Microsoft Teams is the cheaper choice if your company already pays for Microsoft 365: Teams Essentials costs $4 per user per month, and Microsoft 365 Business Basic, which adds business email and Office web apps, costs $7 (US prices, annual billing, checked October 10, 2026). Zoom is the stronger pick for meetings with outside guests, for free local recording, and for AI meeting summaries included in every paid plan, starting with Zoom Workplace Pro at $14.16 per user per month billed annually. On the free plans, Teams allows 60-minute group meetings while Zoom Basic ends every meeting at 40 minutes, and both cap free meetings at 100 participants. Paid plans of both run meetings for up to 30 hours.
Table of contents
- Zoom vs Teams at a glance
- Free plans: Teams gives more time, Zoom gives more features
- Microsoft Teams (free)
- Zoom Basic (free)
- Zoom vs Teams pricing in 2026 (US)
- Joining a meeting: guests, browsers and accounts
- Recording, transcripts, captions and translation by plan
- Recording
- Transcripts after the meeting
- Live captions
- Translated captions and voice translation
- AI features: Zoom AI vs Microsoft Copilot
- Zoom AI (formerly AI Companion)
- Microsoft Copilot and intelligent recap in Teams
- Breakout rooms, webinars and large meetings
- Security and admin control
- Recording, transcripts and AI notes when you use both Zoom and Teams
- Why do companies switch from Zoom to Teams?
- Why use Zoom instead of Teams?
- Zoom or Teams: which should you choose?
- Choose Zoom if
- Choose Teams if
- Use both if
- FAQ
- Is Microsoft Teams free?
- Is Zoom or Teams cheaper?
- Can I record a meeting on free Teams or free Zoom?
- Can Zoom users join a Teams meeting, and the other way round?
- Does Teams have AI meeting summaries without Copilot?
- Which is better for large meetings and webinars?
Every price, limit and plan rule below was checked on Zoom's and Microsoft's own pricing pages and help articles on October 10, 2026. Microsoft changed its Microsoft 365 business prices on July 1, 2026, so comparisons written before July (including several that still rank for this search) quote older Teams prices.
Zoom vs Teams at a glance
| Feature (checked October 10, 2026) | Zoom | Microsoft Teams |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan meeting length | 40 minutes per meeting (Zoom Basic) | 60 minutes for group calls (Teams free) |
| Free plan participants | 100 | 100 |
| Recording on the free plan | Yes, local recording to a Windows, macOS or Linux computer | No |
| Cheapest paid plan (annual billing) | Pro: $14.16/user/month | Teams Essentials: $4/user/month |
| Max meeting length on paid plans | 30 hours | 30 hours |
| Participants on paid plans | 100 (Pro), 300 (Business), up to 1,000 (Enterprise) | 300 (Teams Essentials, Business Basic, Business Standard) |
| Cloud storage for recordings | 10 GB per license on Pro and Business; unlimited on Enterprise | 10 GB per user (Teams Essentials); 1 TB per user (Microsoft 365 Business plans) |
| Live captions | 49 languages and dialects | English only on Teams free and Teams Essentials; over 30 languages on Microsoft 365 Business plans |
| Translated captions | Business Plus, Enterprise plans or the Translated Captions add-on (36 languages) | Teams Premium ($10/user/month) or a Microsoft Copilot license (31 languages) |
| AI meeting summaries | Included on all paid plans; 3 hosted meetings per month on Basic | Intelligent recap needs Teams Premium or a Microsoft Copilot license |
| Breakout rooms | All plans, including Basic; up to 100 rooms | Business Basic and up; up to 50 rooms; not listed for Teams Essentials |
| Webinars | Zoom Webinars (500 attendees included on Enterprise) | Webinars with registration from Microsoft 365 Business Standard |
| Join without an account or app | Zoom Web App in the browser | Teams on the web in Edge or Chrome |
| Best fit | Client calls, training, mixed-company meetings, free recording | Companies already on Microsoft 365, internal meetings tied to chat and files |
Free plans: Teams gives more time, Zoom gives more features
The free version of Microsoft Teams lets meetings run 20 minutes longer than Zoom Basic, but Zoom Basic includes recording, breakout rooms and a small AI allowance that free Teams does not. Which one is "better free" depends on whether your calls run past 40 minutes or whether you need a record of them.
