How to Create a User Group in Slack (Step by Step, 2026)
SyncMyGroup team · November 11, 2026
A Slack user group gives a set of people one handle, such as @design or @oncall-payments, so a single mention notifies all of them. Creating one takes about a minute. The questions people actually get stuck on are around it: why the button is missing, which plan you need, and how to stop the group going stale a month later. This guide covers all three.
Before you start: two things that block it
1. Your Slack plan. User groups are a paid feature. They are available on Pro, Business+ and Enterprise plans; on the free plan there is no option to create one, and the API returns plan_upgrade_required.
2. Your permissions. By default, workspace owners and admins can create and edit user groups. An admin can open this up to everyone (or to specific people) in the workspace's permission settings. If you are on a paid plan and still don't see the option, this is almost always why: ask an admin to create the group or to change the setting.
How to create a user group in Slack
On Slack desktop:
- From the Home tab, open Directories, then select User groups.
- Click Create user group.
- Enter a name (for example Payments on-call) and a handle (for example
payments-oncall). The handle is what people type after@. - Optionally add a description, choose default channels that new members are added to, or create a shared sidebar section. Click Next.
- Search for people and select the members.
- Click Create group.
The group is live immediately. Anyone in the workspace can now mention @payments-oncall, and every member gets the notification.
How to add or remove people from a user group
- Open Directories, then User groups, and select the group.
- Click Edit members.
- Add or remove people, then Save changes.
To change the name, handle or description, use Edit group details from the same screen. To stop using a group without losing it, use Deactivate group from the three-dots menu: the handle stops working, and the group can be turned back on later.
Naming the group so it still makes sense at 200 groups
| Pattern | Example | Use for |
|---|---|---|
team | @platform | A whole team that mirrors a directory group |
oncall-team | @oncall-payments | Whoever is on call right now |
team-role | @platform-leads | A subset with one responsibility |
function-region | @sales-emea | Regional splits |
Pick a convention before the workspace has dozens of groups. Without one you end up with @design, @designers and @design-team, all slightly different.
Default channels: the useful option most people skip
When you set default channels on a user group, people added to the group are also added to those channels. Combined with an accurate member list, that turns the group into lightweight onboarding: join the group, get the right channels. It only works if the member list is right, which brings us to the real problem.
The part Slack doesn't do: keeping members accurate
Creating the group is easy. Keeping it accurate is the work. People join, change teams and leave, and nobody remembers to edit the Slack group. Six months later @platform still pings two people who moved to another team and misses the three who joined.
There are three ways to keep a group in sync:
- Edit it by hand. Fine for a handful of stable groups, and the reason most groups are wrong.
- SCIM from your identity provider. Okta or Entra ID can push groups into Slack, but Slack's SCIM provisioning needs Business+ or Enterprise, and SCIM can't set the
@handle. See Slack SCIM provisioning alternatives. - Sync it from where the team is already defined. Most teams already have the list somewhere: a Google Group, a Jira or Linear team, a GitHub team, or a PagerDuty or Opsgenie schedule. A sync tool copies that membership into the Slack user group, so the group changes when the source does.
SyncMyGroup does the third: it keeps Slack user groups (and channel membership) matched to Google Groups, Microsoft Azure (Entra ID), Jira, Linear, GitHub, GitLab, Zoom, PagerDuty and Opsgenie, on any paid Slack plan, without SCIM. It is free for up to 5 users, then $1 per user per month (50% off the $2 list price). Step-by-step: how to sync Google Groups to Slack user groups.
FAQ
Can I create a user group on Slack's free plan?
No. User groups need a paid plan (Pro, Business+ or Enterprise). On the free plan you can still create channels, but not @ handles for groups of people.
Why can't I create a user group in Slack?
Either the workspace is on the free plan, or an admin has limited user group creation to owners and admins. Ask a workspace admin to create the group or to change who can manage user groups.
What is the difference between a user group and a channel?
A channel is a place for messages. A user group is a list of people with a handle; it has no messages of its own. You can mention a user group in any channel. More in Slack user group vs channel.
Can guests be in a user group?
No. Guests and people from Slack Connect channels can't be added to your user groups or mention them, and bot users can't be added either. More in the Slack user groups guide.
How do I create a user group with the API?
Use usergroups.create with a name and handle, then usergroups.users.update to set members. The API needs a paid plan and a token with the usergroups:write scope. The Slack user groups guide covers the API calls and their quirks.
Already have the team list somewhere else? Start syncing one group on the free tier, or see the Google Group → Slack workflow.