On November 1, 2025, Microsoft executed a sweeping overhaul of its productiveness suite licensing following years of EU antitrust strain. The transfer was hailed as a win for competitors. Slack, which filed the unique criticism, celebrated the result: not solely may enterprises now purchase Microsoft 365 with out Groups hooked up, however Microsoft was additionally required to enhance how rival communication instruments combine with its software program ecosystem. For corporations locked into Microsoft 365 however preferring Slack or Zoom, this was alleged to be liberation.
For many enterprises, nonetheless, the truth has been far much less triumphant. The $8.55-per-user month-to-month saving from dropping Groups could also be offset by added administrative complexity, misplaced ecosystem synergy, and the premium price of third-party alternate options, making such a transfer redundant. In the meantime, Microsoft’s dismantling of conventional quantity reductions and its push towards AI-driven “Copilot” bundles has left enterprises dealing with extra expense.
The story of Groups unbundling, though framed as one in every of newfound alternative, has changed one problem with one other. Understanding why requires taking a look at what really modified in November 2025 and what it now prices to handle.
What Truly Modified in November 2025
The roots of the November 2025 restructure stretch again to July 2020, when Slack filed a proper antitrust criticism with the European Fee. The allegation was easy: by bundling Groups into Workplace 365 and Microsoft 365 at no extra seen price, Microsoft was leveraging its dominant place in productiveness software program to crush competitors within the collaboration market. The Fee’s investigation discovered advantage within the declare. To keep away from fines of as much as 10% of worldwide turnover—roughly $24.5 billion—Microsoft proposed a sequence of commitments in Might 2025, formally accepted in September.
The commitments, many legally enforceable for seven years, required Microsoft to supply variations of its suites with out Groups at a lowered worth, enable present clients to modify away from bundled packages throughout renewal, and enhance technical interoperability for rivals. Whereas the Fee’s focus was the European Financial Space, Microsoft opted for a worldwide rollout to take care of operational consistency and maybe preempt comparable regulatory actions elsewhere.
Microsoft reintroduced the power for patrons worldwide to buy Microsoft 365 and Workplace 365 Enterprise suites with Groups included, rolling again the worldwide unbundling that had been in place since April 2024. Nonetheless, the “no Groups” variations remained as everlasting, lower-priced alternate options. This created a dual-track licensing actuality: organizations should now explicitly select between an built-in ecosystem and a modular method.
Probably the most essential mechanism is the “worth delta,” the fastened distinction in price between a set with Groups and one with out it. Within the Enterprise tier (E3 and E5), Microsoft established a minimal delta of $8.55 per person per 30 days. This delta is just not merely a pricing alternative however a regulatory requirement designed to make sure that the Groups element has a clear and separable financial worth. Microsoft Groups Enterprise is obtainable as a standalone product for precisely $8.55 per person per 30 days, reaching what the corporate calls “financial neutrality”: a company that chooses an unbundled suite and later provides Groups individually pays the identical complete quantity as one which licenses the bundled suite from the outset.
On paper, this appears to be like like alternative. In apply, it has launched administrative and monetary complexity that few organizations had been ready for and that many now discover dearer than the bundle ever was.
Does Unbundling Improve Complete Spend?
The promise of unbundling was easy: organizations may save $8.55 per person per 30 days by dropping Groups and selecting a best-of-breed various. For a ten,000-user enterprise, that theoretically interprets to $85,500 in month-to-month financial savings. However the monetary actuality is much extra complicated.
Simon Gammon, Cloud Companies Director at Nexus, explains: “From what we’re seeing throughout the organizations we help, Microsoft’s resolution to unbundle Groups from sure enterprise licenses has not lowered price for many clients. In lots of instances, it’s elevated complete price of possession whereas introducing new layers of procurement and licensing complexity.”
The difficulty is twofold. First, the $8.55 saving is shortly consumed by the price of a third-party collaboration device. Slack’s Professional plan prices $7.25 per person per 30 days, which seems barely cheaper, however it lacks the deep integration and superior options many enterprises require. Upgrading to Slack’s Enterprise+ plan, which incorporates SSO, superior AI recaps, and enhanced safety, prices $15.00 per person per 30 days. For a ten,000-user group, that’s $150,000 per 30 days.
Second, unbundling has uncovered redundancy and compliance gaps. Tyler Higgins, Managing Director at AArete, notes: “Unbundling has uncovered widespread redundancy and compliance gaps, with organizations carrying overlapping licenses or paying for customers who not require full collaboration entry. In apply, this creates a state of affairs the place unbundling shifts price visibility, not price burden.”
