its core, a Slack community is a discussion forum consisting of channels that help you organize conversations for specific groups or subgroups. Because so many people are familiar with Slack, communities on Slack have taken many forms—you can find communities based on interest, location, jobs, and more.
Think of it as an online community platform offering real-time communication.
Benefits of a Slack Community
You Can Use It for Free
You can create a community on Slack without paying a single cent. Community builders can quickly download Slack, start a workspace, and invite people to their community.
The free version includes:- Channels, threads, and real-time messaging- Data encryption at rest and in transit- Standard support- No limit to the number of people that can join
Slack could be an affordable solution, perfect for community builders looking to experiment without risking cash upfront.
People Know How to Use Slack
Professionals worldwide have heard of Slack. They've probably used the platform at some point, or it's currently part of their daily workflow.
Slack can be quickly installed on PCs and phones, so joining a new community is often just adding a new workspace to the existing app.
Useful Collaborative Functionality
Slack comes with heaps of useful features:- Channels for organizing discussions around different topics- Conversations organized into threads- Direct messages for private communication- Pinned messages for important resources- Customizable notifications- File sharing within channels and DMs- Reminders within conversations
Drawbacks of Slack Communities and Pricing
The Free Plan Has Limitations
When discussing Slack community pricing, the limitations of the free plan can be a significant problem if you plan to grow.
The 10,000 messages limit. Only the most recent 10,000 messages are searchable, undermining the value of your community's discussions. Imagine hosting an AMA with an industry expert—that valuable content will no longer be available once you hit the limit.
Limited storage. The free plan storage limit is 5GB. Once your community starts sharing multimedia assets like PDFs, slide decks, images, and webinar recordings, you'll quickly use up your allowance.
Other limitations:- Restricted to 10 integrations with other tools- No ability to communicate with people outside the community- No video conferencing
The Paid Plan Is Expensive
Slack charges $8.75 per user per month for its entry-level paid plan. For large communities, this suggests a huge monthly bill.
Let's do the math:- A community with 3,000 members would cost approximately $26,250/month- A community with 5,000 members would cost approximately $43,750/month- Even a tight-knit community with 100 members will cost over $9,000 per year
This type of monthly bill is unreasonable for most community builders—leaving Slack pro features out of reach.
You Can't Customize Your Community
There's no way to make the community your own. Each Slack community looks the same, lives within the Slack app, and is covered with Slack branding.
The only way to "customize" a Slack workspace is by adding integrations and automation. It's impossible to make your brand stand out or customize the layout to fit your needs.
No Open Community or SEO Benefits
Slack communities are only available to people who know about the community and have received an invite.
This approach works for closed communities, but it's not suitable for community builders who want to create an open space. You can't expose your community to search engines.
Benefits of open communities you miss:- Community knowledge open to anyone- Community posts indexed by Google, driving significant traffic- Ability to link to community discussions from blog posts- Faster community growth through organic discovery
You Compete with Other Communities
With so many workspaces and communities available in one single tool, your community fights with other groups for users' attention.
Other Missing Features
Limited user profiles. Profiles show only a handful of information—name, job role, and basic contact details.
Basic networking features. No ability to follow other community members.
Limited gamification. No badges or reputation scores that promote healthy competition and engagement.
No activity feed. Users have to search through all different channels to find content.
Slack vs. Dedicated Community Platforms
If you see your community reaching thousands of members and significant milestones, you need a platform that allows it to grow in design, customization, member numbers, and branding.
What Dedicated Platforms Offer
Structured content. Build a knowledge base organized in discussions and categorized topics with threaded replies.
Customizable member profiles. Including badges, points, and leaderboards to encourage participation and reward contributions.
Accessible content. Organized categories, tags, and search features make content easily discoverable.
Visual customization. Block-based designers let you tailor design to your community's needs and vision.
Privacy controls. Create private groups, control content visibility, and assign roles to members.
Built-in analytics. Track member engagement, popular content, and community growth metrics.
User engagement features. Upvoting, polls, Q&As, events, and different content types.
Slack vs. Bettermode Comparison
FeatureSlack FreeSlack ProBettermodeMessage history10,000 messagesUnlimitedUnlimitedStorage5GB10GB/userUnlimitedIntegrations10Unlimited3,000+Custom brandingNoLimitedFull customizationSEO/Open communityNoNoYesMember profilesBasicBasicRich profilesGamificationNoNoYesAnalyticsBasicBasicAdvancedActivity feedNoNoYesKnowledge baseNoNoYesPricingFree$8.75/user/monthFrom $19/month (unlimited users)
When to Choose Slack
Slack is an optimal option if you want to build a small, closed community. The emphasis here is on "closed"—you won't be able to expose your community to search engines.
With Slack, you'll have minimal customization options and you'll build and manage your community without necessary features like community moderation, gamification, omnichannel notifications, and analytics.
If all those facts don't bother you, choose Slack.
When to Choose a Community Platform
If you see your community reaching thousands of members and significant milestones, you need a platform that allows it to grow in design, customization, member numbers, and branding.
Community platforms designed for B2B SaaS—like Bettermode—provide the structure, customization, and engagement features necessary to build an engaged customer community. With a web app builder, you can create a community in less than an hour.
Ready to build your community? Get started with Bettermode—it's free.
FAQs
How much does it cost to create a Slack community?
Creating a Slack community is free, but advanced features require a paid plan starting at $8.75 per user per month. For large communities, this can become extremely expensive.
What is a Slack community?
A Slack community is a group within a Slack workspace that allows real-time communication, typically arranged into channels.
Do you have to pay for a Slack channel?
You don't have to pay for individual channels, but some features and storage options require a paid Slack plan.
What's the most cost-effective option for large communities?
Platforms with flat monthly pricing regardless of member count are most cost-effective for large communities. Bettermode, for example, offers plans starting at $19/month with no limits on users—compared to Slack's per-user pricing that quickly becomes prohibitive at scale.
