There is now a free tier of Microsoft Teams, and after April 12, 2023, the free tier of Microsoft Teams will continue. But for bureaucratic reasons, no product will have anything to do with the other. Current users of Microsoft Teams Free will either need to create new accounts in a new tier called Microsoft Teams (Free) and lose all their Teams data in the process, or upgrade to the Microsoft Teams Essentials tier at $4 per user per month. store all your things.
On this support page, Microsoft explains the decommissioning changes for Microsoft Teams Free, now called Microsoft Teams Free (classic). Files from Microsoft Teams Free (classic) can be downloaded and saved until the service closes on April 12, but there is no automatic process to import these files or other user accounts into a Microsoft Teams (free) account.
On the Microsoft product page, the new tier of Microsoft Teams (free) is positioned as a product for home users and families, but the features it offers are generally very similar to the old classic tier. Video calls still top out at 100 participants and last one hour (one-on-one meetings can last up to 30 hours). Each Teams (Free) user gets 5 GB of storage, while Teams Free (Classic) users get 2 GB each and a 10 GB shared storage pool. Both products offer unlimited chat and access to shared files, task lists, and polls.
The Teams Essentials tier offers unlimited group meetings of up to 30 hours with up to 300 people and 10 GB of cloud storage for all your paid users. But it lacks some features compared to the more expensive Microsoft 365 suites, such as access to the former Microsoft Office apps or recorded meetings with transcripts.