Updated September 2022
Choosing an Office 365 license is a critical step before migrating to the cloud. With multiple options for small, medium and enterprise businesses, navigating the differences can get overwhelming. This Office 365 license comparison will reveal the options available within Business and Enterprise options to help you make the correct choice for your organization.
Learn more about:
- Microsoft Licensing Changes in 2022 – The New Commerce Experience
- Microsoft Government Licensing
- Office 365 Educational Licensing
- Microsoft GCC and GCC High Licensing
- Microsoft First Line Worker (F1 & F3) Licensing
Price Comparison for Office 365 Business Plans and Enterprise Licenses
When comparing Office 365 licenses, price is one of the first questions decision-makers ask. Here are the prices of each Office 365 Business and Enterprise license:
| Microsoft Licensing Plan | Price Per User Per Month |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $6.00 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps for Business | $8.25 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard | $12.50 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | $22.00 |
| Office 365 Enterprise F3 | $4.00 |
| Office 365 Enterprise E1 | $10 |
| Office 365 Enterprise E3 | $23 |
| Office 365 Enterprise E5 | $38 |
| Microsoft 365 Enterprise F1 | $2.25 |
| Microsoft 365 Enterprise F3 | $8 |
| Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 | $36 |
| Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 | $57 |
The base price per user for Office 365 Business and Enterprise Plans ranges from $6 to $35, and this cost can quickly add up for larger organizations. On the other hand, if you rely on certain functionalities like Rights Management or cloud PBX, bundling these services into your license can actually save your organization money. If you have third party tools for Anti-Virus, eDiscovery, MFA, SIEM etc, these savings can become immense.
It is important to know that Microsoft now requires an annual term for all licensing. Under “The New Commerce Experience” licensing can be accquired as P1Y (Pay One Year) or P1M (Pay One Month) licensing. Month-to-Month pricing is available at a 10% premium. To learn more read our run down on Microsoft New Commerce Experience.
To better weigh the costs to your organization, let’s compare the features of the Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans.
How Office 365 Enterprise and Business Plans Differ
Both the Microsoft 365 Business plans and Enterprise plans are available for organizations with fewer than 300 employees.
Because larger companies are more likely to be using Office 365, you might be contemplating whether to go with a Business or Enterprise option.
Here are some major features you gain with Office 365 Enterprise plans:
- Microsoft Teams PBX and PSTN conferencing (PSTN calling is available as an add-on in E3 and E5)
- Advanced Information Protection
- Advanced Threat Protection
- Active Directory integration
- Power BI
- Viva Insights
- Litigation Hold
- Unlimited archive and mail storage
- Enterprise app management
Enterprise plans are only available when purchased as a one-year commitment.
Here’s a breakdown of all Microsoft 365 Business plans so you can better understand how they differ.
Microsoft 365 Business Plans
Microsoft 365 Business plans were created for small businesses with fewer than 300 employees that might not need all the bells and whistles Enterprise Microsoft 365 and Office 365 offer.
