Sustainable Substitutes for Microsoft Teams

A team collaboration platform developed by Microsoft, increasing vendor lock-in.

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Reasons to avoid Microsoft Teams

Avoid Microsoft Teams due to its integration into Microsoft’s data-harvesting ecosystem, which raises significant privacy and security concerns. Teams collects extensive user data, including meeting content, chat logs, and personal information, often without clear consent or transparency.

The platform’s proprietary nature and forced cloud dependency lock users into Microsoft’s ecosystem, stifling competition and limiting user autonomy. For a more ethical and sustainable alternative, choose open-source, privacy-focused collaboration tools.

Sustainable Alternatives

Here are some sustainable alternatives to Microsoft Teams

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OpenTalk

A German GDPR compliant video conferencing service.

OpenTalk offers a free tier with meetings of up to 30 minutes length and 5 participants.
OpenTalk can be self-hosted, giving full control over data and privacy.
OpenTalk allows users to join meetings without creating an account or registering.
OpenTalk by Heinlein is based in Berlin, Germany.
OpenTalk does not show ads to its users.
OpenTalk comes with end-to-end encryption and does not engage in data mining for advertising.
OpenTalk is open source under the EUPL (European Public License).
Website

Wire

A Swiss secure messaging and video conferencing platform with end-to-end encryption.

Wire can be self-hosted, giving organizations full control over their data and privacy.
Wire's service is ad-free for all its free and paid tiers, it's funded through enterprise plans.
Wire offers a free tier, mainly for messaging. For video conferencing one has to opt for one of the paid tiers.
Wire offers end-to-end encryption for all communications and does not perform data mining for advertisement, ensuring user privacy and security.
Wire is based in Switzerland, ensuring compliance with GDPR and strong European privacy laws.
Wire is free and open-source software, allowing anyone to inspect, modify, and enhance the code.
Website

Jitsi

An open-source video conferencing platform with end-to-end encryption, widely used for secure meetings.

Jitsi is ad-free, providing a clean and distraction-free experience.
Jitsi can be fully hosted on your own servers, giving complete control over data and privacy.
Jitsi does not engage in data mining for ads and comes with end-to-end encryption for calls with two participants.
Jitsi is free and open-source software, allowing anyone to inspect, modify, and enhance the code.
Jitsi is free to use for everyone, with no participant limits or mandatory fees for basic features.
Jitsi allows anyone to join meetings without registration. Unfortunately, creating a meeting on the public instance (meet.jit.si) now requires a Google, GitHub, or Facebook account. Self-hosted instances can be configured to allow anonymous meeting creation.
Website

Whereby

A Norwegian privacy-focused video conferencing tool with no account required.

Whereby allows users to join meetings without registration.
Whereby offers a free plan with no participant limits.
Whereby is based in Norway, ensuring compliance with GDPR and strong European privacy laws.
Whereby offers end-to-end encryption for small meetings (peer-to-peer), ensuring user privacy and security.
Whereby is ad-free, providing a clean and distraction-free video conferencing experience.
Website

The 6 main issues with Microsoft Teams

Monopoly - Market dominance that stifles competition and limits user choice.

Teams is developed by Microsoft and is part of its productivity suites Office 365. A recent competition probe by the EU has led Microsoft to promise to unbundle Teams from its productivity suites within the next seven year. Source: TechCrunch: Microsoft slips unscathed through EU competition probe after promising to unbundle Teams (2025)

Big Tech - Big Tech companies do not nourish people and planet. This is especially true in times of political tension.

Microsoft is one of the largest tech companies, contributing to market monopolisation.

Privacy Concerns - User data is likely to be stored and used against users' best interest.

Microsoft will link your private and professional collaboration history to your windows account. Source: The Verge: Microsoft Teams’ new single app for personal and work is now available (2024)

Support of Authoritarian Regimes - Companies actively supporting, financing and legitimising regimes and unethical policies.

Microsoft is financing Donald Trumps plans to create a new ballroom in the white house, hoping to benefit from upcoming laws. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella donated $1 Million to Trumps inauguration fund.Sources: OpenSecrets: Trump ballroom donors poised to benefit from AI plan they helped shape (2026)The Verge: Tech’s shift to Trump: all the companies and execs kissing the ring (2025)

Tax Avoidance - Aggressive strategies are being deployed to avoid paying taxes.

Microsoft is known for using aggressive tax avoidance schemes and has been fined for it. Source: The Guardian: This article is more than 11 years old US tech giants launch fierce fightback against global tax avoidance crackdown (2015)

Monopoly - Market dominance that stifles competition and limits user choice.

Using Microsoft Teams increases the vendor lock-in, making it harder to migrate away from Microsoft's ecosystem.