What is Slack?
Slack is a channel-based messaging platform that has evolved from simple team chat to a comprehensive collaboration hub. While not a dedicated meeting transcription tool, Slack's Huddles feature and AI capabilities make it increasingly relevant for teams looking to capture and summarize meeting content directly within their communication workflow.
Founded in 2013 and acquired by Salesforce in 2021, Slack now serves over 750,000 organizations worldwide. The platform's strength lies in keeping all team communication, including impromptu meetings and their summaries, in one searchable location.
With the introduction of Slack AI in 2024 and subsequent updates, the platform now offers native transcription, AI-generated notes, and intelligent search that can help teams capture meeting insights without leaving their primary communication tool.
Slack Huddles: Instant Audio & Video Meetings
Slack Huddles are lightweight audio (and video) calls that can be started directly from any channel or direct message. Unlike traditional scheduled meetings, Huddles are designed for quick, spontaneous conversations that feel more like walking over to a colleague's desk.
Key Huddle Features
Audio & Video
- Start audio calls with one click
- Optional video and screen sharing
- Up to 50 participants per huddle
- Multi-person drawing canvas
Collaboration
- Dedicated huddle thread for notes
- Share files and links during calls
- React with emojis in real-time
- Live captions and transcripts
Slack AI: Meeting Intelligence Features
AI Huddle Notes & Transcription
As of July 2025, Slack AI can automatically take notes during huddles. When enabled, the AI uses real-time conversation and messages shared in the huddle thread to capture key takeaways, generate action items, and create organized notes.
How It Works
- 1.Click "AI Notes: Off" in the bottom left of your huddle
- 2.Click "Start AI Notes & Transcription"
- 3.Notes are organized into a canvas when the huddle ends
- 4.Canvas is automatically shared to the huddle thread
Pro Tip: Channel members can enable auto-start for AI notes in channel settings, so every huddle automatically captures notes.
Channel & Thread Summaries
Slack AI can summarize unread channels and threads, helping you catch up on discussions you missed. According to Slack, users save an average of 97 minutes per week using AI summaries.
AI-Powered Search
Slack's AI search goes beyond keyword matching. Ask natural language questions about past conversations, meetings, and decisions to get contextual answers with source citations.
Example Query: "What did we decide about the Q4 marketing budget?"
Get summarized insights with links to the original messages and huddle notes
AI Workflow Generation
Create automations using conversational language. Slack AI can help you build workflows that trigger based on meeting outcomes, action items, or specific keywords in huddle notes.
Available on Business+ Plans
- Natural language workflow creation
- AI-powered translations
- Advanced channel recaps
Meeting Tool Integrations
While Slack has native huddle capabilities, many teams use dedicated meeting platforms. Slack integrates with popular meeting AI tools to bring transcripts, summaries, and action items directly into your channels.
Native Integrations
- Zoom: Meeting notifications and recordings
- Google Meet: Calendar and meeting links
- Microsoft Teams: Cross-platform messaging
AI Meeting Assistants
- Fireflies: Auto-transcribe Slack huddles
- Fellow: Botless huddle recording
- Otter.ai: Send summaries to channels
Agentforce Integration: As of 2025, organizations can deploy AI agents from Agentforce and partner AI apps directly in Slack, allowing employees to collaborate with AI assistants alongside human coworkers.
Slack Pricing (Updated June 2025)
Slack's June 2025 pricing update expanded AI access across all paid plans. Basic AI features like conversation summaries and huddle notes are now included in Pro, while advanced features require Business+ or higher.
Free
- 90-day message history
- 10 app integrations
- 1:1 huddles only
- No AI features
Pro
- Unlimited message history
- Unlimited integrations
- Group huddles (50 people)
- AI summaries & huddle notes
Business+
- Everything in Pro
- AI workflow generation
- AI recaps & translations
- Advanced search
Enterprise+
- Enterprise AI search
- Task management AI
- Premium Salesforce integrations
- Enhanced security & compliance
The $10/user AI add-on was discontinued for new customers in July 2025. Existing add-on customers are grandfathered until their next renewal after August 17, 2025.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Integrated Workflow: Meeting notes and summaries stay in the same platform where your team already communicates
- Time Savings: Users report saving 97 minutes per week using AI summaries to catch up on channels and threads
- Spontaneous Meetings: Huddles enable quick, impromptu calls without scheduling overhead
- Rich Integrations: Thousands of app integrations including CRMs, project management, and dedicated meeting AI tools
- Proven Productivity: Studies show 48.6% reduction in email and 32.4% increase in productivity
Cons
- Limited AI Depth: Compared to dedicated meeting AI tools, Slack's AI is "underwhelming" for deep meeting analysis
- Not a Full Meeting Solution: Huddles lack features like scheduled recording, speaker analytics, and CRM sync
- Cost Adds Up: Business+ at $15/user/month is pricey for teams primarily wanting AI features
- Context Risk: Over-reliance on summaries may cause teams to miss subtle context, tone, or sentiment
- No External Meetings: Huddles are internal only - no recording of Zoom, Teams, or Meet calls
Who Should Use Slack for Meetings?
Great For
- Teams already using Slack as primary communication
- Organizations wanting quick, informal meeting capture
- Companies that value centralized communication
- Teams looking to reduce meeting overhead
Consider Alternatives If
- You need deep meeting analytics and insights
- Your meetings are primarily on Zoom, Teams, or Meet
- You need CRM integration for sales calls
- Compliance and data retention are priorities
Final Verdict
Slack is an excellent meeting collaboration tool for teams that want to keep everything in one place. The native AI huddle notes and channel summaries provide real value for teams already invested in the Slack ecosystem.
However, if your primary need is comprehensive meeting transcription and analytics, dedicated tools like Fireflies, Otter.ai, or Fathom will provide deeper insights. Slack's strength is in its integration - it's the hub where meeting insights from various tools can converge.
