Microsoft did unbundle Teams from Microsoft 365 and Office 365 for commercial customers worldwide in April 2024, after first changing its European offerings in 2023. But it did not permanently separate the products: since November 1, 2025, customers worldwide can choose enterprise suites with Teams, lower-priced suites without Teams, or standalone Teams, subject to plan and licensing rules. The EU case prompted changes to packaging, pricing and interoperability. It did not amount to a worldwide ban on bundling or a conventional antitrust fine.
Why did the EU investigate Microsoft Teams?
The European Commission opened a formal investigation on July 27, 2023, into whether Microsoft’s inclusion of Teams in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 gave the collaboration app an unfair advantage over rivals. Slack, owned by Salesforce, had complained in 2020; German videoconferencing company alfaview later filed a related complaint. The Commission examined the conduct under EU competition rules on abuse of a dominant position.
The concern went beyond whether Teams came installed or included in a subscription. The Commission examined whether bundling gave Teams a distribution advantage through productivity suites businesses already bought, whether customers had meaningful access to comparable lower-priced suites without Teams, and whether Microsoft’s practices affected interoperability with rival products or customers’ ability to move Teams messaging data elsewhere. The Commission described its preliminary concerns in its July 2023 announcement.
How Microsoft’s Teams packaging changed
| Date | What changed | Scope and significance |
|---|---|---|
| July 27, 2023 | The Commission opened formal proceedings. | This began an investigation; it was not a final finding that Microsoft had infringed competition law. |
| October 1, 2023 | Microsoft introduced suites without Teams and a standalone Teams offer. | The initial change applied in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, not worldwide. Microsoft outlined the regional licensing change here. |
| April 1, 2024 | Microsoft extended a similar commercial licensing structure worldwide outside the EEA and Switzerland. | New customers could buy no-Teams suites, with enterprise customers able to buy Teams separately. Many existing customers could retain or renew bundled subscriptions, depending on their plan and licensing channel. Microsoft’s worldwide licensing notice explains the change. |
| June 25, 2024 | The Commission issued a Statement of Objections. | This set out the Commission’s preliminary legal assessment; it was not a final infringement decision. |
| May 16 and September 12, 2025 | Microsoft proposed commitments, then announced finalized commitments and revised packaging. | The Commission’s case and Microsoft’s response addressed matters beyond the product bundle, including pricing, interoperability and data portability. |
| November 1, 2025 | Microsoft made enterprise suites with Teams available worldwide again, alongside no-Teams suites and standalone Teams. | The current model is choice among licensing options, not a permanent global split. See Microsoft’s announcement of the revised offers. |
What businesses can buy now
A Microsoft suite with Teams
For organizations that use Teams for chat, meetings, channels or Microsoft 365 workflows, Microsoft again offers bundled enterprise suites worldwide. A bundle may simplify contracting and support, but its value depends on how much the organization uses Teams and what it would otherwise pay for a separate collaboration service.
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Organizations that already use Slack, Zoom, Webex or another collaboration product can choose eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 suites without Teams. These retain the Microsoft services specified for the selected plan; “without Teams” does not mean “without Microsoft collaboration,” nor does it automatically remove services such as Outlook, SharePoint or OneDrive. Check the service list for the exact SKU.
Standalone Teams
Businesses can also license Teams separately where the relevant offer is available. Standalone Teams is not a Microsoft 365 suite: it does not by itself provide the full Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive or desktop Office entitlements of a productivity plan. Teams Phone, calling plans, Audio Conferencing and Teams Premium should also be evaluated separately rather than assumed to come with a basic Teams license.
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How the EU commitments affect pricing and competition
Microsoft announced minimum price differences between covered plans with and without Teams, with the specific amounts varying by plan category. Its November 2025 announcement stated these minimum differences:
| Covered plan category | Minimum stated difference |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E3/E5 | €8 / $8.55 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard/Premium and Office 365 E1 | €3 / $3.21 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | €1.50 / $1.60 |
| Microsoft 365 F3 | €1 / $1.07 |
| Teams Enterprise / Teams EEA standalone minimum | €8 / $8.55 |
| Teams Essentials standalone minimum | €3 / $3.21 |
These are minimum differences Microsoft announced, not universal retail prices or a guarantee of a buyer’s savings. Microsoft said the dollar equivalents used exchange rates as of November 1, 2025; actual pricing can vary by country, currency, channel, taxes, term and negotiated discounts. Check the applicable Microsoft licensing information and local price list before comparing offers.
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The accepted commitments also address continued availability of no-Teams suites in the EEA for a defined period, standalone Teams, access to Office web applications for rival collaboration providers in specified circumstances, and measures enabling eligible customers to extract Teams messaging data for use with alternatives. They include limits on certain discounting and licensing practices that could undermine price separation. The Commission’s published decision sets out the commitments and their scope.
Did the EU find Microsoft guilty?
No final infringement finding should be inferred from the opening of the investigation, Microsoft’s 2023 licensing changes or the 2024 Statement of Objections. A Statement of Objections is the Commission’s preliminary view, not a final ruling. The case later concluded through accepted commitments. A commitments decision resolves identified competition concerns by making commitments binding; it is distinct from a traditional infringement decision imposing a fine and does not, by itself, mean Microsoft admitted liability. The Commission’s case decision provides the legal outcome.
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Which customers should check their licenses?
The changes chiefly concern commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 licensing, but the right answer depends on the buyer’s plan, geography and purchasing route.
- New commercial customers: Check current eligible SKUs and whether Teams is included; the 2024 and 2025 structures differ.
- Existing subscribers: The April 2024 changes did not automatically strip Teams from existing bundled subscriptions. Whether a customer can renew, expand or step up a legacy SKU depends on the contract, plan, region and channel.
- Education, nonprofit and government buyers: Do not assume commercial commitment terms apply unchanged. Microsoft’s licensing FAQ notes differences and exclusions for consumer, academic, U.S. government and nonprofit SKUs.
- Consumer subscribers: The business licensing remedy should not be generalized to personal Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
- Frontline users and partners: F-series plan availability and CSP, volume licensing and web-direct rules can differ. Confirm the exact SKU and channel terms.
How to compare the options for procurement
- Identify the exact purchase event. Establish whether this is a new subscription, renewal, license expansion or migration. A SKU unavailable to new buyers may have different renewal rules for an existing contract.
- Confirm the customer and channel. Record the country, commercial or public-sector status, plan family and whether the purchase is direct, through a Cloud Solution Provider or under volume licensing.
- Map actual Teams use. Separate needs for chat, meetings, channels, webinars and telephony. A no-Teams suite may make sense if another platform is standard, but Teams Phone and calling are separate licensing questions.
- Compare like with like. Price the eligible suite with Teams, the no-Teams suite, and the no-Teams suite plus standalone Teams if needed. Include discounts, contract term, taxes and add-ons; a published minimum price difference is not the same as negotiated total cost.
- Check the operational dependencies. Review Outlook calendars, SharePoint and OneDrive collaboration, identity and governance controls, retention, eDiscovery, recordings, user support and training implications.
- Test migration and interoperability requirements. Data portability rights do not make migration one-click. Validate what can be exported, how it fits retention and compliance needs, and whether integrations with Microsoft 365 and other systems meet requirements.
What the change means for rival collaboration services
The case created more room for customers to assess productivity software separately from collaboration software, especially when they already standardize on Slack, Zoom or Webex. But a price difference between Microsoft plans does not establish which service is cheaper overall, and interoperability commitments do not guarantee feature parity inside Microsoft 365. Buyers still need to weigh integration, administration, compliance, migration and user adoption alongside license prices.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
