Pros & Cons
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- Extensive features
- Straightforward interface
- Powerful AI summaries of conversations
- Excellent support
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- Overwhelming admin tools
- Expensive add-ons
Microsoft Teams Specs
| 24/7 Phone Support | |
| Android App | |
| API Available for Customers | |
| Audio Recordings | |
| Blur Backgrounds | |
| Calendar Integration | |
| Cloud Storage | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Free Version Offered | |
| Guest Accounts | |
| In-App Messaging | |
| In-App Private Chat | |
| iOS App | |
| Multi-Language Support | |
| Price Per Month | $6 per person |
| Share Desktop | |
| Share Mouse / Keyboard | |
| Social Media Integration | |
| Software Phone | |
| Toll-Free Option | |
| Video Conferencing | |
| Video Recordings | |
| Virtual Backgrounds | |
| Voicemail to Email | |
| Voicemail Transcription | |
| Whiteboard Tools |
One of the few remaining corporate-ready messaging and meeting platforms, Microsoft Teams impresses with its functional design and especially strong video conferencing features. It supports unlimited chat and calls, can accommodate up to 300 people on a video call, and provides cloud storage for collaboration amongst users. If you pay for the Microsoft Copilot add-on, you get convenient meeting summaries and powerful chatbot features. The biggest downside of the experience is that some of the admin tools can be tedious to manage. Microsoft Teams is worth using if your company needs an affordable, standalone business messaging app or already pays for a Microsoft 365 Business plan, but Slack remains our Editors' Choice winner, thanks to its livelier design and more flexible setup.
Pricing: Fairly Affordable
Subscription plans for Microsoft Teams aren't as complex as they might seem. Teams Essentials ($4 per user per month, billed annually) offers 10GB of storage per user, unlimited chat, phone, and video meetings (up to 30 hours with 300 participants). Video calls support all the features you might expect, including collaboration via annotations and Microsoft Whiteboard, custom backgrounds, meeting avatars, meeting recordings and transcripts, and screen sharing. This is the version I tested for this review.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Various add-ons are available for this plan and all others, including Microsoft 365 Copilot ($30 per user per month), Teams Premium ($10 per user per month), and Teams Phone (starting at $10 per user per month without a calling plan). Teams Premium unlocks more AI and personalization features. Teams supports VoIP calling between users without the Teams Phone add-on, but the latter unlocks more advanced calling capabilities.
The next step up from there is a Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan ($6 per user per month, billed annually), which includes Teams Essentials. This tier unlocks 1TB of cloud storage per user, web-connected AI chat capabilities, and web and mobile versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word. Additionally, this level includes breakout room functionality and live captions in over 30 languages (as opposed to just English) for video meetings.
Moving up in price is the Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan ($12.50 per user per month, billed annually) that adds advanced Editor (a grammar and style checking tool) features, desktop versions of Microsoft 365 apps, and webinar hosting. Lastly, Microsoft 365 Business Premium ($22 per user per month, billed annually) includes enterprise-grade security features. Microsoft also offers 365 Business plans that bundle Copilot to make subscriptions easier to manage.
Microsoft doesn't offer a free version of Teams for businesses. Slack’s free version supports messaging among teams with a 90-day history and one-on-one audio and video meetings. Webex by Cisco and Zoom Workplace lean more toward video conferencing solutions, but they still offer messaging components with channels, groups, and individual chats. Both Webex's and Zoom's free tiers support 40-minute video meetings for up to 100 people and have breakout room and local recording features.
Slack's Pro ($8.75 per user per month, billed annually), Webex's Meet ($12 per user per month, billed annually), and Zoom Workplace's Pro ($13.33 per user per month, billed annually) tiers are roughly comparable with Teams Essentials in terms of features. That makes Teams among the most affordable options if its core functionality is all you need, though Webex and Zoom notably include AI features at this level for no extra cost. For a full breakdown of the differences between Teams and Slack, check out our head-to-head comparison.
Although I focus on the business edition of Teams in this review, Microsoft does offer versions for home users. All you need to get started with the free version is a Microsoft domain email (such as @outlook.com). This tier limits meetings to an hour and caps the number of participants to 100, but you still get 5GB of cloud storage. You can't record meetings, either. For more storage (1TB) per user and longer meetings (up to an hour) that support more people (up to 300), you must pay for a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Interface and Ease of Use: A Professional Design
Teams is available on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. I primarily tested the Windows app but also tried out the iOS and macOS versions.
Most users can log in and start using Teams without any setup, but administrators might have their hands full. I found it confusing and time-consuming to install the Microsoft Copilot and Teams Phone add-ons, for instance. For the former, you need to add a Copilot license and enable a setting related to meeting recordings for each user. (Microsoft says it is streamlining this process in 2025.) Meanwhile, you need to add a calling plan and a resource account (necessary for the auto-attendant feature) to get the most out of Teams Phone.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Once Teams is up and running, however, it operates just like Slack. You can chat with other Teams users, make phone calls, and launch impromptu video meetings quickly and easily. Teams integrates OneDrive into the left-hand sidebar so you can manage and share files all in one place.
