Microsoft Teams

What it is

Microsoft Teams combines persistent chat, teams and channels with threaded posts, video meetings, calling and file collaboration through SharePoint and OneDrive. US business prices, per user a month on a yearly subscription: Teams Essentials $4 (unlimited chat including guest access, meetings up to 30 hours and 300 participants, 10 GB of cloud storage), Microsoft 365 Business Basic $7 (adds Exchange email, SharePoint and 1 TB of OneDrive per user), and Business Standard with Copilot $23.50 ($20.30 without Teams). All business plans cap at 300 users; larger organizations buy Enterprise licenses, where Teams is sold separately from Microsoft 365. Free Teams for personal use allows group meetings up to 60 minutes with 100 participants and 5 GB of storage. Microsoft has no built-in Slack importer: channels are rebuilt by hand and message history moves only through third-party migration tools. Windows, macOS, Linux (web), iOS and Android. Checked November 12, 2026 on microsoft.com.

Best for

• Companies that already use Microsoft 365, Outlook and SharePoint
• Teams that meet as much as they chat
• Organizations cutting a separate Slack bill

What we like

• Unlimited message history and search on every business plan
• Meetings up to 300 people and 30 hours included
• Files live in SharePoint and OneDrive with Office co-editing
• Guest access on Essentials and above

What to watch

• Heavier, slower app than Slack, and channels feel more formal
• Fewer third-party integrations, and many Slack apps have no Teams version
• No native Slack import: history moves only through paid third-party tools
• Best value only when you use the rest of Microsoft 365; plans are annual and auto-renew