When comparing Flowdock vs Flock, the Slant community recommends Flowdock for most people. In the question“What is the best team chat software?” Flowdock is ranked 4th while Flock is ranked 17th. The most important reason people chose Flowdock is:
An easy & simple interface to filter chat discussion into separate threads.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Threaded discussions
An easy & simple interface to filter chat discussion into separate threads.
Pro Drag and drop file sharing
Files can be dragged and dropped in to the flow dock screen for upload.
Pro Multi-platform
Browser Based, as well as:
- iPhone and iPad App
- Android App
- Mac OS X App
Pro Stored chat history
Content and discussions are stored forever.
Pro Smart pastes & code syntax highlighting
Pro Private chat option
Able to speak privately/talk head-to-head.
Pro Notification system
A specific user or everyone in the channel can be notified via @user or @everyone respectively.
Pro A full developer API
Flowdock API allows developers the freedom to create custom integrations.
Pro Create and assign PRs from Flowdock
You can interact with Github directly from Flowdock to create PRs.
Pro Free for teams of five, non-profits and students
Pro Data exports
Back up conversations and files fully at any time.
Pro Add Tools
On top of our 50+ custom integrations, easily integrate any tool that sends emails or generates RSS feeds, as well as having the option to build a custom integration with Flowdock's API
Pro Status updating
Allows co-workers to know what you’re up to "/status I'm busy today!"
Pro Google Apps Integration
Google Apps get a Flowdock link to the Apps tool-bar and won't have to separately manage users
Pro Typo Fix-ups
Pro Able to host users external to your team
When working with stakeholders (clients or partners) you can add organizations to manage internal privacy
Pro Cross-platform
They have apps for Windows, Mac, Chrome, iOS, Android and web interface. And all the chat sessions are always on sync.
Pro Clean and clutter free interface
Pro Cheaper than Slack
It is half the price of Slack and full of nice features like polls, assign to do's, etc.
Pro Very powerful integration APIs
Unlike its rivals, it not only allows you to receive events, but also allows you to push content to it and receive various user action events.
Pro No IT team required for setup
Moving a team or organization to flock does not require any setup from the company's IT team. At max, what might be required would be to whitelist their domain in case the organization's IT team has gotten external domains blocked. You can simply download Flock and invite others in your organization by using their email ids in order to start collaborating. That's all there is in the name of setup.
Pro Free if you don't need the most advanced features
Most of its features are free, even video conferences. But also they have a Pro version with unlimited chat history, Active Directory integration among other things.
Pro Unlimited groups and teams
There is no limit on the number of groups or of group members. Similarly, within a team you can have unlimited members. There is no limit of number of teams too.
Pro Faster than Slack
Flock is offering an app that is faster than Slack.
Pro Highly configurable permissions
For every team, the permissions and restrictions can easily be set over the participating members and the conversations they are having.
Pro Better than slack
Pro Stickers
Posting messages is more fun with them in addition to emojis.
Pro Customisable UI, integrations surface just like native features
There are multiple options like slash commands, message buttons, chat buttons, attachment picker etc., where the integrations can surface inside the native app. This greatly eases the discoverability of a integration, making it really easy for the team members to find and use the integrations.
Cons
Con Proprietary (non-free/libre)
Con No self-hosting available
If you are worried about third-parties getting access to your data you should consider self-hosting. With self-hosting you are in control over where your data is stored, who has access to it. You will also not be vulnerable to exploits of a third-party provider.
Con Buggy android app
Google sign up didn't work, then after going to the website to do the sign up, the invite team members screen was broken.
Con Free only for small teams, non-profits or students
Unless it's used by a team of less than five people, a non-profit or students, Flowdock will cost $3/mo per person.
Con No thread feature
Reply command only quotes snippets. There's no implementation to show thread(s) of an initial message.