As you have probably already heard, Microsoft Teams has become widely adopted among businesses of all sizes. It primary features provide a wide range of functionality that allow teams to communicate, collaborate, and stay organized. While the basic version of Microsoft Teams is free, there are two paid plans available: Microsoft Teams Essentials and Microsoft Teams Premium.
Microsoft Teams Essentials is the entry-level plan and is ideal for small businesses that need basic collaboration features. It includes features such as chat, audio and video calls, file sharing, and group collaboration. It also includes online use of Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The cost of Microsoft Teams Essentials is $4 per user per month.
Microsoft Teams Premium is the more advanced version of the platform and is designed for larger businesses with more complex collaboration needs. It includes all the features of Microsoft Teams Essentials, plus additional features such as advanced security and compliance, analytics, and more. It also includes additional Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook and OneDrive. The cost of Microsoft Teams Premium is $12.50 per user per month.
As a side note, Teams itself is also included in almost every Office 365 plan, so if you are going to be using more of the Microsoft Cloud SaaS workloads, compare those SKU’s as well; but to summarize, Microsoft Teams Essentials, as an entry-level plan, may be ideal if you are small business just getting started and have basic collaboration needs mainly because of the low starting price of $4 per user per month but you should definitely weigh your business needs before making a final decision.