Office 365 Licensing Plans: An Easy Comparison

By leon Author

Updated - November 07, 2021

Office 365 Licensing Plans: An Easy Comparison

Today, I'm going to talk about something that challenges many companies as they transition to the cloud - understanding Office 365 licensing options.

Based on the most commonly used options, this article will give you an overview of this topic. Information is subject to change according to Microsoft updates and agreements.

As we mostly work with enterprises, this will be our focus. Let's dive right in!

Key points:

What are the licensing options for Office 365 for enterprises?

Which services are available in each of them?

What is the best O365 license for me?

Office 365 licenses: a quick overview

Subscriptions are required for all Office licenses. It works just like cell phone licenses. Payment is on a per-use basis and you can use them as long as you like.

In a nutshell, Office 365 can be purchased through the following licensing programs:

Enterprise Agreement

The Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP) is Web Direct.

MPSA

Open

Cloud Solution Provider

Details of the most popular options can be found in this article.

You need to consider more than just the license and payment terms when choosing the right agreement. Additional financing may also be needed for your cloud deployment. Funds like the Digital Partner of Record or the Office 365 adoption fund are available. We won't cover them here, but if you want to know more, please get in touch.

Office 365 licenses are divided into three main types:

  • There is a limit of 300 users for business plans
  • No user or feature limitations for enterprise plans
  • Mobile or remote employee plans are essential for frontline workers.

 

A high-level feature comparison


O365 suites of services

contain a variety of features and services. Let's take a look at them briefly.

  • Office apps for PC, Mac, and mobile - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
  • Office Online is a web-based version of Microsoft Office that lets you view and edit documents online
  • Exchange – provides e-mail services including inboxes, calendars, address books, tasks, and security
  • As a communicator, Teams offers instant messaging and online meetings, as well as file sharing and collaboration
  • Using OneDrive, you can access, share, and sync your personal files on any device
  • SharePoint allows for building intranets, searching content, and analyzing data
  • Yammer is your enterprise social network - a great way to communicate internally and offload your inbox
  • Stream is your internal YouTube, with mobile access and high-quality video streaming
  • Planner – like Asana, this is a modern task management tool
  • I believe that Groups is the best enterprise collaboration workspace available. Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, and Planner are all integrated. Conversations, files, notes, calendars, and tasks - all in one place
  • You can search for files and people easily with Delve, powered by Artificial Intelligence and Office Graph
  • Using Basic Data Analytics, you can access information about your Office 365 usage for free and without a subscription
  • Using Power BI Pro, Excel services, and Personal Productivity Analytics, you can perform advanced data analytics.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

All plans include basic security features such as multi-factor authentication.

  • You also get a state-of-the-art spam and malware filter with Exchange. Document encryption and simple e-discovery are also included.
  • Advanced threat protection lets you configure data loss prevention, conditional access, and advanced malware scanning.
  • With E5 suites, you can grant access to your data to the support team using a Customer Lockbox.

Office 365 Business

Once we've clarified the features, let's see what Office 365 Business has to offer.

A comparison of O365 Business suites


We have three plans here:

  • Basic, which includes web-based versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as 50GB of email storage.
  • Standard collaboration and communication solutions, as well as desktop productivity software.
  • Premium, offering all the features of the previous two plans and advanced security.

Note: Each plan is limited to 300 users.

Office 365 Enterprise

Here are the Enterprise plans.

A comparison of Enterprise suites

The three main enterprise plans are:
E1 - gives you Office Online and a large number of communication and collaboration tools. In addition to Business Essentials, you also get Stream and work management apps like Planner or To Do.
E3– adds data analytics, security features, and an Office client to E1.
E5 – An all-in-one productivity suite that comes with complete protection, Power BI Pro, Advanced DLP, and user activity monitoring.

Office 365 for frontline workers

There is a Frontline Worker Plan for employees who use primarily mobile devices, such as those who work directly with customers.
Exchange Kiosk provides only a small 2GB mailbox that is accessed via a browser or via POP3, so there is no real synchronization with Outlook.


Moreover, F3 options offer Power Apps and automation tools. Microsoft 365 F3 also comes with advanced security features.

Q&A

Customers often ask a couple of questions.
How are Microsoft 365 Business and Microsoft 365 Apps different?
As a limited option, the Apps suite does not include Exchange email or Teams. For working with your files, you only need Office client. You can also get advanced analytics and security features with Business suites, depending on your plan.
Do E1 and E3 differ only in the Office client?
I don't think so. E3 provides more security features, such as email encryption, document encryption, and data loss prevention. With better control over your inboxes, mail flow, and analytics, you can make better business decisions. E3 offers enterprise licenses on-premises whereas E1 only offers a standard license.
Which plan is the best for me?
Start with the users. Are there fewer than 300? If so, a Business suite may be a better choice. Need more? Upgrade to Enterprise. You should always choose a plan according to the needs of your business. Make your choice based on what your people use every day.
How best to choose?
Identify a business need or a problem. Use the cloud to solve it. Starting with cloud features and trying to find a need for them will fail if you do it the other way around. You probably won't fail spectacularly - you just won't get a budget for the project.
What is the most popular choice for others?
In general, we recommend E1 + E3 or E1 + E5. That's right - you can mix and match as needed.

Summary

Here is a quick overview of what is available when it comes to buying Office 365.
The more expensive a plan is, the more options for collaboration, data analytics, and security you get. But this is actually an understatement. Figuring out what you need can be tricky.
You don't have to worry though - we can help you choose the best plan. Tell us what you're trying to accomplish and we'll recommend options based on our experience. We can also train your people to make the best use of the services. Let's figure out the best plan together.

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