Microsoft has announced that per April 1, 2026 Changes are taking place in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Places licensing. Features previously available only in Teams Premium will become more widely accessible within Enterprise and other Microsoft 365 licenses. This change impacts the management of licenses, workspaces, and large-scale events within organizations.
Microsoft Places: Changes in Workplace Management
The features Places Finder en Places Explorer will be available for almost all licenses that provide access to the calendar in Outlook or Teams. This includes Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Business Basic, Standard, and Premium, Outlook 365 E1/E3/E5, Exchange Online, and various Teams licenses. Frontline (F) licenses are excluded from this update, while A licenses for education are supported.
These features allow users to book rooms, view floor plans, and see available technology in workspaces. This allows organizations to offer Places functionality to users without requiring a Teams Premium license.
Teams Shared Space: Changes in shared workspace management
The former Teams Shared Devices-license is renamed to Teams Shared SpaceThis license allows you to four desks per license to manage and also provides access to analytics about the usage and availability of shared spaces.
For IT teams, this means they have insight into the occupancy of office spaces and shared workspaces. Organizations can use this data to make decisions about space management. The license is specifically intended for shared space administrators; end users who only use the Places functionality do not need this license.
Teams Town Halls and Webinars: Access to large-scale events
Features previously only available in Teams Premium, such as hosting town halls and webinars, will be available from April 1, 2026 Teams Enterprise usersOrganizations can organize events for up to 3.000 interactive participants, with a view-only option to 10.000 participantsFor larger gatherings, optional attendee packs available for up to 100.000 participants.
The functionality includes streaming chat, real-time event insights, branding options, and eCDN support. This change makes it possible to organize events without requiring all participants to have a Premium license. For very large gatherings, additional packages will still be required.
License Features: Before and After April 1, 2026
| Role | Past | From April 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Town Halls & Webinars | Teams Premium only | Teams Enterprise (3.000 participants, view-only 10.000) |
| Places Finder | Premium Teams | All licenses with Outlook/Teams calendar |
| Places Explorer | Premium Teams | All licenses with Outlook/Teams calendar |
| Shared Spaces | 1 desk/space | Up to 4 desks per license, including analytics |
| Attendee Packs | Not available | Optional 5.000–100.000 participants |
This table shows at a glance which features were previously Premium-only and which will be more widely available to Enterprise users starting in April 2026.
Possible consequences for organizations
Organizations should evaluate license usage based on the new feature availability. This includes managing shared spaces, hosting large-scale events, and determining which users require additional licenses. Certain features, such as advanced meeting insights or AI-driven meeting recaps, will still require additional licenses such as Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot.
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Starting April 1, 2026, Places features will become more widely available, shared space management will be more comprehensive via Teams Shared Space, and town hall and webinar features will be accessible to Enterprise users. Teams Premium will remain available for features not included in the core license, such as advanced meeting insights and AI functionality.
Organizations should evaluate these changes and determine which licenses are appropriate for their users and workspaces.