Discourse vs Microsoft Teams Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Discourse | Microsoft Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $100/mo | $4/mo |
| Number of plans | 3 | 3 |
| Free plan | — | |
| Free trial | ||
| Pricing model | flat-rate | per-seat |
Pro
- Unlimited members & chat
- Unlimited public & private categories
- Unlimited tags
- Custom groups
- Email support
- Custom & community themes
- Custom domain
- API and Webhook access
- 15+ plugins
- 5 staff seats
Business
- Advanced reporting & analytics
- Automation
- Events
- Gamification
- SSO (Open ID & OAuth2)
- 20+ additional plugins
- 15 staff seats
- Priority support
- Migration services
Enterprise
- Expert design & development services
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Migration services
- GDPR & CCPA compliant hosting
- 50+ plugins
- Unlimited staff seats
Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot
- Work-grounded Copilot in apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Microsoft Teams
- Reasoning AI for research and data analysis
- Core identity and access management for up to 300 users
- Desktop, web, and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
- Custom business email ([email protected])
- Chat, call, meet, and host webinars with Microsoft Teams
- 1 TB of cloud storage per user
- 10+ additional apps for your business needs (including Microsoft Loop, Clipchamp, Bookings, Planner, and Forms)
- Secure AI built for work, powered by Work IQ, with access to create and use agents
- Automatic spam and malware filtering
- Anytime phone and web support
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
- Core identity and access management for up to 300 users
- Web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
- Custom business email ([email protected])
- Chat, call, and meet with Microsoft Teams
- 1 TB of cloud storage per user
- 10+ additional apps for your business needs (including Microsoft Bookings, Planner, and Forms)
- AI chat experience with web grounding, writing assistance, data analysis, and access to agents
- Automatic spam and malware filtering
- Anytime phone and web support
Microsoft Teams Essentials
Popular- Chat, call, and video conferencing
- Real-time collaboration with file sharing, tasks, and polling
- Team meeting recordings with transcripts and live captions (English)
- 10 GB of cloud storage per user
- Data encryption for meetings, chats, calls, and files
- Anytime phone and web support
Discourse vs Microsoft Teams FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Microsoft Teams is the cheaper option, starting at $4/mo vs $100/mo for Discourse.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Discourse has a free plan. Microsoft Teams doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Discourse uses flat-rate pricing, while Microsoft Teams goes with per-seat. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Discourse: At $100 and $500 flat, Discourse sits mid-to-premium compared to lighter forum tools, but it undercuts enterprise community platforms that charge based on MAUs or seats. They're clearly going after teams that want forum ownership without the per-user pricing anxiety that plagues Slack-alikes. Microsoft Teams: At $4–$7 for the entry tiers, they're undercutting Slack's paid plans and going toe-to-toe with Google Workspace — this is a volume play to win SMBs already in the Microsoft ecosystem. The $23.50 Copilot tier is a deliberate premium move, betting that AI features justify nearly 3x the cost of Basic.
Still deciding? See the best Discourse alternatives or the best Microsoft Teams alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for Discourse and Microsoft Teams and let you know when something moves.