Slack
Team messaging app with channels, direct messages, and third-party integrations.
HN commenters mostly like Slack as a much better option than Microsoft Teams,1234 citing its searchable history, simple integrations and cross-org channels.5678 The most common complaint is that the Electron app is slow and memory-hungry,9101112 and some also find its search and reminder notifications frustrating.13141516
Why people recommend it
Better than Teams · 3
Several commenters who moved to or use Teams say Slack is far more pleasant.
“Slack is a delight compared to Teams.”
“I wouldn't wish Teams on my worst enemy, so in that regard, I love Slack”
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“I prefer Slack to alternatives”
Searchable history · 3
Past conversations act as a searchable record of decisions and errors.
“I'd pay the $$$ for Slack. The ability to search past conversations has saved me hours of productivity”
“Slack was one of those tools that just held context of everything.”
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“posting a funny link or a picture of your cat in Slack feels personable”
Simple, good UX · 3
Praised as simple, with just enough features and a good interface.
“Slack is a really really good product because it is simple enough and works nice”
“I’ll just use Slack instead of some garbage clone that has the same restrictions.”
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“slack is pretty good already”
Integrations · 2
Integrations and in-house apps are described as simple and reliable for automating workflows.
“I use Slack every day, and I love it.”
“I wouldn't wish Teams on my worst enemy, so in that regard, I love Slack”
Cross-org channels · 2
Slack Connect and cross-org channels make it easy to work with outside teams.
“Thankfully we use Slack where I work. The cross-org channels are cool.”
“We use Slack at work, and everyone we work with uses Slack, and we all work together with Slack Connect.”
Caveats and dissent
Slow and bloated · 3
The Electron app is called slow, laggy and heavy on RAM.
“Slack is a very bad that is super slow no matter what time of day I use it.”
“When I use slack and discord, I sigh when I start seeing UI rendering lag”
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“my only complaint is Slack's RAM usage”
Search · 2
Some find it hard to locate older messages with Slack search.
“good luck finding a slack message from a month ago much less a decade”
“the search function actually worked which is better than I can say for Slack.”
Reminder notifications · 2
Multiple reminders trigger separate noisy phone notifications.
“I am starting to hate the way notifications are implemented.”
“The only downside is that Slack doesn’t seem to have considered this workflow.”
Bot setup friction · 2
Setting up bots requires many permissions and more friction than alternatives.
“dialing in the gazillion of permissions needed to end up with something that works is a bit painful”
“Telegram doesn't have a threading notion, but Slack does”
Threading · 2
Commenters criticize its single-threaded conversations and lack of nested threads.
“Slack was awful for being single-threaded.”
“Slack is a really really good product because it is simple enough and works nice”
Spotty networks · 1
One user says it locks up on an unreliable connection.
“Slack is a very bad that is super slow no matter what time of day I use it.”
Often compared with
2 moved from Slack to Microsoft Teams
2 moved from Slack to Discord
2 moved from Slack to MatrixMattermost5 comments mention both
1 moved from Slack to Element
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- OpenAI Should Build Slack 4 mentions
- Microsoft Teams is a red flag 3 mentions
- Ask HN: What vendor you'd switch out if a better option was available? 2 mentions
- Ask HN: Does anyone here use Discord as their work chat tool? 2 mentions
- The Napoleon Technique: Postponing Things to Increase Productivity 2 mentions
- Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible 1 mention
Data: slack.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 45
“slow bloated and buggy apps usually running on Electron (Slack et al)”
“Open on my desktop right now: Slack, Outlook, Zoom, Windows Terminal, Edge, Claude, Obsidian, whatever the Windows image viewer is called, Cursor, and VS Code”
“side by side with Slack or Linear to create issues or discuss with people”
“posting a funny link or a picture of your cat in Slack feels personable”
“We use slack for messaging”
“I do know that I loathe Slack, though. Of the software I use almost every day, it is the worst by miles.”
“Slack is a very bad that is super slow no matter what time of day I use it.”
“We got rid of Hubspot, Slack, and many other tools”
“slack is pretty good already”
“I prefer Slack to alternatives”
“I've got Slack and Signal in one”
“Thankfully we use Slack where I work. The cross-org channels are cool.”
“Chat is via slack, but I use the website and not the native app.”
“When I use slack and discord, I sigh when I start seeing UI rendering lag”
“good luck finding a slack message from a month ago much less a decade”
“I pay for Slack etc.”
“And Slack for communications -_-”
“Slack isn't the best UI for this stuff.”
“the sum total of Electron apps I use are Teams (I guess not quite Electron now, but close enough)/Slack/Discord/Android Messages/VS Code”
“dialing in the gazillion of permissions needed to end up with something that works is a bit painful”
“I have to type R E A L L Y : S L O W L Y when I use Slack at work.”
“my only complaint is Slack's RAM usage”
“somewhere between IRC and slack, or if you really like long-form, Dreamwidth”
“Spinning off us how we use slack after all.”
“I actually really like Slack”
“That plus slack, zoom, ff with scores of tabs”
“Slack is hopelessly locked down and tedious to deal with.”
“We use Slack, Notion, and Google Docs.”
“Slack is dying”
“I opted for Slack over Telegram or Discord”
“At my office, we use Slack and Teams”
“Slack was one of those tools that just held context of everything.”
“I'd pay the $$$ for Slack. The ability to search past conversations has saved me hours of productivity”
“Telegram doesn't have a threading notion, but Slack does”
“I use it through Slack”
“I wasn't a fan of Slack either”
“Slack is a really really good product because it is simple enough and works nice”
“We use Slack at work, and everyone we work with uses Slack, and we all work together with Slack Connect.”
“I use Slack every day, and I love it.”
“I'm in several Slack teams for non profits and professional orgs”
“Slack is a delight compared to Teams.”
“the search function actually worked which is better than I can say for Slack.”
“I am starting to hate the way notifications are implemented.”
“I wouldn't wish Teams on my worst enemy, so in that regard, I love Slack”
“The only downside is that Slack doesn’t seem to have considered this workflow.”