Here’s what’s included in each Microsoft 365 Business plan for small companies.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic (Formerly Office 365 Business Essentials)
Looking to get basic Microsoft 365 functionality? Microsoft 365 Business Basic offers business email with 50 GB mailbox storage, custom email domain, and web versions of essential Office 365 applications like Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Here’s what you need to know about the Business Essentials license:
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $6/user/month |
| Who It's For | Companies with fewer than 300 users that don’t rely heavily on Office 365 applications, online storage, and who do not need desktop applications |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Email with 50 GB mailbox |
| Custom email domain addresses |
| Web versions of Office applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint |
| 1 TB of OneDrive storage |
| SharePoint (company-wide intranet and team sites to connect people to content, expertise and processes.) |
| Unlimited Microsoft Teams video conferencing for up to 250 people. |
| Microsoft Teams chat-based workspace |
| Microsoft Planner to manage tasks and teamwork |
| Yammer to collaborate across departments and locations |
| 24/7 phone and web support |
| 300 user maximum |
Microsoft 365 Apps for Business (Formerly Office 365 Business)
Next is the Office 365 Business plan. Here are the price and specs for this license option:
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $8.25/user/month (1-year agreement) or $10/user/month (1-month agreement) |
| Who It's For | Businesses with fewer than 300 users that only need Office applications, cloud file storage, and sharing (email hosting not included) |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Desktop versions of Office 365 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (plus Publisher and Access for PCs) |
| Office Online: Web versions of Office 365 applications Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote |
| OneDrive and 1 TB of OneDrive storage |
| Per user licensing permits apps installed on 5 phones, tab;lets and PCs for each user. |
| 24/7 phone and web support |
Microsoft 365 Business Standard (Formerly Office 365 Business Premium)
Microsoft 365 Business Standard adds critical small business tools such as Microsoft Bookings to allows customers to schedule appointments, and Mile IQ for real-time mileage tracking from your mobile devices.
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $12.50/user/month |
| Who It's For | Businesses with fewer than 300 users that need the latest desktop versions of Office applications, cloud services and email hosting alongside small business applications. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Email with 50 GB mailbox |
| Custom email domain addresses |
| Desktop versions of Office 365 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote |
| Web versions of Office 365 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint |
| 1 TB of OneDrive storage |
| SharePoint (company-wide intranet and team sites to connect people to content, expertise and processes) |
| Unlimited Teams video conferencing for up to 250 people |
| Microsoft Teams chat-based workspace |
| Microsoft Bookings to enable customers to schedule appointments |
| Microsoft Planner to manage tasks and teamwork |
| Yammer to collaborate across departments and locations |
| FastTrack deployment support (with purchase of 50+ seats) |
| 24/7 phone and web support |
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
The most powerful Microsoft Business Suite without going for full enterprise plans, Microsoft 365 Business premium takes all of the features of Microsoft 365 Business Standard and rolls in industry leading advanced security features, including Advance Threat Protection against zero-days, ransomware, malware, the ability to selectively wipe company data from mobile devices with Intune, Restrict copying and saving of company information on mobile devices, apply document restrictions and provide unlimited archiving.
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $22/user/month |
| Who It's For | Businesses with fewer than 300 users that need stronger security and compliance tools, but not the full Enterprise Mobility and Security Suite (EMS). |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Email with 50 GB mailbox |
| Custom email domain addresses |
| Desktop versions of Office 365 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote |
| Web versions of Office 365 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint |
| 1 TB of OneDrive storage |
| SharePoint (company-wide intranet and team sites to connect people to content, expertise and processes) |
| Unlimited Teams video conferencing for up to 250 people |
| Microsoft Teams chat-based workspace |
| Microsoft Bookings to enable customers to schedule appointments |
| Microsoft Planner to manage tasks and teamwork |
| Yammer to collaborate across departments and locations |
| FastTrack deployment support (with purchase of 50+ seats) |
| 24/7 phone and web support |
| Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection |
| Intune Selective Wipe |
| App Protection for Office Mobile Apps |
| Information Rights Management |
| Windows Defender Exploit Guard |
| Windows Defender |
| Exchange Online Archiving |
Note on GoDaddy’s Microsoft 365
We strongly suggest against purchasing Office 365 or Microsoft 365 from GoDaddy due to both hidden costs, and lack of feature availability. To learn more, read our blog on Migrating from GoDaddy Office 365 to Microsoft Office 365.
