Assign Teams add-on licenses to users

Add-on licenses are licenses for specific Teams capabilities like Audio Conferencing, Phone System, and Calling Plans. This article describes how to assign add-on licenses to individual users and large sets of users in bulk.

Note

See Teams add-on licensing for Teams capabilities that are available with add-on licenses. You'll also find information about which licenses you need to buy and how to buy them, depending on your plan. After you decide which capabilities you want for your users, assign the licenses to them.

You can use the Microsoft 365 admin center or PowerShell to assign licenses to users in your organization. You must be a Global admin or User management admin to manage licenses.

What you need to know before you assign Phone System, Calling Plan, and Communication Credits licenses

Before you get started, review the following requirements:

  • If you're using on-premises Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connectivity for users, you only need to assign a Teams Phone Standard license. Do NOT assign a Calling Plan license.

  • After assigning a Microsoft Calling Plan to a user, it can take up to 24 hours before they'll see the dial pad in their Teams client. If the dial pad isn't shown in 24 hours, check your dial pad configuration. If necessary, you can also contact support.

  • You'll get an error message if you haven't purchased the correct number of licenses. If you need to buy more Calling Plan licenses, choose the option to buy more.

  • Even if your users are assigned Enterprise E5 licenses, you still need to connect them to the PSTN. You have several PSTN connectivity options, including Microsoft Teams Calling Plans, Direct Routing, or Operator Connect.

  • After you assign Calling Plan or Communication Credits licenses to your users, you'll need to get phone numbers for your organization, and then assign those numbers to users. For step-by-step instructions, see Set up Calling Plans.

Using the Microsoft 365 admin center

Use the Microsoft 365 admin center to assign licenses to individual users or small sets of users at a time.

You assign licenses on the Licenses page (for up to 20 users at a time) or the Active users page (for up to 40 users at a time). The method you choose depends on whether you want to manage product licenses for specific users or manage user licenses for specific products.

For step-by-step instructions, see Assign licenses to users.

If you need to assign licenses for a large number of users, such as hundreds or thousands of users, use PowerShell or group-based licensing in Microsoft Entra ID.

Using PowerShell

Use PowerShell to assign licenses to users in bulk. To learn more, see Assign licenses to user accounts with PowerShell.

Example script

Here's an example of how to use a script to assign licenses to your users.

  1. Install the Microsoft Graph PowerShell Module.

  2. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, run the following script to assign licenses to your users, where CompanyName:License is your organization name and the identifier for the license that you want to assign. For example, litwareinc:MCOMEETADV.

    The identifier is different than the friendly name of the license. For example, the identifier for Audio Conferencing is MCOMEETADV. To learn more, see Product names and SKU identifiers for licensing.

    # Create a text file with a single column that lists the user principal names (UPNs) of users to assign licenses to. The MSOL service uses the UPN to license user accounts.
    # Example of text file:
    # user1@domain.com
    # user2@domain.com
    
    # Import Module
    Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Users.Actions
    
    # Authenticate to Microsoft Graph
    Connect-MgGraph
    
    # File prompt to select the userlist txt file
    [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms") | Out-Null
        $OFD = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
        $OFD.filter = "text files (*.*)| *.txt"
        $OFD.ShowDialog() | Out-Null
        $OFD.filename
    
    If ($OFD.filename -eq '')
    {
    Write-Host "You did not choose a file. Try again" -ForegroundColor White -BackgroundColor Red
    }
    
    # Create a variable of all users
    $users = Get-Content $OFD.filename
    
    # License each user in the $users variable
      $EmsSku = Get-MgSubscribedSku -All | Where SkuPartNumber -eq ''
      $addLicenses = @(
      @{SkuId = $EmsSku.SkuId}
      )

      foreach ($user in $users){
      Write-host "Assigning License: $user"
      Set-MgUserLicense -UserId $user -AddLicenses $addLicenses -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
      }

For example, to assign Microsoft 365 Enterprise E1 and Audio Conferencing licenses, use the following syntax in the script:

