Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium: which plan do we need?

Key facts

• All three Business plans are limited to 300 users per plan.
• Basic includes web and mobile Office apps, not desktop apps.
• Standard and Premium include desktop Microsoft 365 Apps.
• Premium adds Intune, Entra ID P1, Defender for Business and Defender for Office 365 Plan 1.
• Plans can be mixed in one tenant, user by user.

The short comparison

Each Business plan builds on the one below it. Basic covers cloud services. Standard adds desktop apps and a few business features. Premium adds the security, identity and device management that most cyber insurers and auditors now expect.

Plan contents change over time, so check current Microsoft service descriptions before you buy. Microsoft also sells some Business plans with and without Teams, depending on the offer.

Who each plan fits

Business Basic suits staff who work in a browser or on a phone: field staff, part-time workers and people who only need email, Teams and file access. It is also common for shared or low-use accounts that still need a license.

Business Standard suits office workers who need desktop Excel, Word and Outlook but whose devices and security are handled another way. That is rarer than it sounds, because most businesses need the security in Premium.

Business Premium suits most knowledge workers in a small or mid-size business. It lets you require MFA through Conditional Access, block unmanaged devices, manage laptops with Intune and Autopilot, and protect endpoints and email.

Why Premium is the usual recommendation

Buying Standard plus separate security tools can cost more and leave gaps between products. For many businesses, Premium is the simpler way to cover the baseline.

• Conditional Access lets you require MFA and compliant devices, and block legacy sign-in.
• Intune and Autopilot let you set up and secure laptops without touching them.
• Defender for Business adds endpoint detection and response and automated investigation.
• Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 adds Safe Links, Safe Attachments and impersonation protection.
• Cyber insurance questionnaires often ask about exactly these controls.

Mixing plans

You can mix Business plans in the same tenant. A common pattern is Premium for office staff and Basic for frontline staff who only use a browser. Keep in mind that Conditional Access and Intune policies apply cleanly only to users licensed for them, so make sure Basic users are still covered by MFA through security defaults or a suitable policy design.

If you are near 300 users, look at Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 too. Moving from Business to Enterprise plans is a license change, not a data migration, but feature differences need planning.

Getting value from the plan you buy

Many businesses buy Premium and never turn on its features. Owning Intune, Conditional Access and Defender does not protect anything until they are configured.

After licensing, apply a baseline: Conditional Access for MFA and legacy authentication, Intune compliance and enrollment, Defender for Business onboarding and preset email security policies. Review the setup each year as Microsoft changes features.

How Accred Consulting approaches it

Accred Consulting reviews your users, devices and security requirements, then recommends the right mix of Business plans, or Enterprise plans if you are near the 300-user cap. Accred then configures what you license: our US-based specialists set up Conditional Access, Intune and Autopilot, Defender for Business and email protection in a planned rollout. The proposal sets a fixed price, scope and timeline, and handover includes documentation and knowledge transfer.

Track record: 475+ client projects, 2,000+ migration workstreams and 210,000+ users migrated by a US-based team. Company facts · Case studies

Related questions