E7 vs E5: what the extra $39 covers
By Michal Lampe Sørensen · 6 min read · 14 October 2026
Verified against Microsoft Learn, October 2026
Contents
In short
Microsoft 365 E7 is $99/user/month and E5 is $60, both on an annual commitment. The $39 difference covers three things E5 does not have: Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent 365 and Entra Suite. Buy them separately on top of E5 and the total is $117, so E7 saves $18 per user per month. But E7 against E5 is rarely the right comparison. If you already pay for E5 plus Copilot, the question is different and the answer is sharper.
Why E7 against E5 is the wrong question
Search for "E7 vs E5" and you usually get two numbers set against each other: $99 against $60. That is correct, and it is nearly useless.
The reason is that E5 and E7 do not solve the same job. E5 is a security and compliance license. E7 is E5 plus an AI layer. Setting them against each other as two versions of the same thing compares a car with a car plus a trailer.
The question that actually needs answering is one of these two:
- You have E5 today and are weighing AI
- Then the comparison is E7 against E5 plus Copilot, not E7 against E5 alone.
- You have E3 and are choosing a direction
- Then the jump to E7 is large enough to be a different decision from an upgrade.
The rest of this article works through both.
What the $39 covers
E7 contains everything in E5 and adds three products on top. Microsoft sells all three as standalone add-ons, so the difference can be priced exactly:
| What E7 adds | List price alone | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | $30 | The AI assistant in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams with access to your own data |
| Agent 365 | $15 | Governance for AI agents: identity, access and audit on agents as on users |
| Entra Suite | $12 | Internet Access, Private Access as a VPN replacement, ID Governance and ID Protection |
That is $57 together. The gap between E5 and E7 is $39. You pay $39 for something that costs $57 to buy piece by piece.
Note that Entra Suite requires Entra ID P1 already in place. E5 includes it, so there is no hidden extra here. Buying Entra Suite for a plan without P1 is a different matter.
The arithmetic
Two scenarios, at list price on an annual commitment.
If you build E7 yourself on top of E5
| Component | Price |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 E5 | $60 |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | $30 |
| Agent 365 | $15 |
| Entra Suite | $12 |
| Total | $117 |
| Microsoft 365 E7 | $99 |
| Difference | $18 saved, 15.4% |
Over a year, if you build it yourself rather than taking E7:
- •25 users: $5,400 saved
- •100 users: $21,600 saved
- •250 users: $54,000 saved
If you already pay for E5 plus Copilot
This is the situation most organizations are in, and it is the more interesting one. E5 and Copilot come to $90. E7 is $99. You pay $9 more and get Agent 365 and Entra Suite, which cost $27 on their own.
That is three times the money, and it is why E7 is almost always the better deal for an organization that has already decided on Copilot. For 100 users the extra cost is $10,800 a year against $32,400 of value.
The figures assume you actually use all four parts. A discount on Agent 365 is no saving if you have no agents to govern. Read the next section before counting on the numbers.
Two things that change the arithmetic
The launch discounts have expired. E7 arrived on 1 May 2026 with promotional discounts of 10% and 15% on one-year agreements and 15% on a three-year. They could be bought up to and including 30 September 2026. If a source counts on a discount, it was written before October. The figures above are list price without any discount, which is what you pay today.
Local prices are not a currency conversion. Microsoft sets list prices per market and per product family with fixed internal rates rather than converting from dollars at the daily rate. In Denmark, for example, E7 uses an implied rate of 6.929 while Microsoft 365 Enterprise uses 7.230 and Copilot and Entra use 6.467. The dollar saving is 15.4%; the Danish saving is 14.5%.
Any article that takes the dollar saving and multiplies by today's exchange rate will be wrong, and the direction of the error is not constant.
How to decide
Settle the Copilot question first
E7 only makes sense if you are getting Copilot. If the answer is no, E5 at $60 is the right plan and the rest of the arithmetic is irrelevant.
Count whether you have agents to govern
Agent 365 is $15 of the difference. If you build or buy AI agents that need identity and audit, that is real value. If not, it is $15 for something sitting idle.
Check whether Entra Suite replaces something you already pay for
Private Access replaces VPN. If you pay for a VPN solution today, that saving belongs in the calculation. If not, Entra Suite is mostly an option you do not use.
Work it out on your own headcount
$9 extra per user sounds like nothing. For 250 users it is $27,000 a year. The decision belongs on your numbers, not on a percentage.
Ask your reseller for a concrete quote
List price is the starting point, not the final one. Terms through a partner vary, and E7 is new enough that there is still negotiation.
The trade-off is simple: if you are getting Copilot, E7 is hard to avoid. If you are not, E5 is the right choice and E7 is an expensive way to acquire features you will not use.
Sources: Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans and pricing, Microsoft Entra pricing, Microsoft Entra licensing (Microsoft Learn) and License options for Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft Learn).
Compare all ten plans side by side
See every Microsoft 365 plan with current list prices and what each one includes.
Compare plansFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Microsoft 365 E7 and E5?+
E7 contains everything in E5 and adds three products: Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent 365 and Entra Suite. E7 is $99/user/month and E5 is $60, a $39 gap. The three add-ons cost $57 if bought separately.
How much does Microsoft 365 E7 cost?+
$99 per user per month on an annual commitment. The launch discounts of 10% and 15% could only be bought up to and including 30 September 2026 and are no longer available.
Is E7 cheaper than E5 plus Copilot?+
No, E7 costs more but includes more. E5 plus Copilot is $90 and E7 is $99. You pay $9 more and get Agent 365 and Entra Suite, which cost $27 on their own. That is three times the money, provided you use both.
When does E7 not make sense?+
When you are not getting Copilot. E7 is built around an AI layer, and without Copilot you pay $39 extra per user for features you do not use. The same applies if you have no AI agents to govern with Agent 365 and no need that Entra Suite solves. Then E5 at $60 is the right plan.
Why is the local saving different from the dollar saving?+
Because Microsoft sets local list prices per product family with fixed internal rates rather than converting from dollars at the daily rate. In Denmark E7 uses 6.929, Microsoft 365 Enterprise 7.230, and Copilot and Entra 6.467. The dollar saving is 15.4%; the Danish saving is 14.5%.