Business Basic, Standard or Premium?
Microsoft 365 for business comes in three tiers: Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium. All three include Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and email. The difference lies in the desktop Office apps and in security.
Quick overview
| Feature | Basic | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive (1 TB) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email in Exchange (50 GB) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Word, Excel and Outlook on mobile and web | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Word, Excel and Outlook installed on PC and Mac | No | Yes | Yes |
| Webinars in Teams | No | Yes | Yes |
| PC and mobile device management (Intune) | No | No | Yes |
| Sign-in and device requirements (Conditional Access) | No | No | Yes |
| Threat protection (Defender for Business) | No | No | Yes |
Business Basic: for when the browser is enough
Suits users who mainly need email, Teams and storage, and who work in Word, Excel and Outlook in the browser. You can't install the apps on your PC, and the web versions lack some of the advanced features.
Business Standard: everyday office work
Suits employees who use Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint every day. The apps can be installed on up to five PCs or Macs per user, plus tablets and phones, and you get webinars in Teams. A solid choice for many small and medium-sized businesses.
Business Premium: the Office suite and security in one license
Everything in Standard, plus the security many businesses really should have as a minimum today: control of PCs, phones and tablets with Intune, sign-in and device requirements with Conditional Access, and threat protection with Defender. Suits businesses that handle customer information or financial data, and employees who work from several locations.
The price difference is small compared to what you get in security and control. We often recommend Business Premium to businesses that want to be well equipped from the start, rather than buying security as an add-on later.
Can we mix?
Yes. Different users in the same business can have different licenses.
Not sure what you need? Call us at 38 27 80 00 and we'll go through your needs together. We also move existing users between license tiers.