Microsoft Teams Webinar Guide: Setup, Licenses, Limits

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As of October 2026, any Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium license can host a Microsoft Teams webinar with registration for up to 1,000 attendees, and Business Basic costs $7 per user a month, paid yearly. Waitlists, manual approval, custom emails and interactive events of up to 3,000 attendees need an advanced-features license such as Teams Enterprise, listed at $8.55 per user a month.

Below: the setup steps in the menu names Microsoft’s support articles use today, what each license includes, and the limits that send B2B teams elsewhere. For 18 platforms side by side, see our Webinar Platform Index.

Microsoft Teams webinars: key facts

Item	What Microsoft states
Licenses that include webinars	Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, Premium; F1, F3; Teams Essentials; A1 and student plans
Cheapest plans	Business Basic $7, Teams Essentials $4 (per user a month, paid yearly)
Attendees, those licenses	1,000 with registration; 10,000 view-only
Advanced features	Teams Enterprise ($8.55); Office 365 E1, E3, E5; Microsoft 365 E3, E5, E7
Attendees, advanced	3,000 with chat, polls and Q&A; up to 100,000 with an Attendee Capacity Pack
Maximum length	30 hours
Free Teams	Not on Microsoft’s list of eligible licenses

Which licenses include Teams webinars

The organizer’s license sets the features; attendees need no license.

Foundational features (Business plans, F1 and F3, Teams Essentials, A1 and student plans): registration through a customizable form, chat, Q&A, reactions, attendee mic and camera control and attendance reports, for up to 1,000 attendees.
Advanced features (Teams Enterprise, Office 365 E1 to E5, Microsoft 365 E3 to E7, faculty A3 and A5): adds manual approval, waitlists, registration windows, custom emails and reminder times, RTMP-In, 1080p and up to 3,000 engaged attendees.

Older guides say you need Teams Premium. Since April 1, 2026, those event features sit in Teams Enterprise instead. Premium ($10 per user a month, paid yearly) bought after that date doesn’t unlock them; licenses bought earlier keep them until they expire. Note too that regular meetings on Business plans cap at 300 people, but webinars, as Teams events, go to 1,000.

How to set up a webinar in Teams, step by step

These steps follow Microsoft’s articles Schedule a webinar, Manage webinar registration and Publicize a webinar.

In the Teams calendar, select the arrow next to New and select Webinar.
Enter the title and date of the webinar, its start and end times, and a description. Add presenters and up to 10 co-organizers from your org.
Keep Public (anyone can register) or switch to Your organization for internal sessions.
Select Save to move on to registration.
Go to Registration > Configuration. Set the Event capacity. Under Form, select Add field for preset fields or a Custom question, and mark them Required.
Under Setup, select Theming for a banner (at least 920x230px), logo (280x280px) and theme color, and Presenter bios for speaker photos.
For outside speakers, select Manage event > Add external presenters, enter their email addresses and select Save and send invites (up to 20).
Select View draft, then Publish site and confirm.
Back in your calendar, select the webinar and Copy registration link.

Also turn on Attendees with a registration link can bypass the lobby under Manage event > Meeting options > Meeting access, so registered outside guests aren’t left waiting. If Webinar is missing under New, your admin controls it in the Teams admin center under Meetings > Events policies. Microsoft also offers an Events app where you select Create event and start from a template.

During and after the webinar

Recording starts automatically unless you turn off Record and transcribe automatically in Meeting options.
In a public webinar, attendee mics and cameras stay off unless an organizer turns them on.
Publish the recording from Manage event > Recordings; registrants get an email. Published recordings expire after 30 days unless you extend them by 60.
Download leads from Manage event > Reports > Download > Registration report.

Teams webinar vs town hall

	Webinar	Town hall
Best for	Training, demos, customer sessions	One-to-many broadcasts
Attendee mic and camera	Organizer can allow	Off; Q&A only
Capacity	1,000 (3,000 with advanced features)	10,000 view-only; 100,000 with a capacity pack
Viewing	Live	Slight delay; pause and rewind

Microsoft’s town hall article still says 100,000 attendees with Teams Premium; its licensing page, updated September 28, 2026, says larger events need an Attendee Capacity Pack once a pre-April Premium term ends.

What a Teams webinar costs for a real team

Teams is licensed per organizer, not per attendee. Five marketers on Business Basic cost $35 a month, paid yearly, and each can run 1,000-attendee webinars. On Teams Enterprise the same five cost about $43 a month. Attendee Capacity Packs, starting at 5,000 attendees, are extra.

Teams vs dedicated webinar platforms

Teams runs the session well. The gaps are in marketing work:

No CRM connector named. Microsoft’s events pages name no native HubSpot, Salesforce or Marketo sync; registrants come out as a report.
No simulive or evergreen. Microsoft’s webinar articles cover live sessions and published recordings only.
Recordings expire after 30 days unless extended.

How Teams compares with three platforms from the Webinar Platform Index, billed yearly:

Platform	Entry price	Attendees	Native HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo
Microsoft Teams (Business Basic)	$7 per user a month	1,000	None named
Zoom Webinars	$83.33 a month	500	All three
Demio Starter	$45 a month	50	Premium plan only
Livestorm Pro	$1,200 a year for 400 attendee credits	3,000 per event	Enterprise plan only on the pricing page; HubSpot on all plans per its help center

Zoom’s webinar and event plans also require a paid Zoom Workplace Pro license: $14.16 a month billed annually, or $16.99 monthly, per user (checked October 9, 2026).

For the wider decision, read Zoom vs Teams vs webinar platforms and our Zoom webinar pricing guide.

Bottom line

Internal training and customer onboarding: use Teams. You already pay for it.
Customer webinars needing waitlists or approval: check your organizers’ licenses before buying another tool.
Demand generation that feeds a CRM, or long-running replays: a dedicated platform such as Zoom Webinars or Demio saves the manual export.
More than 1,000 people: run a town hall.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Microsoft Teams webinar free?

No. Free Teams isn’t on Microsoft’s list of licenses for Teams events. Webinars start with Teams Essentials at $4 per user a month or Business Basic at $7, paid yearly.

How many people can attend a Teams webinar?

1,000 with registration on any eligible license. Advanced-features licenses allow 3,000 with chat and polls, view-only events reach 10,000, and Attendee Capacity Packs go to 100,000.

Do I still need Teams Premium for webinars?

Not if you buy today. Since April 1, 2026, those features are part of Teams Enterprise. Premium licenses bought earlier keep them until they expire.

Can Teams webinars sync registrants to HubSpot or Salesforce?

Microsoft names no native connector. Download the registration report from Manage event > Reports, or compare platforms with native sync in our Webinar Platform Index.

Sources

Prices checked against the vendors’ own pages on October 9, 2026.

Microsoft Teams Webinar: Setup, Licenses and Limits (2026)