Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

GitHub VS Slack

Compare GitHub VS Slack and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

GitHub logo GitHub

Originally founded as a project to simplify sharing code, GitHub has grown into an application used by over a million people to store over two million code repositories, making GitHub the largest code host in the world.

Slack logo Slack

A messaging app for teams who see through the Earth!
  • GitHub Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05
  • Slack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-18

GitHub

Website
github.com
$ Details
Release Date
2008 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
Founder(s)
Chris Wanstrath
Employees
500 - 999

GitHub features and specs

  • collaboration
    GitHub provides a platform for multiple developers to work on the same project concurrently, facilitating collaboration through features like pull requests, code reviews, and issues tracking.
  • integration
    GitHub integrates seamlessly with various third-party tools and services, such as CI/CD pipelines, project management tools, and many development environments, enhancing productivity and workflow efficiency.
  • version_control
    Utilizes Git for version control, allowing users to track changes, revert to previous versions if necessary, and manage different branches of development, ensuring code stability and history tracking.
  • community
    With millions of developers and a vast repository of open-source projects, GitHub fosters a robust community where users can contribute to projects, seek help, share knowledge, and collaborate broadly.
  • availability
    GitHub is a cloud-based platform, which means that projects are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, providing flexibility and convenience to developers globally.
  • documentation
    GitHub allows for comprehensive project documentation through README files, wikis, and GitHub Pages, making it easier for users to understand project context and contribute effectively.

Possible disadvantages of GitHub

  • cost
    While GitHub offers free plans, more advanced features and private repositories come at a cost, which might be a barrier for some individuals or small teams.
  • steep_learning_curve
    For newcomers, especially those unfamiliar with Git, the learning curve can be quite steep, making it challenging to utilize all of GitHub's features effectively.
  • privacy_concerns
    Given its expansive, open nature, users must be cautious with sensitive or proprietary information. Even with private repositories, there is a latent concern over data privacy and security.
  • interface_complexity
    The user interface, while powerful, can be overwhelming and complex for beginners or those not deeply familiar with version control concepts.
  • performance_issues
    Occasionally, GitHub may experience downtime or performance issues, which can disrupt workflow and prevent access to repositories temporarily.
  • limited_storage
    GitHub imposes limitations on storage space and file size within repositories, which can be restrictive for projects requiring large datasets or binaries.

Slack features and specs

  • Real-Time Communication
    Slack allows for instant messaging and real-time communication, which facilitates quick decision-making and immediate problem solving among team members.
  • Channel Organization
    Users can create channels for different teams, projects, or topics, keeping discussions organized and easy to follow.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Slack integrates with a variety of other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Trello, and GitHub, allowing seamless workflow management.
  • Search Functionality
    Slack’s powerful search feature makes it easy to find specific messages, files, or information within your team's communication history.
  • Custom Notifications
    Users can tailor their notification settings to minimize distractions while ensuring they stay informed about important discussions.
  • Cross-Platform Availability
    Slack is available on multiple platforms, including desktop, web, and mobile, ensuring that team members can stay connected from anywhere.

Possible disadvantages of Slack

  • Information Overload
    With constant streams of messages and notifications, Slack can sometimes lead to information overload, making it difficult for users to keep up.
  • Cost
    While Slack offers a free tier, many advanced features are only available in the paid plans, which can be costly for larger organizations.
  • Dependency on Internet
    Slack requires a stable internet connection, which can be a limitation for users in areas with unreliable or slow internet service.
  • Potential for Distraction
    The real-time nature of Slack can sometimes be distracting, pulling team members away from deep, focused work.
  • Privacy Concerns
    As with any digital communication tool, there are potential privacy and security concerns that organizations need to manage.
  • Scalability Issues
    Large teams or companies may find it challenging to manage and scale their usage of Slack effectively as the number of channels and conversations grows.

Analysis of GitHub

Overall verdict

  • GitHub is considered an excellent choice for developers and teams looking for a reliable and efficient platform for version control and collaboration. Its community support, extensive documentation, and innovative features make it a preferred choice in the software development community.

Why this product is good

  • GitHub is a widely used platform for version control and collaboration, popular among developers and teams for its robust features, ease of use, and integration capabilities. It allows for streamlined project management, code review, and continuous integration, enhancing productivity and collaborative workflows.

