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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe European Commission accepted Microsoft’s legally binding commitments on September 12, 2025, ending its Teams-and-Office antitrust investigation without imposing a fine in this proceeding. Microsoft must offer larger price differences between eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 suites with and without Teams, provide certain switching rights, improve interoperability for rivals and enable EEA customers to extract Teams messaging data. Related global packaging and pricing changes took effect on November 1, 2025, but the binding legal obligations are focused on the European Economic Area (EEA).
What the EU settlement actually decided
This was a commitments decision under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003, not an infringement ruling. Microsoft did not admit that it broke EU competition law, and the Commission did not declare Microsoft innocent on the merits. Instead, the Commission concluded that the accepted commitments addressed the concerns in its preliminary assessment and that there were no longer grounds for action in this proceeding. The decision is available in the Commission’s September 12, 2025 decision summary.
In practical terms, Microsoft avoided an antitrust fine here by accepting enforceable commercial and technical obligations. A monitoring trustee will oversee compliance, and fast-track arbitration is available for unresolved disputes. Commercial and packaging obligations last seven years from their effective date; interoperability and data-portability obligations last ten years.
Why the Commission objected to Teams and Office bundling
The Commission’s preliminary assessment said that, since at least 2019, Microsoft tied Teams to business Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites containing products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. It considered that customers could not obtain the relevant suites without Teams and that the arrangement could restrict competition in communication and collaboration software. The assessment also cited interoperability limitations that could reinforce Teams’ position.
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#1 Best Overall
- Classic Office Apps | Includes classic desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with ease.
- Install on a Single Device | Install classic desktop Office Apps for use on a single Windows laptop, Windows desktop, MacBook, or iMac.
- Ideal for One Person | With a one-time purchase of Microsoft Office 2024, you can create, organize, and get things done.
- Consider Upgrading to Microsoft 365 | Get premium benefits with a Microsoft 365 subscription, including ongoing updates, advanced security, and access to premium versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more, plus 1TB cloud storage per person and multi-device support for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android.
Slack, then owned by Salesforce, filed the original complaint on July 14, 2020. The Commission opened formal proceedings in July 2023 and issued a Statement of Objections on June 25, 2024. Those dates and the procedural history appear in the Commission materials at EUR-Lex.
Microsoft had already separated Teams before the settlement
Microsoft announced on August 31, 2023 that new enterprise customers in the EEA and Switzerland could buy Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites without Teams, alongside a standalone Teams option. The announcement is documented by Microsoft at its 2023 policy blog.
The Commission later noted that Microsoft introduced Teams-free versions in the EEA in 2023 and expanded them globally in 2024, but considered those unilateral changes insufficient to remove all concerns. The 2025 settlement therefore goes beyond simply putting Teams on a separate price list: it increases the required price gap and adds switching, interoperability and portability remedies.
Rank #2
- Designed for Your Windows and Apple Devices | Install premium Office apps on your Windows laptop, desktop, MacBook or iMac. Works seamlessly across your devices for home, school, or personal productivity.
- Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Outlook | Get premium versions of the essential Office apps that help you work, study, create, and stay organized.
- 1 TB Secure Cloud Storage | Store and access your documents, photos, and files from your Windows, Mac or mobile devices.
- Premium Tools Across Your Devices | Your subscription lets you work across all of your Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android devices with apps that sync instantly through the cloud.
- Easy Digital Download with Microsoft Account | Product delivered electronically for quick setup. Sign in with your Microsoft account, redeem your code, and download your apps instantly to your Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.
What Microsoft must provide under the commitments
Teams-free suites and a meaningful price gap
- Qualifying business Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites must be available without Teams in the EEA.
- For certain larger suites, the version without Teams must be up to €8 per user per month cheaper than the corresponding version with Teams.
- Standalone Teams must be priced at or above the applicable suite price difference.
- Discounts on Teams or suites that include Teams cannot exceed discounts offered on the corresponding Teams-free suites.
Switching and deployment rights
- Some customers with long-term contracts must receive recurring opportunities to switch to a Teams-free suite. The commitment does not promise immediate cancellation, a universal refund or identical notice periods for every contract.
- EEA customers may deploy Teams-free suites in datacentres worldwide. That geographic deployment right is distinct from saying that every customer worldwide receives the same EU legal protections.
Interoperability for competitors
- Teams competitors and specified third parties must receive access to and effective interoperability for covered functionality in identified Microsoft products and services, including successors.
- Rival collaboration products may prominently integrate into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
- Competitors may embed Office Web Applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint and support equivalent viewing, editing, collaboration, presentation and “live” experiences covered by the commitments.
These provisions do not require every Teams feature to work identically with every rival. Vendors still need to build connectors, pass security reviews and implement the relevant interfaces.
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EEA customers must be able to extract Teams messaging data for use in another software-as-a-service unified communications and collaboration product, either instead of Teams or alongside it. The legal right does not guarantee a one-click migration for every Teams object. Buyers should verify coverage of channels, files, reactions, permissions, recordings, transcripts, retention, eDiscovery, legal holds and audit records before planning a move.
How much cheaper is Office without Teams?
Microsoft’s published global commercial changes set minimum price differences for the following categories. They are not universal invoice savings or a universal Teams price.
Rank #3
![Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 | Classic Desktop Apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote | One-Time Purchase for 1 PC/MAC | Instant Download [PC/Mac Online Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41H8B5iqO4L._SL160_.jpg)
- [Ideal for One Person] — With a one-time purchase of Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024, you can create, organize, and get things done.
- [Classic Office Apps] — Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote.
