Microsoft Teams service description

Microsoft Teams is the AI-powered platform for work. Teams brings together chat, audio and video calling, online meetings, and web conferencing with file sharing, collaboration, and extensibility — with the ability to integrate closely with Microsoft 365 and a broad ecosystem of Microsoft and partner apps across desktop, web, and mobile.

Available plans

Microsoft Teams can be licensed as part of qualifying Microsoft 365 offerings or as a standalone SKU. For detailed plan information on subscriptions that enable users for Teams, see the Microsoft 365 Business plan comparison and Microsoft 365 Enterprise plan comparison.

Feature availability

The following table lists the major Teams features available across plans. Certain caveats apply. See the footnotes for further information. This table may change without notice. Refer to Microsoft 365 Message Center notifications for core service change messaging and to the Microsoft licensing terms reference documentation.

Feature Teams Business plans Teams Enterprise plans GCC GCC - High DOD Education
Teams Apps Yes Yes Yes Yes1 Yes1 Yes
Audio conferencing Yes Yes Yes Yes2 Yes2 Yes
Channels - Standard Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Channels - Private Yes Yes3 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Channels - Shared Yes Yes Yes No No Yes4
Chat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Meetings Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Screen sharing PowerPoint Audio/Video Desktop Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Teams Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
PTSN calling enablement (via Teams Phone)6 Yes Yes Yes Yes2 Yes2 Yes
Teams Events<sup7,8 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Town halls (Teams events) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Webinars (Team events) Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes5
VoIP calling Yes Yes Yes Yes2 Yes2 Yes
Loop Integrations Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

1 Third-party applications and application publishing aren't available in these clouds at this time.
2 Direct routing must be configured for Teams voice and audio conferencing to work in GCCH and DoD.
3 Microsoft Planner isn't currently available to access in private channels.
4 Shared channels aren't supported with Class teams.
5 For Education A1, plans only support up to 300 person limit for webinars.
6 Requires Teams Phone license and a PSTN connection via Microsoft Calling Plans, Operator Connect, or Direct Routing. An appropriate “Teams Phone Resource Account license” is required to be assigned to all Teams Phone Resource Accounts.
7 Teams events has replaced Teams live events. Existing Teams live events that are already scheduled will continue to run through February 28, 2027.
8 Available in Business Standard and Business Premium.

Additional Services

Microsoft Teams Rooms

Teams Rooms turns any meeting space into an easy-to-use and inclusive collaboration space where everyone has a place at the table, regardless of where they sit. Teams Rooms enable a diverse set of experiences for in-person and remote meeting attendees, from more engaging meetings using intelligent audio and video experiences to powerful analytics for how meeting spaces are used and deployed by IT admins, and everything in-between. For more information, please visit Teams Rooms licenses - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn.

Queues app

Queues app is a Teams-native solution designed to empower organizations to manage customer engagements efficiently, unlocking a set of advanced call functionalities for Teams Phone call queues and auto attendants. For more information, see Use Queues app for Microsoft Teams.

Queues app requires Teams, Teams Phone, and Teams Premium licenses, and is independent of Teams Phone call queue and auto attendant functionality.

Microsoft eCDN

Microsoft eCDN (enterprise Content Delivery Network) is a webRTC-based solution that reduces bandwidth usage and the load on the corporate network for delivering seamless live video streaming in Teams events. Its mesh networks are self-balancing and automatically scale as the number of viewers increases. The technology doesn't require additional installation on user endpoints or changes to the physical network infrastructure.

Microsoft eCDN is available as part of the Microsoft Enterprise license.

For more information, go to Microsoft eCDN or Introducing Microsoft eCDN for a New Era of Communications - Microsoft Tech Community.

Learn more

Teams Rooms: Learn more about plans, pricing, capabilities, and certified devices at Teams Rooms | Calling & Meeting Room Solutions with additional information on service capabilities on Microsoft Learn.

Microsoft Teams Essentials: Teams Essentials is a standalone Teams subscription that provides an all-in-one solution with meetings, chat, and collaboration for small businesses. Learn more about Teams Essentials and how to get started here.

Microsoft Teams subscriptions: All supported subscription plans are eligible for access to the Teams web client, desktop clients, and mobile apps. Teams is available as part of qualifying Microsoft 365 offerings and as a standalone SKU.

  • Live Events: Teams Live Events remain available until retirement on June 30, 2026. Events scheduled before that date will continue to be supported through February 28, 2027. We recommend transitioning to Teams events for large-scale digital and hybrid events. For more information, see Overview of meetings, webinars, and town halls.
  • Cloud voice features: For audio conferencing, your organization must buy and assign an audio-conferencing license to each user who will be setting up dial-in meetings. For Teams features that require calling plans, each user needs a phone system and a domestic or domestic and international calling plan. To learn more, see Microsoft Teams add-on licenses.
  • For detailed product feature implementation guidance, see the Teams admin documentation. This service description details the key differences between services provided across the various cloud installations.
  • Teams feature availability and compliance capabilities vary by subscription and license. To learn more, see Security and compliance in Teams and the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 platform service description.

Microsoft Teams technical information: For technical information about Teams, refer the following resources:

Accessibility

Microsoft remains committed to the security of your data and the accessibility of our services. For more information, see the Microsoft Trust Center and the Office Accessibility Center.

Licensing terms

For licensing terms and conditions for products and services purchased through Microsoft Commercial Volume Licensing Programs, see the Product Terms site.

Messaging

To keep track of upcoming changes, including new and changed features, planned maintenance, or other important announcements, visit the Message Center. For more information, see Message center.

Note

On July 1, 2025, the Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program (LEAP) will transition from a complimentary preview offer to a paid service provided by Microsoft Unified that will be known as Teams Events Hosting Assistance.

We're also expanding our services to include Microsoft Teams Events Advanced Production Services, which will provide production and broadcasting services for town halls, webinars, and events.

For more information, see Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program – Microsoft Adoption.