Microsoft Teams free version (classic) will be discontinued on April 12-PC Watch

Microsoftannounced that it will abolish the “Teams free version (classic)” for general corporations on April 12. It will no longer be available.

To continue using Teams for free, you’ll need to sign up for the new free version of Teams, but unlike the Teams free version (classic), the features you’ll have access to won’t retain your user data (existing channels, chats, recurring meeting data, etc.).

If you want to keep these data and use Teams, we recommend upgrading to “Teams Essentials”. The usage fee for Teams Essentials is 430 yen per month, excluding tax.

As a further plan, “Microsoft 365 Business Basic” is also available. A 50GB mailbox is available here. The price is 650 yen per month, excluding tax.

Main differences between plans following migration	New free version of Teams	Teams Essentials	Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Maintaining User Data	×	○	○
The number of participants	100 people	300 people	300 people
group meeting	Unlimited (up to 60 minutes)	Unlimited (up to 30 hours)	Unlimited (up to 30 hours)
recording and transcription	×	×	○
breakout room	×	×	○
number of chat users	100 people	300 people	300 people
file attachment limit	2GB per person	2GB per person	1TB per person
file storage	5GB	10GB	1TB for the entire organization + 10GB per license
Teams app/service integration	×	×	○
Exchange Email Hosting/Own Domain Address	×	×	○
OneDrive capacity	×	×	1TB per user
SharePoint Online/Yammer, etc.	×	×	○
Microsoft Bookings	×	×	○
Outlook/Skype Contact Import	○	○	×
Single sign-on to all Microsoft 365 apps and services	×	×	○
mandatory multi-factor authentication	×	×	○
Advanced auditing and reporting	×	×	○
User app management tool	×	×	○
Service usage reporting and analytics	×	×	○
User settings and policy configuration	×	×	○
Guaranteed 99.9% uptime (with refund system)	×	×	○
24/7 phone/web support	×	○	○