Microsoft 365 Business

Microsoft 365 Business is a premium subscription offering from Microsoft Corporation, providing small commercial teams and businesses of all sizes access to an industry-leading and award-winning set of productivity, collaboration, and security apps from the famous MS Office suite.



After three decades of successful development and popularization of these productivity apps, Microsoft has finally transitioned them all into the modern age where all apps are fully ready for online collaboration, can be accessed online via any browser, and are secured for fast and reliable use in businesses of all sizes.

Similar to its original Office 365 Business form that was recently fully transitioned into Microsoft 365 Business brand, this premium offering is distributed to companies in four distinct editions, ranging from the simplest cloud-powered productivity app set for small teams, to fully featured business packs for larger companies that demand access to tools that streamline their daily operations, enable fast collaboration, and easy way to organize daily workflow among large teams.

Try free for one month - Basic Plan

• Web and mobile versions of Office apps only
• Chat, call, meet up to 300 attendees
• 1 TB of cloud storage per user
• Business-class email
• Standard security
• Anytime phone and web support

Microsoft 365 Business is separated into the following editions for companies with up to 300 users:

Microsoft 365 Business Basic – The most affordable entry business tier provides unrestricted access to the web versions of popular productivity apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook, with enhanced 50GB email inbox size and 1TB of drive storage per user. While the users can’t take advantage of local productivity apps, their web versions still retain great functionality and can be easily deployed even on less performant hardware or even to a workforce that interfaces with their daily tasks on the go. The collaboration tools for chatting, calling, or meeting in video calls are limited to up to 300 participants, and security features cover all standard protection systems for both user data and business-class email service.

Microsoft 365 Apps for business – This tier of service unlocks one of the most important aspects of Microsoft 365 offerings – local productivity apps that can be deployed on employees’ PCs and Macs. With access to fully featured desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and several other apps, as well as their web, mobile apps, and cloud services, Microsoft 365 Apps for business tier represents the most optimal subscription service that any company can adopt for their employees. It brings with it all the standard benefits found in the previous tier (1TB of cloud storage, business-class email, strong automated security systems), but it also unlocks access to more advanced apps such as Access and Publisher (both only for PC platforms). This tier does not feature teamwork, communication, and email services available in other premium business tiers.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard – Large and demanding companies can take full advantage of this MS 365 Business subscription tier. It comes with all standard and advanced Office apps (both local and web-hosted) but unlocks premium services such as the ability to create and host webinars, manage attendee registration, manage customer appointments, receives automated reports, and much more. Newly added apps on top of all previous offerings include SharePoint and Exchange.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium – Companies that want unrestricted access to everything that Microsoft 365 service can offer can safely pick this subscription tier and provide their employees with unrivaled productivity tools and a wide array of advanced cloud services. This includes the advanced security that Microsoft can offer their customers, a full security manager for handling access and data control permissions, and the latest in cyber threat protection. This highest tier of subscription also unlocks two of the most premium apps in Microsoft’s cloud offering – InTune (security manager for business operations) and Azure Information Protection (cloud-focused security manager).

All available tiers can be tested free during the 30-day trial period. Signup to Business Standard can be performed with two procedures - Simplified Sign Up (where Microsoft is processing and hosting all data) and Domain Account Sign Up (where Microsoft is only processing data).

Alternatives

Google Workspace
It includes tools like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Drive for storage, along with Gmail for email and Google Meet for video conferencing.

LibreOffice
Free, open-source office suite that offers alternatives to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with Writer, Calc, and Impress.

Zoho Workplace
A comprehensive suite of online productivity apps similar to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. It includes tools like Zoho Writer, Sheet, Show, and Mail.

OnlyOffice
Powerful alternative that offers cloud-based office applications and document collaboration.

WPS Office
Lightweight, free alternative with apps similar to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

OpenOffice
Apache OpenOffice is another free, open-source office suite similar to LibreOffice, offering alternatives to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.