Plan for Teams licensing
Microsoft Teams is available in different license models. Teams administrators should recognize appropriate licensing to get a complete set of Teams features. For example, if users aren't assigned SharePoint and Exchange Online licenses correctly, some Teams features won't work, that utilizes these services.
Microsoft Teams licenses
You manage access to Teams at the user level by assigning or removing a Microsoft Teams product license. Except for joining Teams meetings anonymously, each user in your organization must have a Teams license before they can use Teams. You can assign a Teams license for new users when new user accounts are created or to users with existing accounts.
Teams license
By default, when a licensing plan (for example, Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or Microsoft 365 Business Premium) is assigned to a user, a Teams license is automatically assigned, and the user is enabled for Teams. You can disable or enable Teams for a user by removing or assigning a license at any time.
Teams Premium
Microsoft Teams Premium is a Teams add-on license that allows organizations with Microsoft 365 subscriptions to enhance their Teams experience with benefits like:
- More personalized and intelligent meetings and webinars.
- Enhanced protection for meetings.
- Advanced management and reporting capabilities for IT.
- Advanced Virtual Appointments.
For a quick summary of the differences between Teams and Teams Premium, see Differences between Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Teams Premium.
Microsoft Teams add-on licenses
Besides basic Teams features, there are add-on licenses for more features such as audio conferencing, Teams Phone, calling plans, and Microsoft Teams rooms.
For audio conferencing, organizations will need to buy and assign an audio-conferencing license to each user who will set up dial-in meetings.
For calling plans, each user will need a Teams Phone, plus a domestic or domestic and international calling plan. The add-on licensing options available to you depend on the Microsoft 365 or Office 365 plan you have.
Here's a list of features that you can add with Teams add-on licenses.
| License | Description |
|---|---|
| Teams Phone with Calling Plan bundle |
The Teams Phone with Calling Plan license bundles Teams Phone System's PBX capabilities and a Domestic Calling Plan for PSTN connectivity. |
| Teams Phone Standard (Teams Phone System) |
Teams Phone System is a hosted telephone service that gives you call control and Private Branch Exchange (PBX) capabilities. Teams Phone Standard licenses give you all Teams Phone System capabilities like cloud voicemail, caller ID, call park, call forwarding, auto attendants, call queues, call transfer, and caller ID. To learn more about Phone System, see Here's what you get with Teams Phone System. |
| Microsoft Teams Calling Plans |
If you want users to be able to call phone numbers outside your organization, you can purchase Microsoft Teams Calling Plans to connect to PSTN phone numbers with Microsoft as your PSTN provider. There are Domestic Calling Plans, International Calling Plans, and Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plans. To find out whether Teams Calling Plans is available in your country or region, see Country and region availability for Audio Conferencing and Calling Plans. |
| Communication Credits | Communication Credits provide a monthly pool of minutes that can also be used for PSTN phone calls, if all your Calling Plan minutes get used before the beginning of the next month. If you want toll-free numbers for Audio Conferencing, auto attendants, or call queues, you'll need to set up Communications Credits. |
| Audio Conferencing |
Sometimes people in your organization will need to use a phone to call in to a Teams meeting instead of their computer. Set up Audio Conferencing for users who schedule or lead meetings with attendees who need to call in using a phone. To find out whether Audio Conferencing is available in your country or region, see Country and region availability for Audio Conferencing and Calling Plans. For pricing info, see Pricing for Audio Conferencing. Organizations can now use a third-party operator for their Audio Conferencing numbers. For more information, see Plan for Operator Connect Conferencing. |
| Microsoft Teams Rooms |
Microsoft Teams Room is an additional Microsoft Teams product that brings video, audio, and content sharing to conference rooms. There are two licenses for meeting room devices: - Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic is a free license for up to 25 rooms that delivers core meeting and management functionality for all Teams Rooms devices. - Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro brings enhanced meeting experiences and advanced management and security to help you operate your devices at scale and enable inclusive hybrid meetings. For more information, see Teams Meeting Room Licensing. |
| Microsoft Teams Shared Devices |
Many organizations require flexible workplace solutions as they shift to hybrid work scenarios. The Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license is designed to support hybrid work by allowing offices to designate devices as shared devices, including common area phones, Teams displays for hot-desks, and Teams panels for meeting spaces. For more information, see Microsoft Teams Shared Devices. |
| Microsoft Teams Phone Resource Accounts |
In Microsoft Teams, all auto attendants and call queues require an associated resource account. Each resource account must be assigned a Microsoft Teams Phone Resource Account license to ensure they're correctly identified by the system and properly function, regardless of whether the resource account will be assigned a telephone number. Organizations with a subscription that includes Teams Phone are allocated a certain amount of Teams Phone Resource Account licenses at no extra cost. A Microsoft calling plan isn't required unless you want to be able to dial out using that resource account. For more information, see Plan for Teams auto attendant and call queues. |
Licensing for governance, security, and compliance features
Microsoft Teams is built on the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 hyper-scale, enterprise-grade cloud, delivering the advanced security and compliance capabilities. When it comes to information protection capabilities, Microsoft 365 subscriptions, Office 365 subscriptions, and the associated standalone licenses will determine the available feature set.
Licensing for guest access
Guest access is included with all Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Enterprise, and Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions. No extra Microsoft 365 license is necessary. Teams doesn't restrict the number of guests you can add. However, the total number of guests that can be added to your tenant may be restricted by the paid features of Microsoft Entra ID. For more information, see Billing model for Microsoft Entra External ID.
Due to the consequent development of Microsoft 365, available services and licenses change continuously. Teams administrators should always be ready to adopt to changes of the license requirements. For the latest update on licensing, see Microsoft Teams service description.