Probably the most vital long-term monetary affect stems from dismantling the standard Enterprise Settlement low cost construction. Though indirectly associated to Groups unbundling, its timing meant the prices had been seen collectively.
Efficient November 1, 2025, Microsoft started eradicating tiered reductions for all On-line Companies. Organizations whose renewals fall after this date are being transitioned to a flat, list-rate pricing mannequin. For a big enterprise that traditionally benefited from a Stage D low cost (usually 15,000+ seats), the elimination of this low cost represents a considerable enhance in IT expenditure. Some estimates recommend that organizations renewing in 2026 will see baseline will increase of 12% to fifteen%.
Tomás O’Leary, Founder and CEO of Origina, questions whether or not Groups unbundling was a helpful excuse to usher within the change: “The priority we’re listening to from enterprises is when unbundling is used to repackage present performance in a means that drives greater complete price of possession, provides procurement complexity, or pressures clients to take care of the established order at the next worth, it stops being pro-choice and begins feeling coercive. Many organizations at the moment are being requested to pay extra merely to face nonetheless or to make choices on a vendor’s timeline somewhat than their very own.”
For many enterprises, the mix of unbundling complexity, misplaced quantity reductions, and the excessive price of third-party alternate options has resulted in a internet enhance in spending.
A Aggressive Opening That Hasn’t Materialized?
Unbundling was alleged to open the market to rivals corresponding to Slack, Zoom, and Webex. However market share information from 2025 and early 2026 tells a special story. By late 2025, Microsoft Groups held over 40% of the worldwide collaboration platform market, with as much as 320 million each day energetic customers. Slack’s market share remained round 13% in the identical section.
Patrick Watson, Director of Analysis at Cavell, explains why: “Microsoft’s transfer merely got here too late. By the point Groups was separated from the broader Microsoft 365 suite, it had already reached greater than 300 million customers and change into deeply embedded throughout core productiveness purposes. Our analysis with greater than 400 Groups decision-makers within the UK and US exhibits this clearly. Eighty-six % bought Groups as a part of a 365 bundle, and 84% mentioned they’d have purchased Groups even when it had been a standalone service. In different phrases, unbundling has had very restricted market affect.”
Competitors between Groups and Slack has advanced right into a segmented rivalry primarily based on firm dimension and trade somewhat than a broad market battle. Groups stays the default alternative for 90% of Fortune 500 corporations that worth its deep integration with Microsoft 365 governance and safety features. Slack, conversely, dominates organizations with beneath 500 staff, holding a 52% market share in that section.
Higgins presents a measured view: “Unbundling ought to create a gap for rivals, however the profit is extra selective than many anticipate. Platforms like Slack might achieve traction in focused environments, notably if procurement groups are already working sourcing occasions tied to broader software program rationalization efforts. Even then, wholesale displacement stays unlikely for many giant organizations. Groups is deeply built-in into operational procedures.”
What Did the Groups Unbundling Actually Obtain for the UCaaS Market?
The November 2025 Groups unbundling was designed to revive aggressive stability to the unified communications market. On paper, it succeeded: enterprises now have the specific proper to buy Microsoft 365 with out Groups, and rival platforms have secured commitments for improved interoperability. However the hole between regulatory intent and market actuality stays huge.
For many enterprises, unbundling has not translated into significant alternative. The $8.55-per-user saving is absorbed by administrative overhead, compliance dangers, and the premium price of integrating third-party platforms. The simultaneous elimination of volume-based Enterprise Settlement reductions has compounded the monetary burden, leaving organizations dealing with baseline price will increase of 12% to fifteen%—far outweighing any theoretical profit from modular licensing.
Rivals have gained technical entry however not market traction. Groups’ dominance within the enterprise section stays largely unchallenged, with 90% of Fortune 500 corporations persevering with to depend on it as their main collaboration platform. Slack and Zoom have carved out strongholds in particular segments, however wholesale displacement has not materialized. For a lot of, the unbundling arrived years too late to forestall the ecosystem lock-in that now defines the UCaaS panorama.
Maybe essentially the most vital consequence is one regulators didn’t anticipate: the shift from product bundling to data- and AI-driven lock-in. As Microsoft layers Copilot and different AI companies onto its productiveness suite, the worth proposition is not about whether or not Groups is “free.” It’s about whether or not a company’s complete information property is optimized for Microsoft’s intelligence layer. On this context, unbundling a single utility looks like a hindrance, not a freedom to select the best-of-breed.
The unbundling might have glad the letter of antitrust regulation, however it has but executed little to shift the stability of energy within the UCaaS market. If something, it has strengthened the gravitational pull of the Microsoft ecosystem, proving that dominance constructed on integration is much more durable to dismantle than dominance constructed on worth.
