WhatsApp vs Slack vs Rock: Top Work From Home Tools Compared
The world is rapidly changing with the future of work embracing remote work, hybrid offices and distributed teams. This has led to the widespread search for fast, flexible and reliable remote work tools.
To settle debate, we created an overall comparison of the most popular team communication tools: WhatsApp vs Slack vs Rock.
WhatsApp vs Slack vs Rock - A Quick Rundown
You may already know about WhatsApp. More likely than not, you've already used it to communicate with your team, friends and family.
WhatsApp was initially designed for personal (more informal) communication. Nevertheless, many companies have still adopted WhatsApp to send messages to their customers or communicate among team members.
Slack on the other hand is a business communication tool used by corporate teams, usually bigger in size. The app is more often used in business environments, with fewer informal conversations compared to WhatsApp.
Last but not least, Rock is an all-in-one communication tool that alongside messaging also provides built-in task and note functionality. What makes Rock stand out is the combination of messaging with tasks, notes, files and meetings in one place.Let’s jump right into the comparison.
A variety of interfaces - WhatsApp vs Slack vs Rock
WhatsApp has a clean and elegant design that makes it easy to use for personal communication. There is virtually no learning curve. Recent chats can easily be retrieved, and any team member can be found with a simple search.
WhatsApp’s simplicity can be key for small teams, but as more chats are opened it can quickly become confusing.
Rock and Slack, unlike WhatsApp, are particularly designed for business communication, so they include additional buttons for advanced functionality. Think of integrations, advanced team management features and functionality aimed at getting work done.
WhatsApp, Slack and Rock are all cross-platform and mobile-friendly, allowing your team to communicate just as effectively outside of the office as they can inside.
Rock is the only platform that also provides collaboration functionality through native task management and note functionality. Task and note management functionality in every space allow teams to get work done more easily.
Set base in one tool with all-in-one messaging functionality. Notifications and reminders apply to both your messaging and project management allowing you to quickly jump between priorities.
Conversation management across platforms
WhatsApp excels at the basics of messaging. There is also a universal search option available to retrieve anything from messages to contacts. Additionally, the reply and forward options, file sharing and other features are all easy to use.
Rock, Slack and WhatsApp all allow you to mute spaces/channels or the tool completely so team members can stay focused or disconnect when necessary. Message reactions are also present in all three options. WhatsApp provides 6 options whereas Slack and Rock offer hundreds.
Both Rock and Slack incorporate workspaces into their functionality. This allows teams to quickly add new people to multiple spaces without sending individual invites. The chat interface looks similar on all three tools, with straightforward navigation throughout the different functionality.
Rock is a WhatsApp alternative excels in conversation add-ons – replying, editing, deleting, setting aside messages, and a unique “Tap to Organize” feature that converts messages into tasks, notes or comments.
You can also @mention anything in your different work spaces, including people, tasks, notes, files, and even tasks and notes from other spaces!
What apps can you integrate? WhatsApp vs Slack vs Rock
WhatsApp is primarily used for personal messaging and does not support third-party apps. This might be a dealbreaker for you if you require integrations in your day-to-day work.
Rock and Slack, on the other hand, integrate well with a wide range of third-party business tools to help with various tasks for efficient business communication.
Google Drive, for example, is tightly integrated with Rock and can be viewed from within the app. If you are a Google Workspace user, this integration will allow you to keep your documents organized and accessible at all times.
Both Rock and Slack support third-party integrations. Team members can add context to conversations by sharing files from Google Drive, Design materials from Adobe Creative Cloud, or even hosting Zoom meetings.
Video & voice conferencing options across platforms
WhatsApp makes audio and video calling quick and easy, but there is one catch – it is only available on mobile devices. This is fine if your team is constantly on the move, but Rock and Slack provide more robust cross-platform video and voice conferencing possibilities for business communication.
There are certain benefits of cross-platform video and audio calls like screen sharing that can help you make your point more effectively. Seamlessly integrate Zoom, Google Meet and Jitsi with Rock. Meanwhile, the free Slack plan doesn’t offer Zoom integrations.
Now, let’s talk about voice messages. When your team is on the go or you need to quickly share an idea, WhatsApp voice messages come in handy.
Rock and WhatsApp both allow you to speed up voice messages, which can come in handy when listening to longer form messages. Meanwhile, Slack has a more basic audio message feature that does not allow for speeding up messages yet.
Who has the best pricing options? WhatsApp vs Slack vs Rock
It's difficult to argue with a price tag that says "free". All you need is a phone number and data connection to get started with WhatsApp. Everything else is, well, free.
You’d assume WhatsApp wins right away in the pricing category, but that might not fully be the case. Even though Rock has a paid plan, its free version surpasses WhatsApp in terms of communicating and collaborating with team members.
- Unlimited users, messages, uploads, one-on-one & group spaces and meetings.
- Collaboration functionality including tasks, notes, checklists, board view and more in every space.
- Free integrations to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Adobe Creative Cloud and Smartsheet. Share as many files as you want and pick and choose which storage provider to use besides Rock.
- Create cross-organizational spaces. Invite anyone from any email domain, or just a phone number.
Meanwhile, the cost of Slack is a major reason why more and more businesses are looking for alternatives. It does have a free version, but it might be a bit more limiting. The free version of Slack includes:
- One workspace, limited message search (up to 10,000 messages), unlimited channels, and one-on-one video calls are all unlimited. Group video calls are only available in the paid version.
- For shared files, 5GB of file storage is provided, with limited Google Drive integrations.
- Cross organization messaging is not available under the free plan.
- Up to ten service integrations are possible. A paid plan, which starts at $6.67/user/month, is required for more integrations.
An important difference between the paid plans of Slack and Rock: per user pricing. On Slack you pay for every user that you want to upgrade. Meanwhile, on Rock it is based on spaces with advanced functionality. This means that you pay for functionality, not team size.
So what’s special about Rock?
There are hundreds of business communications tools available, what makes Rock better?
If you have been following the article thus far, you may have noticed that Rock is not just a business communication tool. A starting business, organization, team, freelancer or individual gets all the functionality they need in one place.
Rock is a Slack alternative who's free plan provides a great entry point for all the businesses who want an all-in-one tool to supercharge their growth. Teams get all the tools necessary to get work done with messaging + tasks in one place.
Rock vs Whatsapp vs Slack - Who’s the winner?
Every team or business, no matter how big or small, requires a business communication tool to keep team collaborations running smoothly.
WhatsApp is easy to use but not powerful enough to actually get work done. You have to switch between tools to manage projects as you can’t create tasks, notes, or add integrations.
Slack has been the top business communication tool since its launch. Despite its widespread popularity there are still a lot limitations when it comes to project management. Task management and note taking are something still not available. This leads many teams to seek a solution that provides more all-in-one functionality.
Rock provides all communication and messaging functionality in one place. In addition to that you can also seamlessly collaborate with team members by having your tasks and notes in the same spaces you are having conversations. Get started today, for free.