The app doesn't have a trendy or an especially colorful design, but, as with other Microsoft 365 programs, it is clear and functional. The main interface defaults to black text on a white background, whereas Slack adds a little more color. A dark mode is available in addition to custom and high contrast ones. To switch between them, go to Settings > Appearance > Themes. In terms of customization options in Teams, you can move icons around on the sidebar and choose among many backgrounds for video calls.
I appreciate that 24/7 product support is available via chat, email, or phone for all plans. More advanced tiers have dedicated support options and helplines that aren't available with Teams Essentials, however. During a test call in which I had a question about collaborating on Office files within Teams, the tech I spoke with was helpful and troubleshooted the related login issue very quickly. As with most Microsoft products, extensive resources are available online for configuring and using Teams, though the sheer number of links and portals can feel overwhelming.
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Creating Workspaces: Highly Structured
Setting up a workspace is straightforward and takes very little time. The process involves creating teams of users, such as Accounting or Marketing. Within each team, you can then create channels to help people communicate with one another. Teams and channels can be private or public. Further customizations and restrictions are available, too. For example, you can configure a channel (such as one for general staff announcements) so that only some users can post.
This structure differentiates Microsoft Teams from other messaging apps. It makes it obvious that departments within a company are on a specific team and which channels they should use to communicate, whereas things are more free-form with Slack. I prefer the clarity of Teams' setup, but what's best for your business depends on its size and organizational complexity. If multiple people do multiple things, it might not make sense to organize them strictly by teams. A lone content strategist might work independently to support multiple teams, for example.
Messaging Experience: Snappy and Customizable
Microsoft Teams is excellent for text communications. To start a one-on-one chat, select the New Message option in the upper left portion of the interface and add someone. You can add new participants to this chat using a drop-down menu on the right side of the screen. (I wish these functions were in the same menu.)
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Extensive and intuitive formatting options are available for messages—you can add emoji characters, enlarge fonts, insert GIFs (tons are available), and strike through text. Messaging feels very fast, and Teams' focused interface encourages efficiency. You can schedule messages to send later, although this option isn't immediately evident. (You have to right-click on the send arrow and select the send time and date). Otherwise, you can choose from quite a few emoji reactions, conduct polls either in specific chats or in a channel, and start threads.
Notifications are more customizable in Teams than in other collaborative message and meeting apps. You can configure how you receive notifications about meetings, mentions, and voicemails, for example, and even control options at the channel and team level. Status options are extensive. You can set your location, while a BRB setting lets you specify how long you will be temporarily unavailable.
Audio and Video Calling Experience: Smooth and Clear
Microsoft Teams is robust in terms of phone calls and meetings. Of course, to make and receive calls with people outside of your Teams workspace, you must add a Teams Phone subscription and a calling plan. You can read about the limitations of each plan in our Teams Phone review.
As mentioned, Teams supports video meetings of up to 30 hours long and with 300 people. Zoom Workplace's Pro level restricts you to 30 hours and 100 participants. Slack's Pro tier doesn't cap meeting times but supports only 50 participants.
The audio and video quality in all my test Teams calls was outstanding. I didn't experience distortion or interruptions, and everyone looked clear during video meetings. Teams offers all the standard features available in other messaging and meeting products: annotations, a car mode, collaborative whiteboards, and screen sharing.
Copilot AI Features: Capable and Helpful
Adding Microsoft Copilot to Teams unlocks best-in-class capabilities. It’s extremely convenient to be able to join an audio or video meeting, click the Copilot icon, and then get a summary of the meeting so far. Copilot also functions as a typical chatbot. During a meeting to plan a hypothetical team outing, for example, I asked Copilot to find retreat centers within a specific budget, and it came up with a quick list of options. Keep in mind that you need to pay for Teams Premium to unlock the ability to view AI-generated notes and tasks from meetings, as well as to read live translated captions during and after meetings.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Integration Options: Everything You Need
Microsoft Teams supports over 2,500 app integrations. Everything from CRM and VoIP services (such as Intermedia Unite or 8x8 Work) is available. You aren't locked into using other Microsoft apps, such as Dynamics and Teams Phone, though those services all work especially well together. For comparison, Slack claims to support around the same number of third-party apps.
Administration Experience: Some Complexities
Admin duties in Teams fall into two categories. You can perform some administrative functions directly within the dedicated apps, such as adding users, creating teams, enabling meeting transcription, and managing subscriptions. But for some user settings, you have to open the Teams web portal. Here, you can add the auto-attendant, configure voicemail settings for Teams Phone, and toggle the aforementioned Copilot transcription setting.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Admin functions aren't especially difficult to find or configure, but the sheer number of them can feel overwhelming. You don't need too much technical knowledge to manage the main settings, but some of the deeper ones (such as Copilot preferences, recordings and transcription settings, and meeting rules) could take a few hours to fully explore. Again, these options are just as straightforward as those in Slack and Zoom Workplace; there are just more to deal with.
Is Your Data Safe With Microsoft Teams?
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft Teams has extensive privacy and security policies, and there are no red flags as far as how this product protects users. As with any large enterprise-grade firm, of course, Microsoft has suffered breaches, exploits, and hacks. It lets you secure accounts behind multi-factor authentication methods.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams delivers a premium audio, messaging, and video conferencing experience for workplaces, with plenty of genuinely useful Copilot AI features throughout.