Alert! Changes to Microsoft Teams Licensing.

Last year Microsoft updated the way Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Teams were  licensed in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland  in response to concerns raised with the European Commission. Microsoft is now extending that approach worldwide as globally consistent licensing reduces customer confusion and streamlines decision making.

Starting on April 1, 2024, Microsoft is offering a new lineup of Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Microsoft Teams SKUs worldwide to provide commercial customers with the option of purchasing Teams separately from Microsoft 365 and Office 365. Existing customers who wish to continue using SKUs to which they have already subscribed can do so (including renewals, license adds, and step-ups).

What does the new lineup do?

• Introduce new suites without Teams, which are named the same as the existing suites plus “(no Teams)”1. The “no Teams” suites will be in the following offers:
  • Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Office 365 E1/E3/E5
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Business Standard, Business Basic
  • Microsoft 365 F1/F3, Office 365 F3
• Introduce a new standalone Teams SKU for Enterprise: Microsoft Teams Enterprise
• End the sale of net-new subscriptions to all existing Enterprise SKUs with Teams (Office 365 E1/E3/E5 and Microsoft 365 E3/E5)
• Continue to offer existing SMB and Frontline suites with Teams (Business Basic/Standard/Premium, MF1, MF3, OF31) alongside the new versions without Teams

For Microsoft 365 Business and Frontline suites

The current Microsoft 365 Business and Frontline suites that have Teams included will remain alongside the new lineup. Customers will have the option of choosing the existing Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 F1, Office 365 F3, and Microsoft 365 F3 suites that have Teams included, or the new versions of those suites without Teams. Existing customers can keep using, renewing, upgrading, and adding licenses to their current plans with Teams, and these plans will continue to be available.

For Enterprise Suites

The new commercial lineup will stop the sale of current Enterprise suites that include Teams for net new customers. Here’s how this might affect customers: New subscribers to Office/Microsoft 365 Enterprise suites who want to use Teams will have to buy two SKUs: Microsoft Teams Enterprise, and either the Microsoft 365 (no Teams) or Office 365 (no Teams) suite. The new Enterprise suites without Teams are US$1.75-$2.25 cheaper per user per month than the full suite, while the new standalone Teams SKU for Enterprise costs US$5.25 per user per month. Existing customers can keep using, renewing, upgrading, and adding licenses to their current plans if they want to continue with the SKUs they have already subscribed to. If an existing customer wants to switch to the new lineup of suites without Teams, they can do so on their contract anniversary or renewal.

Additional Resources

The following resources contain valuable information for addressing customer queries:

• See the Partner FAQ and partner guidance deck on the Microsoft 365 Licensing Changes – Sell-Through CSP and the Microsoft 365 Licensing Changes – co-sell Partners portals.
• Watch this short training video to learn how to talk about this change to customers.
• Read the full details in the licensing blog.