Microsoft Teams Pricing in 2021

Microsoft Teams is the ideal video conferencing and collaboration software for any organization that needs remote communication. Businesses that love Microsoft products will find Teams to be the ideal choice.

For those that are less familiar, Microsoft Teams is an online application that allows groups of people to collaborate and communicate remotely. Teams is so popular for remote work they boast over 200 million daily active users for 2021.

Below is an in-depth tutorial on how to use Teams. It will give you a better understanding of the user interface and different options.

Microsoft Teams Pricing

Microsoft Teams Plans include three paid options and one free. Each one can fit a business of small to mid-size and offers integrations with 250 Microsoft Online applications.

Microsoft Teams (Free)	Microsoft 365 Business Basic $5.00 User/Month	Microsoft 365 Business Standard $12.50 User/ Month	Office 365 E3: Includes Teams $20.00 User/Month
Participant Capacity: 100	Participant Capacity: 300	Participant Capacity: 300	Participant Capacity: 300Online Events Capacity 10,000

Microsoft Teams (Free)

The Microsoft Teams free plan includes online meetings, screen, sharing, and customized backgrounds. The free plan caps video calls at one hour, but the free plan is capped at 500,000 users, whereas the two business premium plans are not. Only Office 365 E3 has over 500,000 users. Startups on a budget will find this a fair plan as they grow.

Microsoft 365 Business Basic

The Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan includes all the features for free and can have 24 hour-long meetings. You can record meetings and have better access to administration and support as well as more security protection. Businesses that have employees in different time zones will enjoy the ability to record longer, secure meetings with more participants.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Office 365 e3

The Microsoft 365 Business Standard includes more productivity apps, a business email, and more storage. Whereas the Office 365 E3 has unlimited storage, and up to 500,000 users. Big remote teams will love this full access to everything Microsoft has to offer. 

What are The Benefits of Using Microsoft Teams?

When it comes to Microsoft Teams, you get an app with 250 other office online integrations. This means you can use SharePoint, a web-based platform to secure files. You can use SharePoint with just a browser (like chrome, you don’t need to exclusively use Explorer), no downloading is required. You could also access one drive for cloud storage. 

If your online team does not need Microsoft online, Teams is worth it as a standalone chat, conferencing app. The software lets you chat with separate teams for your departments and direct message people as well. It comes with presentation tools and file-sharing options.

Scheduling and workflow automation can help keep your team on track. And if you don’t want to leave your company Gmail you don’t have to. 

Teams is compatible with Gmail, Google Drive as well as Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, and Slack. If not all your employees love Teams, you can look at diversifying your chat and storage applications. 

 You can use Teams on desktop and mobile devices. This means you can chat with a team member anywhere with your mobile phone. The Teams app is available on both iOs and Android devices. 

Not all devices have the same built-in security, so it’s great that Microsoft Teams has security features. Teams has a single sign-on feature, two-factor authentication, and Advanced Threat Protection ATP available. Your employees can use almost any kind of device without worrying about security. 

Microsoft Teams Dashboard

What do Users Say About Microsoft Teams?

Now you know the benefits and the different plans of Microsoft Teams. Next is to consider the reviews by users of the software. This way you can make an informed decision based on a collection of opinions. 

Microsoft Teams Usability

When it comes to any Microsoft product, there will be a lot to learn. You can format and Excel and can take a class on how to create the perfect PowerPoint. Microsoft is about you being able to control your information down to the smallest details.

That’s a little intense for some users. One of the many reasons Google Suite is popular is that it’s simpler. Microsoft offers all the nuances, and that’s what gets confusing.

Usability will have a learning curve. Microsoft Teams, compared to its older brothers and sisters, has a great interface design. Users still do find the navigation less intuitive, and some feel the tools should be simpler. One process takes multiple steps rather than a single action, which is confusing and hard to remember. 

Overall, people still use Teams for its other benefits, but Microsoft could certainly streamline the platform more.

