Fuze and Slack are two communication platforms with very different features, but with some areas of overlap. Both provide video conferencing and collaboration capabilities to certain extents. Fuze’s core identity is as a VoIP provider, with robust video conferencing, calling, and contact center capabilities. Based on reviewer demographics, it is more commonly used by midsized companies and enterprises.
Slack’s core function is messaging and collaboration, with a wide range of integrations into the rest of businesses’ collaboration or development tools. The messaging platform is commonly used across business sizes.
Features
Both Fuze and Slack have strong features to suit their target audiences but they serve very distinct needs.
Fuze stands out for its robust calling and video conferencing capabilities. These functions are very robust, including high-quality screen sharing. It also offers more advanced call routing and contact center capabilities, which help manage inbound calls from clients, customers, and prospects.
In contrast, Slack’s specialty is its role as a collaboration hub. It offers a superior messaging infrastructure that businesses can customize to their needs. It also has an immense range of prebuilt integrations, which allows businesses to centralize communications across multiple applications to the Slack dashboard.
Limitations
While Fuze and Slack both excel in their respective niches, they are limited beyond their core roles.
Fuze lacks any mature messaging functionality in the product. It’s support for collaboration functions beyond the actual meetings, such as file sharing, are also not as developed. There are also fewer prebuilt integrations available. This requires post-implementation developer work to integrate Fuze with businesses’ other technologies.
In contrast, Slack’s face-to-face communications offering are very weak compared to its messaging capabilities. The platform’s video chatting feature is still immature at best, with lower quality and far fewer features available compared to true video conferencing and VoIP products. It’s also very reliant on third party integrations for its expanded range of capabilities. For instance, Slack lacks any scheduling capabilities for meetings or events, relying instead of integrations with apps like Google Calendar to deliver this ability.
Pricing
Fuze’s pricing is a set amount per minute of communication, based on what product or service is being used and where the communication is going to. Calls in the U.S., Canada, much of western Europe, and East Asia range from $.02-$.40 per minute for outbound tolled rates and can be several times higher for toll-free rates. Fuze meetings that are “Dial-In” range from $.08-$.75/min, and dial-out is free. Call recordings cost $.02/min.
Slack offers 3 pricing packages for its platform. The Standard package, at $6.67/user/month when billed annually, is designed for SMBs and offers the core collaboration mechanisms, including group video calls and screen sharing. The Plus package, at $12.50/user/month when billed yearly, adds additional administrative tools and more guaranteed uptime. The Enterprise Grid plan, which is priced by quote from the vendor, adds unlimited workspaces, data loss prevention support, a dedicated customer success team, and HIPAA compliance.
