Although the base Slack platform includes all the features necessary for remote workplace communication, there are several additional helpful functions that can be added with integrations. Among the integrations available on the Slack app directory, you can find the Slack bot list. Slack bots automate tasks on the platform to optimize communication, add new features, and decrease time spent on recurring tasks.
With so many Slack bots available, it can be difficult to decide which to add to your workspace. As such, we have curated a list of the best Slack bots that you can add to your workspace. Most of these bots are free (or have free plans with limited features) and can be used on any Slack plan. At the end of the article, we will discuss how to add these bots to Slack as well as how to create new slack bots for your workspace.
10 Best Slack Bots
Standup.ly is the best standup app for Slack. With it, you can plan and run daily standup meetings, check-in with teammates over text, generate standup reports, and more. You can generate and send out team surveys to all members of your team in Slack. You can include preset answers or let employees input custom responses. Better yet, you can set up an internal Q&A system that automatically answers common employee questions.
Overall, Standup.ly makes it easy to check in with employees and keep tabs on project progress without sending out messages or scheduling meetings with each employee. The bot saves you time by automating these messages and sending them out according to the schedule you set.
This best Slack standup bot is free for up to 3 respondents. If you need to use the bot with more employees (up to a maximum of 60), then you will have to pay for one of Standup.ly’s plans. On the $5/mo Standup bot plan, you get integrations with apps like Giphy and Medium and standup summaries delivered over email. On the $10/mo Scrum Master plan, you also get access to integrations with Jira, Trello, Google Analytics, and GitHub, more question types, anonymous surveys, and an analytics dashboard. Finally, with the $17/mo Project Manager plan, you can add advanced team analytics and multi-admin access.
Polly is an excellent Slack bot for polls and surveys. You can send both single and multi-question polls, engagement surveys, and daily standup check-ins. You can also send automatic check-ins to new hires for onboarding feedback, making it a great Slack onboarding bot. Finally, you can play “social games” such as Trivia and Hot Takes or hold Employee Awards to have fun and improve team relationships across distance.
Polly’s free bot allows for 25 total responses/month, though you can send out an unlimited number of polls and surveys. Responses are saved for 45 days. If you need more responses that are saved for an unlimited amount of time, you can sign up for the $49/month 3-month Standard plan for 500 responses/month, $19/month 6-month or annual Pro plan for 1,000 responses/month, or custom Enterprise plan for an unlimited number of responses. Pro and Enterprise plans also include integrations with other apps, analytics filters, and API and webhook access. The Enterprise plan also includes an admin dashboard and custom data retention policy.
AttendanceBot is a scheduling, timecard, and announcement bot. You can use it to track PTO and vacation days, sick days, remote work, and employee shift planning. Employees can send requests for time off using the bot, and admins can improve it and add it to the Slack calendar maintained by the bot. It can also be used by employees to clock in and out during the work day.
AttendanceBot is free for small workspaces with up to 5 users. Larger teams can choose between the standard ($4/user/mo), pro ($6/user/mo) or enterprise ($12/user/mo) plans. With the standard calendar bot, you can create custom leave types, reminders and alerts, announcements, and simple approvals. The pro plan adds in overtime, employee scheduling, and time tracking. The enterprise plan includes unlimited document storage and custom reports and contracts.
This Jira Slack bot strengthens the connection between the two work apps. With Integration+, you can create and view Jira issues from within Slack. All Jira fields, including custom ones, can be used when creating and updating issues from within Slack. Notifications from Jira can be set up to send to team channels or messaged directly to users on Slack instead of being sent over email.
Integration+ Slack bot for Jira costs $0.63/user/month for a minimum of 10 users. Large teams with 100+ users can pay for the Professional plan for $0.83/user/month to access invoice payments, security reviews, and guaranteed SLA. Enterprise companies with 500+ users that need data residency and a dedicated account manager can pay $1/user/month for access to these features.
GrowthBot is a free Slack bot distributed by Hubspot that can track and share digital marketing trends. The bot can look up company information about competitors, keyword rankings for competitors, what marketing software other companies use, and email addresses for Hubspot users. You can use GrowthBot to keep track of your competitors’ marketing efforts and map out your responding marketing plan entirely for free.
The Disco bot helps you make your company values visible and actionable within Slack. You can recognize employee actions and give them public accolades. Other teammates can also nominate one another for awards or send compliment cards. You can also track trends and metrics on who is performing your values and when. Disco can display the values and team stats on Slack to acknowledge who best lives the values and encourage other employees to improve their performance. Finally, admins can send out weekly surveys with configurable questions to ensure employees are content and performing well.
Disco for Slack offers two plans: Business, for teams with up to 500 employees, and Enterprise, for teams with over 500 employees. Business costs $3/employee/mo, while Enterprise offers custom pricing. Enterprise also includes additional features such as an HRIS integration, custom survey questions, and company branding.
TimeBot is another Slack calendar bot that lets you request and approve PTO, vacations, and other time off requests from within Slack. Admins can also set limits on annual PTO, track how many days are remaining for each employee, and send notifications about upcoming holidays. TimeBot can set multiple approvers or different teams so team managers can also approve time off. You can connect TimeBot Slack with Google or Outlook Calendar to see your team’s schedule on a calendar view. Finally, TimeBot can be used to schedule Slack messages to be sent at a given time.
TimeBot’s free plan comes with 20 time off requests per month. For unlimited time off requests, you can purchase the Starter plan for $1/user/month. You can also choose a Premium plan for $2.50/user/month that comes with arrival tracking and priority support. Enterprise, non-profit, education pricing can contact the bot’s distributor for custom pricing.
ToDoBot is a Slack task bot lets you create and manage your to-do list from within Slack. You can create private and shared team tasks, and even create shared tasks with customers. ToDoBot Slack integrates with Github, Jira, Trello, and Google Chrome so you can share your to-do list from Slack to other platforms.
ToDoBot’s free bot comes with up to 10 open to-dos for an unlimited number of users. For an unlimited number of to-dos, you can pay $10/mo for a team of up to 5 users, $20/mo for up to 20 users, or $50/mo for an unlimited number of users.
Troops is a Salesforce Slack bot that lets you use Salesforce from within the Slack platform. You can update any Salesforce record from within Slack, schedule or pull reports across channels and DMs, and send alerts when your team hits a sales goal or closes a deal. With Troops, you can optimize how you use Salesforce and minimize the time taken switching between the two platforms.
Pricing for Troops starts at $19/user/month. You will also need a Salesforce account to use it, so additional cost may occur.
Customer.io is a free messaging automation tool offered by Hubspot that you can use to send messages to your customers on Slack. You can personalize messages as much as you want or send out the same message automatically to all customers. The chat bot also can send notifications to your entire team about your customers’ activity.
How to Add a Bot to Slack
Now that you know all about the top bots for Slack, you need to know how to add them. To add a bot to Slack, first find it in the Slack app directory. Then, click “Add to Slack”. You will be redirected to a screen where the bot lists the permissions it needs to enter your workspace. Click “allow” to add the bot to Slack. You should get a message from it within Slack once it has arrived.
If you can’t add a bot to Slack, it may be that you do not have the permission in your workspace to do so. Contact your workspace owner or Slack admin to see what permissions you have or to ask them to add the bot in your place.
How to Make a Slack Bot
If you can’t find the Slack bot you need, you can always create your own! This process can be complicated, but you can find all the information you need to know on the Slack API website. This website includes resources that can help you plan out your app, build it, and finally add it to Slack. If you want to make a Slack bot, be sure to check it out!