Microsoft 365 Licensing Guide 2023

Today we will talk about something that challenges many decision makers as they switch to the cloud: understanding and selecting the most suitable Microsoft 365 licensing for their business.

Types of Microsoft 365 Licensing

There are three main types of Microsoft 365 licenses:

• Business plans – Limited to 300 users
• Enterprise plans – For more than 300 employees plus additional services
• Frontline workers – Limited features for mobile or remote employees

Business plans

For organizations with under 300 users.

1. Microsoft 365 Business Basic

Best for: businesses that need easy remote solutions, with Microsoft Teams, secure Cloud storage, and Office Online Apps and services included:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Microsoft Teams
• Exchange
• OneDrive
• SharePoint

(Web and mobile versions)

2. Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Best for: businesses that need full remote work and collaboration tools including Microsoft Teams, secure cloud storage, business email, and Office applications across multiple devices Apps and services included:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Microsoft Teams
• Outlook, Exchange
• OneDrive
• SharePoint
• Access
• Publisher

3. Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Best for: businesses that require secure, remote work solutions with everything included in Business Standard, plus advanced cyberthreat protection, and device management Apps and services included:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Microsoft Team
• Outlook
• Exchange
• OneDrive
• SharePoint
• Access
• Publisher
• Intune
• Azure Active Directory Plan 1
• Azure Information Protection Plan 1
• Upgrade from Windows 11 Pro to Windows 11 Business
• Defender for Business

Enterprise plans

For organizations with +300 users.

1. Office 365 E1

Best for: large business services that need simple remote solutions across multiple devices such as email, file storage, and sharing, Office web and desktop, meetings, and instant messaging Apps and services included:

• Office web and mobile apps
• Outlook
• Exchange
• Microsoft Teams
• SharePoint
• Yammer
• Power Apps
• Cloud services like OneDrive
• Five layers of security and monitoring help keep your data safe
• 99.9% financially-backed uptime guarantee

2. Office 365 E3

Best for: Hybrid workers and decision makers who share sensitive information inside and outside their organization. This plan extends Office 365 E1 with data analytics, additional security features, and Office client for compliance Apps and services included:

• Office web, desktop, and mobile apps
• Outlook
• Exchange
• Microsoft Teams
• SharePoint
• Azure
• Yammer
• Power Apps
• Cloud services like OneDrive and OneNote

3. Office 365 E5

Best for: large businesses that need to make, receive, and transfer calls from any location or device, also to make informed decisions with data analytics and visualization Apps and services included:

• All the offerings of E3
• Microsoft Teams Phone System Defender for Office 365 Plan 2
• Power BI Pro
• Advanced compliance

4. Microsoft 365 E3

The Microsoft 365 E3 Annual Commitment per-user licensed suite of products offers users best-in-class productivity across devices while providing IT security and control. Office 365 E3, Enterprise Mobility + Security E3, and Windows 10/11 Enterprise E3. Apps and services included:

• Unlimited number of users
• Desktop versions of Office apps for PC and Mac
• Web and mobile versions of Office apps
• Email, meetings and calendar
• File storage and sharing
• Social and intranet
• Advanced analytics
• Identity and access management
• Information protection
• Threat protection
• PC, mobile and app management

5. Microsoft 365 E5

Office 365 E5, Enterprise Mobility + Security E5, and Windows 10/11 Enterprise E5. This per-user licensed suite of products offers customers the latest, most advanced enterprise security, management, collaboration, and business analytics.

• Unlimited number of users
• Desktop versions of Office apps for PC and Mac
• Web and mobile versions of Office apps
• Email, meetings, and calendar
• File storage and sharing
• Social and intranet
• Security and advanced compliance
• Advanced analytics
• Identity and access management
• Information protection
• Threat protection
• PC, mobile and app management

Frontline workers

Limited features for mobile or remote employees.

1. Microsoft 365 F1

Best for: Employees using primarily mobile devices and working directly with customers who do not need email. These employees need to be on the loop with ‘Read-only’ access to Office files via Office for the Web and Office Mobile, also they need secure and powerful communications and collaboration experiences Apps and services included:

• Microsoft Teams
• Yammer
• SharePoint

2. Microsoft 365 F3

Best for: Employees working through mobile devices and tablets that needs threat protection, compliance, and effective collaboration tools to be on the loop Apps and services included:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneNote
• Microsoft Teams
• Windows 11

3. Office 365 F3

Best for: Employees who need to be connected through business class-email across multiple mobile devices, and be in touch with inside teams and coworkers Apps and services included:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneNote
• Microsoft Teams

Microsoft 365 Licensing purchasing

Currently there are 3 ways available to purchase Microsoft licenses. The best will be the one that best suits the current requirements of your business.

1. Commercial licensing agreements

It enables organizations to purchase multiple products and services licenses without having to purchase separately packaged products through retail channels. Microsoft commercial licensing agreements offer the potential for substantial savings, easy deployment, flexible acquisition, and other benefits such as Software Assurance. Types of commercial licensing agreements:

• Enterprise Agreement
• Open programs
• Microsoft Products and Services Agreement
• Select Plus

2. Web Direct

Your organization can subscribe to, activate, provision, and maintain cloud services seamlessly and directly via Microsoft’s web.

3. Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)

Allowing a workforce to collaborate from anywhere at any time means that companies require the ability to scale quickly to support employees. CSP licenses are more flexible than traditional licensing models, providing greater control and scalability to companies over their licenses. Through a CSP, licenses can be purchased through a cloud subscription that is billed on a per-user, per-month pricing model. With this type of subscription there are no required annual commitments, giving the opportunity to have the ability to modify the licenses monthly as necessary.