Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based service that brings together best-in-class productivity apps from Office 365 with advanced device management, intelligent security, and innovative online services. Office 365 includes apps such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, along with services such as Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams. If you currently have an Office 365 E3 subscription, but don't have more than 300 employees, consider switching to Microsoft 365 Business Premium for added security features. Migrating is easy: First you switch licenses and all your data and user information in your current subscription is maintained. Office 365 Enterprise E3 brings the Office functionality to most devices so that your team members can get the work done from wherever they may be. Besides finding documents quickly, Enterprise E3 also has features like archive and in-place legal hold to simplify the compliance requirements.
-->Microsoft 365 Business Premium has everything you need for your small business, combining the best-in-class cloud-based productivity apps with simple device management and security. If you currently have an Office 365 E3 subscription, but don't have more than 300 employees, consider switching to Microsoft 365 Business Premium for added security features.
Migrating is easy: First you switch licenses and all your data and user information in your current subscription is maintained. After the migration, you'll need to set up the features that are added in Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Differences between Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 Business Premium
This table shows the differences between Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Office 365 E3.
Feature | Support in Microsoft 365 Business Premium | Support in Office 365 E3 |
---|---|---|
On-premises | ||
Office apps1 | Microsoft 365 Apps for business | Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise |
Cloud productivity apps | ||
Exchange Online and Outlook | 50 GB storage limit per mailbox and unlimited Exchange Online Archiving | 100 GB storage limit per mailbox and unlimited Exchange Online Archiving |
Teams | ||
OneDrive for Business | 1 TB storage limit per user | Unlimited |
Yammer, SharePoint Online, Planner, Stream | ||
StaffHub | ||
MileIQ | ||
Threat Protection | ||
Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 | Not included, but can be added on | |
Identity management | ||
Self-service password reset for hybrid Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) accounts, Azure AD multi-factor authentication (MFA), Conditional Access, password writeback for on-premises identities | ||
Device and app management | ||
Microsoft Intune, Windows AutoPilot | ||
Shared computer activation | ||
Upgrade rights to Windows 10 Pro from Win 7/8.1 Pro licenses | ||
Information protection | ||
Office 365 Data Loss Prevention | ||
Azure Information Protection Plan 1, BitLocker enforcement | ||
Azure Information Protection Plan 1, Sensitivity labels | ||
Client Access License (CAL rights) | ||
Enterprise CAL Suite (Exchange, SharePoint, Skype) |
1 The Microsoft 365 Business Premium version of the Office apps doesn't include volume activation through Group Policy, app telemetry, update controls, spreadsheet compare and inquire, or business Intelligence.
Migration
To migrate your subscription, see Change plans manually for instructions if you want to move just a few people to Microsoft 365 Business Premium. You can also upgrade everyone automatically, or work with a partner to move your E3 subscription and licenses to a Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription.The following sections describe the changes you need to make, if any, and what you can do after the migration.
Office 365 E3 subscription configuration and data
You don't need to do any changes to your current subscription or data before migrating, which includes:
- Subscription configuration, such as DNS records and domain names.
- User and group accounts and authentication settings, such as multi factor authentication or conditional access policies.
- Productivity service configurations and their data, such as Teams, Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint Online sites, OneDrive for Business folders, and OneNote notebooks.
- Office applications will scale automatically. Office 365 modern licensing will check the user’s license assignment every 72 hours and will convert Office applications to the version that matches the user subscription.
Windows 10
If your Windows aren't already on Windows Pro Creator update, upgrade them to Windows Pro Creators Update.
Set up policies to protect user devices and files
Note
If you set up Office 365 MDM policies and devices, those devices will be listed on the Devices page in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Any policies you set up will show up in the list of classic policies in the Intune portal.
After you have assigned licenses to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, you can start protecting the users' devices and files.
If you upgraded everyone in your organization to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, you'll see the setup wizard on the Home page, and can follow the Set up Microsoft 365 Business Premium in the setup wizard steps to protect files and mobile devices.
You can also complete these steps on the Devices page:
In the admin center, in the left nav, go to Devices > Policies.
On the Device policies page, choose Add.
In the Add policy pane give the policy a name, and then choose a Policy type from the drop-down.
You can set up application policies for protecting files on Android and iPhone devices, as well as Windows 10, and you can set up device configuration policies for company owned Windows 10 devices. See the following links for details:
- Once you set up policies, you and your employees can set up devices:
See Set up Windows devices for Microsoft 365 Business Premium users for steps for Windows devices.
See Set up mobile devices for Microsoft 365 Business Premium users for steps for Android phones and iPhones.
Mailbox Size
Microsoft 365 Business Premium has a 50 GB storage limit as it uses Exchange Online Plan 1. While migrating to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, if any of your users exceed 50 GB of mailbox storage, it is recommended that you assign this user an Exchange Online Plan 2 and remove the Exchange Online Plan 1 as it's not feasible to assign both.
