Microsoft 365 plans in 2026: What costs what, and what do you get?

Microsoft 365 is divided into three tiers with different target audiences:

• •Business Basic ($7/mo). Teams, Exchange (50 GB), OneDrive, SharePoint. Web apps only, no desktop Office.
• •Business Standard ($14/mo). Everything in Basic + desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, Outlook), Bookings and Clipchamp.
• •Business Premium ($22/mo). Everything in Standard + Intune device management, Defender for Business, Conditional Access and basic DLP.

• •E3 ($39/mo). Windows Enterprise license, Intune Suite, Exchange (100 GB), Defender for Endpoint P1, Conditional Access, eDiscovery Standard and advanced compliance.
• •E5 ($60/mo). Everything in E3 + Defender XDR, Endpoint DLP, Insider Risk, Power BI Pro, Teams Phone, Security Copilot and the full Purview suite.
• •E7 ($99/mo). Everything in E5 + Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent 365 and Entra Suite. The most complete license.

• •F1 ($3/mo). Limited web access, no Exchange mailbox, no desktop apps. Cheapest M365 license.
• •F3 ($14/mo). Teams, SharePoint, Intune, Exchange kiosk (2 GB). No desktop Office apps.

All prices are per user per month in USD (July 2026 prices).

In addition to Microsoft 365 plans, Microsoft still offers Office 365 E3 ($26/mo) and E5 ($41/mo). These include productivity apps and services (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams) but not Windows Enterprise license, Intune or the advanced security package.

They are typically used by organizations that already have third-party security and device management, or that only need the collaboration tools.

The obvious dividing line is 300 users. Business plans have that limit, Enterprise doesn't. But there are other reasons to choose Enterprise even with fewer users:

• •You need Windows Enterprise license (only in E3+)
• •You have compliance requirements that need eDiscovery, Audit Premium or Information Barriers (only in E5)
• •You want Teams Phone as a replacement for your phone system (only in O365 E5, E5 and E7)
• •You're growing rapidly and want to avoid switching plans at 300 users

Conversely: if you're under 300 users, don't have advanced compliance needs and don't need Windows licensing, Business Premium often makes more sense than E3, it's cheaper ($22 vs $39) and includes Defender for Business and Conditional Access.

A manufacturer with 400 users, 150 in the warehouse? E3 for office staff, F3 for frontline.

Most plans increase in price on July 1, 2026:

• •Business Basic: $6 → $7 (+17%)
• •Business Standard: $12.50 → $14 (+12%)
• •E3: $36 → $39 (+8%)
• •E5: $57 → $60 (+5%)
• •F1: $2.25 → $3 (+33%)
• •F3: $8 → $10 (+25%)

Unchanged: Business Premium ($22) and E7 ($99).

In return, Microsoft is adding Intune Suite and additional Defender capabilities to E3 and E5 as part of the price increase. It's not just a price hike, it's also a feature expansion.

Three ways forward:

• •Compare two plans. Pick e.g. Business Premium and E3 and see all features side-by-side
• •Use the optimizer. Answer 9-18 questions and get a personalized recommendation with reasoning
• •Look up a feature. Use Feature Lookup to find which plan includes the feature you need

Quick decision table based on advisory work with Danish businesses:

◧Service businesses with office staff (law firms, accounting, consulting, marketing)

Under 10 employees: Business Standard ($14/mo). Desktop Office is critical, and you rarely have heavy compliance requirements at this size.

10-50 employees: Business Premium ($22/mo). You start having BYOD devices, and GDPR-sensitive client data makes Conditional Access and Intune relevant.

50-300 employees: Premium baseline + Purview Suite for 2-3 key people ($22 + ~$12 for the few). Typically cheaper than putting everyone on E5.

300+: E3 baseline + E5 for IT/compliance. Mix-and-match typically saves 25-35% compared to everyone on E5.

◧Manufacturing, warehouse or retail (frontline-heavy)

Office staff: Business Premium ($22) or E3 ($39) depending on size.

Frontline workers: F3 ($10/mo). Teams, basic SharePoint, and Intune for shared devices. F1 ($3) only for workers who truly only use Teams.

Typical ratio: 15-25% office and 75-85% frontline for production businesses. Mix-and-match is decisive for the budget.

◧Regulated industry (healthcare, finance, public sector)

Skip Premium. Go straight to E3 ($39) as baseline, or E5 ($60) if you have a dedicated security team.

For NIS2-essential entities with critical infrastructure: E5 plus consider Defender Suite or Purview Suite as add-ons if you don't want everyone on E5.

◧AI-first organization

If you already have E5 and are considering Copilot: E7 ($99/mo) is the easiest decision. $9 more than E5 + Copilot separately, and you get Agent 365 and Entra Suite on top.

If you're starting from E3: assess first whether Copilot ROI is real for your user group. Test with a pilot of 10-20 users on E5 + Copilot before committing the whole organization to E7.