Microsoft
There’s a free Microsoft Groups tier now, and there’ll proceed to be a free Microsoft Groups tier after April 12, 2023. However in a bureaucratic twist, neither product can have something to do with the opposite. Present customers of Microsoft Groups Free will both must create new accounts in a brand new tier referred to as Microsoft Groups (free), dropping all their Groups knowledge within the course of, or improve to a $4-per-user-per-month Microsoft Groups Necessities tier to maintain all their stuff.
Microsoft spells out the adjustments on this help web page in regards to the retirement of Microsoft Groups Free, now referred to as Microsoft Groups Free (basic). Recordsdata from Microsoft Groups Free (basic) could be downloaded and saved till the service shuts down on April 12, however there is not any automated course of for importing these recordsdata or different consumer accounts right into a Microsoft Groups (free) account.
Microsoft’s product web page positions the brand new Microsoft Groups (free) tier as a product for residence customers and households, however the options it provides are fairly much like the previous basic tier general. Video calls nonetheless high out at 100 contributors and a one-hour runtime (one-on-one conferences can run for as much as 30 hours). Every Groups (free) consumer will get 5GB of storage, whereas Groups Free (basic) customers obtained 2GB every and a 10GB pool of shared storage. Each merchandise supply limitless chatting and entry to shared recordsdata, activity lists, and polls.
The Groups Necessities tier provides limitless group conferences of as much as 30 hours in size with as much as 300 contributors and 10GB of cloud storage for all of your paid customers. However it’s lacking some options in comparison with the more-expensive Microsoft 365 bundles, like entry to the erstwhile Microsoft Workplace apps or recorded conferences with transcripts.
