Microsoft 365 Business Plans: Compare Plans & Pricing

What do all three Microsoft 365 Business plans include?

Every Microsoft 365 Business plan — Basic, Standard and Premium — includes the same core collaboration stack: Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online email, SharePoint and OneDrive. The Teams experience is identical across all three tiers. What changes between them is whether desktop Office apps are installed and how much security you get.

That shared foundation matters when you are budgeting, because the gap between plans is narrow and specific. You are not paying more for "better Teams" — you are paying for installed Office software and, at the top tier, a genuine security toolset.

• Microsoft Teams — chat, meetings, recording, transcription, breakout rooms
• Exchange Online — 50GB mailbox per user, custom domain email
• OneDrive — 1TB cloud storage per user
• SharePoint — team document storage and intranet
• Office web apps — browser Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote
• Microsoft Forms and Planner

What is Microsoft 365 Business Basic and who is it for?

Business Basic costs £4.60 per user per month (microsoft.com/en-gb) and covers communication and collaboration for staff who work mainly through a browser or on mobile. It includes Teams, Exchange email, OneDrive, SharePoint and the Office web apps — but no installed desktop Office software.

Basic deliberately leaves two things out, and you should know what they are before you buy:

• Installed desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access)
• Advanced security (Defender for Business, Intune, Microsoft Entra ID Premium)

Basic suits teams that live in the browser and do not handle sensitive client data. It is also a practical way to give email and Teams access to staff who use their own devices for any heavier Office work. If your people open Excel locally every day, Basic will frustrate them — move up a tier.

What does Microsoft 365 Business Standard add?

Business Standard costs £9.60 per user per month (microsoft.com/en-gb) and adds the full desktop Office suite on top of everything in Basic. It is the most commonly purchased Microsoft 365 plan for UK SMEs, and for most office-based businesses it is the minimum sensible choice.

What Standard adds over Basic:

• Installed Office apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access on up to 5 PCs or Macs per user
• Office on mobile — full mobile apps on up to 5 phones and tablets per user
• Teams webinars — external webinars with registration, up to 1,000 attendees (learn.microsoft.com)
• Microsoft Bookings — appointment scheduling
• MileIQ — mileage tracking

If your staff need Word, Excel or Outlook installed on their PCs — which describes most traditional office work — Standard is where you start.

What security does Microsoft 365 Business Premium include?

Business Premium costs £16.90 per user per month (microsoft.com/en-gb) and combines the full Office suite with enterprise-grade device management and security. It is the plan AMVIA typically recommends for businesses that handle sensitive client data, operate in regulated sectors, or are working toward certification.

On top of everything in Standard, Premium adds a real security stack (microsoft.com/en-gb/security):

• Microsoft Defender for Business — endpoint detection and response (EDR) for up to 300 devices
• Microsoft Intune — mobile device and application management (MDM/MAM)
• Microsoft Entra ID P1 — conditional access and risk-based sign-in policies
• Microsoft Purview Information Protection P1 — sensitivity labels and data loss prevention
• Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 — Safe Links and Safe Attachments for email and Teams

Bought as standalone licences, that toolset would cost considerably more than the £7.30 per user per month gap over Standard. For any business that has handled a security scare, or that holds client data of any sensitivity, Premium earns its place. This is where AMVIA's "one provider, security-first, Microsoft-certified" approach pays off — the licence and the protection are managed together, not bolted on afterwards.

How do the three Microsoft 365 Business plans compare?

The fastest way to choose is to compare the three plans across the four things that actually differ: price, Office apps, security and ideal user. Collaboration tools are identical on every tier, so they are not a deciding factor.

Prices are per user per month, ex VAT, on an annual commitment (microsoft.com/en-gb). The jump from Basic to Standard buys installed Office; the jump from Standard to Premium buys security and device control.

Which Microsoft 365 Business plan is right for you?

Choose Basic if staff do not need Office installed locally and you carry a low security risk — a small browser-based team with no sensitive client data. Choose Standard if staff need Word, Excel and Outlook on their PCs. Choose Premium if you hold confidential data, work in a regulated sector, or are pursuing certification.

You do not have to pick one tier for everyone. A common, cost-effective pattern is Standard for office workers who need installed Office and Basic for field or shift staff who only need email and Teams. AMVIA advises UK businesses on Microsoft 365 licensing and runs ongoing licence lifecycle management — so you stay on the right plan as headcount and requirements change. For the security side of Premium, our managed Microsoft 365 security work hardens the tenant beyond the default settings.