Slack vs Teams for Salesforce: 5 things to check before you switch

Salesforce's Slack demo is good. Deal rooms tied to opportunities, record updates from a message, an AI agent that knows your pipeline. If your company runs on Microsoft Teams, it is easy to leave that demo believing the only way to get any of it is to move to Slack.

That is not the case. Most of what you saw depends on Salesforce, not on which chat app sits in front of it. Slack is a good product and there are sound reasons to choose it. "Salesforce only works there" is not one of them.

Here are five things to check before you approve a second collaboration platform. This post covers sales. A companion post covers service.

1. Which parts of the demo need Slack, and which only need Salesforce

Go back through the demo and sort each moment into two groups: things Slack does, and things Salesforce does that happen to appear in Slack. The second group is larger than it looks. The rules behind it are Salesforce automation: when a deal room opens, who is added, what is posted when a stage changes. That automation can post to Microsoft Teams as well.

With Centro, the automation is built in Salesforce Flow by your Salesforce admin. The link between each conversation and its record is stored in your own Salesforce org, so you can report on it like any other object.

For the deal room pattern in detail, see Salesforce Channels for Microsoft Teams. For setup steps, see How to connect Microsoft Teams and Salesforce, or every comparison on one page.

Two things in the demo do belong to Slack: Slack itself (channels, huddles, canvases, Slack Connect) and Slackbot, Slack's own AI agent. If those are what your sellers want, that is a real reason to look at Slack. Check 5 covers it.

Salesforce also publishes its own free app for Microsoft Teams. It covers record previews, mentions and hand edits, and it does not automate anything. That gap, not Teams itself, is usually why the demo looks out of reach. We compare the options in Alternatives to the native Salesforce and Teams integration.

2. Which Slack plan the demo was running on

Demos are usually run on the top plan. Ask which one, then check what the plan in your quote includes. As of October 2026, Slack's pricing page and help center say:

• Business+ is $15 per user per month billed annually, or $18 billed monthly. Enterprise+ is priced by quote.
• Slackbot is included on Business+ and Enterprise+. On Business+, each member can send 15 messages to Slackbot per week. Enterprise+ has no weekly limit.
• With a connected Salesforce org, Salesforce Flex Credits cover Slackbot use beyond the plan limit on Free, Pro and Business+. They are charged by usage.
• Slack says it may move advanced Slackbot capabilities released after June 2026 to usage limits or consumption pricing, with 30 days of written notice.
• Slack says Salesforce customers who connect their org to Slack will also get ongoing Slackbot access soon. Ask what message limit will apply to you.
• Salesforce channels are included on every plan, including Free, for customers on a standard Salesforce edition or above. Salesforce automations in Workflow Builder, Salesforce list views and Sales Home need Business+ or Enterprise+.

Fifteen messages a week is three per working day. A rep who uses an AI agent for call prep and record updates will go past that. In pilots we have seen, active users reached the weekly Slackbot limit. Model Enterprise+, or Business+ with Flex Credits, not the Business+ list price alone.

For comparison, CentroBot in Teams is a flat per-user subscription with no message cap. See pricing.

3. What a second chat platform costs beyond the licenses

The license is the smallest line. If the company stays on Microsoft 365 for meetings, calendars and files, sales will work in two places. Put a number on each of these:

• Two license lines. Teams does not go away.
• Governance, twice. Retention, eDiscovery, legal hold, data loss prevention and audit logs need to be set up and reviewed in a second system. In Slack's plan comparison table, legal holds, audit logs, native data loss prevention and the Discovery API are included on Enterprise+ only.
• Identity and devices. Single sign-on, user provisioning and mobile device policy, configured again.
• Records and supervision. If your firm archives business communications for regulatory reasons, Slack becomes a second channel to capture.
• Split conversations. Deals are discussed in Slack and everything else in Teams. People outside sales either get Slack licenses or are left out of the deal room.
• Change management. Training, channel conventions, and a migration plan if the long-term intent is to leave Teams.

