What is Slack?
Slack organises team communication into channels and threads, adds audio and video huddles, and connects to more than two thousand apps. The Mac desktop app is a packaged client for the same service, published both as a direct download and on the Mac App Store. There is a free plan that lasts indefinitely but keeps only 90 days of message history, so anything older becomes unsearchable until the workspace upgrades. It suits teams that want structured, searchable conversation rather than ad-hoc group chats.
Verified product facts
- Type
- messaging appEditorially reviewed
- Platform
- macOS
- Pricing
- FreemiumDeveloper-stated
- Developer
- Slack Technologies, Inc.Developer-stated
- Relationship to Nuanyue
- Third-party product — not published by NuanyueEditorially reviewed
- Current version
- 4.52.171Developer-stated
- Official website
- slack.com/
Last updated . Facts marked developer-stated come from the developer and are not independently confirmed; editorially reviewed marks a Nuanyue judgement.
Key features
What Slack does at a glance.
Channels and threads
Huddles
With audio, video and screen sharing
Slack Connect
For working with external organisations
Canvases and lists
Workflow Builder
For no-code automation
App Directory integrations
What you can use Slack for
- Organising team conversations into channels and threads
- Starting an audio or video huddle with screen sharing
- Working with external organisations through Slack Connect
- Automating routine tasks with Workflow Builder
- Connecting other tools through the App Directory
Who is Slack for?
- Teams that want structured, searchable conversation rather than ad-hoc group chats
- Workplaces that need to work with external organisations in the same tool
- Teams that want to start on a free plan that does not expire
Who is Slack not for?
- Teams that need more than 90 days of searchable history without paying — the free plan keeps only 90 days
- Anyone who needs the app to work offline — it is a hosted service
- Free-tier workspaces that need more than ten app integrations
Limitations
- The build's CPU architecture is not stated in the sources Nuanyue tracks
Strengths and trade-offs
What Slack does well, and what to weigh before choosing it. Points marked developer-stated come from the developer’s own material and have not been independently confirmed.
Strengths
- Conversations are organised into channels and threads rather than a single chronological stream.Developer-stated
- Huddles provide audio and video with screen sharing without leaving the app.Developer-stated
- The Mac app is available both as a direct download and as a Mac App Store listing.
- More than 2,600 apps are available in the Slack App Directory.Developer-stated
Trade-offs
- The free plan keeps only 90 days of message history, so older messages become unsearchable until the workspace upgrades.
- The free plan caps integrations at ten apps and limits Slack Connect and huddles to one-to-one use.
- Paid tiers are billed per user per month, so cost scales directly with team size.
- It is a hosted service: the desktop app does not work without a connection to Slack's servers.Editorially reviewed
First-use experience
What the app asks of you when you set it up. Only established facts appear here; anything we could not confirm is left out rather than guessed at.
- Installation
- Download from slack.com/downloads/mac or install from the Mac App Store; both require an account to use.
- First launch Developer-stated
- Sign in to a workspace or create one; the app then asks which channels to join.
- System integration Developer-stated
- Runs in the background to deliver notifications and can be launched at login; it is a client for a hosted service rather than a local store.
What it does
Slack organises team communication into channels and threads, adds audio and video huddles with screen sharing, and connects to the Slack App Directory, which the developer puts at more than 2,600 integrations. The Mac desktop app is a packaged client for the same hosted service.
The free plan’s real limit
Slack’s free plan does not expire, which makes it easy to adopt. The limit that matters is history: 90 days of message searchable, after which older messages become unreachable until the workspace upgrades. For a team using Slack as its institutional memory, that is the constraint that eventually forces a paid plan.
| Limit | Free | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Message history | 90 days | Unlimited |
| App integrations | Up to 10 | Unlimited |
| Slack Connect | 1:1 only | Group, up to 250 organisations |
| Huddles | 1:1 only | Group |
Paid tiers are billed per user per month, with amounts shown in local currency, and Enterprise+ is quoted by sales rather than published.
Two distributions
Slack ships the Mac app as both a direct download from slack.com and a Mac App Store listing. The App Store build listed version 4.52.171 on 29 September 2026.
Apple Silicon
Recorded as unknown. Apple’s store metadata and Slack’s download page do not state the build’s architecture, and an unestablished fact is left that way rather than filled with a guess.
Release history
Dated releases recorded for Slack, newest first, each with the source it was read from.
4.52.171
Current Mac App Store build of the desktop app.
Source: Mac App Store
Questions about Slack
Is Slack free?
Yes, there is a free plan that lasts indefinitely. It keeps 90 days of message history, allows up to ten app integrations, and limits Slack Connect and huddles to one-to-one use.
How much message history does the free Slack plan keep?
90 days. Messages older than that are not searchable until the workspace upgrades to a paid plan.
Does Slack have a Mac App Store version?
Yes. Slack for Desktop is on the Mac App Store, and the same app is also available as a direct download from slack.com.
What is the latest Slack desktop version?
4.52.171, released to the Mac App Store on 29 September 2026.
Compared with
Head-to-head comparisons Nuanyue has published.
Discord
Voice, text, and community chat platform.
Both are channel-based chat clients for Mac, but Discord is aimed at communities and Slack at workplaces.
Similar apps
Related in purpose, but not a straight swap.
Telegram
Cloud messaging with groups, channels and 2 GB file sharing.
Both are messaging apps with Mac clients and large group conversations, but Telegram is consumer-facing with no channel-and-workspace model.
Works well with
Not a replacement — apps commonly used alongside this one.
Notion
Hosted workspace for notes, docs, databases and wikis.
Slack handles conversation while Notion handles documentation; connecting them keeps discussions and written records in step.
Links
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the sources below. Last updated .
