Top Slack Apps for Productivity: 14 Picks by Use Case
Slack handles chat well, but it doesn’t cover every job a team needs done. Here are 14 top Slack apps that fill the gaps, from standups and holiday tracking to surveys, project management and video calls, with what each one is for and what it costs.
Before you install an app, check whether Slack already does the job, because the free plan allows only 10 app installations. On Pro and above, a workflow that starts on a schedule and posts your standup questions to a channel gets most of the way to a standup app: people answer in the thread and the history stays searchable. An app earns its slot when it does something that workflow cannot, such as nudging the people who have not answered, or approving time off from inside Slack.
Slack apps for automatic daily standup / team status reports
1. Geekbot
Geekbot runs daily standups in Slack without a meeting. It asks each teammate a few key questions on progress and delivers the answers to the rest of the team asynchronously, so standups and handoffs do not interrupt anyone.
Perfect for: Distributed teams.
Cost: Free for teams of up to 10 users; the Basic plan is $2.50 per participant per month on the annual plan ($3 billed monthly).
2. Steady (formerly Status Hero)
Steady is similar to Geekbot: it collects check-ins and daily goals from each teammate, and its Slack integration sends reminders and posts updates where the team already works.
Perfect for: Distributed teams.
Cost: Credit-based pricing with unlimited users, starting at $25 per month for 500 credits.
Slack apps for holiday management
absence.io tracks employee absences, vacation and employee records, and handles time tracking. Its Slack integration lets managers approve or decline absence requests in Slack and posts a daily list of who is away to a channel you choose.
Perfect for: Teams who handle leave requests by email or spreadsheet.
Cost: Starts at €2.99 per user per month, with the Slack integration included in every plan.
Slack apps for surveys and polls
4. Polly
Polly sends polls and surveys inside Slack, so you can collect feedback from a team without leaving the channel and share the results there.
Perfect for: Teams that need regular feedback from many teammates, such as quick polls and pulse checks.
Cost: A free plan with unlimited responses; paid plans start at $19 per month, billed $228 a year, for one license.
Slack apps for knowledge or file management
Kipwise is a team wiki solution that integrates with Slack to help you organize the information teammates share & collaborate on. It also automatically saves useful content so people can find the information they need, when they need it.
Kipwise is meant to centralize your knowledge sharing & facilitate discussion. Its features make knowledge sharing easier and prevents knowledge hoarding in your organization.
Perfect for: Teams who struggle to centralize knowledge & information across their org, and need more efficient knowledge management systems.
Cost: Starting at $19/month for 10 users.
6. Google Drive
Google Drive is a staple in most teams and with the Google Drive bot for Slack, teammates can access, share and create Google Drive files directly from Slack workspaces.
Perfect for: Teams who use Google Drive and Slack.
Cost: Free.
Slack apps for project management
7. Trello
Many teams use both Trello and Slack, and switching tabs to find the right card costs time. This integration lets you add Trello cards to boards directly from Slack, and it posts updates such as comments and new cards.
Perfect for: Teams who use Trello and Slack for task management.
Cost: A free plan with up to 10 boards per Workspace; paid plans start at $5 per user per month on annual billing.
8. Asana
With the Asana integration, teams can create new tasks and see the details of open tasks without leaving Slack. Check out more Asana for Slack to save steps in your workflow.
Perfect for: Teams who use both Asana and Slack for task management.
Cost: A free Personal plan for up to two people; paid plans start at $10.99 per user per month on annual billing.
Slack apps for marketing
9. Awario
Awario tracks mentions of your company, startup or brand across social media and the web, and sends real-time alerts to the Slack channel you choose.
Perfect for: Teams who want to stay in the loop without leaving Slack.
Cost: Free trial; plans start at €29 per month billed annually (€49 billed monthly).
Slack apps for sales / customer support
10. Intercom
Intercom is a messaging tool for talking to your leads and customers. Using Intercom, you can talk to your leads and customers almost anywhere: on your website, in your app, on mobile and via email.
With the Slack channel connection, a customer’s message in a connected Slack channel becomes a conversation in your Intercom Inbox, and replies from your team or Fin post back to the same Slack thread. Intercom can also post notifications about conversations to Slack channels.
Perfect for: Teams who use Intercom for customer communication.
Cost: The Slack connection is included on all Intercom helpdesk plans, and seats start at $29 per user per month.
Slack apps for video conferencing
11. Zoom
Once Zoom is integrated, the Zoom bot lets users start calls directly from Slack by typing the command.
Perfect for: Teams who use Zoom for calls and Slack for instant communication.
Cost: A free Basic plan with 40-minute meetings; Pro starts at €13.33 per user per month, billed annually, excluding VAT.
12. Whereby (formerly Appear.in)
Type /whereby in a Slack channel to start a video meeting in the room you pick. Anyone in the channel can join from the link, even without a Whereby account; only the person who starts the meeting needs to connect one. Slack still lists the old Appear.in app as legacy, so install the current Whereby app.
Perfect for: Teams who use Whereby for video conferences and Slack for instant communication.
Cost: A free plan with 4 attendees and 30-minute meetings; Pro is $10.99 per month, with 100 attendees and no time limit.
Slack apps for building your own automations
13. Zapier
Zapier connects thousands of apps. With its Slack integration, a Zap can post messages to Slack from other tools, or start from Slack activity such as a new message in a channel or a new reaction, and run several steps across your other apps.
Perfect for: Teams who move data between several tools and need multi-step automations.
Cost: A free plan with 100 tasks per month and two-step Zaps; multi-step Zaps start on the paid plans, from $19.99 per month billed annually.
14. IFTTT
IFTTT is the lighter alternative to Zapier. Its free plan includes unlimited Applets and 1,000 credits a month. An Applet can run several actions from one trigger, such as posting to Slack and logging to a sheet, and you can describe what you want in plain language to have IFTTT build it.
Perfect for: Small teams who want simple, cheap automations.
Cost: A free plan; paid plans start at $2.09 per month ($25.08 billed annually).
Adding top Slack apps without adding noise
Install one app at a time and give it a week before adding the next, so you can tell which ones people actually use. Apps that post on a schedule, like Geekbot or Steady, belong in their own channel (a #standup channel, say) rather than #general, where their posts bury the conversation. And read the permissions screen before you approve an app: one that only posts reminders has no reason to read every public channel.