    Connect-Graph -Scopes User.ReadWrite.All, Organization.Read.All

    $EmsSku = Get-MgSubscribedSku -All | Where SkuPartNumber -eq 'ENTERPRISEPACK'
    $FlowSku = Get-MgSubscribedSku -All | Where SkuPartNumber -eq 'MCOMEETADV'
    $addLicenses = @(
    @{SkuId = $EmsSku.SkuId},
    @{SkuId = $FlowSku.SkuId}
    )

    Set-MgUserLicense -UserId $user -AddLicenses $addLicenses -RemoveLicenses @()

To assign a Teams Phone with Calling Plan license, use the following syntax in the script:

    Connect-Graph -Scopes User.ReadWrite.All, Organization.Read.All

    $EmsSku = Get-MgSubscribedSku -All | Where SkuPartNumber -eq 'MCOTEAMS_ESSENTIALS'

    Set-MgUserLicense -UserId $user -AddLicenses @() -RemoveLicenses @()

Product names and SKU identifiers for licensing

Important

Starting October 1, 2023, new commercial customers in the EEA and Switzerland who wish to provide workers with both Microsoft Teams and the value in existing Microsoft 365 or Office 365 Enterprise suites (E1/E3/E5) will need to purchase two SKUs: one E1/E3/E5 EEA (no Teams) suite and Microsoft Teams EEA. Microsoft 365 Business suites (up to 300 users) and Frontline workers will be available in versions both with and without Teams in these regions.

EEA and Switzerland customers who were already subscribed to Microsoft 365 or Office 365 suites that include Teams prior to October 1, 2023 will continue to be able to use and renew those subscriptions.

For more information on this licensing change in the EEA and Switzerland, see New subscription structure for Microsoft 365 in Europe.

Here's a partial list of product names and their corresponding SKU part names that you can reference when you use PowerShell to manage licenses in Teams.

To learn more, see View licenses and services with PowerShell, Product names and service plan identifiers for licensing, and Education SKU reference.

Product name SKU part name
Microsoft Enterprise E5 (with Phone System) ENTERPRISEPREMIUM
Microsoft Enterprise E5 (without Audio Conferencing) ENTERPRISEPREMIUM_NOPSTNCONF
Microsoft Enterprise E5 (with Audio Conferencing) ENTERPRISEPREMIUM
Microsoft Enterprise E3 ENTERPRISEPACK
Microsoft Enterprise E1 STANDARDPACK
Microsoft 365 Business Basic O365_BUSINESS_ESSENTIALS
Microsoft 365 Business Standard O365_BUSINESS_PREMIUM
Microsoft 365 Business SPB
Audio Conferencing MCOMEETADV
Audio Conferencing Pay Per Minute (pay as you go) Requires Communications Credits to be set up and enabled.* MCOMEETACPEA
Teams Phone Standard and Teams Phone Standard for Frontline Workers MCOEV
Teams Phone with Calling Plan MCOTEAMS_ESSENTIALS
International Calling Plan MCOPSTN2
Domestic Calling Plan (3000 minutes per user/month for US/PR/CA, 1200 minutes per user/month for EU countries/regions) MCOPSTN1
Domestic Calling Plan (120 minutes per user/month for each country/region)
This plan isn't available in the United States.
MCOPSTN5
Domestic Calling Plan (240 minutes per user/month for each country/region)
This plan isn't available in the United States.
MCOPSTN6
Communications Credits MCOPSTNPP
Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plans (Zone-1 Countries) MCOPSTN_PAYG_1
Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plans (Zone-2 Countries) MCOPSTN_PAYG_2
Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic Microsoft_Teams_Rooms_Basic
Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic without Audio Conferencing Microsoft_Teams_Rooms_Basic_without_Audio_Conferencing
Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Microsoft_Teams_Rooms_Pro
Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro without Audio Conferencing Microsoft_Teams_Rooms_Pro_without_Audio_Conferencing
Microsoft Teams Shared Devices MCOCAP
Microsoft Teams Premium Microsoft_Teams_Premium
Microsoft Teams EEA Microsoft_Teams_EEA