Recommended for

  • Individual developers working on personal projects
  • Software development teams in need of collaborative tools
  • Open-source project maintainers and contributors
  • Organizations looking for scalable version control solutions

GitHub videos

How to do coding peer reviews with Github

More videos:

Slack videos

Review: How & Why We Use Slack At Our Office

More videos:

  • Review - What is Slack?
  • Tutorial - Slack App Tutorial: How & Why We Use SLACK For Our Remote Team

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GitHub and Slack)
Software Development
100 100%
0% 0
Communication
0 0%
100% 100
Code Collaboration
100 100%
0% 0
Project Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using GitHub and Slack. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GitHub and Slack

GitHub Reviews

  1. Reinhard
    · Boss at CLOUD Meister ·
    perfect 4 open Source

Best Forums for Developers to Join in 2025
GitHub Discussions is a communication forum for the community around an open source or internal project. Discussions enable fluid, open conversation in a public forum. Discussions are transparent and accessible, but they are not related to code.
Source: www.notchup.com
The Top 10 GitHub Alternatives
However, like any (human) product, the platform has its limits, downsides, and critics. GitHub has been barred by certain governments, and even if that isn’t exactly the company’s fault, the users are the ones limited from pushing their code. Another criticism concerns the price tag: some users have pointed out that GitHub’s pricing model is too inflexible. Moreover, some...
Top 10 Developer Communities You Should Explore
GitHub also has an extensive API that allows it to integrate workflows seamlessly. Continuous integration, code review tools, and project management features make GitHub an essential tool for any developer, and the community aspect adds a layer of connectivity that enriches the overall experience.
Source: www.qodo.ai
Top 7 GitHub Alternatives You Should Know (2024)
FAQs: Are there any cloud source repositories similar to GitHub?Is there a free alternative to GitHub?
Source: snappify.com
Best GitHub Alternatives for Developers in 2023
We may earn from vendors via affiliate links or sponsorships. This might affect product placement on our site, but not the content of our reviews. See our Terms of Use for details. Looking for an alternative to GitHub? Check out our in-depth list of the best GitHub competitors, covering their features, pricing, pros, cons, and more.

Slack Reviews

  1. San93
    · Director at Polar credit ·
    Essential for Team Collaboration but Needs Better Notification Management

    Slack has transformed how we communicate at Polar Credit, making collaboration faster and more organized. The channel-based messaging, direct integrations with essential tools, and real-time notifications keep our teams connected, reducing reliance on long email threads. The search function is a major plus, helping retrieve past conversations and shared files effortlessly.

    🏁 Competitors: Discord
    👍 Pros:    Organized team communication through channels and threads|Seamless integrations with apps like google drive, trello, and zoom
    👎 Cons:    Initial setup and implementation take time|Limited message history on the free plan
  2. EllaSvensson
    · Marketing Manager at Freelancer ·
    A Must-Have for Teamwork

    Slack has completely transformed how our team works together. The channels keep conversations organized, and we never lose track of important discussions.

    It integrates with tools like Google Drive and Zoom, making collaboration effortless. Sharing files is easy, and the search feature saves so much time when finding old messages.

    Slack is simple, customizable, and keeps everyone connected—whether we’re in the office or remote. It’s the perfect tool for teamwork!

    🏁 Competitors: Discord, Microsoft Teams
  3. Khansa1103
    · Email marketer at Webflicky ·
    Best app for getting in touch with my colleagues

    Slack is best platform to be used for professional purposes. It helps me keep my professional and personal life separate.

    🏁 Competitors: Microsoft Teams
    👍 Pros:    Bulk messaging
    👎 Cons:    Sometimes the download is slow

