Teams webinars now split into free basics and extra paid features
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Microsoft has recategorised Teams Events into two groups. Foundational features ship with eligible Teams licences such as Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, and Premium. Advanced features now need a Teams Enterprise licence, such as Office 365 E1, E3, or E5, or Microsoft 365 E3, E5, or E7. Many event capabilities already moved from Teams Premium to Teams Enterprise in April 2026. New Teams Premium licences no longer include Teams Events at all. Legacy Premium can keep advanced features only until the contract ends or renews. Interactive events where attendees use mic and camera stay capped at 1,000 people on both tiers. Chat, reactions, polls, and Q and A stop at 1,000 on foundational licences and 3,000 on advanced. View-only events with Q and A go to 10,000. Anything above 3,000 attendees needs capacity packs assigned to the organiser.
Until this year, many organisers treated Teams Premium as the extra ticket for webinars and town halls. Business Premium felt like a safe default for a company all-hands with chat and polls. That assumption no longer holds. The split is now about which licence the organiser holds, not which meeting button they click. A Business or frontline licence can still run a basic event, but engagement features and larger rooms sit on Enterprise. If you already bought Teams Premium after April 2026, it will not buy those event extras back.
Analysis
This is a trap to avoid, not a new workflow to adopt. Before you schedule the next webinar or all-hands, check the organiser's licence and pick the attendee mode that matches the 1,000, 3,000, or 10,000 cap so chat and polls do not vanish on the day.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Teams webinars now split into free basics and extra paid features", Collab365 Spaces. 2 sources referenced.