Slack is Extorting Us with a $195k/Year Bill Increase An open letter, or something Date: September 18th, 2025 --- Overview For nearly 11 years, Hack Club, a nonprofit providing coding education and community to teenagers worldwide, has relied on Slack for communication. Previously, they paid $5,000/year for Slack's nonprofit plan when it became paid. Two days ago, Slack notified Hack Club that if they don’t agree to pay an additional $50,000 this week and $200,000 annually thereafter, Slack will deactivate their workspace and delete all message history. Key Points Slack demands an immediate payment hike from $5,000/year to $200,000/year. Hack Club was given less than a week to agree or lose access. The author finds this unreasonable, expecting at least a six-month grace period. Salesforce, Slack’s parent company worth $230 billion, is perceived as strong-arming a small nonprofit with negligible time to respond. Impact The abrupt notice has severely disrupted Hack Club’s programs. Staff and volunteers must urgently update systems, rebuild integrations, and migrate years of critical institutional knowledge. The forced migration is causing significant opportunity costs. Response Hack Club is transitioning to Mattermost, an alternative platform. The experience highlighted the importance of owning your data. Small businesses and nonprofits are advised to consider moving away from Slack. --- This post was rushed due to the shock of this development. Contact the author for additional details. --- Additional The blog includes navigation links to Home, Blog, Projects, GitHub, and Contact. Social links to GitHub and X (Twitter). Mentions participation in 512KB Club (Team Blue) and Hack Club Webring. Copyright © 2025 Mahad Kalam. --- Summary: Hack Club is publicly denouncing Slack’s sudden, massive nonprofit plan price hike and the very short notice given. They criticize the move as exploitative and damaging to their operations, prompting an urgent migration to a self-hosted platform. The letter serves as a warning about reliance on proprietary platforms and underscores data ownership importance.