Support Offered by Microsoft Teams

When it comes to support offered by Microsoft Teams, most users have not needed it. Most can find internal support in the application. Users that have contacted them for help have not had a great experience. There are numerous online resources to learn and figure out questions, but personalized support is not ideal. 

People That Recommend and Would Renew Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is recommended by Microsoft die-hards. Businesses that use them exclusively will continue, even with a few issues. 

Still, there are teams that mainly use it for its chat, presentation tools, and video conferencing capabilities. They genuinely like the software. So, if you aren’t married to Micrafot and don’t need the other applications, you can still enjoy Microsoft Teams by itself.  

How Does Microsoft Teams Compare to The Competition?

Microsoft Teams	Google Meet	Zoom	Slack
trScore: 8.3/10	trScore: 8.5/10	trScore: 8.6/10	trScore: 8.9/10
Video Conferencing, Chat, Office Software Integrations, Free Plan	Video Conferencing, Chat, Office Software Integrations, Free Plan	Video Conferencing, Free Plan (less business-friendly)	Video Conferencing, and Chat Communication, Free Plan (less business-friendly)

As you know, there are many other online collaboration tools. Zoom dominated the market overnight during the pandemic. Other organizations worked harder to offer better options as well, particularly Google. 

Microsoft Teams Vs Google Meet

Google Meet would be one of Microsoft Teams’ closest competitors for businesses. Google Meets and Microsoft Teams are very similar. 

They both offer integration of their other applications, audio and video conferencing, and real-time collaboration. Google Meet integrates with Google Chat, which evens it out with Microsoft Teams chat options. Figuring in their integrations, it’s not easy to choose between them. 

Their free plans and their paid plans are both great options with only a few differences. 

One of those differences is Google Meet offers more file storage for its free plan at 15 GB per user, while Microsoft Teams offers 10GB for an entire team for its free plan. 

And both of Teams’ business premiums plans do not offer unlimited storage, like Google’s Google Workspace Enterprise plan does. There is the Microsoft 365 e3 plan at 20 per user a month, which does say its pricing upfront while Enterprise does not.

So if file storage is integral to your business’s ability to collaborate and you’re on a low budget, then Google Meet and its integrations may be a wiser choice. If you don’t need to share and store that much data with your team, Microsoft Teams is still worth considering.

Microsoft Teams Vs Zoom

Zoom is the darkhorse that took out Skype. So how does the 46-year-old Microsoft compare to them? In comparison, Zoom offers less. It’s amazing software but doesn’t have office integrations. If your office needs to collaborate online with Word, and OneDrive, you should choose a communication software that integrates with those. 

The reason Zoom is successful is anyone can use it with almost any email, calendar, or scheduling application. If you find that your company doesn’t need other Microsoft programs, Zoom becomes a serious contender. 

In that case, the only thing to point out is that Microsoft Teams is perfect for daily active users. You can chat with your department, one on one, and use project management tools. You can use it for more than just video calls. 

If you only need video calling for remote meetings,  Zoom can be used with other software, and so can Teams. It comes down to personal preference between the interface, and how well they run on desktop and mobile devices. Again, they are both quality software, so a final decision could mean test driving them.

Microsoft Teams Vs Slack

Microsoft Teams compared to Slack is similar to its comparison with Zoom. Slack does not come with integrations for office collaboration. It does come with an incredibly popular and highly rated usability chat interface. 

Slack’s trScore is higher than Teams because of how popular their chat application. Their video conferencing not so much. But, this isn’t an either-or situation, you can integrate Microsoft Teams with Slack if you really prefer Slack’s chat options. 

Just like with Zoom it comes does to personal preference, and is worth a test drive. We do have a great video dedicated to the question Teams or Slack.

Who Would Benefit The Most from Microsoft Teams?

If you are an online team that needs office software Microsoft Teams is perfect for you. If you only need virtual meetings and messaging it’s still a great option. 

Pretty much anyone can benefit from using it, but it’s not ideal for companies that are marketing-based. So nonprofit organizations, schools, online magazines, startups, and hybrid remote offices especially, would be the best use case for Teams.

Interested in getting started with Microsoft Teams? Check out our category page to learn more.