Selecting the right Microsoft 365 cloud subscription is a very important decision to make for your organization’s employees, security, budget, and productivity. With so many versions available, it can be hard to make the right choice at the beginning of your Microsoft 365 journey, so in this blog we will help you to better understand all about Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 E3, and the corresponding Office 365 subscriptions available to purchase from Microsoft.
For my customers, these three subscriptions are the ones that most organizations inquire about when they are looking for compliance, security, device management and identity features on top of the normal collaboration features, so in this blog I have gone and done an analysis of many of the included important features, apps/services, pricing, along with some recommendations.Before we dive in, let’s go through each platform individually so that you can better understand all the functionality and capabilities of each platform.
What is Office 365 E3?
The Office 365 E3 subscription includes compliance capabilities with a cloud-based suite of productivity services and apps also including information protection. When it comes to extensive data handling and analysis, Office 365 E3 has the power to read big data sets by using advanced features such as Power Query, Power Pivot, and, Power View. This platform also enables the connection to on-premise Exchange and SharePoint servers, or the use of cloud-connected services.
What is Microsoft Business Premium?
Microsoft 365 Business Premium is a more full featured subscription focused on small to medium size businesses that don’t need enterprise and compliance based scenarios that Office 365 E3 gives them. It gives organizations the ability to stay up to date with the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more by bringing together powerful clouds services and best-in-class Office apps with strong security to help protect your company from harmful cyber threats.
What is Microsoft 365 E3?
Microsoft 365 E3 includes the best of both Office 365 and Microsoft Business Premium top tier productivity apps which contains core security and compliance capabilities. This platform will transform the way you manage your business and increase your customer relationship with integrated workflows.
What is Office 365 Business Premium (now called Microsoft 365 Business Standard)?
Office 365 Business Premium (now called Microsoft 365 Business Standard) will allow your employees to easily collaborate through email, online file sharing, HD video conferencing, team sites, instant messages and more! These applications will work across a range of devices including Mac, PC, smartphones, and tablets while running across different OS systems like Android, Apple, and Windows.
What does the pricing look like?
Office 365 E3 costs USD $23.00 or CAD $30.60 user/month with annual commitment.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium costs USD $22.00 or CAD $28.20 user/month with annual commitment.
Microsoft365 E3 costs USD $36.00 or CAD $47.90 user/month with annual commitment.
Office 365 Business Premium (now called Microsoft 365 Business Standard) costs USD $12.50 or CAD $16.00 user/month with annual commitment.
Unique Features
Each platform includes a variety of apps and services that would increase the productivity, communication, and teamwork amongst employees.
As mentioned above, Office 365 E3 includes advanced Excel functionality that will help your business analyze big data sets.
Microsoft Business Premium contains handy services such as Intune, Defender, Azure Protection, and Conditional Access which keep your devices/data organized and secure.
A key feature in Microsoft 365 E3 is the Stream App which is great place to upload and stream live videos to share across your company while ensuring high-quality playback.
Office 365 Business Premium allows users to connect via cloud services which is a great feature if you plan on moving towards hosting your solution (Azure or AWS), or if you want to deploy on both the cloud and an on-premise solution.
Comparison Chart
Service area
Feature
Office 365 Business Premium (Microsoft 365 Business Standard)
Office 365 E3
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 E3
Licenses available
Maximum number of users
300
Unlimited
300
Unlimited
Office apps
Install Office on up to 5 PCs/Macs + 5 tablets + 5 smartphones per user (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access), Office Online
Business
ProPlus
Business
ProPlus
Email & calendar
Outlook, Exchange Online
50 GB
100 GB
50 GB
100 GB
Hub for teamwork
Chat-based workspace, online meetings, and more in Microsoft Teams
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
File storage
OneDrive for Business
Unlimited
Unlimited
1 TB per user
1 TB per user
Social, video, sites
Stream, Yammer, Planner, SharePoint Online1, PowerApps1, Power Automate1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Business apps
Scheduling apps – Bookings2
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Business apps – MileIQ2
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Threat protection
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
No
No
Yes
Yes
Windows Exploit Guard enforcement
No
No
Yes
Yes
Identity management
Self-service password reset for hybrid Azure Active Directory accounts
Microsoft Intune, Windows AutoPilot, Windows Pro management
No
No
Yes
Yes
Shared computer activation
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Upgrade rights to Windows 10 Pro for Win 7/8.1 Pro
No
No
Yes
Yes
Windows Virtual Desktop
No
No
Yes
No
Information protection
Microsoft data loss prevention
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Azure Information Protection Plan 1, BitLocker enforcement
No
No
Yes
Yes
On-premises CAL rights
ECAL Suite (Exchange, SharePoint, Skype)
No
Yes
No
Yes
Compliance
Unlimited email archiving3
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
—————
Which subscription is right for your business?