Office 365 Enterprise Plans
Office 365 Business plans are great for companies just starting out or that only require limited functionality. For organizations looking for a more robust solution, Office 365 Enterprise plans are available. With Enterprise plans, your can choose from Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans. Office 365 only includes Office, while Microsoft 365 is a full suite that includes Office 365, Enterprise Mobility and Security, and Windows 10 Enterprise. These licenses are broken up into E1, E3, and E5 enterprise plans, and F1 and F3 first line worker plans. (Learn all about Microsoft First Line Worker licensing)
Office 365 Enterprise F3
Ideal for line workers, drivers, retail staff, Office 365 F3 is focused on workers who do not spend much time in front of a computer. Including popular office apps for web and mobile devices, including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Bring every employee into the fold with Teams collaboration including Task and Shift Management and the unique Walkie Talkie voice mode on mobile.
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $8/user/month |
| Who It's For | Desk-less, mobile, line, and floor staff that do not need desktop applications. Ideally blends into environments with a mix of F3, E3, and E5 licenses for full enterprise management. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Office for Web and Mobile Apps (Including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote and Teams) |
| Use apps on all mobile devices and tablets |
| Outlook Web and Mobile (No desktop integration or voice mail) |
| Microsoft Teams |
| 2 GB of OneDrive storage |
| SharePoint (Without personal sites site mailbox, or ability to create forms) 2GB/user 10GB shared storage |
| Microsoft Stream (View only) |
| Microsoft Power Apps |
| Microsoft To Do |
| Microsoft Shifts |
| Microsoft Forms (Complete only, cannot create) |
| Microsoft Planner |
| Microsoft Sway for Digital Storytelling |
Office 365 Enterprise E1
E1 is the least expensive Enterprise plan. Here’s what you get with the E1 license:
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $10/user/month |
| Who It's For | Users that don't need desktop versions of Outlook or Office applications but still require eDiscovery and data governance. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Email 50 GB mailbox (only accessible from Outlook online) |
| Teams web conferencing, online meetings, and presence |
| OneDrive for Business |
| Yammer |
| SharePoint |
| Video Sharing |
| Web versions of Office applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint |
| File sharing and 1 TB OneDrive storage |
| HD video conferencing |
| Team sites |
| eDiscovery search |
| Data Governance manual classifications and manual policies for retention and deletion |
Here’s how Office 365 Enterprise E1 differs from Business Premium:
- With E1, you can only access email via the online application.
- With E1, you lose desktop versions of Office applications. You must use the online versions of Outlook and other Office applications like Word or PowerPoint online.
Office 365 Enterprise E3
The E3 license is one of the more popular options for digital-driven businesses. With E3, you gain desktop apps, You gain email, archiving, information protection and more storage options. Additionally, you gain Intune for device management and Azure Information Protection (plan 1) for data loss protection.
Here’s what’s included in E3:
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $23/user/month (annual commitment) |
| Who It's For | Businesses that need more advanced BI, compliance, email, security and voice capabilities. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Everything included in the Office E1 License |
| Office Client Apps |
| Legal compliance and archiving needs for email: archiving, eDiscovery hold and export, mailbox hold |
| Information protection: message encryptions, rights management, data loss prevention |
| Azure Rights Management and document management functions: archiving, rights management, data loss prevention and document-level encryption. |
| Email storage for in-place archive |
| Unlimited OneDrive storage |
| eDiscovery legal hold |
| eDiscovery export and case management |
| Hosted voicemail support |
The Microsoft 365 Business Premium plan is most comparable to the Enterprise E3 plan in terms of base features.
