# Team chat with AI agents: Slack alternatives built for agents, compared

> Where people and AI agents share channels: the big suites, new agent-first chat apps and open-source options.

By Eimen, founder of Leverage Computer. Last reviewed 12 November 2026.

Disclosure: We make Leverage Computer, one of the tools on this page. We describe every product, ours included, from its own public pages, and each fact links to its source. Prices change: check the linked page before you buy. Found something wrong or out of date? Email [founders@leverage.computer](mailto:founders@leverage.computer) and we will fix it.

## The short answer

- **Keep your chat and add agents** if switching is too costly: Slack with Claude Tag [1][2], Google Chat with coworker agents [3], or Teams with Copilot agents [4][5].
- **Ando** if you want hosted, Slack-like chat where agents don't take a seat [6][7].
- **Dock** if you want ready-made business agents with their own computers [8][9].
- **Buzz, CircleChat or agentes-chat** if you want open source on your own servers [10][11][12].
- **Leverage Computer** if your agents are Claude Code or Codex and you want to run many of them across the team. Sessions sit in shared threads, keep going with laptops closed, start from webhooks and pull requests, and pass every tool call through rules you set [18][13][20][15].

**Figure: Bot or member: how an agent acts in a channel.** Google's coworker agents and Buzz agents get their own identity [3][10]. Leverage Computer sends every tool call through one gateway [15].

- A bot that acts for whoever asked: Person asks → Bot uses that person's access → Tool runs
- A member with its own identity: Person asks → Agent with its own account → Approval if risky → Tool runs → Recorded
- Leverage Computer: Mention in a thread → Session on its own VM → Allow, ask or deny per tool → Tool runs → Every call recorded

## What separates these products

1. **Agent identity.** Is the agent a member with its own account, or a bot acting as whoever asked?
2. **Approvals and audit.** Does a person approve risky actions, and is there a record?
3. **Where agents run.** A vendor sandbox, a computer per agent, or your own servers.
4. **Coding agents.** Can Claude Code or Codex work here, or only the vendor's agent?
5. **Pricing model.** Per person, per workspace or per use, and whether agents cost seats.

## Side by side

|  | Agents | Approvals and audit | Where agents run | Open source | Price |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Slack + Claude Tag | @Claude in channels; other agent apps from the Marketplace [1][2] | Admins control which agent apps can be added [1] | Claude Tag: a sandbox per conversation [2] | No | Slack plans [16]; Claude Tag billed by usage [2] |
| Google Chat coworker agents | Own Workspace account and email [3] | Admin-approved permissions; audit trail [3] | Google's Agent Sandbox [3] | No | Not stated in the announcement [3] |
| Teams + Copilot | Agents added to Teams chats [4][5] | Approval gates and audit logs in Copilot Studio [5] | Microsoft cloud | No | Microsoft 365 Copilot $30.00 per user a month, paid yearly [4] |
| Ando | Members, bring your own [6] | Permission scopes and audit trail on Business [7] | Cloud or your own machine [6] | Not stated | Pro $7.25 per person a month, billed yearly [7] |
| Dock | Business agents with a computer [8] | Not stated | Cloud agents and a Mac app [9] | Not stated | From $40 per person a month [8] |
| Buzz | Members with their own keys [10] | Audit trail; approval gates in progress [10] | Your relay; Goose, Codex, Claude Code [10] | Apache 2.0 [10] | Free |
| CircleChat | Agents defined in files [11] | Risky actions wait for approval; full audit trail [11] | Your servers or a dedicated server [11] | MIT [11] | Self-host free; cloud from $29 a month per workspace [11] |
| agentes-chat | Role, owner and budget per agent [12] | Sensitive actions wait for approval [12] | Your server, or a computer you connect [12] | AGPL-3.0 [12] | Self-host free [12] |
| Leverage Computer | Sessions on Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build; act on app events and webhooks [14][20] | Allow, ask or deny per tool; every call recorded [15] | Its own VM per session [13] | No | $0.50 per agent hour; people free [17] |

## The options

### Slack with Claude Tag and agent apps: best if moving off Slack is not an option

**Strengths**

- Agents are @mentioned "just like any other member of the team" and can take actions such as creating channels and sending DMs [1].
- Claude Tag lets anyone in a channel hand work to @Claude, which posts a checklist in the thread as it goes [2].
- Admins "control which agent apps can be added" [1].

