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 still surpasses Teams in quantity.
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.
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Learn moreMicrosoft 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.
Whether it can retain those users once businesses and schools return to face-to-face is still unknown, as most of the primary countries for Teams usage are still in some form of lockdown or work-from-home.
We have collected data and statistics on Microsoft Teams users, usage, revenue and competitors. Read on below to find out more.
Microsoft Teams key statistics
- Microsoft added 95 million users in 2020. It was one of the fastest growing apps of the pandemic
- It currently has 145 million daily active users, up from 75 million last year
- From March to June 2020, Microsoft Teams noticed 894 percent growth, more than Zoom (Aternity)
- Over 500,000 organisations use Microsoft Teams as their default messaging platform
- We estimate that Microsoft Teams generated $6.8 billion in revenue in 2020, a 700 percent increase year-on-year
Microsoft Teams overview
| Launch date | 14 March 2017 |
| HQ | Redmond, Washington |
| People | Satya Nadella (CEO), Jeff Taper (CVP of Office) |
| Parent company | Microsoft |
| Industry | Business communications |
Microsoft Teams revenue
| Year | Revenue |
| 2017 | $0.01 billion |
| 2018 | $0.2 billion |
| 2019 | $0.8 billion |
| 2020 | $6.8 billion |
Note: Microsoft does not break out revenue of individual units in its Productivity and Business Processes Division. This division includes Microsoft 365, Dynamics and Teams. As Teams comes as part of the Microsoft 365 package, it is difficult to ascertain how much revenue is individually created by it. We have estimated based on Microsoft 365 revenues and how many of those subscribers used Teams each year.
Microsoft Teams users
| Year | Users |
| 2017 | 2 million |
| 2018 | 8 million |
| 2019 | 20 million |
| Q2 2020 | 75 million |
| Q4 2020 | 115 million |
| Q2 2021 | 145 million |
Note: Microsoft switched to monthly active users in Q3 2021. It has 250 million as of July 2021
Source: Microsoft
Microsoft Teams organisations
| Year | Organisations |
| 2017 | 50,000 |
| 2018 | 200,000 |
| 2019 | 500,000 |
Source: Microsoft
Microsoft Teams meetings
| Date | Meeting Minutes |
| March 12, 2020 | 0.56 billion |
| March 16, 2020 | 0.9 billion |
| March 31, 2020 | 2.7 billion |
Source: Microsoft
Note: This covers how many minutes per day Microsoft Teams users spent in meetings.
Microsoft Teams age (%)
| Age | Percentage of Users |
| 18 – 24 | 4 |
| 25 – 34 | 14 |
| 35 – 44 | 31 |
| 45 – 54 | 29 |
| 55+ | 20 |
Source: StatSocial
Microsoft Teams gender (%)
| 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)
