Microsoft Teams

Range: 2-20,000 active Effective: Mar 14, 2017 Official source Pricing page

Free: $0/mo 60-min meetings, 100 participants Essentials: $4/user/mo 30-hr meetings, 300 participants Business Basic: $6/user/mo 300 participants, recording Business Standard: $12.50/user/mo Webinars, app integration Enterprise: Custom 1000+ participants

Features Covered

Video Conferencing Screen Sharing Breakout Rooms Recording and Transcription Chat and Messaging Whiteboard Polling and Q&A Virtual Backgrounds Integrated AI Note-Taker

Timeline

Milestone	Date	Notes
Launch	Mar 14, 2017	Teams launched as part of Microsoft 365
Skype for Business retirement	Jul 31, 2021	Teams fully replaced Skype for Business
Teams Premium	Feb 1, 2023	AI-powered premium tier launched
Free version relaunch	Apr 12, 2023	Standalone free Teams for personal use

Provisions (9)

Video Conferencing

Implements: Video Conferencing active Effective: Mar 14, 2017

"Teams Together Mode places participants in a shared virtual environment, designed to reduce meeting fatigue."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Gallery view	Up to 49 participants in large gallery
Together mode	Shared virtual background for all participants
Video quality	Up to 1080p depending on plan

Sources: Teams Features

Screen Sharing

Implements: Screen Sharing active Effective: Mar 14, 2017

"PowerPoint Live in Teams gives presenters private notes and slide navigation while attendees see a clean slideshow."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Desktop sharing	Full screen or window sharing
PowerPoint Live	Native slideshow mode with presenter tools
Remote control	Give and request control of shared screen

Sources: Teams Screen Sharing

Breakout Rooms

Implements: Breakout Rooms active Effective: Dec 9, 2020

"Teams supports pre-assigning breakout rooms before a meeting starts, useful for recurring classroom sessions."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Room count	Up to 50 breakout rooms
Assignment	Automatic or manual participant assignment
Pre-assignment	Rooms can be configured before the meeting starts

Sources: Teams Breakout Rooms

Recording and Transcription

Implements: Recording active Effective: Mar 14, 2017

"Teams recordings automatically save to OneDrive/SharePoint, tightly integrated with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Cloud recording	Stored in OneDrive or SharePoint
Transcription	Automatic transcription with speaker attribution
Copilot	AI-powered meeting recap and action items (Premium)

Sources: Teams Recording

Chat and Messaging

Implements: Chat Messaging active Effective: Mar 14, 2017

"Teams channels serve as persistent workspaces where chat, files, and meeting recordings coexist."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Channels	Team channels with standard and private options
In-meeting chat	Persistent chat tied to each meeting
File sharing	Integrated with OneDrive and SharePoint

Sources: Teams Chat

Whiteboard

Implements: Whiteboard active Effective: Jul 1, 2019

"Microsoft Whiteboard is natively embedded in Teams meetings, with boards auto-saved to participants' OneDrive."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Integration	Microsoft Whiteboard embedded in meetings
Collaboration	Real-time multi-user drawing
Persistence	Boards saved to OneDrive and accessible later

Sources: Microsoft Whiteboard

Polling and Q&A

Implements: Polling active Effective: May 1, 2021

"Teams integrates Microsoft Forms directly into meetings for seamless polling and quiz creation."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Polls	Multiple choice and rating via Microsoft Forms
Q&A	Structured Q&A with moderation in webinars/town halls
Quizzes	Forms-based quiz with auto-grading

Sources: Teams Polls

Virtual Backgrounds

Implements: Virtual Backgrounds active Effective: Apr 1, 2020

"Teams allows IT admins to push branded virtual backgrounds organization-wide, a key enterprise differentiator."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Background images	Custom upload and built-in library
Background blur	Adjustable blur
Org-managed	Admins can deploy branded backgrounds across the organization

Sources: Teams Backgrounds

Integrated AI Note-Taker

Implements: Ai Notetaker active Effective: Nov 1, 2023

"Teams Copilot provides real-time meeting notes and can answer questions about what was discussed mid-meeting."

Requirements

Requirement	Details
Intelligent recap	AI-generated meeting notes with topics, action items, and mentions
Follow-up tasks	Copilot suggests follow-up tasks and drafts messages based on meeting content

Sources: Microsoft Teams