Microsoft Teams (free)
- Group calls up to 60 minutes with up to 100 participants, according to Microsoft's Teams plan comparison for individuals.
- 5 GB of cloud storage.
- Live captions in English only.
- No meeting recording. Microsoft's recording article for Teams for personal use says only Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium subscribers can record, and those recordings expire from the cloud after 30 days unless you download them.
- Guests can join from a link without a Teams account.
Zoom Basic (free)
- Every meeting ends at 40 minutes, with up to 100 participants, per Zoom's pricing page. The limit follows the host's account.
- Local recording to your computer from the Zoom desktop app. Zoom's computer recording article lists Basic (free) or higher; it is not available on iOS or Android.
- Breakout rooms and 3 editable whiteboards.
- AI meeting summaries for 3 hosted meetings per month and AI note-taking 3 times per month.
- No cloud storage.
In practice: a 50-minute weekly check-in fits on free Teams and gets cut on free Zoom, while a 30-minute interview you need to keep a recording of works on free Zoom and cannot be recorded on free Teams.
Zoom vs Teams pricing in 2026 (US)
Teams costs less per user at every comparable tier, mainly because Microsoft sells Teams inside Microsoft 365 bundles that also include email, Office apps and storage. Zoom charges more but includes its core AI features in the price. The table shows US list prices per user per month on October 10, 2026.
| Plan | Annual billing | Monthly billing | What matters for meetings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom Basic | Free | Free | 40-minute meetings, 100 participants, local recording |
| Zoom Workplace Pro | $14.16 | $16.99 | 30-hour meetings, 100 participants, 10 GB cloud recording, unlimited AI summaries |
| Zoom Workplace Business | $18.33 | $21.99 | 300 participants, unlimited whiteboards |
| Zoom Workplace Enterprise | Quote from Zoom sales | Up to 1,000 participants, unlimited cloud storage, webinars for 500, translated captions | |
| Microsoft Teams (free) | Free | Free | 60-minute group calls, 100 participants, no recording |
| Microsoft Teams Essentials | $4.00 | Not checked | Teams only: 300 participants, 30 hours, recordings and transcripts, 10 GB storage, English captions |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $7.00 | $8.40 | Adds business email, web and mobile Office apps, 1 TB storage, breakout rooms |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard | $14.00 | $16.80 | Adds desktop Office apps and webinars with registration |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot | $23.50 | Not checked | Business Standard plus Microsoft Copilot in Teams and Office apps |
Sources: zoom.us/pricing (US version), Microsoft Teams business plans, and Microsoft's product pages for Business Basic and Business Standard.
Two add-ons change the Teams math. Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, which brings Copilot into Teams meetings, lists at $21 per user per month on annual billing, with a first-year price of $18 for orders between July 1 and December 31, 2026. Teams Premium, which adds intelligent recap, translated captions and extra meeting protection, costs $10 per user per month; Microsoft's business pricing page lists it as an add-on for plans that include a Microsoft Teams Enterprise license, so check eligibility with your plan. A Business Basic user who adds Copilot Business for AI meeting recaps pays $7 plus $21 ($18 in the first year at the promotional price), which is more than Zoom Pro. On Zoom, Zoom's June 2026 announcement says eligible paid plans "continue to include core AI features at no additional cost"; only the newer ZoomMate product is a separate paid add-on.
Microsoft still sells Microsoft 365 plans "without Teams" in the US (Business Standard without Teams is $10.79 per user per month on annual billing), so a company that standardizes on Zoom does not have to pay for Teams as well.
Joining a meeting: guests, browsers and accounts
Both platforms let outside guests join from a link in a browser without installing anything or creating an account. Microsoft says anyone can join a Teams meeting "without signing into a Teams account" using Teams for the web in Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. Guests who are not signed in appear as "Unverified", get fewer meeting features, may be asked for a one-time email passcode if the organizer's settings require it, and are removed if nobody admits them from the lobby within 30 minutes.
Zoom guests can use the Zoom Web App in a browser, again with no download. Zoom still recommends its desktop app for the best audio and video, and an account admin can control whether the "join from your browser" option appears. In G2's hands-on comparison, the reviewer found that external guests joined Zoom with fewer steps, which matches the common advice that Zoom suits client-facing calls. That is a reviewer's experience, not a measured benchmark.
