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Teams Is Better Than Zoom or Slack

That’s a huge assertion – that Microsoft Teams is a better collaborative platform than Zoom or Slack. But does it live up to the compliment, considering that they are all credible and sought-after tools?

We decided to research these three popular interactive tools, taking a deeper dive into their features and capabilities, given different circumstances/needs. Whereas it took Teams just three years to attain 13 million daily active users, Slack and Zoom needed six and eight years, respectively, to reach 10 million active users.

That just illustrates how Microsoft Teams is many people’s preferred collaborative tool. But the big question is, what exactly drives these figures? This blog explains some key differences that draw users to Teams over Zoom or Slack. So let’s get down to business!

Pricing

Before we even move to the key feature differences, let’s see which of these three tools gives you the best bang for your buck.

Microsoft Teams prices its Business Basic plan at $5.00 per user per month. That comes with 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage where each user can store file attachments and easily share them with team members. Users also enjoy free security, administration, compliance capabilities, and other Office 365 services like Planner, Online, SharePoint, Stream, and Yammer.

On the other hand, Slack has its Standard Plan priced at $6.67 per user per month. That constitutes 10 GB worth of file storage per user, unlimited integrations, and unrestricted message history. The plan also enhances users’ experiences by providing security capabilities and external collaboration.

Last we have Zoom, which charges $19.99 per user per month for its business plan. The plan gives each user 1 GB of cloud recording, and it hosts up to 300 participants. What’s more, it comes with the Large Meetings add-on that allows the host to increase the number of participants to 1000. You’ll also love the fact that you can stream the meeting via social media.

Clearly, of the three interactive tools, Microsoft Teams takes the day when it comes to affordability. And the fact that you get up to 1 TB of storage per user plus other services like SharePoint and Stream for the same price makes it even more impressive.

That aside, let’s now compare some key features and capabilities that support the assertion that Teams is better than Zoom or Slack.

Features and Capabilities

During our research – when deciding which of the three tools is better – our primary point of reference was, which platform will enable your workers to work more efficiently? That is, do the features and capabilities enable users to complete all their tasks without exiting the platform?

Integrations

All three collaboration tools come jam-packed with tons of admirable apps and bots integrations. For instance, Zoom allows you to connect with a whopping 3,000 apps and services, enabling you to automate your work and become more productive. Then there’s Slack that integrates with more than 1,500 3rd party apps and services that users can choose from.

Microsoft Teams is the exact opposite of the two, only that it offers world-class efficiency with its integrations. It has a potent Office 365 tasked with providing seamless Microsoft-powered integrated services and third-party apps.

For instance, Outlook integrates with Word, which further connects to Teams to optimize productivity, especially when trying to complete a time-ridden report, and you’re alone in the office. What’s more, you can also start a video meeting with one click as well as switch from calls to chats to video conferences – all from the same interface.

But you may be thinking, isn’t that something that Slack can do too? Well, you’re right. And you know what else is right and even more amazing? That you can add 20 more people within a few clicks, schedule meetings with them on the platform, and use your Word doc simultaneously. Unlike Zoom where you have to send a link to every participant, with Teams, you only have to click once to start a meeting with 20 people.

Besides Microsoft Teams’ seamless integrations, enabling you to start a video chat while simultaneously scheduling group chats, you’ll also love its helper bot, Who. You can use it to find information about people in your team. For example, you can use it to search “who knows about customer experience?” It’ll give you suggestions based on the people within your team.

Security and Compliance

No tool beats Microsoft Teams when it comes to data security and administrative controls. Although all the interactive platforms usually offer compliance certification and data encryption, Teams goes to the deeper extent of illustrating how they value data security, thanks to their four tiers of compliance frameworks.

Having been rated as Tier-D compliant, it means Microsoft Teams has the topmost compliance commitment level, enabling all its services by default. As if that’s not enough, Teams also provides administration controls that are second to none. The controls can come in handy in modifying SharePoint, owner, member, and file permissions to maximize security and compliance.

Meetings

Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack all include video sharing and online audio options for their meetings. But Teams’ meeting capabilities are a game-changer. Microsoft leveraged its immense experience in servicing small and large businesses using communication applications when building Teams. So it’s not surprising that the tool has state-of-the-art meeting capabilities.

Slack facilitates one-on-one video calling in its free plan with an option to upgrade to 15 participants using a shared screen on the paid version. Recently, it also introduced an option to make calls using third-party apps, which is quite impressive. With Zoom, multiple people can also share a screen, making real-time collaboration more efficient. You can only host up to 100 people with the free version, and the meetings only last for 40 minutes.

On the flip side, what sets Teams apart from both Zoom and Slack is that multiple people (up to 250) can fit in the same meeting, even with the free version. However, if you upgrade to the paid plan, you can host up to 10,000 participants for company-specific events, webinars, large meetings, etc.

You also won’t get enough of other meeting features like background blur, meeting recordings, scheduled meetings, and screen sharing.

Conclusion

Clearly, Microsoft Teams has the edge over the other two collaboration tools in almost every aspect. However, that is not to say that Slack and Zoom are any less powerful platforms. They, too, have some incredible features and capabilities that are absolute kickers.

But if you’re looking for a tool where you can quickly start a video meeting, add your team automatically (without sending out links), and integrate with crucial apps such as Outlook, Microsoft Teams has your cover.

In The Cloud Technologies specializes in maximizing Microsoft Teams plus other cloud services and tools for businesses. Get in touch with our team today, and let us help your business edge over your competitors.