Microsoft Teams Dethrones Slack, Becomes Most Downloaded Business Chat App in 2019

Ariel Ariel
12/16/19

Microsoft has been on a mission to own business chat, but Skype for Business was a flop. Meanwhile Slack managed to take over offices and teams all over the world.

And then Microsoft started pushing Teams — Here's how all three performed in the U.S. App Store this year:

Download performance - Slack vs Microsoft Teams vs Slack for Business

Although just by a little, Microsoft Teams has clearly taken the lead as we head into 2020 in the US. Microsoft is already ingrained in so many organizations, so this is no surprise.

Slow but Steady Growth

Looking at yearly totals doesn't give Microsoft enough credit however. Here's how downloads look in 2019 in the U.S. App Store.

Daily downloads - Slack vs Microsoft Teams vs Slack for Business

Note: The chart is showing daily downloads, which is why there are so many peaks (week days) and dips (weekends).

Microsoft worked hard to take over and it didn't happen over night. Interesting to note is that the growth didn't come at the expense of Skype for Business, which maintained its stead downloads rate.

A Global Trend

We've focused on the U.S. because it's the biggest market for both Microsoft Teams and Slack, but the rest of the world followed the same trend as the US, awarding Microsoft Teams with more downloads (except for Japan).

Here are the top 10 countries where Microsoft Teams was downloaded most in 2019:

Will this trend continue into 2020? absolutely, as long as Microsoft continues to push Teams to its existing user-base. As heavy Slack users here at Appfigures (especially me!) we'll be keeping an eye on business chat apps.

App Intelligence for Everyone!

The insights in this report come right out of our App Intelligence platform, which offers access to download and revenue estimates, installed SDKs, and more! Learn more about the tools or schedule a demo with our team to get started.

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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.


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