When Microsoft announced Teams in November 2016, it entered a market firmly controlled by Slack, which had popularized business text chat as a convenient solution to email. From day one, Slack made it known it did not like Teams.
But the rivalry could have been an acquisition in another timeline. According to multiple reports, Microsoft planned an $8 billion bid for Slack, but co-founder Bill Gates argued that Microsoft should make use of Skype to build a competitor.
Instead of Skype, Microsoft bundled most of its collaborative business software into Teams. In 2017, it shifted Classroom to Teams and announced it would discontinue Skype for Business. Additional features have been added since, making it an all-in-one communications platform for an organisation of any size.
Microsoft Teams key advantage over competitors is its deep integration with Office 365. It natively integrates with Word, PowerPoint and Microsoft 365, but Slack has spent years building a library of app plugins, which surpassed Teams in quantity until recently.
For businesses already subscribed to Microsoft 365 Business, Teams is a free add-on, instead of a separate bill. Slack has filed an EU antitrust complaint over this, arguing that it is a misuse of platform power. Microsoft has also received heat for aggressively pushing Teams to all users, even non-365 subscribers.
Of course, Slack is not Microsoft Teams only competitor. It has focused on video conferencing as a way to allay Zoom‘s meteoric growth during the pandemic. Google, Facebook and Cisco all launched business communication tools during the first pandemic.
Microsoft Teams saw a huge uptick in users during the pandemic, rising from 20 million users in November 2019 to 44 million in March 2020, then 75 million by April. According to digital experience management company Aternity, Microsoft Teams usage growth surpassed Zoom from February to June.
It managed to retain these users post pandemic, and has grown considerably since. In 2022, Microsoft announced that Teams was used by 270 million users, making it by far the most popular business communication platform, vastly outperforming Slack’s 18 million active users.
We have collected data and statistics on Microsoft Teams. Read on below to find out more.
Microsoft Teams key statistics
- Microsoft Teams reached 270 million users in 2022, up from 145 million it reported in 2021
- From March to June 2020, Microsoft Teams noticed 894% growth, more than Zoom (Aternity)
- Over one million organisations use Microsoft Teams as their default messaging platform
Microsoft Teams overview
| Title 1 | Title 2 |
|---|---|
| Launch date | 14 March 2017 |
| HQ | Redmond, Washington |
| People | Satya Nadella (CEO), Jeff Taper (CVP of Office) |
| Parent company | Microsoft |
| Industry | Communication |
Microsoft Teams users
Over a quarter of a million people use Microsoft Teams, making it the most popular business communication service in the world.
Microsoft Teams annual users 2017 to 2022 (mm)
| Year | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 8 |
| 2019 | 20 |
| 2020 | 75 |
| 2021 | 145 |
| 2022 | 270 |
Source: Company data
Microsoft Teams organisations
The last time Microsoft updated this figure, it said over one million organisations use Teams. 91 of the Fortune 100 use the messaging platform.
Microsoft Teams annual organisations 2017 to 2020 (mm)
| Year | Organisations |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 0.2 |
| 2019 | 0.5 |
| 2020 | 1 |
Note: Microsoft has not updated this stat since 2020. Source: Company data
Microsoft Teams meetings
Microsoft Teams usage spiked during the pandemic, as can be seen in the chart below, with meeting minutes increasing threefold in less than a month.
Microsoft Teams daily meeting minutes 2020 (mm)
| Date | Meeting Minutes (bn) |
|---|---|
| March 12, 2020 | 0.56 |
| March 16, 2020 | 0.9 |
| March 31, 2020 | 2.7 |
Note: This covers how many minutes per day Microsoft Teams users spent in meetings. Source: Microsoft
Microsoft Teams age demographics
The majority of Microsoft Teams users are aged over 35, with less than 20% users under that age.
Microsoft Teams age demographics 2021 (%)
| Age | Percentage of Users |
|---|---|
| 18 - 24 | 4 |
| 25 - 34 | 14 |
| 35 - 44 | 31 |
| 45 - 54 | 29 |
| 55+ | 20 |
Source: StatSocial
Microsoft Teams gender demographics
Surprisingly, Microsoft Teams is used more by men than women, with 72% of users being men.
Microsoft Teams gender demographics 2021 (%)
| Gender | Percentage of Users |
|---|---|
| Male | 72 |
| Female | 24 |
Source: StatSocial
Microsoft Teams vs Slack: Daily active users
Microsoft Teams FAQ
How many countries is Microsoft Teams available in?
Microsoft Teams is available in 181 countries, in 44 languages
How many schools use Microsoft Teams?
Over 183,000 educational institutions are using Microsoft Teams
Who are some of the largest companies using Microsoft Teams?
Accenture, Continental AG, Ernst & Young, Pfizer and SAP are among the companies with more than 100,000 active users (CNBC)
