Moving from Slack's own export to SlackVault
You don't leave Slack for this. SlackVault sits beside it, and if your team can pay for a Slack plan later, those plans keep unlimited history on their own. Your team carries on in Slack as it does today.
The steps
- Set up SlackVault: Slack app setup, then Firebase setup, then the browser extension. The first sync is covered in Syncing & your archive.
- Run a first sync. It copies what Slack's API still returns for your plan, so run it soon: what falls outside the window before a sync saves it is out of reach.
- If a workspace owner or admin has an export from Slack, load it too:
SlackVault's Import page reads one JSON file, not a ZIP, so a Slack export needs merging first. Unzip it and run this
inside the folder that holds users.json and channels.json, with jq installed:
jq -n --slurpfile users users.json --slurpfile channels channels.json \
--slurpfile msgs <(for c in $(jq -r '.[] | "\(.id):\(.name)"' channels.json); do
jq -s --arg id "${c%%:*}" '{($id): add}' "${c#*:}"/*.json
done) \
'{users: $users[0], channels: $channels[0], messages: ($msgs | add)}' > slackvault-import.json
Then upload slackvault-import.json on the Import page of the web app, as described in
Search & export. Merge mode adds new records and updates
existing ones. Private channels and DMs need their own export files, which this command doesn't cover.
There is no way yet to send records back into Slack. If you do upgrade, the history in your Firebase project stays there and doesn't flow back.
Last checked November 7, 2026. Check Slack (own plans and export) for yourself. SlackVault is not affiliated with or endorsed by Slack.
Which one suits you
Choose Slack's own plans if your team can pay per user; the paid plans keep unlimited history inside Slack, searchable where people already work, with nothing extra to run.
Choose SlackVault if you are staying on the free plan for now and want your messages and threads copied into your own Firebase project every 15 minutes while your browser runs.
Prices
| Plan | Price | Terms as listed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 / month | free forever; 90 days of message history | Their page |
| Pro | $8.75 / month | per user, when paying monthly; $7.25 per user per month when paying annually; a 50% off for 3 months promotion was shown on the page | Their page |
| Business+ | $18 / month | per user, when paying monthly; $15 per user per month when paying annually; a 50% off for 3 months promotion was shown on the page | Their page |
| Enterprise+ | No listed price | Quote only (Contact sales) | Their page |
Side by side
| What you need | SlackVault | Slack (own plans and export) |
|---|---|---|
| Saves public channel messages | Yes | Yes Their page |
| Saves private channel messages | Yes | Partly: Business+ and Enterprise only, and owners must apply for this export type Their page |
| Saves direct messages and group DMs | Yes | Partly: Business+ and Enterprise only, and owners must apply for this export type Their page |
| Saves thread replies | Yes: A thread that fails to save is skipped, not retried | Not stated on the pages we checked |
| Saves shared files | Yes: File details always; copies only at a public link on our storage, when switched on | Partly: exports carry file links, not the files; free workspaces get links from the last 90 days only Their page |
| Runs on its own on a schedule | Yes: Every 15 minutes, while the browser runs | Partly: recurring exports on Business+ only, after approval Their page |
| Copy lives in storage you control | Partly: Messages in your Firebase project; file copies are not in your storage | Yes: a ZIP you download Their page |
| Search across the saved history | Yes: The most recent page of messages, up to 50 per query | Partly: 90-day limit on the Free plan; unlimited on paid plans Their page |
| Export to open file formats | Yes: JSON, CSV, HTML and Markdown | Yes: JSON Their page |
| Works without workspace admin rights | Partly: No admin scopes, though a workspace can require approval for new apps | No: Workspace Owners and Admins run exports Their page |
| Puts records back into Slack | No: No way yet to send records back into Slack | Yes: import tool moves member, message and channel data between workspaces Their page |
| Free plan with no time limit | Yes | Yes Their page |
What SlackVault does not do
- Messages, channels, members and file records go to your own Firebase project. Supabase is not supported yet.
- Files do not go to your Google Drive or your Firebase project. When file copying is switched on in our extension build, each file uploads to our file storage with its visibility set to public: the link is hard to guess, but anyone holding it can open the file without signing in. Where no storage key is set in the build, no copy is made, and your archive keeps the file’s details and Slack’s link, which works only while Slack serves that file.
- There is no way yet to send records back into Slack.
- The sync runs in a browser extension, every 15 minutes, only while that browser is running.
- SlackVault can copy only what Slack’s API still returns, so anything older than your plan’s window is out of reach unless an earlier sync already saved it.
- If saving one thread fails, the sync logs it and moves on without retrying those replies.
- Search checks the most recent page of messages, up to 50 per query, not the whole archive.
- The extension and the Android app have no store listing yet, and the source code is in a private repository.