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Microsoft Teams — Microsoft's unified chat, video meeting, and calling platform, free to start with paid plans from $4/user/month.

By Noahlast updated pricing verified

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Microsoft Teams in 20 seconds

Best for: organizations on Microsoft 365 needing chat, video meetings, and calling integrated with Office apps

Pricing: Free tier available; Teams Essentials from $4/user/month; Business Basic from $7/user/month; Business Standard with Copilot from $23.50/user/month (annual).

  • Teams Essentials starts at $4/user/month; Microsoft 365 Business Basic (with Teams) is $7/user/month.
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50/user/month, billed annually.
  • Microsoft Teams holds a 4.5/5 rating from 11,129 reviews on Capterra.
  • Teams Free caps group video calls at 60 minutes.
  • Teams Phone add-ons range from $10/user/month (Standard) to $34/user/month (Domestic & International calling).

Limitations: Reviewers report recurring bugs: crashes, sync failures, unreliable status indicators.; Free tier limits group video calls to 60 minutes.; No official native Linux client.

Top alternatives: Slack, Zoom, Google Chat, Discord, Webex — full list

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a unified communications platform built around channel-based chat, video meetings, VoIP calling, and file collaboration, positioned as the hub for both internal team communication and external collaboration through Teams Connect. Meetings support recording with AI-generated transcripts and meeting notes (via Copilot on eligible plans), live captions and real-time translation, webinars, and town halls for larger broadcasts. Because Teams is built on Microsoft's identity and file-storage stack, it integrates natively with SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and supports Microsoft Loop components for real-time collaborative documents inside chats. It's used by small and medium businesses, large enterprises, and educational institutions for everything from day-to-day team chat to company-wide town halls, and by individuals for free personal video calls and group chats.

Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's unified communications app combining chat, video meetings, VoIP calling, and file collaboration in one workspace, deeply integrated with the rest of Microsoft 365. It serves small businesses (up to 300 employees), enterprises, schools, and individuals connecting with friends and family, with AI-generated meeting notes and Copilot integration on paid tiers. Teams Free covers basic chat and calling with meetings capped at 60 minutes; Teams Essentials starts at $4/user/month, Microsoft 365 Business Basic (which adds Exchange email, SharePoint, and OneDrive) is $7/user/month, and Business Standard with Copilot and full desktop Office apps runs $23.50/user/month, all billed annually. Microsoft Teams holds a 4.5/5 rating from 11,129 reviews on Capterra, with reviewers praising its Office integration but citing recurring bugs like crashes and sync failures.

Standout feature: Native integration with the rest of Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive, Office apps, Loop components) plus Copilot-generated meeting notes and Teams Phone calling add-ons in one platform.

Biggest weakness: Reviewers report recurring bugs — crashes, login errors, sync failures, and unreliable presence/status indicators — and the free tier caps group video calls at 60 minutes; unlocking the full desktop Office apps requires bundling into a Microsoft 365 Business plan at $23.50/user/month rather than a standalone upgrade, and there's no official Linux client.

Pros

  • Free tier is usable for small teams with unlimited 1:1 messaging and calling.
  • Tight native integration with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint.
  • AI-generated meeting notes, live captions, and real-time translation on paid tiers.
  • Scales from a $4/user/month Essentials plan up to enterprise-grade Teams Phone and Teams Premium add-ons.

Cons

  • Users report recurring bugs: crashes, login errors, sync failures, and unreliable status indicators.
  • Free tier caps group video calls at 60 minutes.
  • Full desktop Office apps require a $23.50/user/month Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan, not a lower-cost Teams-only upgrade.
  • No official native Linux client.

Microsoft Teams pricing

Free tier · paid from $4/mo · verified from the vendor's pricing page

PlanPriceNotes
Teams FreeFreeBasic messaging and calling; group video calls capped at 60 minutes.
Teams Essentials$4/moChat, calling, video conferencing, file sharing, 10GB storage, meeting recordings with transcripts, live captions (English). Billed annually.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7/moWeb/mobile Office apps, Teams, 1TB storage, Exchange email, SharePoint, OneDrive, basic AI chat features. Billed annually.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard (with Copilot)$23.50/moFull desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Teams, 1TB storage, Copilot in apps, plus 10+ business apps. Billed annually.

What reviewers say

Scores belong to their platforms; we display them with attribution and never fold them into our own ratings.