Best Slack Apps in 2021

We decided to try and wade through all the noise and pick out the best apps for Slack we think you should try.

Love it or hate it, Slack is a mainstay of most startups, small businesses, and even enterprises. While it can be noisy, overwhelming, and even distracting, it often serves as the central hub of activity for businesses. From chatting about important initiatives, brainstorming ideas, keeping track of metrics and new signups, to even sharing the occasional cat gif.

A huge reason Slack took off is the app store, and the ability for users to add apps and workflows inside of Slack. We love Slack apps here at Taskable and are constantly rotating through new ones as we come up against our 10 app limit on the free plan.

Here are (in our opinion) the best apps for Slack in 2021.

The 8 best Slack apps

We’ve broken these up into a few different categories to help you choose which ones you want to try next.

Productivity

The best apps for Slack that make your team more productive.

Zapier

Zapier is an all-around magical tool. Make all your apps work together. Say someone fills out a form in Typeform, and you want that person to be in your CRM, and also your email marketing tool? Use Zapier to tie all these tools together. And with the Zapier integration in Slack, you can push information into Slack from all these tools, without needing a native integration. We’ve set up Zaps to get notifications in Slacks when new users sign up, fill out our surveys, request our newsletter, and much more. The great thing about Zapier and Slack is you can use it to replace other direct integrations, particularly if you are running up against the free plan’s app limit.

Taskable

Ok fine, we’re a bit biased. But we built Taskable with the noisiness and ephemeral nature of Slack messages in mind. We found ourselves constantly getting new to dos and tasks created for us in Slack in the course of our chats, and then forgetting about them and having them disappear into the ether. So, our Slack integration makes it easy to save chats that have some follow up required, so you can get to them when you are ready.

Taskable does much more than task management. We help you manage your calendar, time, and priorities all from one place.

Clockwise

Clockwise is an intelligent calendar assistant that helps you take back control of your calendar. With the Slack integration, Clockwise automatically updates your status based on your calendar, so you don’t have to remember to do it yourself. Clockwise also gives you a daily rundown of your day, right in Slack.

Team building and communication

The best apps for Slack team building and culture.

Giphy

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We tend to rail against the distraction of Slack, with too much going on and too many cat gifs. However, we also think Slack can and should be fun. Especially for remote teams where most interactions take place via Slack. That’s why we love Giphy app which which lets you quickly share a gif with a slash command. Type in /giphy and a search term, and it returns gifs that you can send in a channel or DM. Like emojis, this lets you put a bit more personality into your text communications.

Karma

Karma provides true bonding for remote teams. Make it super easy for your team to celebrate each other’s achievements and celebrate milestones. Karma is a fellow Pioneer company, and we used their product in the Slack group. The first time I received Karma for helping someone in the group, I was hooked with the idea, and saw how it could increase motivation and camaraderie for a remote team.

Google Drive

Ok, this is sort of a boring one. But in my opinion, the Google Drive Slack app is critical if you use the G Suite. See and reply to new comments on docs right from Slack, share docs with the right people, and search docs from Slack.

Analytics

Keep tabs on your numbers with analytics apps for Slack

Google Analytics Insights

Get a quick rundown of insights from your Google Analytics delivered right to Slack so the whole team can see. Or to a private channel if you prefer. Get alerts and automated reports around your most critical metrics without having to open up Google Analytics.

Baremetrics

For most startups, revenue is (or should be) your Northstar metric. The Baremetrics integration helps you never lose sight of that! Get regular revenue reports sent to Slack, or even instant notifications when new charges occur, or new customers sign up.

Summarizing the Best Apps for Slack

• Zapier: connect all your tools to Slack
• Taskable: help your team take better control over the noise in Slack
• Clockwise: sync your Slack status to your calendar and get a daily rundown of your day
• Giphy: post funny gifs in Slack to create another layer or personalized communication
• Karma: help your team build camaraderie and celebrate each other’s achievements and milestones
• Google Drive: Do more in Google Drive from Slack
• Google Analytics Insights: Get regular reports of your website analytics
• Baremetrics: Get regular reports of your revenue numbers