A site created with the wrong template cannot be fixed later. That single fact is why template selection deserves more thought than most admins give it at the moment someone clicks "Create site." Pick a Team site when a Communication site was needed, and the fix is a new site and a content migration, not a settings change.
What is a SharePoint site template?
A site template is the structural blueprint fixed at creation that determines whether a site is built for a working group or for broadcasting content, and it never changes afterward. It governs the default lists, the default permission model, and whether a Microsoft 365 Group and its shared mailbox come attached. Every choice below is really a choice about which template ID the new site gets.
The three practical options for new sites
Team site (GROUP#0)
This is what most people mean when they say "create a SharePoint site" from the Teams app or the SharePoint start page. It provisions a Microsoft 365 Group alongside the site, which brings a shared mailbox, calendar, and Planner plan whether the team wants them or not. Best fit: a working team that needs a document library, a shared calendar, and a Teams channel wired together from day one.
Team site without a group (STS#3)
Same collaborative document experience as GROUP#0, minus the Microsoft 365 Group and everything that comes with it. Admins reach for this when a team needs a document library and lists but a mailbox and calendar would just be unused clutter, such as an admin utility site or a staging area for a migration project.
Communication site (SITEPAGEPUBLISHING#0)
No group, and built around the modern page and news experience rather than document co-authoring. A Communication site is the right call for an intranet home page, a department portal, or any site where most visitors read content rather than contribute to it.
When self-service creation is not enough
Self-service works until an organisation needs every new site to carry a specific naming convention, a mandatory second owner, or a particular sensitivity label applied at creation. At that point, a PnP PowerShell provisioning script, or a Power Automate flow gated behind an approval step, becomes the practical answer. The script still creates one of the same three underlying templates; it just enforces the governance rules that a manual click-through cannot guarantee.
| Provisioning method | Best for | Governance control |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service (SharePoint admin centre or Teams) | Small teams, low-risk sites, fast turnaround | Low, relies on the creator following convention |
| Governed request process | Mid-size organisations with a helpdesk or intake form | Medium, a human reviews each request |
| PnP PowerShell / automated provisioning | Regulated environments, large tenants, MSPs managing many client tenants | High, naming and owner rules enforced automatically |
How does the template choice affect migration later?
Sites built on publishing templates or with heavy custom branding on a Communication site typically require more remapping work during a cross-tenant migration than a plain Team site does, because page layouts and web parts do not always carry across cleanly. Knowing the template mix in a tenant before a migration project starts changes the estimate considerably. A tenant that is mostly GROUP#0 team sites migrates faster, page for page, than one with a long tail of custom-branded Communication sites and legacy publishing templates.
The full site template ID reference lists every template SharePoint Online still supports, including the classic and deprecated ones you may inherit rather than provision yourself, and building a site inventory before migration covers how to pull that template mix for an entire tenant in one export.
Decision matrix
| If you need... | Choose |
|---|---|
| A working team's shared documents, calendar, and Teams channel together | Team site (GROUP#0) |
| A document library and lists without mailbox clutter | Team site, no group (STS#3) |
| An intranet page, news hub, or department portal for a wide audience | Communication site (SITEPAGEPUBLISHING#0) |
| Consistent naming, owners, and labels across every new site | PnP provisioning script or a governed request process |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a Team site and a Communication site?
A Team site is built for a working group to collaborate on files and usually connects to a Microsoft 365 Group. A Communication site has no group and is built for broadcasting content to a wide audience that mostly reads rather than edits.
Can I change a site's template after it has been created?
No. The template ID is fixed at creation. Converting requires a new site and a content migration, not a settings change.
Should every new site go through self-service creation?
Self-service is fine for small, low-risk sites. Organisations with compliance or naming requirements typically route creation through a governed process or a provisioning script instead.
Once a site inventory exists, Report Master can export the template, owner, and storage figures for every site in a tenant to Excel, which is the fastest way to see how many sites need remediation before a governance push or a migration project begins.