Slack vs. Discord: Best Workspace Communication Tool for You


We live in an era powered by digital infrastructure. Gone are the days when the employees of an organization would meet physically to conduct meetings, discuss strategies, or get daily updates. Everything happens online on a real-time basis now. With the work-from-home trend, the need for online workspaces for real-time communication is ardent. Companies require a platform that can help employees communicate and share data in real time across geographical boundaries and time zones.

Discord Application: Online Communication Place

This application is mainly used for connecting via text, call, group calls, or video calls. One can share gifs and send work-related documents as well. Multiple communication channels can be created. Discord was mainly designed for communication between gamers. One can share their live performance in a specific game, and their friends can connect to it or simply sit and watch their other friend play. Slack can be used on Chrome, or the application can be installed.

Slack Application: Instant Messaging System

Slack is a work-together online space for employees in this fast-paced digital world. Slack is an instant business texting application. It is a go-to place for the employees for all the data and other necessities that they might require while working for the company. It is super organized. With the Slack application, you can collaborate with other team members, chat live in dedicated spaces, share ideas with people on a real-time basis, set deadlines, collect and download information related to projects, connect with humans outside the company, and manage your calendar with ease.

A comparison of Slack and Discord does not make much sense because of the purpose of the creation of the applications. Slack is an online workspace for businesses; on the other hand, Discord was mainly created for gaming communities. If one opens the home pages of both applications, one can see the stark difference between the two. Though Slack and Discord have similar user interfaces, they differ a lot.

Now we will be discussing the critical points of differences between the two applications so that, in the end, you can make a choice as per your business needs.


Discord Slack
Was initially created for gaming communities. Slack was created to cater to business or corporate needs.
Has informal language been used on the home page, for example, "hang out"? On the home page, formal language is used, and the visual design is more appealing for some serious work.
One can only send 50 customizable emojis in the free version. One can send unlimited customizable emojis in the free version of Slack.
Multiple channels can be created and accessed with ease. Multiple channels can be created and accessed with ease on Slack.
Discord is accessible on Windows, IOS, and others. Slack is accessible on Windows, IOS, and others.
One cannot save a post for future reference privately on Discord. One can save a post for future reference privately on Slack.
Discord offers you an inbox to see all the messages where you have been mentioned. But no such inbox is there to see the reactions that people have added to your mention. Slack offers you an inbox to see all the messages where you have been mentioned and the particular reaction that other team members have added to your particular message.
One cannot organize the sidebar by creating different folders on Discord. One can organize the sidebar by creating different folders on Slack.
One cannot upload an individual file larger than 8 MB in the free version. In the paid version of Discord, one cannot upload a file larger than 100 MB. It is difficult to share files on Discord. Slack provides no limit on the file size for users. It provides 5GB to users as storage space in the free version. It is easier to share files in Slack.
Discord bots are difficult to access. Slack bots are very user-friendly. It provides step by step guide for the different advanced features of the integration process. One can also seek human help on Slack bot.
It is difficult to format text messages in Discord. For example, one can see a lot of posts explaining to people how to bold the text on Discord. One can easily format text messages on Slack.
The video quality and the audio quality of Discord are beyond comparison. As it was initially prepared for the gaming communities as a place to hang out virtually. Many Slack users pay to use Zoom platforms to hold meetings. Video and audio calls are not Slack's strengths. No advanced features are available.
Discord has advanced features available to adjust the volume of each participant. Slack has no advanced feature to adjust the volume of individual users.
Discord also has a room with free entry and exit for an "n" number of participants of their free will. which becomes very useful for users who seek help from different team members. Slack has a room named "huddle." where the users can come in any time they want and interact with the people already present. But in the free version, the number of users is limited to two, which makes it practically useless.
Discord does not offer application integration. One can use Discord bots to simplify the work. But this non-integration makes discord a less reliable application for business working spaces. Slack offers integrations with many useful digital working spaces. For example, one can easily integrate Trello, Simply Poll, wiki, Tetra, Jira, HubSpot, Time Doctor, and others. This makes sure that working on slack becomes easy.
Discord is generally freely available to the user, with a lot of advanced features as well. A free version of Slack is available, but for a business to start working on this communication platform, a firm has to get the enterprise or business version.
Discord is the free version available on the public website for usage. There are no features available for companies, thus limiting access to users because the purpose of creation was to have a room for hanging out. Companies have more control over Slack as a communication platform for users. They can integrate other applications while restricting usage.

After going through the pros and cons of both applications, one can easily conclude that. Discord should not be used as your trusted application for communication in the corporate world. It is better for gaming communities or for people to have more informal interactions. Slack should be used as a business working space in spite of low-quality video and audio calls. The brand has many advanced features to automate your work and integrations to add new features.

Updated on: 02-Dec-2022

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