Teams Premium VS Teams Standard: which is best for you?

Are you looking for the perfect tool to bring your team together, collaborate more efficiently, and get the job done? Microsoft Teams is a modern workplace, combining a collaborative hub for your team and the powerful features of the Microsoft 365 productivity suite. The paid version, Teams Premium, and the freely available version, Teams Standard, both offer many features, but there are a few differences that could make one the best choice for your business.

Depending on the size of your business, the type of collaboration you need, and the budget you’re working with, you may find that one version is better than the other. In this article, we’ll explore the differences between Teams Standard and Teams Premium, and discuss which is best for your business needs.

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a business collaboration tool that integrates with other business apps, such as Microsoft 365, Outlook, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more. Teams can help your team to communicate more efficiently, stay more connected, and be more productive, as it’s designed to be a single hub for your employees’ communication, file sharing, and project management.

Teams is a meeting and messaging platform that allows users to communicate with each other using various channels (i.e. text, audio, or video). These channels allow users to communicate with each other in a way that best suits their needs. For example, if two people are discussing a project and need to go back and forth with different pieces of information, they can take full advantage of the messaging functionality. However, if they need to discuss the project with a larger group, they can switch to the meeting functionality and invite more people to the conversation.

What is included in Teams Standard?

If you use the free version of Teams, you’ll get access to core features, including chat, conference calls, and file storage. You’ll also get access to useful apps, such as the Meeting app, where you can create and manage your team’s projects.

However, the free version of Teams doesn’t include advanced security, guest access, or dedicated customer support.

A free sign-up will include:

• Unlimited one-on-one meetings up to 30 hours long
• Unlimited group meetings for up to 60 minutes
• Up to 100 participants per meeting
• 5GB of cloud storage per user
• Unlimited chat with co-workers and clients
• File sharing, tasks, and polling
• Data encryption for meetings, chats, calls, and files
• Live captions (English) in meetings

What is included in Teams Premium?

If you choose to subscribe to the paid version of Teams, you’ll have access to all the features of the free version, as well as access to a few extra features, such as guest access, advanced security, and dedicated customer support.

Guest access allows you to invite people outside of your organisation to access your team and communicate with your team members, while advanced security helps to protect your data by ensuring that only invited guests can access it.

A paid subscription to Microsoft Teams includes:

• Everything offered in the free version
• Unlimited group meetings for up to 30 hours
• Up to 300 participants per meeting
• 10GB of cloud storage per user
• Anytime phone and web support

Most Microsoft 365 paid subscriptions include Teams and all its features listed here; however, depending on the Microsoft 365 subscription you choose, you will gain additional benefits to Teams, such as:

Microsoft 365 Business Basic

• Collaborative annotations in Teams meetings
• Live captions in meetings (over 30 languages)
• Team meetings recordings with transcripts
• 1TB of cloud storage per user

Microsoft 365 Business Standard

• Webinar hosting
• Manage client appointments

Which version of Microsoft Teams is right for you?

Knowing the capabilities and features of each version of Teams can help you choose the one that best meets your needs. Whether you need advanced enterprise-level features and security or just basic communication and collaboration tools, Teams has a version for everyone. With Teams Premium, you get the additional features like live events, more storage, and integrated apps and services, while Teams Standard offers a more basic set of capabilities. By understanding the differences between the two versions, you can make an informed decision about which one is right for you.

Ultimately, it comes down to your needs. Do you need basic collaboration and communication tools? Or do you need more advanced features and security?

The Microsoft specialists at Essential Tech can help you decide which version is the right fit for your business needs, deploy the service, and fully manage it for the best performance possible.