Is Microsoft Teams free, and if so, how does the free version compare to the premium experience?
Tools designed to enhance communication and collaboration are becoming essential in the new age of work. Hybrid and remote policies are evolving, and every business needs a digital hub where staff can connect, share ideas, and innovate. Fortunately, Teams offers the perfect solution.
Combining video and audio conferencing tools with group and private chat, file sharing, and more, Teams is now the go-to hub for countless companies. But in today’s uncertain economy, not every business is willing to invest in a paid plan for the Microsoft Teams app.
When Microsoft began rolling out “Microsoft Teams Premium” and introducing new pricing strategies to business owners, some companies were left concerned. Fortunately, while Microsoft is still pushing users to consider its paid plans, a free version of Teams is still available. It just might be a little different from the classic “Free Teams” experience you’re used to.
What Happened to Microsoft Teams Free (Classic)?
Like many software as a service (SaaS) companies, Microsoft understands the draw of a free plan. The company has offered users a free version of Teams for almost as long as the platform has existed. However, they did recently update their pricing structure and the names of their plans, confusing many end-users.
Initially, the Microsoft Teams free plan was known as “Microsoft Teams Free Classic.” In April 2023, Microsoft shut down this Teams version, encouraging users to move to a paid plan instead, such as Microsoft Teams Essentials.
Although Microsoft removed the old free plan, it did introduce a new one, named “Microsoft Teams (Free).” Unfortunately, the company didn’t make switching to this new plan easy. No direct migration plan was included for users who wanted to move to the latest version.
Also, Microsoft didn’t provide users a way to transfer their data and chat from the previous tool into a new plan. In other words, continuing with a free Teams version meant companies had to start over from scratch.
This was likely part of Microsoft’s strategy to convince more business users to upgrade to a paid account. Even switching to the $4 per user, per month Essentials plan gave companies the option to retain their meetings, files, chats, and channels and access to more storage space and Microsoft Office apps. It also allowed Microsoft to update its messaging and branding for the free Teams version, which is advertised as a “personal” collaboration tool rather than a business app.
Is Microsoft Teams (Free) Still Available?
While Microsoft Teams Free (Classic) might be gone, a free version of the platform is still available to access today. Like the old solution, the new Microsoft Teams (Free) plan will give users a lighter, pared-down version of the Teams experience.
You’ll still be able to host meetings and chats on the new free plan, but you won’t have access to many of the advanced features offered to premium users, such as Teams Copilot AI.
Intended for everyday personal users, the new Teams free plan includes the following:
- Unlimited group meetings with a time cap of 60 minutes per meeting
- A maximum of 100 people per meeting
- 5GB of cloud storage for each user
- Unlimited chat via Microsoft Teams messaging
- Polling, task management, and file sharing
- Data encryption for all conversations (calls, meetings, and chats)
The Limitations of Microsoft Teams (Free)
The answer to “Is Microsoft Teams free?” is “yes, but with some caveats.”
Ultimately, you can access Microsoft Teams for free and take advantage of many great features. Free users can still connect with as many users as they like via chat and create channels for Teams. You should even be able to access Teams 2.0 in the free version when it’s generally available.
Meetings in the new Teams free app work the same as they did in the “classic” version, and there are numerous ways to invite people to a conversation too. However, free app users will also miss out on many of Teams’ new and more advanced features.
For instance, you’ll only be able to add up to 100 people to a meeting, while 300 can collaborate on Teams with a paid plan. Plus, group meetings are limited to 60 minutes each.
Microsoft Teams (Free) is also missing:
- Multilingual live captions
- Breakout rooms
- Recording and transcriptions
- Whiteboards
- Webinars
- Guest access
- Third-party Teams apps
- Multi-factor authentication
- Customer support and uptime SLAs
- Exchange email accounts
- Office 365 apps
Additionally, with the current version of Microsoft Teams’ free plan, users need to choose whether everyone in their team is using the free app or the paid plan in advance. It’s not possible to mix and match between some users with paid plans and others with free access.
Microsoft Teams Free vs. Paid: The Other Options
Ultimately, while Teams is available for free, you won’t get the entire Teams experience on the free plan. Microsoft wants customers to upgrade to a premium plan, so it will likely always put limitations on free users.
The good news is that a handful of pricing plans are available for Teams. If you want the whole experience, you can start accessing advanced tools for as little as $4 per month per person. The bad news is that once a user upgrades to a premium account, there’s no option to revert to a free account using the same email address.
Users looking to upgrade their Microsoft Teams experience can choose between the following plans:
Microsoft Teams Essentials:
Microsoft Teams Essentials, available for $4 per user per month, gives you everything in the free Teams version, plus some extras.
You’ll be able to have unlimited group meetings for up to 30 hours per meeting. Essentials includes access to whiteboarding tools, collaborative annotations, and 300 participants per meeting. You’ll also get 10GB of file storage, alongside web and phone customer support.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
For the slightly higher price of $6 per user per month, companies can add onto the features of the “Essentials” plan. The Business Basic plan increases your number of configurable user settings and policies. You also get extra administration and reporting tools and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
With this plan, Microsoft also includes access to 1TB of storage per user, Teams apps and add-ons, and Exchange email hosting. Plus, you can create live captions in 30 languages, record and transcribe meetings, and use breakout rooms. This plan also includes access to Microsoft Office apps like OneDrive, PowerPoint, and Word.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
The Business Standard plan for Microsoft 365, available for $12.50 per user per month, includes all the features of Business Basic. However, you also get desktop versions of your office apps (Rather than web-only versions). There are a few extra apps available too here, like Publisher and Access.
Plus, there’s webinar hosting support, reporting tools and attendee registration features. You’ll also be able to use Microsoft Bookings to schedule appointments and unlock advanced customer support.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
For around $20 per month, users can also choose to upgrade to Microsoft 365 Business Premium. This includes all of the features of Business Standard, with some bonuses. You’ll get comprehensive access to security controls and advanced encryption.
The plan includes Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Defender, Azure Information Protection, and Azure AD Premium P1. This makes Business Premium the most attractive option for companies with specific security needs.
Microsoft Teams Premium
On top of all those plans mentioned above, Microsoft also introduced Microsoft Teams Premium recently. Notably, this isn’t a standalone plan for Teams but an add-on service. It includes access to various unique features, including advanced AI tools and personalization options for meetings.
With Teams Premium, you can add watermarks to meetings, control who can record a session, set up custom webinar experiences, and use real-time data storage. You can also access all the Open AI technology available for Teams throughout your meeting experiences.
How to Use Microsoft Teams for Free
So, is Microsoft Teams Free?
Simply put, there is still a free version of Microsoft Teams available, but it’s limited and not exactly the same as the classic free version of Teams. Still, this plan still has value to offer budget-conscious companies and users. The good news is you can access Microsoft Teams for free easily.
All you need to do is go to the Microsoft website and sign up for a free account. Notably, you can only access the free version of Teams if you don’t already have a Commercial 365 subscription. You’ll need to enter your username for your account and indicate how you want to use Teams (such as for personal or work reasons).
After that, you can enter a password and decide whether you want to use the Teams desktop or mobile app or the service on the web. Once you’re set up, you can start inviting users and communicating just like you would with the standard Teams version.
Remember, you can upgrade to a premium account on Teams whenever you like by heading to your account settings. But once you do upgrade, there’s no turning back, at least not with the same email address.
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