The best Slack alternative

As remote work and online communities become increasingly popular, the need for effective communication tools has skyrocketed. Slack has been the go-to solution for many businesses, but what about when you need to host online courses, manage a community, or run an online business? Slack simply isn't designed for these purposes, and it can quickly become overwhelming and limiting.

If you’ve come across Discord while hunting for the best alternative to Slack, you may want to skip over to “The best Discord alternative” - to analyze its pros and cons so that you can make an informed decision on which platform to go with.

Enter EzyCourse - the ultimate Slack alternative for hosting your community and running your online business. With EzyCourse, you can easily host online courses, create and manage your community, and sell unlimited products - all in one platform. Say goodbye to juggling multiple tools and struggling to keep everything organized.

In this article, we'll explore the strengths and limitations of Slack, the need for a viable alternative, and why EzyCourse is the perfect solution. Whether you're looking to switch from Slack or just exploring your options, you'll find all the information you need right here. So let's dive in and discover the power of EzyCourse.

What is Slack?

Slack is a virtual office chat and messaging service that has become a staple for remote work and online collaboration. First released in 2013, Slack has gained widespread popularity over the years and was acquired by Salesforce in 2021.

At its core, Slack is a platform for conversations that can be organized by channels, chat-type functions, private groups, and a live conversation feature called huddles. Users can easily search through conversations and files, and it integrates with a wide variety of other software to streamline workflows and increase productivity.

Some of the key features and benefits of Slack include its powerful messaging and collaboration tools, customizable channels and notifications, and the ability to integrate with popular tools and services. Slack's free plan has also made it popular as an online forum discussion tool beyond the workplace, and it continues to evolve and innovate to meet the changing needs of modern businesses.

Overall, Slack has been a great communication tool for remote teams and virtual offices, but it does have its limitations - particularly when it comes to hosting online courses and managing communities. That's where EzyCourse comes in as a powerful Slack alternative that is specifically designed to meet these needs.

Why would you need Slack?

There are some great things about Slack, and these are the features that have made some potential community-leaders think about it as a possible home:

It already has members. Slack has been a go-to option for a public community because it’s got the concept of members. This means that, unlike a hosted website, a Slack team has member accounts, permissions, and very light profiles that assume people work on the same team and already know each other.

It uses a native mobile app. Again, unlike a static website, with Slack, your members can download a native app to quickly access messages, especially because there are mobile notifications that bring them back.

There are channels to organize content and conversations. For you as the admin, you can set up “channels” that your members can opt into and contribute to around a particular sub-topic. Chat is in real-time. Members can message each other individually, as groups, and via channels.

It can pull in data and activity from other services. Slack’s “special sauce” is that it’s easy to pull in data feeds and set up automated messages–or “bots”–to interact with members.

People have been using it for work heavily. Most of all, Slack is familiar to people who want to join your public community because they are already using it for work.

For these reasons, many people with followings or simply a desire to start their own community have chosen to start on Slack.

Where does Slack fall behind? 

Unfortunately, while members might pick up Slack pretty quickly, there are countless examples where Slack’s limitations have crushed an otherwise high potential community. Why? Slack has a few notable limitations:

It’s hard to get a full picture of the community. In Slack, there’s no central activity feed, so while it’s a little less noisy than a Facebook group (and doesn’t have the same problem with algorithms and a one-size-fits-all newsfeed), there’s no way to discover new people or content easily on Slack. It wasn’t designed for this, and unfortunately, it limits engagement and makes the job of the admin that much harder.

Very light profiles limit points of connection. Slack’s light profiles don’t help members introduce themselves with a personal touch. They are what people need to virtually get to know each other and feel like they’re talking to real people, even though the community is virtual.

Rich media and long-form content are impossible. If content is important to your community, you’re fighting an uphill battle trying to build it on Slack. In practice, this limitation means you must also have a website builder, blog, or some other place for your members to access your content.

There are no polls or background posts to engage a community of strangers. Here’s the reality of a public community on Slack: People don’t know each other and they need icebreakers. To get strangers to build relationships with each other requires a central spot  essential for people to congregate and contribute in ways they understand. 

You can’t easily find members. In a Slack team, there’s no obvious or natural way to find other members. Member profiles are abbreviated and intended for people who already know each other. This is great for small teams, but a killer for a larger network of folks starting off as strangers.

One major limitation of Slack is its high pricing for advanced features. While Slack offers a free plan, its premium plans can be quite expensive, especially for small businesses and individual course creators. This can make it difficult for them to access the advanced features that they need to effectively manage their online courses.

Another limitation of Slack is its limited customization options. While Slack does offer some degree of customization, it may not be enough for creators who want to tailor their platform to their specific needs. This can make it difficult to create a unique and personalized learning experience for students.

Perhaps the biggest limitation of Slack for online course hosting and management is its lack of support for these specific needs. Slack is primarily designed as a communication tool, and while it can be used for collaboration, it does not have the advanced features needed for managing and delivering online courses. This can make it difficult for course creators to effectively manage their course content, track student progress, and deliver course materials while keeping connected with their target audience without the social media noise.

Fortunately, EzyCourse offers a comprehensive solution for online course hosting and management, with advanced features specifically designed for these needs. EzyCourse offers unlimited course hosting, customizable course content, and student progress tracking, all in a user-friendly interface. Additionally, EzyCourse offers real-time group and one-to-one conversations, communities for student collaboration, and support for premium group and private chats, and also has native mobile apps for both Android and iOS so that you get to stay connected anywhere, anytime easily. With EzyCourse, course creators can easily manage their online courses, engage with their students, and offer a personalized learning experience.

The best Slack alternative - EzyCourse

If you’re looking for an alternative to Slack that lets you build and organize some amazing conversations and engage the community, you’ve got to check out EzyCourse.

EzyCourse is a comprehensive digital platform that blends community, chat, courses, content, and commerce. EzyCourse provides a user-friendly interface, powerful real-time messaging and community features and unlimited products and personal support.

Of course, many of these are features Slack doesn't have: site building, appointment scheduling, communities, and an all-in-one amazing course platform. This makes EzyCourse not only a great Slack alternative but a better place to build and host a robust community.

In addition to these features, EzyCourse also offers marketing automation and analytics, integrations with popular tools and services, and  complete customizability using a robust site-builder to fit the needs of each business. With EzyCourse, businesses can host their own online courses and other content such as digital/physical products, video libraries and a lot more, build brand loyalty through communities, and easily manage their product sales.

EzyCourse's intuitive design and easy-to-use features make it an excellent alternative to Slack for businesses looking to host online courses, build communities, and sell products. Sign up for EzyCourse today and experience the benefits of a comprehensive digital platform designed for the needs of digital businesses.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for an alternative to Slack, we hope EzyCourse has got you excited! EzyCourse is an all-in-one community platform that lets you bring people together, sell memberships and course bundles, create online courses, build groups, and schedule amazing appointments.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to take your online community hosting and management to the next level. While Slack has its strengths, it simply can't match the comprehensive solution that EzyCourse offers. With real-time group and private chats, engaging communities, unlimited products, marketing automation, and integrations with popular tools and services, EzyCourse is the best Slack alternative for hosting and managing communities and conversations online. Sign up for your free trial today and experience the benefits firsthand.