Microsoft 365 Groups vs Distribution Lists vs Teams — When to Use Which

By Suvankar Chakraborty | Principal Engineer — IAM, Modern Workplace & IT Operations

The Question That Confuses Every New Microsoft 365 Administrator

A new employee joins. Their manager submits an IT request: "Please add Jane to the Marketing team and give her access to the Marketing shared resources."

In a well-governed Microsoft 365 environment, this single request involves understanding at least four different grouping constructs — each with different capabilities, different governance implications, different licensing requirements, and different appropriate use cases.

Does "Marketing team" mean a Microsoft Teams team? A Microsoft 365 group? A distribution list? A mail-enabled security group? A SharePoint site group? Could be any of them. Often it is all of them simultaneously, which is where the confusion compounds.