Unlike Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 E3 includes:
- Exchange Online Archiving (EOA) and Legal Hold
- Unified eDiscovery Center
- Rights management, data loss prevention and encryption
- Ability to add on PSTN
Office 365 Enterprise E5
Building off the E1 and E3 business plans, Office 365 E5 is the highest tier Microsoft offers. With this license, you gain Audio Conferencing, Phone System, Power BI pro, Customer Lockbox, and Microsoft Cloud App Security:
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $38/user/month (annual commitment) |
| Who It's For | If you use or plan to use Skype for Business Cloud PBX, we recommend the Office 365 E5 license. For $35/user/month, you gain a complete, consolidated phone system along with all functionality available within Office 365. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Everything included in E3 licenses |
| Enhanced security features: Advanced ediscovery, secure attachments and URLs and access controls |
| Microsoft’s Business Intelligence tools for end user organizational analytics |
| Teams Calling |
| Unlimited OneDrive storage |
| Cloud-based call management |
| Advanced analytics with Power BI Pro and Microsoft MyAnalytics |
| Advanced eDiscovery |
| Advanced Data Governance |
| Advanced security with Advanced Threat Protection and Customer Lockbox |
| Enhanced visibility and control of your Office 365 environment |
Next, we look at Office 365 Enterprise ProPlus. It is the last Enterprise plan offering.
Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise (Previously Office 365 ProPlus):
Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise offers a option for users who don’t need email but want Office 365 applications.
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $12/user/month (annual commitment) |
| Who It's For | Users that rely heavily on Office 365 applications on mobile devices, do not need email access but require compliance and basic business intelligence. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| File sharing and 1 TB OneDrive online document storage |
| Fully installed Office on PC/Mac |
| Office apps on tablets and phones |
| Self-service BI in Excel |
| Office Online: Create, view and edit rights for online versions of core Office apps for collaborating on documents |
| Sway for Office 365 |
| eDiscovery search |
| On-premises Active Directory sync for single sign-on |
| Mobile device management |
Microsoft 365 Enterprise Licenses
Unlike the consumer branded Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Enterprise is a suite that includes Office 365, Enterprise Mobility and Security, and Windows Enterprise. M365 Enterprise gives you the enterprise security and compliance features you need, while providing cost savings through vendor consolodation and reduced management and training overhead.
Microsoft 365 F1
While Office 365 F1 was retired in April 2020, Microsoft 365 F1 remains. A cost effective way to give first line workers collaboration tools including Teams, Sharepoint and Yammer, M365 F1 lacks email and while it includes Office apps for Web and Mobile devices, that access is just read only. This gives desk-less workers the ability read documentation no matter where they are. While this license is incredibly cost effective, you should consider if users may have a need to edit for tasks such as inventories, security logging, etc. before settling on F1 licensing.
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $2.25/user/month |
| Who It's For | Desk-less, mobile, line, and floor staff that do not need to edit documents. Ideally blends into environments with a mix of F3, E3, and E5 licenses for full enterprise management. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| READ ONLY Office for Web and Mobile Apps (Including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote and Teams) |
| Use apps on all mobile devices and tablets |
| Microsoft Teams |
| SharePoint (Without personal sites site mailbox, or ability to create forms) 2GB/user 10GB shared storage |
| Microsoft Stream (View only) |
| Microsoft To Do |
| Microsoft Shifts |
| Microsoft Forms (Complete only, cannot create) |
| Microsoft Planner |
| Multi-factor authentication and Conditional Access |
| Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management |
| Integrated PC and On-Premises Management |
| Microsoft Security and Compliance Center |
| Document Tracking and Revocation |
| Azure Rights Management |
| Encryption Key Management |
Microsoft 365 F3
M365 F3 bring email into the fold for desk-less workers, but also gives workers the ability to edit documents with mobile and web Office applications, while providing Windows 10 Enterprise features for users with existing Win 10 Pro installs. Enabling M365 enterprise security features including Device and Credential Guard, Windows Hello for Passwordless sign on, Secure Score, and Windows Virtual Desktop (Additional licensing needed)
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $10/user/month |