Recording, transcripts, captions and translation by plan
This is the part most "Zoom vs Teams" articles skip, and it decides whether you keep any record of your meetings. In short: Zoom can record on the free plan and puts transcripts behind cloud recording on Pro and up, while Teams needs a paid business plan to record and stores everything in the organizer's OneDrive.
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Recording
- Zoom: Basic records locally on desktop. Pro and higher add cloud recording with 10 GB per license (unlimited on Enterprise). By default only the host records; the host can give a participant permission with Allow Record in the participants list. Step-by-step instructions are in our guide to recording a Zoom meeting.
- Teams: recording is included in Teams Essentials and Microsoft 365 Business plans, but not in free Teams. Recordings upload to the organizer's OneDrive (regular meetings) or the channel's SharePoint site (channel meetings), per Microsoft Learn. Guests and people from other organizations cannot start a recording, and both the organizer and the person recording need recording permission from their admin. See how to record a Microsoft Teams meeting for the steps and expiration rules.
Transcripts after the meeting
- Zoom: since late May 2026, the in-meeting Meeting transcript setting is off by default and a host or admin must turn it on, and captions can no longer be saved after a meeting (Zoom KB0085668). Audio transcripts of cloud recordings need Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise, support 19 languages including Vietnamese, Arabic and Polish, and are saved as VTT files (KB0064927). More in our Zoom transcription guide.
- Teams: the organizer and people from the same organization can start transcription; people from another organization can read the live transcript but cannot start or download it, and anonymous users have no access. The transcript is stored in the organizer's OneDrive, and organizers and co-organizers can download it as .docx or .vtt from the meeting's Recap tab (Microsoft Support).
Live captions
- Zoom: automated captions cover 49 languages and regional dialects and are enabled by default on paid accounts (KB0058810). Setup and fixes: how to turn on captions in Zoom.
- Teams: Microsoft's plan table lists English-only captions on Teams free and Teams Essentials and "over 30 languages" on Microsoft 365 Business plans. Microsoft's captions article also says Teams does not save captions; caption data is deleted when the meeting ends.
Translated captions and voice translation
- Zoom translated captions: the host needs Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Premier or the Translated Captions add-on; Zoom's translated captions article lists 36 languages. Our Zoom translation guide covers setup.
- Zoom voice translation: Zoom's Voice translator needs the Live Translation add-on or ZoomMate and the desktop app 7.0.0 or later, and supports English, Chinese, French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic and Portuguese. Only the person who turns it on hears the translation (KB0084896).
- Teams translated captions: part of Teams Premium and the Microsoft Copilot license, with 31 target languages. If the organizer has the license, everyone in the meeting can use them.
- Teams Interpreter: real-time speech-to-speech translation that can simulate your voice, included with a Microsoft Copilot license (20 hours per user per month), in Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. It does not work in Teams free (Microsoft Learn).
The pattern is the same on both sides: captions are cheap or free, but saved transcripts, translation and AI recaps sit on higher tiers or add-ons, and languages outside the major European and East Asian ones (Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian) are thinly covered for anything beyond captions.
AI features: Zoom AI vs Microsoft Copilot
Zoom includes its core meeting AI in every paid plan, while Teams puts AI meeting recaps behind Teams Premium or a Copilot license. For a small team that mainly wants a summary and action items after each call, that difference often matters more than the base price.
Zoom AI (formerly AI Companion)
Zoom retired the "AI Companion" name in June 2026; meeting summaries, AI note-taking and in-meeting questions are now simply part of Zoom Workplace. Zoom's pricing page lists unlimited meeting summaries and AI note-taking on Pro, Business and Enterprise, and 3 of each per month on Basic. Only the host or a co-host can start a meeting summary; the summary arrives by email and in the Zoom web portal. Details: Zoom AI meeting summary guide. ZoomMate, launched the same day, is a separate paid add-on for agent-style work across Zoom and connected business systems.