While each platform offers a great deal of value that would help scale up your business there are some key differences that will help you to choose the right one for your employees.
The Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3 are both great platforms for larger companies with 300 or more users. The big companies interested in business intelligence and analytics tools would be very satisfied with Office 365 E3 while companies who are interested in just the core Microsoft applications also including the Stream app should most likely go with the Microsoft 365 E3 license.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Office 365 Business premium are ideally suited for smaller to medium sized companies with less than 300 users. If you are interested in strong security and compliance features that will help keep all your devices safe, Microsoft 365 Business Premium would be a great choice for you. Office 365 Business Premium would be very attractive if you wish to deploy your solution either in Azure or AWS through the cloud services or on-premise.
At a Glance, What's the Difference? Microsoft 365 Business Premium is more oriented to small and mid-size businesses.Microsoft 365 E3, on the other hand, offers services to larger corporations. Both provide a combination of Microsoft's productivity tools courtesy of Office 365, security, and Windows 10.
Both plans come with a full set of applications, online and offline – and similar sets of services and support. The core differences are that Enterprise E3 requires an annual commitment and is priced typically at around $20 a month vs the monthly option and $12 price for Business Premium.
It includes all the features of Microsoft 365 Business, as well as additional security and compliance features, such as Advanced Threat Protection and Advanced Compliance. If you're only interested in Microsoft Enterprise Plans you can instead read Office 365 vs Microsoft 365 Enterprise Plans.
Device and App Management – Microsoft 365 E3 vs Office 365 E3. To assist tenant administrators, Microsoft 365 E3 includes Device and App Management features such as Microsoft Intune, System Center Configuration Manager and System Center Endpoint Protection management license equivalency while Office 365 E3 does not.
Microsoft 365 E3 combines best-in-class enterprise productivity apps with core security and compliance capabilities. Improve productivity and foster a culture of collaboration with connected experiences.
All packages of Microsoft 365 Business offer limited access control, such as guest links to files and permissions-managed sharing within OneDrive. But only Business Premium gives you additional Advanced Threat Protection and Information Rights Management.
Microsoft Business Premium is the ultimate subscription, combining the most powerful products and services available in Microsoft 365 to enable the ultimate Microsoft Modern Workplace experience. Productivity, collaboration, automation, device control and security solutions are all included.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium (formerly Microsoft 365 Business) is the best choice for businesses with up to 300 employees. It includes Microsoft 365 Business Standard and additionally: Windows 10 Business, Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure AD P1, Microsoft Intune, defender for Office 365.
The main difference is that Business Premium comes with a Pro license for Windows, whereas E3 gives you a Windows 11 Enterprise license (which you can also downgrade to Win 10 of course).
Yes, you can mix and match Microsoft 365 plans. Please note that there are some license limitations at the plan level. The Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Apps for business, Business Standard, and Business Premium plans have a collective limit of 300 users, while the Enterprise plans are for an unlimited number of users.
Office 365 E3 is a cloud-based suite of productivity apps and services with information protection and compliance capabilities included. Install Microsoft 365 for mobile on up to five PCs or Macs, five tablets, and five phones per user.
