Microsoft updates Teams licensing to bring some premium features to more customers

Microsoft Teams is a fairly versatile piece of software that can be used in small businesses, large enterprise environments, and the education sector. Microsoft regularly updates Teams with new features, but some of them are locked behind expensive licenses and are not generally available for all customers. Now, the Redmond tech firm is relaxing some of its licensing options, making more capabilities available for its customers.

For starters, the AI-powered Places experience is being made available to all users who have access to Teams and Outlook. This change makes Places available to the following licenses:

• Microsoft 365 E3
• Microsoft 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Outlook 365 E1
• Outlook 365 E3
• Outlook 365 E5
• Exchange Online
• Additional Teams, Microsoft 365, and Office 365 licenses

This makes both Places Finder and Places Explorer available to more users. The former offers more information about meeting locations, such as images and floorplans. Meanwhile, Places Explorer builds upon this experience by showing map-based reservations, people, and spaces in each location. This license update will kick off on April 1, 2026.

Next, Microsoft is renaming the Teams Shared Devices license to the Teams Shared Space license, allowing IT admins to manage assets like bookable desks, Teams panel, and shared spaces. This gives them access to capabilities for space management, desk booking, space analytics, and integration with third-party APIs. This license will also be available from April 1, but IT admins will not be required to make any change for existing infrastructure, apart from assigning additional spaces.

Additionally, Teams town halls and webinars, which were previously available only for Teams Premium customers, are also being extended to Teams Enterprise customers as well. By default, Enterprise licenses will allow hosting town halls and webinars with up to 3,000 attendees, but organizations can purchase attendee packs that allow them to increase the limit to 100,000 attendees. You can find more details about these changes here.

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Posted Friday 23 January 2026 at 4:16 am AEST (my time).

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