| Who It's For | Front line workers who still need to collaborate and communicate with email, and office documents. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Office for Web and Mobile Apps (Including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote and Teams) |
| Use apps on up to 5 mobile devices and 5 tablets per user |
| Microsoft Teams |
| SharePoint (Without personal sites site mailbox, or ability to create forms) 2GB/user 10GB shared storage. (Users cannot be admins) |
| Microsoft Stream (View only) |
| Microsoft To Do |
| Microsoft Shifts |
| Microsoft Forms (Complete only, cannot create) |
| Microsoft Planner |
| Multi-factor authentication and Conditional Access |
| Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management |
| Windows 10 Enterprise (Requires existing Windows 10 Pro) |
| Integrated PC and On-Premises Management |
| Microsoft Security and Compliance Center |
| Document Tracking and Revocation |
| Azure Rights Management |
| Encryption Key Management |
Microsoft 365 E3
M365 E3 brings together best in productivity and collaboration with Office 365 Enterprise E3, Enterprise Mobility and Security E3. and Windows 10 E3
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $32/user/month |
| Who It's For | Employees who want the best in productivity and collaboration and administrators who want to be assured they are operating in a secure and compliant environment. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Everything in Office 365 E1 + Office 365 Apps for up to 5 PCs/Macs + 5 Tablets + 5 Mobile Devices |
| Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS) E3 |
| Multi-Factor Authentication and Conditional Access |
| Mobile Device Management |
| Mobile Application Management |
| Advanced Office 365 data protection |
| Integrated PC Management |
| Integrated on-premises management |
| Document tracking and revocation |
| Encryption Key Management |
| Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management |
| Windows 10 Enterprise (Requires existing Windows 10 Pro) |
| Integrated PC and On-Premises Management |
| Microsoft Security and Compliance Center |
| Document Tracking and Revocation |
| Azure Rights Management |
| Encryption Key Management |
| Azure Rights Management |
| Advanced Threat Analytics |
| Windows 10 Enterprise E3 |
| Windows 10 Enterprise (Require Win 10 Pro Install) |
| Windows Hello for Passwordless Sign On |
| Credential Guard |
| Device Guard |
| Windows Virtual Desktop (Requires additional licensing) |
Microsoft 365 E5
E5 is the most feature packed of the suites, bringing an integrated phone system and audio conferencing into the mix, as well as advanced security tools such as Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat protection, and Microsoft Cloud App Security.
| The Basics | |
|---|---|
| Price | $57/user/month |
| Who It's For | Enterprises looking for the most complete productivity and security solution available. |
| What You'll Get |
|---|
| Everything in Office 365 E3 + |
| Audio Conferencing |
| Integrated Phone System |
| Advanced eDiscovery |
| Advanced Compliance |
| Customer Lockbox |
| Data Governance |
| Exchange Threat Detection |
| Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection |
| Everything in Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS) E3+ |
| Azure Advanced Threat protection |
| Intelligent data classification and licensing |
| Microsoft Cloud App Security |
| Privileged Identity Management |
| Risk based conditional access |
| Everything in Windows 10 Enterprise E3+ |
| Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection |
If any license doesn’t suit your needs, you can also add on specific features via add-on licensing. But often, the cost of upgrading is cheaper than ballooning a license with monthly add-on charges. (Read more about add-ons here.) You can also mix and match licenses depending on user needs to better control costs.
Agile IT’s cloud licensing services make it easy to purchase, transfer, and manage your licenses. As your cloud solutions provider, Agile IT handles all billing and subscriptions for your Office 365 products. You continue paying Microsoft the monthly license fee, and we take care of the rest.
Have questions about which Office 365 license is right for your organization? Request a quote to see how much you can save.
45 Comments
Excellent article, exactly what I was looking for!
A question regarding the statement, “With E1, you can only access email via the online application.” Does this mean if a user already has a retail version of Office 2010, 2013, or 2016 on their computer, that Outlook will not be able to be used as the client desktop application?
Thank you!
Hi Sharon,
I’m glad you found this article helpful. That’s a great question. If you’ve already purchased the retail version of Office 2010, 2013 or 2016 separately, you can access Outlook via the client desktop application (except if you purchased a home and student license).
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you!