Microsoft Copilot and intelligent recap in Teams
In Teams, the Recap tab with AI notes and suggested tasks (intelligent recap) is available with Teams Premium or a Microsoft Copilot license. Copilot in a meeting can answer questions during the call without a transcript, but it needs transcription turned on to stay available after the meeting ends, per Microsoft's Copilot in Teams meetings article. Copilot's advantage is reach: the same license works across Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams chat, which Zoom AI does not cover. Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes Copilot Chat (AI chat with web grounding), which is not the same as Copilot in Teams meetings.
| AI meeting feature | Zoom | Microsoft Teams |
|---|---|---|
| Post-meeting summary | Included on paid plans; 3 per month on Basic | Intelligent recap: Teams Premium or Copilot license |
| Ask questions during the meeting | Included on paid plans | Copilot license |
| Who controls it | Host or co-host starts the summary | Organizer sets Copilot to off, only during, or during and after the meeting |
| Extra cost for a 10-person team (annual) | None on Pro | $210/month at the Copilot Business list price ($180 at the 2026 promotional price), or $100/month with Teams Premium where your plan is eligible |
Breakout rooms, webinars and large meetings
Zoom is the more generous platform for breakout rooms and very large meetings, while Teams includes webinars with registration in a plan many companies already buy (Microsoft 365 Business Standard).
- Breakout rooms on Zoom: available on every plan, including Basic; up to 100 rooms, created and managed from the desktop app or the web app (mobile users can join rooms but not manage them), per Zoom's breakout rooms article.
- Breakout rooms on Teams: up to 50 rooms, created by the organizer or a presenter from the organizer's organization using Teams for desktop. Microsoft's plan table lists them for Business Basic and Business Standard but not for Teams Essentials, and people signed in with Teams free accounts cannot currently be assigned to rooms (Microsoft Support).
- Webinars: Zoom Enterprise includes webinars for 500 attendees; other plans buy Zoom Webinars separately. Teams includes webinar hosting with registration and reporting from Business Standard.
- Large meetings: Zoom Pro holds 100 participants and Business 300; the Large Meeting add-on raises that to 1,000. Teams business plans hold 300 in a regular meeting. For bigger audiences, Teams events with a Teams Enterprise license reach 1,000 interactive or 10,000 view-only attendees (Microsoft Learn).
Security and admin control
Both platforms are used in regulated industries, and the practical difference is where control sits. Teams runs inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, so recordings and transcripts follow the same OneDrive, SharePoint and Microsoft Purview rules as your other files, and admins set recording and transcription policy centrally. Some protections cost extra: end-to-end encryption for Teams meetings, watermarks and letting organizers decide who can record all require Teams Premium (one-to-one calls can use end-to-end encryption without it), according to Microsoft's Teams Premium overview. Zoom keeps more control with the host during the meeting (for example, who may record), and participants who join a recorded Zoom meeting are asked to consent or leave.
Recording, transcripts and AI notes when you use both Zoom and Teams
Many people do not get to choose: the company runs on Teams, clients send Zoom links. In that case the platforms' own note-taking depends on whoever hosts the meeting and on their plan, as this table shows.
| You are... | On a Zoom call | On a Teams call |
|---|---|---|
| The host, on a free plan | Local recording; 3 AI summaries per month | No recording, no transcript, no AI recap |
| The host, on a paid plan | Cloud recording, transcript of the recording, AI summary | Recording and transcript; AI recap only with Teams Premium or Copilot |
| A participant from the same company | Can record only if the host allows; can ask the host to start the AI summary | Can record and transcribe if admin policy allows |
| A guest from another company | Same as above: depends on the host | Cannot start recording or transcription; can view the live transcript |
If you are a guest on Teams calls, or on Zoom calls hosted on Basic, the built-in tools will usually leave you without a transcript. A note-taker that runs on your own computer avoids that dependency. NoteMeeting's Chrome extension transcribes and summarizes meetings in Microsoft Teams on the web and in the Zoom web app (it also works in Google Meet), and no bot joins the call. For the installed Zoom desktop app, the NoteMeeting Desktop App (Pro plan and up) captures system audio instead. NoteMeeting does not record video, does not download Zoom or Teams recordings, and does not store your audio on its servers: you download the transcript and recap yourself. On the Pro plan, its Voice Translator also translates speech between any two of 10 languages (including Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Indonesian) in under 2 seconds, and the other side hears the translated voice without installing anything. Whatever tool you use, tell participants that the meeting is being transcribed. For a wider comparison, see our list of the best AI meeting note takers.
Why do companies switch from Zoom to Teams?
