Use a guest when one person needs limited access inside your workspace, and use Slack Connect when another company should keep its own Slack and share channels with you. Guests are your accounts to manage. In Slack Connect each organization keeps its own accounts, admins and profile choices.
How guests work
Guests are available only on paid Slack subscriptions. Owners and admins can invite guests, convert members to guests and manage their channel access. Regular members can request guest invitations.
There are two kinds:
- Multi channel guests: limited to the channels an owner or admin specifies, billed as regular members.
- Single channel guests: limited to one channel, free, up to five per paid active member.
Neither type can install apps, create public channels or be added to user groups.
The security point is simple: the guest account lives in your workspace. You can see it, restrict it and deactivate it.
How Slack Connect works
Slack Connect lets you work with people from external organizations in a channel or direct message. For channels, each organization must be on a paid subscription, and a channel can host up to 250 organizations. Direct messages are available on any subscription.
The organization that created the channel owns it. Only the owning organization can invite or remove other organizations and manage posting permissions. Only the organization that added an app can remove it from a channel. Each organization chooses what profile information others can see.
Choosing between them
| Situation | Better fit |
|---|---|
| A freelancer for three months | Guest, one or few channels |
| A vendor with its own Slack and many people | Slack Connect |
| Customer support channel with a client | Slack Connect |
| Someone you must be able to deactivate the same day | Guest |
The deciding question is who should hold the identity. If the outsider already has a managed account at their company, their company's offboarding covers them. If you would be handing out a new account, a guest gives you the control.
Practices for both
- Name an internal owner for every external channel.
- Keep sensitive discussion out of shared channels. Treat every message as visible to the other side.
- Review the external directory regularly.
- Remove channels and guests when the engagement ends.
- Remember retention settings apply to your side of what is stored.
Safeguard's compliance evidence automation can record your review of external collaborators for access review questions.
Quick check
Can a guest install apps?
No. Neither multi channel nor single channel guests can install apps.
Who can remove an organization from a Slack Connect channel?
Only the organization that owns the channel.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
