Microsoft Teams review 2026: free vs paid plans, Microsoft 365 bundling, video meeting limits, and how it stacks up against Slack, Zoom and Google Meet.
Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's chat-and-meetings collaboration hub, launched in March 2017 as the company's response to Slack and the eventual replacement for Skype for Business. It combines persistent channel-based messaging, video and audio meetings, and file co-authoring into a single application tied to the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
Each Team is backed by a Microsoft 365 Group with a SharePoint document library, shared OneNote notebook, and Exchange calendar integration, which is why Teams feels less like a standalone chat app and more like a front end for the rest of Office. Teams now reports well over 300 million monthly active users.
Teams' core is channel-based team chat with threaded conversations, @mentions, and an app store offering thousands of tab and bot integrations, from Planner to third-party tools like Asana or Salesforce. Meetings support screen sharing, breakout rooms, together mode, and built-in whiteboarding.
Copilot AI features layered on top of Teams can summarize meetings, generate follow-up action items, and answer questions about chat history. Teams Phone, an add-on available at higher tiers, turns Teams into a cloud PBX capable of PSTN calling, replacing traditional desk phone systems.
Teams has a free tier with 5GB of storage and meetings capped at 60 minutes for up to 100 participants, which is enough for many small teams. Teams Essentials, at $4/user/month, is the cheapest paid tier and the only way to buy Teams without a full Microsoft 365 subscription, extending meetings to 30 hours and 300 participants.
Beyond Essentials, Teams is bundled into Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, and Premium plans, and into Enterprise E3/E5 licenses, which add the full Office application suite, larger storage, and (at higher tiers) Teams Phone and advanced compliance features. Microsoft 365 and Teams pricing increased in 2026, with enterprise tiers now spanning roughly $39 to $60 per user per month.
Yes, a free tier exists with unlimited chat and meetings up to 60 minutes for up to 100 participants.
Teams Essentials at $4/user/month.
No, Teams Essentials works standalone, but most advanced features come bundled with Microsoft 365 plans.
Yes, Microsoft retired Skype for Business in favor of Teams.
Yes, guest access and shared channels support external collaboration.
An add-on that turns Teams into a cloud PBX/VoIP phone system with PSTN calling.