Microsoft releases free version of Teams business chat tool

Microsoft has released a free version of its Teams tool. With the free version, Microsoft wants to compete with Slack, for example, which has had a free version with limitations for much longer.

The free version of Teams has some limitations compared to the paid version, Microsoft reports. For example, Microsoft services such as Exchange for e-mail and OneDrive for storing files are not included. Also scheduled meetings and meeting recordings are not available.

In addition, there is 2GB of storage available per user and 10GB of shared storage. That is significantly less than the 1TB for each user on paid variants. The free Teams does offer unlimited messages to browse and guest access, something the free version of Slack is limited to.

Teams, released last year, is a chat and file collaboration tool for businesses and organizations. The cheapest paid version is bundled with an Office 365 Business Essential subscription and costs 4.20 euros per user per month.