Let me add something more
E1 Users are allowed to use POP3 or IMAP protocol and not MAPI to connect to O365 Mailbox
Kind regards
Spikar
There is no issue with connecting to an E1 subscription with your own version of Outlook. Support is available for IMAP, POP AND MAPI. I support many E1 subscription users using Outlook to connect and the MAPI feature is present in the Admin panel for each E1 licensed user
Microsoft’s site is a little confusing so I wanted to ask here:
We want something like E1 but with Office applications.
1) I read that OBP only supports up to 300 users. Is this correct or incorrect?
2) Does OBP support archiving online as well as manual retention / deletion policies like E1. In addition, if Office Business Premium supports archiving, does outlook provided in OBP offer in-place archiving in Outlook program itself?
3) Are there any online services included with E1 that are not available with Office Business Premium?
4) We’re here trying to figure out if it’s worth paying $12.50 vs $20 of E3. Not all users would need E3 but would like to at least have the features of E1 but with office desktop applications and with the online services of E1.
I am going by this article here so you can see what I am confused.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn933793.aspx
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for reaching out. To answer your questions:
1. That is correct: https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?tab=2. The maximum users are listed in the more information settings.
2. The version of Outlook provided in Business Premium is the same as the one in E3/E5, so application features are the same. If you’re looking for something along the lines of Online Archiving and In-Place hold at the Exchange server level, Online Archiving is not available with Business Premium without an add-on license. In-Place holds in Exchange Online are being retired and transitioned to the new Security and Compliance Center retention settings.
3. E1 and Business Premium are feature mirrored essentially. E1 is obviously missing the local Office install as well as not having a maximum user limit.
4. It is possible to mix and match licenses within Office 365. Something like 300 users on E3 and 150 on E1. We’ve handled migrations and licensing for customers who do this fairly often. Just keep in mind that if you have any type of compliance requirements, at minimum you should be looking at E3. Things like Data Loss Prevention (DLP), eDiscovery, and litigation hold aren’t available in E1 or Business Premium. Additionally, not all accounts may need all of the Office 365 applications. If you have users who only need email with Online Archiving for example, there is the Exchange Online Plan 2 license.
Please let me know if you have any further questions. Thanks again!
Good Article,
In E3 License, Can I restrict providing One Drive to Users to avoid Data leaking. If it is not possible to restrict then Can I put access control like location based or device based etc., That is, I do not want users to download any Intellectual property related documents in any of their personal devices or outside of our company premises.
Pl reply.
Hi Manikandan,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m glad you enjoyed the article. When assigning a license in Office 365, you can choose to not license certain features. In the link, you’ll see there are on/off switches for each of the services.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Assign-licenses-to-users-in-Office-365-for-business-997596b5-4173-4627-b915-36abac6786dc
Alternatively, you could look into obtaining and deploying some of the additional features available for data protection in Office 365; like Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Azure Information Protection.
Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
I have a E3 license, and at some point I get a message that says I am getting out of storage while using the online version. WHat does this mean ? How can I see what storage space is used up and how can I increase the storage. I dont seem to see anything under subscription.
By the way, I am not using the full features of 365 as I have my 4 email accounts setup as connected accounts and using it for about 3 years now, My office 365 one-drive is pretty empty and I dont use other BI features or lync etc.
Please assist
Hi Paul, thanks for reaching out. Where is the error coming in (admin center, a message in the mailbox, etc.)?
Hi,
I am looking to build a tenant for our Test domain. There will not be many mailboxes. We want something to use for testing Powershell creating mailboxes as well as some other things. We also do not need to send email externally. Do we still need to buy the Domain so Office 365 can authenticate it? I can’t add another domain to our existing Tenant without authenticating. And last, what version would you recommend and where do I start?
Hi Don,
Thanks for reaching out. If you want to use a vanity domain in Office 365, you must own and verify it in the tenant. A lot of times, our customers just use a subdomain of their primary (like test.agileit.com). Hope that helps. Please let me know if I can answer anything else for you.
