Kohortly vs Microsoft Teams for Education
Teams is where a school's classes meet. Kohortly is where a training programme runs.
Microsoft Teams for Education gives each class a team with chat, meetings, files and Assignments, as part of Microsoft 365 Education. It suits schools and universities that already run on Microsoft. In November 2026 Microsoft announced that the free Office 365 A1 licence, which includes Teams, is being retired by January 2028, and the free A0 licence replacing it for students doesn't include Teams. Kohortly is a hosted platform for training organisations, with admissions, cohorts, fees, attendance and certificates built in.
The short answer
Choose Microsoft Teams for Education if
- Your school or university already runs on Microsoft 365.
- You want classes, meetings and Office files in one Microsoft app.
- Your IT team manages staff and student accounts centrally.
Choose Kohortly if
- Your learners come from outside: they apply and join an intake.
- You take fees, in instalments or from employers and sponsors.
- You need attendance, certificates and impact reports in one place.
- You want a community and WhatsApp reminders under your own brand.
Microsoft Teams for Education and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Microsoft Teams for Education: Part of Microsoft 365 Education licences; free Office 365 A1 retires by 1 January 2028
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Best for
- Microsoft Teams for Education: Schools and universities on Microsoft
- Kohortly: Organisations running training programmes
- Accounts
- Microsoft Teams for Education: School-managed Microsoft accounts
- Kohortly: Learners sign in with email, Google or WhatsApp
- Community
- Microsoft Teams for Education: Team channels and chat
- Kohortly: Feed, chats, squads and channels
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Microsoft Teams for Education |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Team channels and posts | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | Assignments and Class Notebook | |
| Points, levels and leaderboards | ||
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Teams meetings with breakout rooms and recording |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | Class teams |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | Meeting attendance reports |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | Channels and breakout rooms |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Insights for education |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Not a payments tool |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | Outlook with the licence | |
| Phone app | Installable web app under your own name and logo, plus the Kohortly phone app | Microsoft Teams app |
| Web address | kohortly.com/yourname, or your own domain | teams.microsoft.com |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | Microsoft Graph |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | Not a payments tool |
Microsoft Teams for Education details as of November 2026, from Microsoft 365 Education, Windows Report: Microsoft is retiring Office 365 A1, LazyAdmin: Microsoft retires Office 365 A1 and the Student Use Benefit and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Microsoft Teams for Education's site before you decide.
Built for a school's own students
Teams for Education works best when the institution owns every account: IT creates class teams from the student information system, and students sign in with school Microsoft accounts. Meetings, chat, Assignments and OneNote Class Notebook then sit in one app.
Training organisations usually teach people they don't issue accounts to, and they need what happens around the class: applications, seats, fees, attendance across online and in-person days, and certificates. Kohortly handles those, and learners sign in with an email link, Google or a WhatsApp code.
The licence change to plan for
Microsoft announced on 5 November 2026 that Office 365 A1, the free licence many schools use for Teams, is retiring: new sales through partners end on 1 May 2027 and A1 retires on 1 January 2028. The new free A0 licence for students has no Teams, so staff need paid licences from A2 up.
If a free Teams setup was what made it attractive, it's worth comparing costs again now. Check the details with Microsoft or your licensing partner, as terms depend on your agreement.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Teams doesn't handle learner fees. Many of the organisations we work with are paid by bank transfer, mobile money such as M-Pesa, UPI or Pix, a company cheque, a card on their own machine (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or cash at the first session, often in instalments.
Kohortly records each payment against the learner's fee account, issues a receipt, shows the balance and reminds people before an instalment is due, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. Nothing is taken from what your learners pay: Kohortly charges 0%.
When an employer pays for ten staff, one payer covers all ten seats and gets one invoice, while each learner still has their own place in the cohort.
Reaching people where they already are
Teams sends notifications inside the Teams app and by email. Kohortly sends class reminders on WhatsApp with "I'll be there" and "Can't make it" buttons, and the answers appear on the attendance list. Announcements can go by email, WhatsApp, SMS and the in-app bell at once.
Learners can also add your community to their home screen as an app under your own name and logo, so they open your programme, not someone else's brand. The Kohortly phone app keeps all their communities under one sign-in.
Where Microsoft Teams for Education is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Microsoft Teams for Education does these things better than Kohortly:
- Deeply integrated with Word, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook.
- Strong video meetings for large classes, with breakout rooms.
- Central account management for IT teams.
Moving from Microsoft Teams for Education to Kohortly
- Request a community. We set it up with your name, logo and colours, at kohortly.com/yourname or on your own domain.
- Import your members from a CSV export, with their names, emails and phone numbers.
- Recreate your programmes and courses. Lesson videos can be uploaded or embedded, and we can help with the move when we agree your plan.
- Invite members to sign in. Their history starts in Kohortly from the next intake.
Questions
Is Microsoft Teams for Education free?+
Teams has been included in the free Office 365 A1 licence for schools. Microsoft announced in November 2026 that A1 retires on 1 January 2028, and the free A0 licence replacing it for students doesn't include Teams, so schools will need paid Microsoft 365 Education licences for Teams. Check current terms with Microsoft.
Can a training company use Teams for Education?+
Microsoft's education licences are for qualifying academic institutions, so a training business would normally use a business licence instead. Either way, Teams has no applications, fee records or certificates. Kohortly includes them.
What's a Teams alternative for cohort programmes?+
If you run intakes with applications, fees, attendance and certificates, and want a community and WhatsApp reminders, Kohortly is built for that, with live rooms in the browser.
Other comparisons
Bring your next cohort to Kohortly
Request a community today. We review every request by hand.