Microsoft Teams is an excellent platform to enable and support remote work as it includes chat, online meetings and video conferencing, content sharing and many other features to collaborate and achieve more.
Microsoft offers both a free and paid version of the platform. In a nutshell, here is what you need to know if you are considering using the free version.
As organizations are adjusting to the COVID-19 crisis, they need to support their employees with the right tools to enable remote work – quickly.
Providing your users with the right methods for communicating and collaborating is paramount to maintain productivity, connections, culture, social bonds with staff, business partners, and customers.
There is a myriad of tools available out there and it’s not always easy to select the ones that can meet your needs now and in the future. Microsoft Teams stands out from all the players in the market and the purpose of this article is to discuss how Microsoft Teams can be set up quickly with the free version and compare it to the paid version.
Microsoft Teams is an excellent platform to enable and support remote work as it includes chat, online meetings and video conferencing, content sharing and many other features to collaborate and achieve more. Whether you are working on your home PC, laptop, tablet (android/iOS), there are dedicated versions of Microsoft Teams that you can download for a fully immersive experience.
Microsoft offers both a free and paid version of the platform. In a nutshell, here is what you need to know if you are considering using the free version.
Microsoft Free Version
If you are already using Office 365, there’s a good chance you are already licensed for Teams. If you try to sign up for free, you will be redirected to a managed experience of your existing plan.
If you are not using Office 365, you can sign up for Teams with any corporate or consumer email address and choose the For Work option. You don’t need a credit card, and you will just need to respond to a verification email to finalize the setup.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft recently announced it offers a six-month free trial to the premium version of Teams (as part of an “Office 365 E1” trial).
What are the features available in the free version of Teams
- The free version includes up to 500,000 team members (users)
- Unlimited chat message and search
- Built-in audio and video calling for individuals, groups and team meetings
- 2GB of storage per user and 10GB of team file storage
- Integrated, real-time content creation and sharing
- Integration with 140+ business apps
- Guest access to collaborate and communicate with anyone outside your organization
What’s not included
- Scheduled meetings: You can only create a “Meet Now” meeting, not a scheduled one.
- Meeting recordings: you cannot record your meetings
- Phone calls and audio conference
- Online events for up to 10,000 participants
You will find an in-depth comparison between Microsoft Teams free and Teams paid here.
Getting started with Teams free version
Five things to do first with your Teams free org
Differences between Teams and Teams free
Manage your org
Create multiple Teams free orgs
Upgrade
Upgrade from Teams free to Teams
Want to learn more? Download our Microsoft Teams playbook.