Microsoft Teams Live Chat Stopped on 5 October 2026: Get Website Chat Working Again Today

Microsoft retired Teams live chat, the widget that let small businesses on Microsoft 365 Business plans chat with website visitors from inside Teams. New customers couldn’t set it up from 6 August 2026, and from 5 October 2026 the widget stopped relaying chats to Teams and any widget left on a website is hidden. Keepp gives you website chat back: an AI answers visitors from everything on your page first, and you take over from Telegram on your phone when a customer needs a person.

What happened to Microsoft Teams live chat, and when

Microsoft announced the retirement in message center post MC1449174 and on its own setup page for the feature. These are the dates:

• 6 August 2026: new customers can no longer set up Teams live chat.
• 5 October 2026: Teams live chat is no longer supported. Incoming chats from the website widget are no longer relayed to Teams.
• Mid-October 2026: Microsoft expected the retirement to finish rolling out.

Live chat was available to businesses on Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium. It put a chat widget on your website and sent each conversation to someone on your support team in Teams.

What happens to your widget and your past chats

After 5 October, Microsoft hides any live chat widget still embedded on a website, and visitors can’t start new conversations through it. So if you never replaced it, your website has had no chat for weeks, and nothing tells visitors why.

Your past chats aren’t deleted. Microsoft says existing Teams channels and their List data stay available under your Microsoft 365 retention policies. It recommends exporting anything you want to keep.

Microsoft also asks you to remove the old widget code. On each page where you embedded it, find the <script> tag with id="chatbot" and delete it.

What Microsoft suggests instead

Microsoft’s retirement FAQ points to Dynamics 365 Contact Center with live chat and to Microsoft Copilot Studio contact center AI solutions. Both are contact center products for organisations with support teams. Most businesses that used Teams live chat wanted something much smaller: a way for a customer on the website to ask a question and get an answer.

What to do now

1. Remove the old widget code from your website, so it doesn’t load a hidden widget on every page.
2. Export the chat history you want to keep from your Teams channel and its List.
3. Pick a replacement that answers when your team is busy, not only during your business hours.
4. Put chat back where customers look for it: on your website, in your Google Business Profile and in your social bios.

Why Keepp is the simpler Teams live chat alternative

The AI answers first, from your own page. The chat answers visitors from everything on your Keepp page, like your services, prices, hours, menu and bookings, plus notes you write for questions the page doesn’t cover, such as parking or delivery areas. When it doesn’t know, it says so instead of guessing. Most questions get answered at 11pm without anyone on your team picking up a phone.

You take over from Telegram. When a visitor asks for a person, or the AI can’t help, the chat comes to you in a Telegram group as its own thread, with the conversation so far. You reply from your phone, laptop or browser, and your answer shows up in the chat on the page. If the visitor has already left, they get your reply by email. Answer customer chats from Telegram explains the setup.

Nobody needs a Microsoft licence or an admin role. You connect a Telegram group, choose who answers, and that’s it. Add your colleagues to the group and the whole team sees new chats.

Chats turn into bookings and sales. Teams live chat could pass a visitor to a person. A Keepp page can also take the booking, with real availability and your Google Calendar checked, or sell the product the visitor asked about, with the money going into your own Stripe account.

The website comes with it. Keepp is a page built from blocks: your services, a booking calendar, a shop, a contact form and a map, plus the chat. Every product, booking and form opens as its own page, and a menu at the top ties them together, so it works as your whole website. Point your own domain at it and your web address stays the same.

Chat has its own link. If you’d rather keep your current website, the chat on your Keepp page has its own link. Put it behind a “Chat with us” button on your site, in your email signature or on a QR code at the counter. Share a product, booking or chat link shows how.

How live chat works on a Keepp page follows one chat from the first message to your reply.

How to switch from Teams live chat to Keepp

1. Pick your name at keepp.link and start from a template. The Small Business Site template has your services, recent work, a quote form and a map. Or describe your business to Keepp’s AI and let it build the first version.
2. Add the chat and choose who answers: the AI first and then you, the AI only, or only you.
3. Write what the AI should know. Copy in the answers your team gave most often in Teams: parking, returns, service areas, turnaround times.
4. Connect your Telegram group and add the people who answered chats in Teams.
5. Connect it to your website. Either point your domain at your Keepp page, or add a “Chat with us” button on your current site that opens your chat link. Connect your own domain has the steps.

For a real example, keepp.link/zincafe is a cafe page with a menu, a map, a form and the chat.

Microsoft Teams live chat alternatives

Keepp

A website and link in bio with chat built in, free to start. The AI answers from your page, you take over from Telegram, and the same page takes bookings, sells and collects enquiries.

Dynamics 365 Contact Center

Microsoft’s suggested replacement, a contact center product for customer service teams.

Microsoft Copilot Studio

Microsoft’s other suggestion, for building AI agents. It needs its own Copilot Studio licence.

Common questions

Is Microsoft Teams live chat discontinued? Yes. New setups stopped on 6 August 2026, and from 5 October 2026 Teams live chat is no longer supported and website chats are no longer relayed to Teams.

What happens to my Teams live chat widget? Microsoft hides any live chat widget still embedded on a website after the retirement, so visitors can’t start a chat. Remove the <script> tag with id="chatbot" from your pages.

Will I lose my old live chat conversations? No. Microsoft says your existing Teams channels and List data stay available under your Microsoft 365 retention policies. Export anything you want to keep.

What does Microsoft recommend instead of Teams live chat? Dynamics 365 Contact Center with live chat, and Microsoft Copilot Studio contact center AI solutions.

What is the best Teams live chat alternative for a small business? Keepp, if you want chat that answers on its own: an AI replies from everything on your page, you take over from Telegram on your phone, and the same page takes bookings and sales.

Can I add Keepp chat to my existing website? Yes. Your chat has its own link, so a “Chat with us” button on your site can open it. Or move your site to Keepp and point your domain at it.