Then compare the total with the alternative: adding Salesforce to the chat platform you already run.

4. Who else needs to be in the deal room

A deal room earns its keep when legal, finance, solutions and delivery are in it, not only the people with Salesforce licenses. Ask of any option:

1. Do people without a Salesforce license get a seat in the conversation?
2. What can they see and do there?
3. What does each of those seats cost?

In a company on Microsoft Teams, those people are already in Teams. With Centro, colleagues without a Salesforce license can receive updates, see record cards, and respond to forms and prompts through a governed automation user, with their own name on the response. Asking CentroBot a question requires the user's own Salesforce login, so every answer respects that user's Salesforce permissions.

5. When Slack is the right call

Switch if the reasons are about Slack:

• Engineering or product already runs on Slack and you want sales in the same place.
• Your customers and partners work with you over Slack Connect.
• You want Slackbot specifically, and the Enterprise+ numbers work.
• You want Salesforce's own roadmap in chat. Its Summer '26 release includes Slack First Sales, which puts Agentforce Sales agents in Slack.

If the reason is that sales needs Salesforce in chat, you have a choice. Salesforce supports Microsoft Teams as well: it publishes its own Teams app, and the same Summer '26 release lists IT service agents that deploy in both Slack and Teams. Adtran runs its Agentforce service agent in Microsoft Teams with Agentforce for Teams from Centro, and Salesforce published the story.

Centro has been connecting workplace chat and Salesforce since 2020 and supports both Slack and Microsoft Teams. If you choose Slack, the automation in the table above works there too.

Before you sign: a short checklist

1. List each demo moment and mark it Slack or Salesforce.
2. Get the quote for the plan the demo ran on, with Slackbot limits in writing.
3. Price the second platform: licenses, governance, identity, training.
4. Count the people outside sales who need a seat in the deal room.
5. See the same demo in Microsoft Teams before you decide.

For step 5, book a demo and bring your list from step 1. We will show each item in Teams.

FAQ

Do I need Slack to use Salesforce in chat?

No. Salesforce publishes a free app for Microsoft Teams that covers record previews, mentions and hand edits. Deal rooms created from records, two-way updates and an AI agent in Teams are available through Centro, which is built on Salesforce Flow.

Is Slack free with Salesforce?

Partly. Connecting Salesforce records to Slack channels is included on every Slack plan, including Free, for customers on a standard Salesforce edition or above. The paid plans are priced per user: as of October 2026, Business+ is $15 per user per month billed annually and Enterprise+ is priced by quote.

How many Slackbot messages are included in Slack Business+?

Fifteen per member per week, according to Slack's help center as of October 2026. Enterprise+ has no weekly limit. Business+ customers can buy Salesforce Flex Credits to go past the limit.

Is there a Slackbot for Microsoft Teams?

Slackbot runs in Slack only. The Microsoft Teams equivalent is CentroBot, an AI agent that answers questions from Salesforce, Teams, SharePoint and Outlook, cites its sources, and asks for confirmation before it writes to Salesforce.

Is there a Slack Sales Elevate for Microsoft Teams?

No. Slack Sales Elevate is a legacy Slack add-on, and Slack now includes its features, such as Sales Home, in the Business+ and Enterprise+ plans. None of it runs in Microsoft Teams. The Microsoft Teams equivalent is Centro: reps update opportunities from a record card in chat, Salesforce posts deal alerts to the linked conversation, and each deal can have its own channel.

Can Agentforce run in Microsoft Teams?

Yes. Agentforce for Teams from Centro brings the Agentforce agents you have built into Teams channels and chats. It requires Agentforce in your Salesforce org.

Can we run Slack and Microsoft Teams side by side?

Yes. Plan for two license lines and two sets of retention, eDiscovery and identity settings. Centro connects both to the same Salesforce org.