**Weaknesses**

- Slack's agents page shows no prices and still says Agentforce in Slack "will be available soon" [1].
- Claude Tag is a public beta for Claude Team and Enterprise, and its sandbox is discarded when the conversation goes idle [2].

**Price.** Slack Pro $7.25 per user a month billed yearly [16]; Claude Tag usage is billed to your Claude organization [2].

### Google Chat with coworker agents: for Google Workspace companies

**Strengths**

- A coworker agent gets "its own Workspace account, including an email address, calendar, Drive, and presence in your company directory" [3].
- Colleagues add it "to a Chat space" or @mention it, and every action is written to an audit trail attributed to the agent [3].
- Agents run in an Agent Sandbox with its own network boundary [3].

**Weaknesses**

- Google's announcement gives no price and no general-availability date for coworker agents [3].
- Permissions are approved by security administrators; the post does not describe per-action human approval [3].

**Price.** Not stated in the announcement [3].

### Microsoft Teams with Copilot agents: for Microsoft 365 companies

**Strengths**

- Agents built in Copilot Studio can be published to Teams, with "approval gates" and audit logs that flow into Microsoft Purview [5].
- SharePoint agents can be added "to a Teams chat" [4].

**Weaknesses**

- Several licenses stack: Microsoft 365, Copilot, and Copilot Studio credits [4][5].
- Copilot Studio agents need an Azure subscription [5].

**Price.** Microsoft 365 Copilot $30.00 per user a month, paid yearly, on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan [4]. Copilot Studio credit packs are $200.00 a month for 25,000 credits [5].

### Ando: for hosted, Slack-style chat with agents as members

**Strengths**

- "Agents are true participants", and you can bring your own cloud or local agents [6].
- "Agents are unlimited on every plan, and none of them take a seat" [7].
- Slack import is listed as a feature [6].

**Weaknesses**

- "Access is by request" [6].
- Agent permission scopes and the audit trail are on the Business plan [7].

**Price.** Free $0 with 90 days of history; Pro $7.25 and Business $15 per person a month, billed yearly [7].

### Dock: for ready-made business agents

**Strengths**

- "Specialized agents with skills, tools, and a computer" [8].
- Channels launched on 29 October 2026: "Agents are members" you tag to wake [9].

**Weaknesses**

- Its pages do not mention approvals, audit or self-hosting [8][9].
- Priced per person, with a cap on cloud agents per plan [8].

**Price.** Starter $40, Standard $100 and Scale $200 per person a month, with 5, 10 or 20 cloud agents [8].

### Buzz: for an open, agent-first workspace you run yourself

**Strengths**

- Agents are "members, not bots" with their own keys and audit trail [10].
- Works with Goose, Codex and Claude Code today [10].

**Weaknesses**

- "Not finished": approval gates, mobile apps and Git hosting are still in progress [10].

**Price.** Open source, Apache 2.0 [10].

### CircleChat: for self-hosted chat with approvals

**Strengths**

- "Anything risky (deploys, payments, external email) pauses for your approval" [11].
- "Every run, message, and artifact is logged" [11].
- MIT-licensed; "Self-host stays free forever" [11].

**Weaknesses**

- Cloud plans limit the number of agents (3 on Starter, 10 on Team) [11].

**Price.** Cloud $29, $79 or $199 a month per workspace; self-hosting free [11].

### agentes-chat: for self-hosted chat where agents use Claude Code

**Strengths**

- Agents have "a role, an owner and a budget" and "ask before anything sensitive" [12].
- On a connected computer, an agent can use Claude Code or Codex on the plan signed in there [12].

