Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard vs Premium

You've decided on Microsoft 365, or you're already on it, and now you're staring at three business plans with similar names and quite different prices. Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard vs Premium comes down to two questions: does each person need the full desktop apps, and how much protection do your devices and data need? Here's what each plan actually gives you, what it costs, and how to pick without paying for features nobody uses.

The short answer

• Business Basic: email, Teams, 1 TB of OneDrive and the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Fine for people who mainly do email and the odd document. From £7.02 +VAT per user a month through us.
• Business Standard: everything in Basic plus the full desktop apps. The usual choice for office staff. From £14.04 +VAT.
• Business Premium: everything in Standard plus device management and stronger security. Worth it if you handle sensitive data or have laptops out and about. From £21.97 +VAT.
• You can mix plans. Give each person what they need rather than putting everyone on the dearest one.
• The limit is 300 users across all three plans combined.

What does each plan include?

All three give every person a business mailbox on your own domain, Microsoft Teams, 1 TB of OneDrive storage and SharePoint for shared files. The differences are the apps and the security.

Business Basic runs Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook in a web browser and on phones and tablets only. Nothing is installed on the PC. The web versions are capable for everyday work, but they're lighter than the desktop apps, especially Excel. Each mailbox gets 100 GB plus a 50 GB archive.

Business Standard adds the full desktop apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Access (PC only). Each person can install them on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets and 5 phones. The mailbox is the same size as Basic.

Business Premium includes everything in Standard and adds Microsoft's security and management tools for small businesses:

• Intune (device management): set rules for company laptops and phones, push out settings and updates, and wipe a lost device remotely.
• Defender for Business: anti-malware and threat protection for your PCs and Macs, managed centrally, so you can see every device's status in one place.
• Defender for Office 365 Plan 1: extra checks on links and attachments in email and Teams, to catch phishing that normal spam filtering misses.
• Entra ID P1 with Conditional Access: sign-in rules such as "only allow access from company devices" or "block sign-ins from outside the UK".
• Purview Information Protection: label sensitive emails and files (for example "Confidential") so they're encrypted or can't be forwarded outside the business.
• A much bigger email archive: 1.5 TB per person instead of 50 GB.

Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard vs Premium, side by side

Microsoft's own prices are for an annual commitment that renews automatically. If you'd rather pay month to month, Microsoft charges 20% more for the same plan.

Which Microsoft 365 plan do you need?

Business Basic suits people who mainly use email and Teams, work from a phone or tablet, or only open the occasional document. Think engineers in vans, warehouse and shop staff, or a part-timer who checks the rota. Plenty of very small businesses run happily on Basic.

Business Standard suits anyone who spends real time in Word, Excel or Outlook at a desk. If someone builds spreadsheets, writes quotes or works with large attachments, the desktop apps are worth the extra. For most office-based small firms, Standard is the sensible default.

Business Premium suits businesses that:

• hold sensitive personal or financial data (accountants, solicitors, healthcare, recruitment, HR);
• have staff working on laptops at home or on the road, where a lost or stolen device is a real risk;
• want to control which devices can open company email and files;
• are working towards Cyber Essentials, or already have it and want an easier time at renewal.

On that last point: Premium isn't required for Cyber Essentials. But its tools line up well with several of the five controls the scheme checks, including secure configuration, security updates, user access control and malware protection. Intune and Defender also give you a single place to show an assessor that every device is set up the way you say it is.

Be honest with yourself about the need, though. Every plan can switch on multi-factor sign-in (a code on your phone as well as your password), which keeps an account safe even if a password is stolen. A five-person firm with no sensitive data, on Standard with multi-factor sign-in and decent antivirus, is in a reasonable place.

Can you mix plans in one account?

Yes, and it's often the cheapest sensible setup. You might put the office team on Standard, the directors and accounts on Premium, and the field staff on Basic. Everyone shares the same email system, Teams and SharePoint.

Two things to know:

1. Premium's protection only covers Premium users. Microsoft is clear that the security and management features apply only to people and devices covered by a Premium licence. If someone handles sensitive data, they need it.
2. 300 users is the ceiling across all three plans. Microsoft counts Basic, Standard and Premium together, so 250 Premium users leaves room for 50 more of any business plan. Past 300, you'd move to an enterprise plan.

Are there cheaper options?

Sometimes. Microsoft also sells:

• Exchange Online on its own, for people who only need a business mailbox and no Office apps or Teams. Exchange Online (Plan 1) has a 50 GB mailbox.
• Microsoft 365 Apps for business, the desktop apps and 1 TB of OneDrive, without business email or Teams.
• Versions without Teams of the business plans, for firms that use something else for meetings and chat.

These suit a few specific cases. For most businesses, one of the three main plans is simpler to run. We'll tell you if one of the cheaper options fits better.

What about Copilot?

All three plans include the free Copilot Chat. The paid Microsoft 365 Copilot is a separate add-on that works with any of them, and Microsoft also sells Standard and Premium with Copilot built in. That's a decision to make separately from your base plan. Our guide is Microsoft 365 Copilot worth it for a small business? covers what it does, what it costs and who should wait.

How to choose, step by step

1. List everyone and what they actually do all day: desk, phone, van, shop floor.
2. Mark who needs the desktop apps. Anyone who doesn't can go on Basic.
3. Mark who handles sensitive data or carries a company laptop out of the office. Those people are your Premium candidates.
4. Check for leavers and spare licences. Removing them often pays for an upgrade elsewhere.
5. Switch on multi-factor sign-in for everyone, whatever plan they're on.

How we can help

We're a Microsoft Partner and set up and look after Microsoft 365 for businesses across Norfolk and East Anglia every day. We'll go through your team with you, match each person to the right plan and quote setup and migration up front. Licences start from £7.02 +VAT per user a month on our Microsoft 365 service, and if you go for Premium, our cyber security service can set up Intune, Defender and Conditional Access properly. Or just get in touch and tell us how many people you have and what you use now.