Zoom Workplace review
by Zoom CommunicationsTeam chat
Team Chat inside Zoom Workplace, from Pro at $14.16 per user, with retention periods, legal holds and chat history exports on every paid plan.
- Free plan
- Self-serve
- Per seat
- Public prices
What you're paying for
- Compliance included (main value)
Retention periods, legal holds and searchable chat exports on the entry paid plan, with meetings, mail and calendar in the same app.
Zoom puts the chat records controls a legal or compliance team asks for on every paid account: admins set how long messages are kept (1 day to 10 years), place users on legal hold, and search and export conversations in the Chat History report. Pro, at $14.16 per user a month billed annually, also buys meetings up to 30 hours, mail and calendar clients and cloud recording. Zoom’s SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate list Zoom Chat in scope.
- Legal hold on any paid accountThe legal hold article lists a paid Zoom account as the requirement: admins name up to 20 custodians per matter, hold their chat data indefinitely and export it.Evidence: Zoom support: Legal Hold for Chat data (2026-10-15)
- Search and export chat historyThe Chat History report, listed for Pro, Business, Education and Enterprise accounts, searches by user, keyword or channel and downloads conversations as CSV, or as HTML with attachments.Evidence: Zoom support: Viewing stored chat messages in the Chat History report (2026-10-15)
- Zoom Chat in the audit scopeZoom’s SOC 2 Type 2 report (October 2024 to October 2025) and its ISO 27001:2022 certificate, issued February 17, 2026, both list Zoom Chat.Evidence: Zoom Trust Center SOC 2 and ISO 27001 pages (2026-10-15)
- Best for
- Companies that already meet on Zoom and need chat records they can retain, hold and export without an enterprise contract.
- Good to know
- SAML single sign-on starts on Business ($18.33), and cloud copies of messages are deleted after 2 years unless an admin sets a longer period.
How Zoom Workplace compares
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Team chat: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Zoom Workplace | Microsoft Teams | Slack | Google Chat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedRetention periods, legal holds and searchable chat exports on the entry paid plan, with meetings, mail and calendar in the same app. | Worth the priceChat, meetings and guest access for $4 a user, under Microsoft’s SOC 2, ISO 27001 and default HIPAA BAA terms. | Built-in reachChat on its own terms: channels shared with other companies, unlimited history and custom retention from $7.25 per active user. | Compliance includedChat included with Workspace from $7 a user, with SSO, Chat audit logs and a HIPAA BAA on the cheapest Business plan. |
| Overall score | 5.9 | 7.5Best | 7.1 | 7.0 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | 14-day free trial |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $14.16/user/mo | $4/user/mo | $7.25/user/mo | $7/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Plan priced for 50 people | Workplace Pro, $14.16/user/mo billed annually ($16.99 on the monthly view) | Teams Essentials, $4/user/mo paid yearly | Pro, $7.25/user/mo billed annually ($8.75 monthly) | Workspace Business Starter, $7/user/mo with a 1-year commitment ($8.40 flexible) |
| What else the plan includes | Meetings up to 30 hours, Mail and Calendar clients, 10 GB cloud recording per user | Meetings up to 300 people, 10 GB storage per user | Chat only: huddles, canvases, lists, workflows | Gmail, Meet, Drive (30 GB pooled per user), Docs |
| 50 people, annual terms | $708/mo | $200/mo | $362.50/mo | $350/mo |
| Free option | Basic: one free license; cloud chat copies kept 2 years | Free Teams for personal accounts; 1-month business trial with a card | Free plan: 90 days of history, data older than 1 year deleted | 14-day Workspace trial |
| Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery | Retention periods, legal holds and Chat History search and export on every paid plan | Retention policies from Business Basic ($7); eDiscovery cases need Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 | Custom retention on Pro; legal holds and Discovery API on Enterprise+ | Vault on Business Plus ($22) |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both (Zoom Chat in scope) | Both (Teams in scope) | Both | Both (Google Workspace) |
| HIPAA BAA | Zoom signs BAAs; plans not named, healthcare through sales | By default through Microsoft’s data protection addendum | HIPAA support listed on Enterprise+ | Accepted by an admin in the Admin console |
| EU data storage | Regional Infrastructure for Education and Enterprise accounts | For tenants that sign up in the EU | Business+ and up, set up through sales | Data regions from Business Standard ($14) |
| Company SSO | SAML from Business ($18.33) | Microsoft Entra ID (free version included) | SAML from Business+ ($15); Pro has Google OAuth | Third-party IdP on every Business plan |
| Audit log | Admin activity logs from Pro | Purview Audit (Standard) from Business Basic | Enterprise+ | Chat log events on every Business plan |