On April 3 2023, Tech for Social Impact (TSI) – part of Microsoft Philanthropies – announced the discontinuation of the legacy Office 365 E3 grant offer that was provided through the Web Direct Channel. Effective from October 1 2023, customers will no longer be able to renew the legacy Office 365 E2 grant offer.
With E3, you gain desktop apps, You gain email, archiving, information protection and more storage options. Additionally, you gain Intune for device management and Azure Information Protection (plan 1) for data loss protection. Businesses that need more advanced BI, compliance, email, security and voice capabilities.
Office 365 is a cloud-based suite of productivity apps like Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and more. Microsoft 365 is a bundle of services including Office 365, plus several other services including Windows 10 Enterprise.
Any of these licenses gives you access to Microsoft 365 Defender features via the Microsoft 365 Defender portal without additional cost: Microsoft 365 E5 or A5. Microsoft 365 E3 with the Microsoft 365 E5 Security add-on.
The main difference between them is that the Premium version has additional features like advanced security, cyber threat protection, and access and data control of your computer and mobile devices. Whereas the Business Standard version offers the standard security just like other Microsoft 365 Business plans.
However, with the Classic 2021 version, you won't get any further updates or new features in the future. What you see right now is what you will get. On the other hand, with the Premium 365 version, you can upgrade your installed apps every time Microsoft releases an update or new feature.
Along with more space, Microsoft 365 also offers tighter security in OneDrive, too. For starters, you can add expiration dates and passwords to shared links. Paid users also get unlimited use of Personal Vault, a feature that lets you put files into a special folder that you must unlock to access.
Office 365 includes many sub services such as Exchange, SharePoint, Lists, Forms, Teams, Planner, Yammer, Stream, Sway, Microsoft 365 Groups, etc. There is no backup tool on the market that can backup of all the services in Office 365.
How much does it cost? The Microsoft E3 license costs $32 per user per month or $20 per user if you just want Office 365 E3. The Microsoft E3 license includes Microsoft Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype and other essential utilities for modern business.
The E3 suite encompasses Office 365 ProPlus Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Publisher, co-authoring, Outlook Exchange Email, Skype for Business, Instant Messaging, voicemail, video dial-in conferencing, SharePoint collaboration and Teams, OneDrive, Yammer, enterprise social networking, Encryption, Data Loss ...
Exchange Online Archiving – Microsoft 365 Business Premium comes equipped with Exchange Online Archiving, a cloud-based archiving and data recovery solution that is compatible with Microsoft Exchange or Exchange Online.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium gives companies the tools they need to communicate with others, boost productivity, and secures their data in easy-to-access locations. You can work anywhere, anytime, all with the peace of mind that your data is safeguarded with enterprise-level security measures.
Business Premium offers enhanced security features like Safe Links and Safe Attachments, which help protect against phishing attacks and malicious email attachments.
Email encryption is available with Microsoft 365 Premium and Microsoft Office 365 E3 subscriptions as standard. For other plans such as Microsoft Exchange Plan 1 and Microsoft Business Standard, it is available as an additional per-mailbox license.
You need to remember that Business Premium is the extension of the Business Standard plan which costs around $15.00 per month/user. Business Premium subscription in more expensive and costs around: $24.00 per month/user.
For businesses, the objective is specified and deals little with how a product or service is generated. However, an enterprise is a broader concept involving the legal and economic entity that organizes the factors of production and labor. An enterprise also presents itself under a legal form identified by the law.
Those plans are now called: Microsoft 365 Business Basic (formerly Office 365 Business Essentials) Microsoft 365 Business Standard (formerly Office 365 Business Premium)
The Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Apps for business, Business Standard, and Business Premium plans have a collective limit of 300 users, while the Enterprise plans are for an unlimited number of users.
Address: Suite 609 315 Lupita Unions, Ronnieburgh, MI 62697
Phone: +2424755286529
Job: District Education Designer
Hobby: Yoga, Gunsmithing, Singing, 3D printing, Nordic skating, Soapmaking, Juggling
Introduction: My name is Moshe Kshlerin, I am a gleaming, attractive, outstanding, pleasant, delightful, outstanding, famous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