The main reason is consolidation: Teams comes inside Microsoft 365 business plans that companies already buy for email, Office and file storage, so keeping Zoom means paying for a second meeting tool. At US list prices, Business Basic ($7) covers email, Office web apps, 1 TB of storage and Teams meetings for half the price of Zoom Pro ($14.16) alone. It also means one admin console, and recordings and transcripts that follow the same OneDrive, SharePoint and compliance rules as the rest of the company's files.
Questions such as "why did Teams beat Zoom" or "why is Zoom no longer popular" usually rest on market-share claims. We did not find a current, citable market-share source we could verify, so this article does not repeat one. What the pricing pages do show is that Microsoft's bundle makes Teams the default in Microsoft 365 companies, while Zoom remains a common choice for external and client-facing calls, the use case every top-ranking comparison (Zapier, G2, GetVoIP, Pumble) still assigns to Zoom.
Why use Zoom instead of Teams?
Use Zoom when meetings are the product rather than a feature of your office suite. Concrete reasons, all from the plan details above:
- You need to record on a free plan (Zoom Basic records locally; free Teams cannot record).
- You want AI meeting summaries without buying Copilot or Teams Premium.
- You run classes or workshops with breakout rooms on a free or low-cost plan.
- You host calls for people outside your company who do not use Microsoft 365.
- You need saved transcripts in one of Zoom's 19 recording-transcript languages, such as Vietnamese, Arabic, Polish or Turkish.
Zoom or Teams: which should you choose?
Choose Zoom if
- Most of your meetings are with clients, candidates, students or partners outside your company.
- You want recording and AI summaries included without add-ons.
- You run training, workshops or webinars and use breakout rooms often.
- Your company uses Google Workspace or a mix of tools rather than Microsoft 365.
Choose Teams if
- Your company already pays for Microsoft 365: meetings cost nothing extra.
- Most meetings are internal and tied to Teams chat, channels, SharePoint and Outlook.
- Price per seat matters more than meeting extras ($4 Teams Essentials, $7 Business Basic).
- Your free calls run 40 to 60 minutes and you do not need to record them.
Use both if
You work in a Microsoft 365 company but meet clients who send Zoom links. Many organizations do exactly this, according to Zapier and GetVoIP. The cost is a second subscription, so check whether your Zoom need is covered by joining other people's Zoom meetings (free) rather than hosting your own. If you are weighing Google Meet as well, see our Google Meet vs Zoom comparison.
FAQ
Is Microsoft Teams free?
Yes, Teams has a free version for personal use with group calls up to 60 minutes, 100 participants and 5 GB of storage. It cannot record meetings. Business use starts with Teams Essentials at $4 per user per month on annual billing.
Is Zoom or Teams cheaper?
Teams is cheaper per user: Teams Essentials is $4 and Microsoft 365 Business Basic is $7 per user per month, against $14.16 for Zoom Workplace Pro (all US prices, annual billing, October 2026). Zoom becomes the cheaper option if you would otherwise add Teams Premium or Copilot only to get AI meeting summaries.
Can I record a meeting on free Teams or free Zoom?
Free Zoom (Basic) can record locally to a Windows, macOS or Linux computer. Free Teams cannot record; personal Teams users need a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium subscription, and those cloud recordings expire after 30 days unless downloaded.
Can Zoom users join a Teams meeting, and the other way round?
Yes. Anyone with the link can join a Teams meeting from Edge or Chrome without a Teams account, and anyone can join a Zoom meeting from the Zoom Web App in a browser. Unsigned guests get fewer features on both, and organizers or admins can restrict browser and anonymous joining.
Does Teams have AI meeting summaries without Copilot?
Not on standard business plans. Intelligent recap, the AI summary in a meeting's Recap tab, needs Teams Premium ($10 per user per month) or a Microsoft Copilot license. You still get the recording and transcript on Teams Essentials and Microsoft 365 Business plans.
Which is better for large meetings and webinars?
Zoom scales a single meeting further (up to 1,000 with Enterprise or the Large Meeting add-on) and sells a dedicated webinar product. Teams includes webinars with registration from Business Standard, and Teams events with a Teams Enterprise license reach 10,000 view-only attendees.
Whichever platform your company standardizes on, you can keep transcripts and AI recaps of every Zoom and Teams call in one place with NoteMeeting, without waiting for the host to turn anything on. Start with a free 1-hour trial (transcript and summary only; Voice Translator comes with NoteMeeting's Pro and Teams plans).