| Working with outside people | External contacts in chats and channels, admin-controlled | Guest access included | Pro: guests and Slack Connect channels | Starter: external 1:1 and group DMs; external spaces from Standard |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Zoom Workplace puts the most records controls on its entry paid plan here: retention, legal holds and chat exports on Pro. It is also the most expensive way here to give 50 people chat, and SSO starts on Business. | From its public pages, Teams Essentials is the cheapest way here to give 50 people chat and meetings, under Microsoft’s certifications and default BAA. Plan on Business Basic or above if you need retention policies or an audit log. | From its public pages, Slack is the most complete chat product sold on its own, with the only free team plan here. Admin and compliance controls step up by plan: SAML on Business+, audit logs, legal holds and HIPAA on Enterprise+. | From its public pages, Google Chat gives the strongest admin controls on the cheapest plan here, because they come with Workspace. It is not sold alone, and retention, eDiscovery and EU regions start on higher plans. |
Evidence: Zoom Workplace: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Microsoft Teams: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Slack: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Google Chat: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Score
- Pricing clarity
- 8.0 / 10, Excellent
- scenario plan priced; month-to-month price published; the pricing page’s monthly view shows prices “billed monthly”, while its footnote says all plans are billed annually as one upfront charge; Zoom’s HIPAA pages say it signs BAAs but do not name the plans that can
- Free tier
- 3.0 / 10, Fair
- free version for personal accounts; Basic is one free license with chat and 40-minute meetings; cloud chat copies are kept 2 years and the period cannot be changed
- Price for 50 people
- 3.3 / 10, Fair
- $708/mo: Workplace Pro at $14.16 × 50 people, annual terms; includes meetings up to 30 hours and 100 participants, Zoom Mail and Calendar clients, whiteboards, Clips, Canvas docs and 10 GB of cloud recording per user; assumes Pro, sold for 1–99 licenses, covers all 50 people; $14.16 is the annual charge divided by 12, as the page footnote says
- Message history and eDiscovery
- 6.0 / 10, Good
- limited history on the scenario plan, retention periods on the scenario plan, legal hold on the scenario plan, eDiscovery on the scenario plan
- Compliance and data residency
- 6.5 / 10, Good
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA BAA enterprise or through sales only, EU data storage enterprise or through sales only (Zoom Regional Infrastructure, for Education and Enterprise accounts)
- Admin and outside access
- 8.6 / 10, Excellent
- company SSO on a higher self-serve plan; audit log on the scenario plan; group conversations with outside people on the scenario plan
Review
Review from public pages
Written from Zoom Workplace's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 15, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
What the public pages show
We read Zoom's pricing page in US dollars, with its annual and monthly views, the Team Chat help articles on message storage, legal holds, the Chat History report, channels and external contacts, the admin activity log article, and Zoom's Trust Center pages on SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and regional infrastructure on Oct 15, 2026; we did not sign up for this review. Team Chat is not sold on its own: it is listed on every Zoom Workplace plan, from the free Basic license to Enterprise.
The pricing page shows Pro at $14.16 and Business at $18.33 per user a month billed annually; its monthly view shows $16.99 and $21.99 billed monthly. The footnote under both views says all plans are billed annually as a single upfront charge and that monthly figures are for comparison only, so we used the annual prices. Pro covers 1 to 99 licenses and Business 1 to 250.
The help center is where Team Chat's records controls are spelled out. Paid accounts can set cloud retention from 1 day to 10 years (the default is 2 years; free accounts are fixed at 2 years), place users on legal hold, and search and export conversations in the Chat History report. Zoom's HIPAA page says it signs business associate agreements but does not say on which plans, and its healthcare page points to sales.
Strengths
- Legal hold and eDiscovery on Pro
Legal holds and the Chat History report, which searches and exports messages, are documented for paid accounts, so the $14.16 plan includes them.
vs Slack: Slack lists legal holds on Enterprise+, and Microsoft says eDiscovery cases need Microsoft 365 E3 or E5.
- Retention you set
Admins choose cloud retention from 1 day to 10 years for the account or for user groups, with separate periods for direct messages and channels.
- Admin activity log on Pro
Admin activity logs, searchable by admin or target and exportable as CSV, are listed for Pro, Business, Education and Enterprise plans.
vs Slack: Slack lists audit logs on Enterprise+.
- Chat with people outside the company
External contacts can be added to 1:1 chats, group chats and channels when admins allow it, with an External label and optional admin approval.
- Meetings, mail and calendar included
Pro also includes meetings up to 30 hours, Zoom Mail and Calendar clients, whiteboards, Clips and 10 GB of cloud recording per user.
