Microsoft Teams Free (classic) is a legacy version of the Teams app for businesses that will be retired on April 12, 2023. After this date, users will no longer have access to their current Teams Free (classic) account, and their data wont be retained, including data for existing channels, chats, and recurring meetings. Microsoft is encouraging users to upgrade to the new Microsoft Teams (free) app, which includes unlimited group meetings up to 60 minutes long, up to 100 participants per meeting, and 5 GB of cloud storage.

Users can switch to the new free version of Teams by following the instructions provided by Microsoft. However, they will have access to a different set of features than they did with Teams Free (classic), and their data wont be retained. If users want to keep their old Teams files, they will need to upgrade to the Essential bundle, which is available for $4 per user a month.

Upgrading from Teams Free (classic) requires upgrading to a business subscription. Microsoft provides a free Teams experience for personal and small business use through a Microsoft Account rather than Azure Active Directory. If an organization is using Teams Free (classic), they can upgrade to the full version by purchasing a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription plan for their users.

Its important to note that merging Teams Free (classic) into an existing Microsoft 365 paid subscription is not supported. If an organization has more than 300 users, theyll need to upgrade to one of Microsofts enterprise licenses, such as Office 365 E1.