Element-web vs Slack
Element-web and Slack are both team chat software. Element-web is open source under AGPL-3.0, with 14k GitHub stars. Slack is a commercial product from Salesforce, Inc.
Which to pick
- Pick Element-web when
- You use Matrix and want the most complete client, or want to host your own web client.
- Pick Slack when
- A team wants the chat tool with the widest integration ecosystem and is willing to pay per seat.
Side by side
The Element web and desktop client for Matrix, with encrypted messaging, rooms, threads and calls.
Team messaging organised into channels and threads, with huddles, shared channels between companies, workflows and thousands of app integrations.
Heavy for a chat client, and moved to AGPL.
Per-seat pricing is high, the free plan hides history older than 90 days, and Salesforce keeps tightening API access.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server and desktop app
Cloud service, desktop app and mobile app
TypeScript and React
Not published
Open source, AGPL-3.0 (network copyleft)
Closed source, sold by Salesforce, Inc.
Use inside your business is unrestricted. If you change it and let customers use it over the internet, you must publish your changes.
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
14k GitHub stars
8.4k Wikipedia readers a month on phones
Established: started 11 years ago, latest release v1.12.33.
Not known
Other comparisons
More team chat apps
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.