Slack is for teams that work together. Discord is for communities that hang out. The product surface looks similar; the design priorities are opposite.
Slack's strengths
- Threading is a first-class feature, not an afterthought.
- Integrations with work tools (GitHub, Linear, Notion, Jira) are mature.
- Search is excellent.
- Per-channel notification config is granular.
Discord's strengths
- Persistent voice channels are still the killer feature for casual hangouts.
- Free tier is dramatically more generous.
- Onboarding for new members is much better.
- The bot ecosystem is 10x bigger.
When to use Slack
- B2B SaaS user communities
- Open-source project contributors who treat the channel like a meeting room
- Teams where DMs and threads are the primary mode
When to use Discord
- Gaming communities
- Creator fandoms
- Indie hacker communities, founder circles
- Anything where voice is meaningful
- Anything that wants moderation bots + role-based access
The verdict
If you're 50/50, pick Discord. Discord is moving up-market faster than Slack is moving down-market.