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Microsoft Teams
Team Chat & Messaging · www.microsoft.com
Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's chat, meetings, and collaboration platform, sold standalone as Teams Essentials or bundled with Microsoft 365.
Switching to Discord, which covers 50% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Microsoft Teams alternatives
We compared 12 products and found 10 cheaper alternatives · vs Microsoft Teams Teams Essentials at $40/mo for 10 seats ($4/seat) · scenario: 10 seats, monthly billing, USD.
Microsoft Teams costs $40/mo on the Teams Essentials plan at 10 seats, monthly billing. We found 10 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 7 of them cover at least 75% of the 2 compared capabilities.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TOP PICK Discord Nitro Basic plan · missing: Channels & group messaging | 50% | $2.99/mo how? ⓘ | $444.12 / year 93% cheaper | |
Zulip Self-hosted Basic plan team chat — adjacent | 100% | $3.50/mo how? ⓘ | $438 / year 91% cheaper | |
Zoho Cliq Standard plan team chat — adjacent | 100% | $18/mo how? ⓘ | $264 / year 55% cheaper | |
Pumble PRO plan team chat — adjacent | 100% | $29.90/mo how? ⓘ | $121.20 / year 25% cheaper |
Which Microsoft Teams alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
Price at your volume
The same comparison recomputed at three sizes. Plan caps change who is cheapest.
Feature comparison
Microsoft Teams vs the top alternatives, on the 2 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Microsoft Teams | Slack | Element | Pumble | Rocket.Chat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channels & group messaging from Teams Essentials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audio/video calls & screen sharing from Teams Essentials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $40/mo Teams Essentials | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Community | $0/mo FREE | $0/mo Starter |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Microsoft Teams covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Channels & group messaging — from Teams Essentials
- ✓ Audio/video calls & screen sharing — from Teams Essentials
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-business-options (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-25)
Frequently asked
How much does Microsoft Teams cost?
Microsoft Teams's Teams Essentials plan costs $40/mo in our scenario (10 seats, monthly billing).
Is there a free Microsoft Teams alternative?
Yes. Discord has a free plan that covers 50% of the 2 capabilities we compared against Microsoft Teams.
What is the cheapest Microsoft Teams alternative?
In our scenario (10 seats, monthly billing), Slack is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
Does Microsoft Teams have a free plan?
No. Microsoft Teams has no free plan on its official pricing page.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-08-25 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.