Top 12 Online Collaboration Tools for Smart Working
Slack is a cloud-based app built to simplify communication and teamwork. As one of the essential team collaboration tools, it enhances communication and productivity within teams. It’s packed with features that help teams stay connected, collaborate, and stay on top of things. A standout feature is the ability to create channels—dedicated spaces for conversations around...
Source: niftypm.com
7 best Mattermost alternatives for secure business messaging
Slack has a mobile and desktop app that supports remote teams to communicate seamlessly. On Slack, you can send files, documents, images, and videos. with your teammates.
Source: www.rocket.chat
20 Telegram Alternatives to Chat With in 2024
Slack works more like a forum than Teams does – falling somewhere in between a forum and a chat software. It lets you organize discussions into different channels, as well as by thread. You can invite others into a thread by @mentioning them, and it lets you add lots of different types of content. Slack works really well for 1:1 audio meetings, “huddles,” that give you the...
Why we switched to Mattermost
Now, obviously core messaging functionality is critical. Mattermost is great there, but so is Slack. In fact, Slack features like third-party integrations and threaded messaging were missed greatly (thank you, Mattermost, for recently adding threaded messaging). So the relative parity between the solutions from a ‘speeds and feeds’ perspective was table stakes, but we...
Source: netfoundry.io
Microsoft Teams Vs Clariti: Which one should you choose?
The main reason behind the sudden rise of Teams is it is being offered at no added cost to Office 365 users. This strategy paid for Teams as it was able to increase its market share and overtake its potential rival Slack in no time. Though Microsoft is not earning any revenue (they may actually be losing money in selling Teams), they are able to sustain due to their deep...
Source: clariti.app

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GitHub seems to be a lot more popular than Slack. While we know about 2268 links to GitHub, we've tracked only 223 mentions of Slack. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GitHub mentions (2268)

  • How to Use GitHub Copilot for Free (Student Discount Guide)
    If you don’t have one already, go to https://github.com and sign up for a free account. Be sure to use your school-issued email address if you have one—it helps GitHub verify your student status faster. - Source: dev.to / 7 days ago
  • Proper setup for a MiniScript GitHub repo
    The most important thing you should do for any MiniScript-related project is to tag it (in the "About" info) with miniscript. This will cause your project to appear under the miniscript topics list: Https://github.com/topics/miniscript. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • Day 11 Deploy Vue 3, Svelte 5, and Angualr Applications to Github Pages
    Go to https://github.com///settings/pages and click the live site to verify it is running. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • 🚀 Deploy a Node.js App to AWS EC2 with GitHub Actions in 15 Minutes
    SSH into the server and clone your repo: Git clone https://github.com//.git Cd Npm install Node app.js # or your startup script Ensure it runs on port 3000. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • README driven development
    In open source and innersource projects, like the ones that you find on GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, the README document is the project's welcome page. It's the first thing people see when they search for a project. README documents describe what the project is, how you use it, and how you can add to it. If you want your project to be successful, your README document must give a good first impression. - Source: dev.to / 9 days ago
View more

Slack mentions (223)

  • How to Build a Blog with Laravel (& Send Slack Notifications)
    In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a blog with Laravel and ButterCMS. Then, you’ll add integration into ButterCMS’ webhooks that will send notifications directly to your Slack channel of choice whenever a new post is published. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • 10 Must-Have AI Tools to Supercharge Your Software Development
    10. Slack AI and Microsoft Teams AI These platforms enhance team collaboration by offering intelligent insights, task reminders, and integration suggestions. Slack AI provides automated alerts and recommendations, improving communication and productivity. Microsoft Teams AI offers meeting summaries, suggested tasks, and automated workflows, making it a powerful tool for distributed teams. Both tools integrate with... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Empowering Open Source: The Role of Funding Workshops
    A thriving community is intertwined with sustainable funding. Workshops emphasize effective communication through platforms like Slack and Discord, as well as recognizing contributors to maintain engagement. For more strategies on building a sustainable community, consider exploring open source project sponsorship tips. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Building a Slack Clone with Next.js and TailwindCSS - Part One
    In this three-part series, we will build a Slack clone—an app that helps teams stay in touch with instant messaging, video calls, and channels. We’ll build this application using React (Next.js), TailwindCSS, Prisma, and Stream SDKs. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Best Status Page Software for Incident Communication
    Flexible Notification Options: Customers can subscribe to updates on specific components or services, avoiding unnecessary communication while staying GDPR-compliant. Notifications integrate seamlessly with tools like email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and SMS. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GitHub and Slack, you can also consider the following products

GitLab - Create, review and deploy code together with GitLab open source git repo management software | GitLab

Telegram - Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security. It’s superfast, simple and free.

BitBucket - Bitbucket is a free code hosting site for Mercurial and Git. Manage your development with a hosted wiki, issue tracker and source code.

Trello - Infinitely flexible. Incredibly easy to use. Great mobile apps. It's free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Asana - Asana project management is an effort to re-imagine how we work together, through modern productivity software. Fast and versatile, Asana helps individuals and groups get more done.