Things to know
- The highest price here for 50 people
Pro is $14.16 per user a month billed annually: $708 a month for 50, against $200 for Teams Essentials and $362.50 for Slack Pro.
- Cloud history kept 2 years by default
Zoom deletes cloud copies of messages after the retention period, 2 years by default; admins of paid accounts can set up to 10 years.
Workaround: Set the period early: a message’s retention is fixed when it is sent, so a change applies to new messages.
- SAML single sign-on starts on Business
The plan table marks single sign-on via SAML 2.0 and managed domains on Business ($18.33) and Enterprise, not on Pro.
- BAA and EU hosting through sales
Zoom says it signs BAAs without naming plans and points healthcare buyers to sales; its regional infrastructure for EU hosting is offered to Education and Enterprise accounts.
Pricing reality
Zoom bills per license, annually, as one upfront charge. Pro is $14.16 per user a month and Business $18.33; the page’s monthly view shows $16.99 and $21.99, but its footnote says no plan is charged monthly. Enterprise, above 250 licenses, is through sales.
For 50 people on Pro: 50 × $14.16 = $708 a month, or $8,496 a year, paid upfront. Business, for SAML single sign-on, comes to $916.50 a month for 50. Zoom Compliance Manager, for further compliance, DLP and legal hold needs, is listed as an add-on at $6 a month billed annually. The price also buys meetings, mail and calendar clients and cloud recording.
Exit path
Admins can download conversations from the Chat History report as CSV, or as HTML with attachments (up to 50 million messages per CSV export), and export legal hold data in files of up to 1 GB. Messages past the cloud retention period are deleted and cannot be exported.
Compared with
- Pick Zoom Workplace when
- You need retention, legal holds and searchable chat exports on the entry paid plan, with meetings, mail and calendar in one app.
- Pick Microsoft Teams when
- You want the lowest price for 50 people, company sign-in on the entry plan and a HIPAA BAA by default.
- Pick Zoom Workplace when
- You need legal holds and chat exports without an enterprise plan, and want meetings in the same price.
- Pick Slack when
- You want a lower price for chat alone, a free team plan and history kept for the life of the workspace.
Choose it if
- You need legal holds and searchable chat exports without an enterprise plan.
- Your company already meets on Zoom and wants chat in the same app.
- You want an admin activity log on the entry paid plan.
Look elsewhere if
- You want the lowest price per user for chat.
- You need SAML single sign-on on the entry paid plan.
Bottom line
From its public pages, Zoom Workplace puts the most records controls on its entry paid plan here: retention, legal holds and chat exports on Pro. It is also the most expensive way here to give 50 people chat, and SSO starts on Business.
Plan limits at a glance
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Plan priced for 50 people | Workplace Pro, $14.16/user/mo billed annually ($16.99 on the monthly view) |
| What else the plan includes | Meetings up to 30 hours, Mail and Calendar clients, 10 GB cloud recording per user |
| 50 people, annual terms | $708/mo |
| Free option | Basic: one free license; cloud chat copies kept 2 years |
| Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery | Retention periods, legal holds and Chat History search and export on every paid plan |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both (Zoom Chat in scope) |
| HIPAA BAA | Zoom signs BAAs; plans not named, healthcare through sales |
| EU data storage | Regional Infrastructure for Education and Enterprise accounts |
| Company SSO | SAML from Business ($18.33) |
| Audit log | Admin activity logs from Pro |
| Working with outside people | External contacts in chats and channels, admin-controlled |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 15, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Zoom Workplace yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 15, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Zoom Workplace yet.
Zoom Workplace lists 4 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Workplace Pro, costs $14.16/user/mo.
- Zoom WorkplaceFreeBasic$0/moOne license; meetings up to 40 minutes
- Team Chat: direct, group and channel messages
- Meetings up to 100 participants
- Cloud chat copies kept 2 years (fixed)
- Zoom WorkplaceLowest pricePro$14.16/user/moBilled annually as one upfront charge ($16.99 on the monthly view); 1–99 licenses
- Meetings up to 30 hours
- Zoom Mail and Calendar clients
- 10 GB cloud recording per user
- Chat retention settings, legal holds and the Chat History report
- Admin activity logs
- Zoom WorkplaceBusiness$18.33/user/moBilled annually ($21.99 on the monthly view); 1–250 licenses
- SAML single sign-on and managed domains
- Meetings up to 300 participants
- Archiving and DLP APIs, information barriers
- Custom mail domain
- Zoom WorkplaceEnterpriseContact sales
- More than 250 licenses
- Full-featured phone system
- Zoom Compliance Manager as a paid option
- Customer managed key
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-15.
Source: zoom.us pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.