Three Ways to Use Slack with External People

Tadashi Shigeoka ·  Sat, May 9, 2020

I came up with three options for using Slack with external people, so I’ll introduce them.

slack

Background: Want to use Slack with external people

Ways to Use Slack with External People

Option 1. Use shared channels

? Guide to using shared channels | Slack

Advantages

  • Can communicate within each other's Slack Workspaces

Disadvantages

  • Both Slack Workspaces must be on paid plans to create shared channels

Option 2. Invite external people as guests to internal Slack Workspace

Advantages

  • Easy operation for internal members as they don't need to switch between different Slack Workspaces

Disadvantages

  • Guest accounts (single-channel, multi-channel) may cost money depending on the number of accounts
  • External people can see who's in the internal Slack (since they can search for people via DM)

Option 3. Create a new Workspace

Advantages

  • Can use the free plan
  • Prevents the issue of external people seeing who's in the internal Slack Workspace

Disadvantages

  • Communication happens in a separate Workspace, making it harder to share internally

There are feature limitations:

  • Message display: Viewing and searching are limited to the most recent 10,000 messages.
  • File storage: You can add up to 5 GB of files to the workspace.
  • Apps: You can install up to 10 third-party and custom apps.

? Message, file, and app limits on Slack’s free plan | Slack

That’s all from the Gemba, where I considered ways to use Slack with external people.