How Much Does Microsoft Teams Cost?

Microsoft Teams has an excellent set of features. But, of course, Microsoft Teams does cost money if you’re looking to fully use those features. You may already know that you’re interested in a transition to MS Teams, but you may be worried about how expensive it’s going to be. Rest assured, the cost of Microsoft Teams can fit into most companies’ budgets.

That being said, it’s still important to know exactly how much Microsoft Teams costs so you can adjust your budget accordingly. Just as every company is different, every technology installation is different. Let’s take a deep dive into how much Microsoft Teams might cost.

How Much Does MS Teams Cost?

Let’s get to the basics: MS Teams will vary in cost depending on usage. This cost can vary by year, as well; it is periodically updated. The cost of Microsoft Teams is rolled into the cost of Office 365 at higher tiers. Therefore, you can get MS Teams as a free standalone, but if you want to pay for it, you’ll usually be purchasing either Microsoft 365 Business Basic or Microsoft 365 Business Basic. There are several pricing tiers.

• Free Microsoft Teams. The free version of MS Teams is stripped down but functional. You can have meetings with up to 100 participants, but you don’t get meeting recordings. You have most chat and collaboration features, but not productivity apps, services or security and compliance features. This is a great solution if you just want basic communication and collaboration features. Most small businesses will only need the free version of MS Teams, but there are so many dramatically improved benefits to Office 365 that it can make more sense to purchase it.
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: Microsoft 365 Business Basic costs $5.00 per user a month. You can have meetings with up to 300 participants. You get the service’s chat and collaboration features, but again no productivity apps, services, security and compliance features or administration features. So, there aren’t any advanced features without the rest of the Office 365 suite.
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: Microsoft 365 Business Standard costs $12.50 per user a month. In this, you do get productivity apps and services. That includes exchange email hosting, personal file storage, desktop versions and Microsoft Bookings.
• Office 365 E3: Microsoft Teams as part of Office 365 E3 costs $20.00 per user a month. You can have meetings of up to 10,000 participants, and you can have almost 500,000 users. You also have security and compliance, administration and support features available. Most companies are not going to need this level of functionality and support, but large enterprises often will.
• Microsoft Teams add-on licenses: There are several other Add-on licenses for specific Microsoft Teams features and to give you greater flexibility. Things like audio conferencing, toll free numbers, calling plans, rooms and advanced communications are available for organizations of all sizes. Click here to view the full list and more.

The best way to find out exactly how much MS Teams and the rest of Office 365 might cost is to call a professional. Some organizations will start out with the free version and will upgrade once they run up against its limitations. Microsoft Teams is also included in other plans, such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium, E3, F3, E5 and more, so it is likely that your organization may already have Teams!

Costs of MS Teams Alternatives

The most popular Microsoft Teams alternative is Slack.

As with MS Teams, there’s a free version; this version doesn’t have premium security features. Standard Slack is $6.67 a month, Plus Slack is $12.50 a month, and Enterprise Grid is quoted on a per-company basis. However, it’s important to know that Slack doesn’t come with features that Microsoft 365 does.

Slack’s costs are comparable in mid-tier to MS Teams. And because both of them are available for free, some companies experiment with both. But the major advantage to MS Teams does come with Office 365. MS Teams can integrate directly into things like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, which also improves security — only a single consolidated system is being used for data.

REDUCING HOW MUCH MS TEAMS COSTS

Often, companies find themselves paying for more than they need to be paying because they simply go with the most expensive option. But there may be features that the organization doesn’t need. Companies can reduce the Microsoft Teams license cost:

• Determining whether there are features they don’t need. There may be features that the organization can drop. If they upgraded when they had heavier activity and now have lighter activity, they may be able to downgrade their systems. Conversely…
• Assessing whether features can be added. It’s possible the organization can add more features to MS Teams rather than using other, more expensive third-party solutions. For instance, a company using a standalone version of MS Teams may find they can do more with Office 365 while ditching some more expensive, proprietary systems.
• Reducing the number of users. MS Teams is paid on a per-user basis, so it’s important to regularly audit users and make sure that an excessive number of users aren’t being added. Companies should regularly audit their user base.

What’s the bottom line? The cost of Microsoft Teams isn’t prohibitively expensive, especially when compared to the other alternatives. Even better, the cost of MS Teams can often be reduced by a managed services provider. If you want to know how much the cost of Microsoft Teams license is, contact Red River.