Hi,
We are a fairly small and building enterprise.
Right now we have a mixture of Enterprise E1, Business Premium and Business licenses.
I need to offer a large percentage of my employees the desktop version of office with an Azure domain presence.
Will the above license breakdowns do this for me or am I just asking for trouble?
Are the Business accounts no able to access their online capabilities without also having an Enterprise License?
Steve
Hi Steve, thanks for reaching out. E1 doesn’t include the full Office Pro Plus desktop software, only the web applications. The online components in the small business plans will function just the same as their enterprise counterparts. It’s just that Business and Business Premium have maximum user count limits.
Hope that helps!
Can I use an outlook app on a phone to view my email with E1
You can use any email app to access email with E1, but it does not include any of the applications, as you are limited to the web apps. Office 365 web apps do work on mobile devices, but the experience is not the greatest, compared to the Office 365 native mobile apps.
Which one is best for reducing the cost for 50-100 users? We currently using office 2013 and want to upgrade.
The specific answer is “it depends”. Are you subject to any compliance requirements and do you use any additional security platforms? E1 is most cost effective for small teams, E3 is cheaper for larger groups, but the services rolled into E5 make it the best overall solution, even though it can be more expensive. Additionally, you can combine license types, so splitting your licenses can be offer even better savings. If you want to discuss your unique needs, you can book a 30 minute call with us here.
I Have a customer going on Maternity leave and she needs to have Excel on the Server so when she logs into the server via RDP to do some work she has Excel to work on accounting generated Business report spreadsheets. What is the Cheapest legal way of putting just Excel on a Server 2012 R2 Server for one user to have access to? I have tried installing Office 2016 and it tells me it needs a Volume licence. There must be a cheap easy way of achieving this. I have suggested Open Source or Google Sheets but she is not comfortable in that environment.
Any suggestion would be more than welcome.
I’m not sure why she needs to use RDP for Excel. I would suggest just getting a single Office 365 for business license at $10.month (month to month, $8 is paid annually), and she would have her own Excel. Additionally, Microsoft recently uncapped the number of devices a user could have office installed on, but limited concurrent active devices to 2, so if she has an O365 license she uses at work, she can use it at home as well.
Hi Sean, great article and discussion. My company is pretty slow in adopting cloud technologies. We have all the Microsoft product on premise today like Outlook, office products, SharePoint and so on. We, however, have convinced management to go SharePoint online at this point. This does not impact the business a lot and at the same time get to experience moving one thing to the cloud. Question is
1> Can we get just subscription license for SharePoint only. If true then what else is included and the pricing
2> Does it make sense to go with one of the Essential ones if there is no price difference in 1>
Thanks and appreciate all your help
Hirdy, Yes, you can license JUST SharePoint online, but you should be aware of the economy of scale. The functionality of the essential licenses (and the choice of any license really) depends on your company’s specific needs. Often essentials is used for first line workers who do not need a full office productivity suite all the time, but who may need occasional access to email, documents, etc. I’d suggest giving our cloud service advisors a call, as they are experts at aligning Microsoft licensing with business needs.
Just the comparison I was looking for. Great write-up!
All of my questions have been answered.
Interrested in theMicrosoft Team app. If I have 6 people in a team each needs to buy a license at a monthly fee of $8 for a one year plan?
Teams is free for up to 500 users even without an Office 365 license!
Hello Sean. Please how about getting the Microsoft Teams life event license. How do I go about it. Your response will be highly appreciated.
My apologies, Elijah, I did not see you comment until I was doing updates. While anyone can join a Microsoft Teams Live Event, in order to start one you will need A Microsoft 365 or Office 365 E1, E3 or E5 license to create one.
So in summary, what is the major difference between E3 and E5?
Security and Data Loss Protection abilities. With E5, you get governance controls like eDiscovery and litigation hold. More important you get the Advanced Threat Protection suite, which protects your users against malware, malicious URLs and zero-day attacks across mail, teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. It has also recently been expanded to include both manual and automated threat investigation and response capabilities.
