I have been searching for guidance but am still confused on how Business Premium compares to the E3/E5 offerings. Part of the problem is that I only have experience with the lower tier Microsoft 365 offerings and have no hands on experience with things like InTune, etc.
I realize a complete answer to my question here in a forum is unreasonable so let me narrow it down to a simpler question which might bring some clarity for me.
Business Premium includes Azure AD, InTune and Azure multi authentication, etc. but Office 365 E products do not. So from a naive point of view Premium would seem to be better in that respect. I am assuming E products handle these functions in another manner. Could anyone provide some clarification on how the products compare in this respect?
Use case for me is going to be small businesses with 5-25 users and will include professional offices such as CPA and small law offices. Goal in many cases is going to do away with the in house file server as workers have largely gone to working from home.
A link to any blog “current” blog posts on the general comparison between Premium and E offerings would be highly appreciated. So many posts seem to be out of date and obsolete.
Answer from paulmckenna on community.spiceworks.comIt feels like Microsoft has done their best to make understanding the pros and cons of these licenses as convoluted as possible. Does anyone here have any good resources for comparing these? Looking specifically for some comparisons between the security and management features the licenses offer.
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Is Microsoft 365 E5 a better option than Business Premium?
What is the difference between Microsoft 365 Enterprise and Microsoft 365 Business plans?
Microsoft 365 Enterprise includes advanced and customizable management features for organizations with specific needs. Microsoft 365 Business plans are designed for small businesses, have simplified (i.e., not customizable) management settings, and a user cap of 300 licenses per tenant.
Can I combine Office 365 licenses with Microsoft 365 Apps for Business or Enterprise?
Yes, businesses can combine these licenses to create a customized solution based on their specific needs.
I have been searching for guidance but am still confused on how Business Premium compares to the E3/E5 offerings. Part of the problem is that I only have experience with the lower tier Microsoft 365 offerings and have no hands on experience with things like InTune, etc.
I realize a complete answer to my question here in a forum is unreasonable so let me narrow it down to a simpler question which might bring some clarity for me.
Business Premium includes Azure AD, InTune and Azure multi authentication, etc. but Office 365 E products do not. So from a naive point of view Premium would seem to be better in that respect. I am assuming E products handle these functions in another manner. Could anyone provide some clarification on how the products compare in this respect?
Use case for me is going to be small businesses with 5-25 users and will include professional offices such as CPA and small law offices. Goal in many cases is going to do away with the in house file server as workers have largely gone to working from home.
A link to any blog “current” blog posts on the general comparison between Premium and E offerings would be highly appreciated. So many posts seem to be out of date and obsolete.
Here is a good article that I think fits into your business segment:
https://lazyadmin.nl/office-365/office-365-business-premium-vs-e3-in-dept-compare-with-overview-chart/#:~:text=The%20biggest%20difference%20between%20Office,focused%20on%20the%20smaller%20companies.&text=E3%20though%2C%20has%20more%20intended,Exchange%20Online%20mailboxes%20and%20OneDrive .
Business Premium is pretty much catered to smaller businesses, hence the 300 seat limit. This is really nice for smaller organizations that don’t need complex GPO policies or unlimited OneDrive storage.
The ‘E’ plans are definitely geared towards larger enterprise environments, and yes, they can include a multitude of options with many having additional monthly subscription fees.
Let me know if this helps and thanks!
You can mix and match licenses within your tenant as you see fit. There is no point assigning both Office 365 Business Premium and Office 365 E3 license to the same user though, as the overlap between the different services means you will be paying double-ish. If you need extra mailbox storage only, purchase the standalone Exchange Online Plan 2: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ww/microsoft-365/exchange/compare-microsoft-exchange-online-plans?market=af
Hi @ppowers ,
Agree with michev on that it's supported to assign both Microsoft Office 365 E3 or E5 license and an Office 365 Business Premium license to the same user.
Let's say a user is now assigned with an Office 365 Business Premium license which has a mailbox limit of 50 GB, when you try to assign an additional Microsoft Office 365 E3 or E5 license to the user, a warning message similar to the image below will prompt and you would need to choose between Exchange Online (Plan1) and Exchange Online (Plan2) in the Apps list. By choosing Exchange Online (Plan2) included in Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license, the user can get a mailbox limit of 100 GB.
But as already mentioned by michev, taking the cost into consideration, it's not necessary to do so if you only want the user to get some extra mailbox storage space. Instead, you can just buy the standalone Exchange Online Plan 2 license, see Mailbox storage limits:
Furthermore, another option is that you may consider enabling Exchange Online Archiving for the user, which will give the user additional 50 GB of space as per the Business Premium license.
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I am involved with an organization with about 60 licences of business or business premium. Everything is great, but the other day I was wondering if there was something I could benefit from with going to e3 or e5.
I’m missing something. I see a few extra things, but I dont see enough reasons/value in moving for the price tag that comes with it. What am I missing? I would have thought getting to the sub with the full office programs would be the step up, and then more features would increment pricing. A full out 2x+ price, I am surely missing something.
thanks all!
Greetings all! I've been chatting with a person who works at a company with approx 40 users. At first they purchased M365 Business Standard licenses - then they switched all the users to Office 365 E3 as they thought it was required for an Accounting application - it wasn't.
So I feel that they will do better with M365 Business Premium as a good fit with SMB's - yes that will reduce that mailbox size from 100GB to 50GB but they're all well below 50GB and have archiving turned on.
Did a lot of research...comparing the features...also had a look here - mind you dated July 2023: https://m365maps.com/matrix.htm#010001000000000000000
Now the costs are comparable....as purchased those O365 E3 licenses before those recent license changes.
So I'm trying to point out the advantages of switching to M365 Business Premium.
My understanding is that M365 BP provides advanced security features and better device/app management and provides for a less complex environment to support. Thinking of their needs also on that side as their current IT folks are new to M365 (no comment!) ;-) ....so I am not always available to assist.
M365 Business Premium will also provide their Compliance and Governance needs when they're ready to go there.
Am I missing something here? Any there any other pro's associated with that M365 Business Premium subscription vs O365 E3?
Many thanks in advance!
Cheers!