Best Slack desktop clients in 2026

1. Official Slack desktop app

RAM: 400 MB–2 GB+  |  Open source: No  |  Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

The official app is feature-complete. Video calls, Huddles, Canvas, app integrations, workflows — all of it. If you depend on those features, this is still the only option.

The drawback is resource consumption. On hardware with 8 GB of RAM or less, Slack's footprint is noticeably painful, especially with multiple workspaces open. The reason is architectural and won't change anytime soon.

Best for: Users who need full feature parity and have reasonably modern hardware.

2. Slack in a browser

RAM: 120–250 MB  |  Open source: No  |  Platforms: Any OS with a browser

Open app.slack.com in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. You get almost the full Slack interface without running a second copy of Chromium on your system. Memory savings are significant — typically 250–400 MB per workspace compared to the desktop app.

Gaps: no system tray, notifications are less reliable, slack:// deep links don't work. For secondary workspaces, these rarely matter. For a primary workspace where you need notifications while your computer is idle, the gaps show.

Best for: Secondary workspaces, or anyone with limited RAM who doesn't need system-level notifications.

3. Franz / Ferdi / Rambox

RAM: 300–600 MB  |  Open source: Ferdium only  |  Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

These apps bundle multiple communication services — Slack, WhatsApp, Gmail, and others — into a single window. Useful for reducing window clutter if you use many tools.

The important caveat: they're also Electron apps. You're not reducing memory usage compared to the Slack desktop app; you're consolidating everything into one heavy window. The benefit is organization, not performance.

Best for: Users managing many communication services who want a unified inbox rather than lower resource use.

4. Terminal clients (wee-slack, slack-term)

RAM: Under 30 MB  |  Open source: Yes  |  Platforms: Any system with a terminal

Terminal-based Slack clients have extremely low memory usage. The tradeoffs are severe: no images, no file previews, limited or no emoji rendering, no voice or video. Setup requires technical comfort with the command line and Slack's legacy API tokens.

Best for: Developers or sysadmins who live in the terminal and primarily need text messaging — a very narrow use case.

5. msga

RAM: 60–80 MB  |  Open source: Yes (GPL-3.0)  |  Platforms: Linux now, Windows & macOS coming

msga is a native Slack client — not an Electron wrapper, not a browser tab. It's built with Qt6 (the same framework used by Telegram Desktop) and connects directly to Slack's API. It runs as a real desktop application.

At startup: ~60 MB. At idle: ~0% CPU. The fan stays quiet. The battery lasts longer. Covered features include messaging, channels, DMs, threads, search, file sharing, and emoji reactions. Voice/video and some advanced features are on the roadmap.

Best for: Anyone who primarily uses Slack for messaging and wants the desktop app experience without the resource overhead.

Comparison table