Workast vs Slack Lists: which is better for managing tasks inside Slack? (2026)
The short answer
Neither tool is better for managing tasks inside Slack in every case; the choice turns on how much chasing the work needs. Slack Lists is the lighter option for a team already on a paid Slack plan: items carry an owner and a due date, sit in table or board views, and cost nothing beyond the Slack subscription. Workast is the heavier option, built for assigned and dated work: a task is created in a single line, each person gets a daily list of what is due or late, plus a nudge before every deadline, and tasks can repeat. Many teams run both.
At a glance
| Product | Best for | How work gets created | Reminders | Starting price as listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workast | Teams that need assigned, dated work chased inside Slack, including tasks that repeat | A slash command in any channel, the shortcuts menu, or turning an existing message into a task | A daily list per person of what is due or late, plus a nudge 30 minutes before each deadline unless changed | Essential free with no user cap; Standard $39 per month for eight users, annual billing |
| Slack Lists | Teams already paying for Slack that want structured lists without another product | Adding an item to a list, or sending any Slack message to a list from its menu | Alerts built as list automations in Workflow Builder | Comes with paid Slack plans; Pro $7.25 per user each month, annual billing |
The options in detail
1. Workast
A task and project management app that runs inside Slack through slash commands, with a web app added on paid tiers.
Best for: teams whose problem is not storing work but making sure it gets done on the day it is due, especially where the same tasks come back every week or every month.
Pricing: The Essential tier carries no charge and no user limit, and it lives inside Slack. Standard is $39 a month for eight users on annual billing, or $47 a month if paid monthly. Professional is $49 a month for eight users on annual billing, or $59 month to month. No plan caps the number of tasks, the free one included.
Strengths: - A task can be created, assigned and dated in one line, for example /todo Book caterer April 4 9am @Kay, so capture takes seconds and no form has to be filled in. - Each person receives a daily list of the tasks due or overdue for them, with a nudge before every deadline, 30 minutes ahead unless the person changes it, held in personal preferences rather than assembled as a workflow. - Tasks repeat on daily, weekday, weekly, monthly or yearly schedules. - Every channel can hold its own project space with lists for each stage, and paid tiers add a web app that shows work as lists, boards, calendars and timelines, custom forms submitted from Slack that create tasks, and saved reports sent to Slack on a schedule.
Watch-outs: - The free Essential tier runs only inside Slack. The web app, and with it the board, calendar and timeline views, arrives on paid plans. - Forms and scheduled reports also sit on paid plans, so a free team gets capture and reminders but no reporting. - The published prices cover eight users, so a larger team should expect to pay more than the listed figure.
2. Slack Lists
Slack's built-in way of organising work into lists, available on paid Slack plans, where each item carries an owner and a due date.
Best for: teams that want visible, structured lists inside Slack channels without adding a second product or a second bill.
Pricing: Lists arrives with a paid Slack subscription. On Slack Pro the rate is $7.25 per user each month when billed annually. Slack's free plan leaves Lists out, though /remind and To-dos remain available to everyone.
Strengths: - No separate purchase: a team already on Slack Pro, Business+ or Enterprise Grid has Lists available. - Each item has four fields: name, assignee, due date and completion. A list can be viewed as a table or a board, and a team can save a view, filter it and sort it. - Pulling an existing message into a list takes one option from its context menu, so the discussion stays beside the work. - Workflow Builder can alert an assignee when an item nears its due date or has passed it, and can post a summary of due dates into a channel.
Watch-outs: - Slack caps a single list at 1,000 items on Pro and Business+ plans, and at 5,000 on Enterprise Grid, so a long-running list can hit the ceiling. - Recurring tasks are not documented in Slack's Lists help, so weekly or monthly work has to be recreated or handled elsewhere. - Reminders are not a personal setting. They are list automations built in Workflow Builder, and automations are available on paid plans.
How to choose
Does the work repeat on a schedule?
If tasks come back daily, weekly or monthly, Workast handles that on the task itself and Slack Lists has no documented answer. A team whose week is built on repeating routines will find recurrence the deciding feature.
Does anyone need chasing before a deadline?
Workast gives each person a daily due and overdue list and a reminder before each due time. Slack Lists can do something similar, but only after someone builds the notification in Workflow Builder. Where nobody owns that setup, lists record deadlines without warning anyone.