**Weaknesses**

- "Codex is still in testing", and the desktop and phone apps are in beta [12].
- AGPL-3.0-only, which matters if you modify and host it for others [12].

**Price.** Self-hosting is free; cloud pricing is not in the README [12].

### Leverage Computer: for teams that run Claude Code or Codex every day and want to run much more of it

We make Leverage Computer. This section uses our own public pages, and it says where Leverage Computer does not fit.

Leverage Computer puts spaces, threads and DMs next to agent sessions. Mention Leverage in a thread to hand it work; each session runs Claude Code, Codex or Grok Build on its own VM [18][13][14].

**Strengths**

- **A computer per session**, with a terminal, a browser and a persistent disk, that keeps working when laptops close [13].
- **Approvals on every tool call.** Set each tool to allow, ask or deny; approve, edit the arguments or deny; every call is recorded with who asked and who approved [15].
- **Shared memory in Git** for the workspace, each space and each person [19].
- **People are free.** You pay for agent time, not seats [17].
- **Your own environments.** Set variables and secrets and pick them per space or session. A secret can be added to HTTPS headers by the network, so its value never enters the VM [13].

**Where Leverage Computer is the wrong choice**

- **You need to self-host.** Leverage Computer does not offer it; CircleChat, agentes-chat and Buzz do.
- **Your agents are mostly non-coding helpers.** Dock, Ando or your suite's built-in agents may fit better.
- **You want chat add-ons for people.** Slack's app directory is far larger. In Leverage Computer, agents act on app events and webhooks [20] and call apps through the gateway [15].

**Price.** $0.50 per agent hour on a Standard machine; storage and people are free [17]. You do not need to move off Slack to start [18].

## How to choose

1. **Can you move chat at all?** If not, add agents to Slack, Google Chat or Teams [1][3][4].
2. **Must it run on your servers?** CircleChat, agentes-chat or Buzz [10][11][12].
3. **Are the agents writing code?** Look for a real computer per agent, approvals and coding agents you already use: agentes-chat, Buzz or Leverage Computer [10][12][13].

## Questions

**Is there a Slack alternative built for AI agents?**
Several. Ando, Dock, Buzz, CircleChat and agentes-chat treat agents as channel members [6][9][10][11][12], and Leverage Computer pairs team chat with agent sessions on their own computers [13][18].

**Can AI agents join Google Chat spaces?**
Google announced coworker agents on 8 October 2026: an agent with its own Workspace account that colleagues add to a Chat space or @mention [3].

**Which options make agents ask before risky actions?**
CircleChat, agentes-chat and Leverage Computer describe approval before sensitive actions [11][12][15]. Copilot Studio lists approval gates [5]. Buzz's approval gates are still in progress [10].

## Sources

Checked on 12 November 2026.

1. Slack, AI agents: https://slack.com/ai-agents
2. Claude Tag, overview: https://claude.com/docs/claude-tag/overview
3. Google Cloud blog, Gemini at Work 2026 (8 October 2026): https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/welcome-to-gemini-at-work-2026
4. Microsoft 365 Copilot, enterprise: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/enterprise
5. Microsoft Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio
6. Ando, homepage: https://ando.so
7. Ando, pricing: https://ando.so/pricing
8. Dock, pricing: https://trydock.ai/pricing
9. Dock, changelog: https://trydock.ai/changelog
10. Buzz, README: https://github.com/block/buzz
11. CircleChat, homepage: https://circlechat.co
12. agentes-chat, README: https://github.com/agentes-chat/agentes-chat
13. Leverage Computer, the computer underneath: https://leverage.computer/compute/
14. Leverage Computer, harnesses: https://leverage.computer/harnesses/
15. Leverage Computer, AI governance: https://leverage.computer/governance/
16. Slack, plans and pricing: https://slack.com/pricing
17. Leverage Computer, pricing: https://leverage.computer/pricing/
18. Leverage Computer, work in the open: https://leverage.computer/teams/
19. Leverage Computer, Git under everything: https://leverage.computer/git/
20. Leverage Computer, automations: https://leverage.computer/automations/

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