Slack is the incumbent, but Element offers a European alternative rooted in EU data laws and stronger digital sovereignty.
Incumbent Solution
Slack is a team messaging and collaboration platform owned by Salesforce, headquartered in San Francisco. Acquired by Salesforce in 2021 for $27.7 billion, it is the dominant enterprise messaging tool in the US market.
Slack ownership profileEU Challenger
Element is a UK-based secure messaging platform built on the open Matrix protocol. Used by European governments and enterprises, it offers end-to-end encryption and decentralized federation as an alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Visit ElementElement ownership profile| Metric | Slack | Element |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | San Francisco, US | London, GB |
| Ownership | subsidiary · NYSE | private |
| Tax Domicile | US | GB |
| Ultimate Parent | Salesforce, Inc. | Element Services Ltd |
| Data Hosting | mixed | mixed |
| CLOUD Act Exposure | Yes ⚠️ | No ✓ |
| AI Trains on User Data | partial | no |
| GDPR | compliant | compliant |
| DSA Designation | standard | na |
| Carbon Neutral | claimed | unknown |
| B Corp | No | No |
| Supply Chain | partial | partial |
| Repair / Recycling | No | No |
Last verified . Sources: Slack on Wikidata, Slack website, Element on Wikidata, Element website, How we audit.
Rigorous data for ethical digital consumption.