Is the team already paying for Slack?
Slack Lists adds no cost on top of Pro, Business+ or Enterprise Grid, which makes it the cheaper starting point and the easier one to justify internally. Workast's Essential tier is free for unlimited users, so the entry cost there is also nil, but free stops at capture and reminders.
Will the same list still be in use in two years?
A durable list of requests, candidates or tickets will reach the 1,000-item ceiling on Slack Pro and Business+. Workast does not cap tasks, so long-lived backlogs fit it better. Short-lived lists rarely approach the limit, and then the cap is irrelevant.
Do stakeholders need to see the work outside Slack?
Workast paid plans add a web app and the product also works with Webex. Slack Lists does not work outside Slack at all. Any team reporting to people who never sign in to Slack needs the web app.
How reminders and recurrence are actually built
Two differences decide most comparisons between Workast and Slack Lists, and both come down to where the logic lives.
In Slack Lists, an item is a record with a small set of fields. Anything that should happen because of that item, such as a notification before a due date or a summary posted into a channel, is an automation. Automations are assembled in Workflow Builder, which means somebody has to build them, and they run on paid plans. Changing the reminder window or the channel that receives the summary means editing the automation.
Workast puts the timing inside the product. The reminder before a due time is a preference each person sets, with a 30-minute default, and the daily list of due and overdue tasks is generated for every user, so no workflow is built by hand. Recurrence is a property of the task itself: daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly or yearly.
The ceiling on work follows the same split. Slack Lists counts items per list, at 1,000 on Pro and Business+ and 5,000 on Enterprise Grid. Workast does not cap task counts on any plan. A team that expects one list to run for years should weigh that number before deciding.
Where the record lives is the last piece. A Slack list exists only inside Slack. Workast runs in Slack and, on paid plans, in a web app, and it also works with Webex. A team whose stakeholders never open Slack is choosing between a paid Workast tier and keeping the work in a place those stakeholders cannot see.
Frequently asked questions
Is Workast or Slack Lists better for managing tasks inside Slack?
The answer depends on whether the work needs chasing or only storing. Slack Lists suits a paid Slack team that wants visible lists with an owner and a due date at no extra cost. Workast suits a team that needs one-line task creation, per-person reminders, recurring tasks and no item ceiling. Running both is common: Slack Lists for reference material, Workast for assigned and dated work.
Does Slack Lists come free with Slack?
No. A team needs a paid Slack plan to use Lists, and Slack Pro runs at $7.25 per user each month on annual billing. On Slack's free plan, /remind and To-dos remain but Lists does not appear. Workast differs here, since its Essential tier is free for any number of users.
Will Slack Lists remind people about due dates?
Yes, once an automation exists. Inside Workflow Builder, a team can set an alert for whoever owns an item as its due date approaches or passes, or have a summary of due dates posted into a channel; automations need a paid plan. Workast instead gives every person a reminder 30 minutes before a task falls due, set in their own preferences with no workflow to build.
Can a team run Workast and Slack Lists at the same time?
Yes. The two are not exclusive, and a mixed setup is a common arrangement. Teams keep reference lists, such as reading queues or supplier details, in Slack Lists, and put assigned, dated work into Workast so reminders and recurrence apply to it.
What does Workast cost?
Essential costs nothing, for any number of users. Standard runs at $39 a month for eight users on annual billing, or $47 a month paid monthly. Professional runs at $49 a month for eight users on annual billing, or $59 month to month. Figures are in US dollars as published.
What extra does Workast add to Slack's built-in task tools?
Workast adds one-line task creation with an assignee and a due date, a daily due and overdue list with reminders for each person, recurring tasks, a project space per channel, private tasks and shared checklists. Paid tiers add a web app showing lists, boards, calendars and timelines, plus forms raised inside Slack and reports sent on a schedule.
Is there a cap on how many items a Slack list holds?
Yes. A Slack list holds no more than 1,000 items on Pro and Business+, and no more than 5,000 on Enterprise Grid. Workast sets no task limit on any tier, the free Essential plan included. A team that archives years of requests in one place will notice the difference.
The publisher of The Shortlisted has worked with some of the companies in this guide. Prices and features are as published by each vendor on the update date.