I need something that is HIPPA-compliant, with encryption (in-transit and at rest) etc. Otherwise we don’t need much, just Word, Excel and Power Point. 5 users. What system would be best?
Hi Lisa, You’re in luck! We did a full guide to HIPAA Compliance in Microsoft Office 365!
Hello Sean,
I currently have an Exchange Online E1 plan and i was trying to figure out what are the exact restrictions and advantages i will have if i change my plan to office 365 business essentials.
Both have 50gb mailboxes / free teams (up to a limit) / free online versions of ms office.
The O365 BE has as extra the 1TB onedrive for business / SharePoint / and yammer and limit to 300users.
The price difference is fine if we gain a 1TB onedrive for business.
But our concerns is what do we loose except limitation to 300 users?! Is there other administrative limitations? Ex policies restrictions in shared mailboxes or so?
Thank you for your time,
AAT
Alexandros, give us a call. That 1tb is to start companywide, but you also get an additional .5tb per person. Honestly, moving from Exchange E1 to Office 365 is always going to be a net benefit, unless you business has a specific need for hosted exchange.
Hi Sean,
I have a question regarding an information provided on Microsoft website about Office 365 E3 plan. According to the information i can assing licenses up to 20 users. My question is, are these 20 licenses free or do i have to pay $20/user/month or the payment perhaps applies for when i want to add more than 20 users?
Hi Johan, I believe you are talking about this page: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/manage/assign-licenses-to-users
This page is stating that that you can assign up to 20 licenses at a time to your users from the licenses page. Yes, these licenses must be purchased and are not free. If you need to add more than 20 users at once, you should use PowerShell following the instructions here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/enterprise/powershell/assign-licenses-to-user-accounts-with-office-365-powershell
Hi’
I need dial in number and code functionality in MS TEAMS. Which license model support that out of the box
You can get it as an add-on with Calling Plans, but it is not included until you get to the E5 hero suites.
Hi,
We are a fairly small and building enterprise consist of 20 employees.
Right now we have a mixture of licences like Home/Student and Office.
We do indulge in lot of PPTs/ external-internalEmails and in extensive RnD for the accurate data.
Will the above license breakdowns I am bit confused as to which one would suit our company.
Does the antivirus comes along with the MS software. Apologies for sounding completely a layman.
If you are looking for Antivirus/Anti-Malware, you will want to get Microsoft Windows Enterprise E3 for your users, which is an add-on license. If you want to bundle it in an all encompasing suite, Microsoft 365 E-3 includes Office 365, Windows Enterprise and the Enterprise Mobility and Security Suite, this gives you constantly updated versions of all of it, as well as advanced security for your information, devices and desktops.
Just a question on PowerApps availability as part of the Office/MS 365 license plan. Seems power apps is only listed under Office 365 Enterprise F3 surely this cant be the case? On the Microsoft Pricing Guide for Office 365, Power Apps are listed as a Shared Service so i’m not sure if it available on all Office/Microsoft 365 plans or only on certain ones and to obviously identify those plans it is included. I know there are limitations on power apps but that is not what i’m interested in for now, just which plan Power Apps are included in. Thanks
PowerApps licensing gets complicated at scale, however the base plan is included in Office 365 F3, E3, E5, Business Standard, Business Basic and Business Premium. It is also included in all of the enterprise hero suites (Microsoft 365 F3, E3, and E5)
Is there any difference in the Phone systems for M365 E5 plan and the Office 365 E5 plan?
Not really. Microsoft 365 is a bundle that includes Office 365, Enterprise Mobility and Security and Windows 10 Enterprise.
What is the difference between E5 and Business Premium?
Night and day! Check out this Video Kristy did on the M365 licensing stacks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwWRJIDxaOw&t=119s