Microsoft 365 Business Plans: Which One Fits Which Team

When a small or medium-sized business moves to Microsoft 365, the very first question is: which plan should we choose? The names — Basic, Standard, Premium — look alike and it is easy to get confused. In reality the differences are clear if you know what to look at. In this article we do not talk about prices. We only discuss what each plan includes and who it suits.

First, the general picture. Microsoft 365 Business plans are intended for organizations with up to 300 users. All three main plans give you business email on your own domain (an address of the you@yourbusiness.com type), Microsoft Teams for chat, calls and meetings, and 1 TB of cloud storage per user. In other words, the basic collaboration tools are the same everywhere. The difference lies elsewhere.

Business Basic — who it is for. Basic includes the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Apps installed on the computer are not included. If your team mostly works in the browser, uses email, calendar and Teams, and keeps files in the cloud, this plan may be enough. One example of such a team is a small agency where employees mostly view documents and edit them lightly. It may also be a group of employees who do not need many complex Excel files. Keep in mind that with complex files the web versions sometimes offer fewer capabilities than the desktop version.

Business Standard — who it is for. Standard includes everything that is in Basic, plus installable Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and other apps for the computer. They can be installed on several devices used by each user (according to Microsoft's documentation, up to 5 devices). This is the typical choice of an office team: accountants, managers, a sales team, administration — everyone who spends most of the day in Excel and Outlook and also needs to work offline.

Business Premium — who it is for. The difference between Standard and Premium is not in productivity but in security and device management. According to Microsoft, Premium has five built-in security services:

• Microsoft Defender for Business — protecting devices from ransomware and other threats;
• Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 — protection from phishing in email and collaboration tools;
• Microsoft Entra ID Plan 1 — identity and access management, including multifactor authentication and Conditional Access;
• Microsoft Intune Plan 1 — management of company and personal (BYOD) devices and apps;
• Microsoft Purview — data protection.

In practice this means that a lost or stolen laptop can be wiped remotely, while the sign-in rules are set by you yourself. For example, you can require additional confirmation if an employee signs in from an unknown device. Conditional Access requires Microsoft Entra ID P1, and it is included in Business Premium. The full capabilities of Intune in a Premium subscription also apply to devices running iOS, Android, Mac and other platforms.

Premium is especially worth considering if:

• employees work remotely or from personal phones;
• you have worked with clients' personal, financial or medical data;
• you want a password stolen through phishing not to be enough on its own to sign in to an account.

An interesting fact: Basic and Standard also have basic protection, but according to Microsoft's documentation, Conditional Access works only with an Entra ID P1 or P2 license. If you need it, a basic plan will not be enough.

In addition, there is Microsoft 365 Apps for Business. This plan includes only desktop apps and 1 TB of OneDrive storage, and does not include business email hosting. It is for those who already have email set up elsewhere and only need Office apps.

How to choose: three questions. First: do your employees need installed Office apps? If not — Basic is worth a look; if yes — Standard or Premium. Second: how important to you is device management and additional access control? If very — Premium. Third: does every employee need the same level or not? Often people's roles in an organization differ: one needs only email and Teams, another full Excel, a third secure access to sensitive data. Whether it is possible to mix different plans in your specific case is worth checking with a Microsoft partner.

Finally, one practical tip: the contents and terms of the plans may change over time, so before making a decision always look at Microsoft's official comparison page. Remember that a license is only the starting point. It is also important that multifactor authentication be enabled in the organization and that employees know how to recognize phishing.

If you need help choosing a plan or with migration, Appy.ge — a Georgian IT company and official Microsoft CSP partner, which also helps you with setting up Google Workspace — will gladly provide you with a consultation.

Sources:
• Microsoft 365 for Work: Business Productivity Apps — https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium — https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/microsoft365-business-premium
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium security - frequently asked questions — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/security-and-compliance/m365bp-security-faq?view=o365-worldwide
• Microsoft Entra licensing - Microsoft Entra — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/fundamentals/licensing
• Clarification on Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Apps for Business - Microsoft Q&A — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5422166/clarification-on-microsoft-365-business-standard-a