- [Desktop Only & Customer Support] — To install and use on one PC or Mac, on desktop only. Microsoft 365 has your back with readily available technical support through chat or phone.
| Suite category | Minimum difference between versions with and without Teams |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E3/E5 | €8 per user per month (approximately $8.55) |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard/Premium and Office 365 E1 | €3 per user per month (approximately $3.21) |
The figures are minimum deltas for the specified categories. Actual costs vary by country and currency, SKU, reseller or enterprise agreement, volume discounts, government or education eligibility and later price changes. The Commission’s summary describes savings of up to €8 for certain larger suites; it does not say every Microsoft 365 customer receives €8 off. Microsoft described the global commercial changes and their November 1, 2025 effective date at Microsoft 365 Blog.
What this means for Microsoft 365 customers
Keep Teams bundled
This can make sense when Teams meetings, calling, channels, webinars and Microsoft 365 integration are central, and the cost of administering another collaboration product exceeds the nominal license difference. Identity, governance, support and compliance may also be simpler in one stack.
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Buy a Teams-free suite and add Teams separately
This option gives procurement more control over which employee groups receive Teams and makes comparisons with other collaboration vendors clearer. Compare the standalone Teams price with the applicable suite delta, then include separate administration, support, calling, compliance and identity costs.
Rank #4
- Designed for Your Windows and Apple Devices | Install premium Office apps on your Windows laptop, desktop, MacBook or iMac. Works seamlessly across your devices for home, school, or personal productivity.
- Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Outlook | Get premium versions of the essential Office apps that help you work, study, create, and stay organized.
- Up to 6 TB Secure Cloud Storage (1 TB per person) | Store and access your documents, photos, and files from your Windows, Mac or mobile devices.
- Premium Tools Across Your Devices | Your subscription lets you work across all of your Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android devices with apps that sync instantly through the cloud.
- Share Your Family Subscription | You can share all of your subscription benefits with up to 6 people for use across all their devices.
Use a Teams-free Microsoft suite with a rival
This may suit organizations standardized on Slack, Zoom or another platform, especially where external collaboration or specialized workflows matter more than deep Microsoft integration. Migration, archiving, identity, training and coexistence costs can outweigh the license saving.
Frontline-worker plans require particular care: the Commission said those suites were not covered by the final commitments, even though Microsoft announced global Teams-free frontline offers. Do not assume every Microsoft 365 SKU has identical rights.
Contract, discount and migration checks
- Existing agreements: Confirm eligibility, switching windows, notice requirements and credits with Microsoft or the reseller. A recurring switching opportunity is not an automatic mid-term cancellation.
- Discounts: Compare the effective tenant-level price, not list prices. Enterprise agreements, reseller terms, public-sector contracts and special programs can change the result.
- Technical integration: Licensing separation does not remove Teams’ technical connections to Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
- Migration: Plan identity and permissions mapping, channel and team redesign, file-location changes, retention and eDiscovery validation, recording and transcript handling, user training and any third-party migration tooling.
What competitors gain
The remedy gives rivals more than a cheaper alternative SKU. The ability to integrate prominently into Microsoft productivity applications and embed Office Web Apps can reduce the practical advantage of Teams’ default position. Data export can also reduce switching risk for customers that want to run another collaboration service.
Best Value
- THE ALTERNATIVE: The Office Suite Package is the perfect alternative to MS Office. It offers you word processing as well as spreadsheet analysis and the creation of presentations.
- LOTS OF EXTRAS:✓ 1,000 different fonts available to individually style your text documents and ✓ 20,000 clipart images
- EASY TO USE: The highly user-friendly interface will guarantee that you get off to a great start | Simply insert the included CD into your CD/DVD drive and install the Office program.
- ONE PROGRAM FOR EVERYTHING: Office Suite is the perfect computer accessory, offering a wide range of uses for university, work and school. ✓ Drawing program ✓ Database ✓ Formula editor ✓ Spreadsheet analysis ✓ Presentations
- FULL COMPATIBILITY: ✓ Compatible with Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint ✓ Suitable for Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP (32 and 64-bit versions) ✓ Fast and easy installation ✓ Easy to navigate
Those rights do not create instant feature parity. A competitor must still implement the interfaces, meet Microsoft’s technical and security requirements and decide which Office experiences to support.
Timeline of the case
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 14, 2020 | Slack, then owned by Salesforce, filed the complaint. |
| July 2023 | The Commission opened its formal investigation. |
| August 31, 2023 | Microsoft announced Teams-free enterprise suites for the EEA and Switzerland. |
| 2024 | Microsoft expanded Teams-free suite availability globally, according to the Commission’s later summary. |
| June 25, 2024 | The Commission issued its Statement of Objections. |
| April 28, 2025 | Microsoft offered initial commitments. |
| May 16, 2025 | The Commission opened a market test; Microsoft published its proposal. |
| June 30, 2025 | The Commission sent Microsoft comments received during the market test. |
| July 21, 2025 | Microsoft submitted final commitments. |
| September 12, 2025 | The Commission accepted and made the commitments binding without a fine in this proceeding. |
| November 1, 2025 | Microsoft said related global commercial packaging and pricing changes took effect. |
What remains uncertain
The legal framework is settled, but its commercial impact depends on implementation. Customers still need Microsoft’s current regional price sheets and contract terms, while competitors need to build usable integrations. Data portability establishes an extraction right, not a guarantee that every message, file, recording or compliance artifact will transfer automatically. Enforcement will depend on the monitoring trustee, Microsoft’s implementation and the dispute process.
The Bottom Line
Microsoft did not simply escape a fine by making a voluntary pricing change. It closed the EU case through a binding Article 9 settlement: Teams must be less inseparable from eligible Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites, rivals receive stronger integration and portability rights, and customers gain more switching choice. The practical value for any organization depends on its SKU, negotiated contract, geography, compliance needs and the cost of operating a separate collaboration platform.
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