Threat protection
After migrating to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, you have Defender for Office 365. See Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for an overview. To set up, see set up Safe Links, set up Safe Attachments, and set up Anti-phishing in Defender for Office 365.
Sensitivity labels
To start using sensitivity labels, see Overview of sensitivity labels and create and manage sensitivity labels video.
-->Microsoft 365 and Office 365 are available in a variety of plans to best meet the needs of your organization.
Service families and plans
The following table lists the different service families and plans available in Microsoft 365 and Office 365. For a high-level overview of features and pricing information, or to chat with an online representative, select any of the links in the Plans column.
Office 365 service family | Plans |
---|---|
Business (maximum of 300 users) | Microsoft 365 Business Basic (formerly Office 365 Business Essentials) Microsoft 365 Business Standard (formerly Office 365 Business Premium) Microsoft 365 Business Premium (formerly Microsoft 365 Business) Microsoft 365 Apps for business (formerly Office 365 Business) |
Enterprise (unlimited number of users) | Office 365 E1 Office 365 E3 Office 365 E5 Office 365 F3 Microsoft 365 F1 Microsoft 365 F3 (includes Office 365 F3) Microsoft 365 E3 (includes Office 365 E3) Microsoft 365 E5 (includes Office 365 E5) Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (formerly Office 365 ProPlus) |
Education (unlimited number of users) | Office 365 A1 Office 365 A3 Office 365 E5 Microsoft 365 A1 (one-time, per device license paired with free Office 365 A1 per user licenses) Microsoft 365 A3 (includes Office 365 A3) Microsoft 365 A5 (includes Office 365 A5) |
U.S. Government (unlimited number of users) | See all available plans |
Office 365 operated by 21Vianet in China | See all available plans |
Office 365 Germany | Learn about Office 365 Germany |
O365 E3 Buy
Service availability within each Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plan
Each Microsoft 365 or Office 365 plan includes a number of individual services, such as Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. The following table shows the services that are available in each plan.
Important
While a service may be available across Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans, the features available in each plan may differ. To see the details of features that are available for each plan, refer to the individual service description or contact your Reseller or Microsoft sales representative for more information.
Several of the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans have add-ons that you can buy for your subscription. An add-on provides additional functionality to the subscription. For more information, see Buy or edit an add-on for Office 365 for business.
Service | Microsoft 365 Apps | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Microsoft 365 Business Standard | Microsoft 365 Business Premium | Office 365 E1 | Microsoft 365 E3/Office 365 E3 | Microsoft 365 E5/Office 365 E53,15 | Microsoft 365 F3/Office 365 F3 | Microsoft 365 F1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Office 365 platform | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Exchange Online | No | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes6 | Yes6 | Yes8 | No16 |
SharePoint Online | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes17 |
OneDrive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes4 | Yes4 |
Skype for Business Online 14 | No | Yes9 | Yes9 | Yes9 | Yes9 | Yes10 | Yes12 | Yes13 | Yes13 |
Office for the web | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No18 |
Office applications | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Project | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Power BI | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Yammer Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Azure Information Protection2 | No | No1 | No1 | Yes | No1 | Yes | Yes | No1 | No |
Microsoft Kaizala | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
1 Azure Information Protection is not included, but can be purchased as a separate add-on and will enable the supported Information Rights Management (IRM) features. Some Azure Information Protection features require a subscription to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, which is not included with Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 F1, Microsoft 365 F3, Office 365 E1, Office 365 A1, or Office 365 F3.
2 To learn more about which Azure Information Protection features are included with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans, see Azure Information Protection.
3 Office 365 E5 and Microsoft 365 E5 contain Phone System and Audio Conferencing. To implement a Calling Plan requires an additional plan purchase (either Domestic or International).
4 Includes 2 GB storage.
5 Includes Exchange Online Plan 1.
6 Includes Exchange Online Plan 2.
7 Includes Exchange Online Plan 1 plus supplemental features.
8 Includes Exchange Online Kiosk.
9 Includes Skype for Business Online Plan 2 with basic client limitations.
10 Includes Skype for Business Online Plan 2 without any client limitations.
11 Includes Skype for Business Online Plan 1 plus supplemental features.
12 Includes Skype for Business Online Plan 2 with voice support and without any client limitations.
13 Includes Skype for Business Online Plan 1.
14 Microsoft Teams is now the primary client for messaging, meetings, and calling in Microsoft 365. As of Oct. 1, 2018, new customers with 500 seats or less are onboarded to Microsoft Teams and do not have access to Skype for Business Online. Tenants that are already using Skype for Business Online are able to continue doing so (including provisioning new users) until they complete their transition to Microsoft Teams.
15 Includes Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance, which provides automatic classification and retention, Customer Key, Advanced Message Encryption, Insider Risk Management, Communication Compliance, Information Barriers, Customer Lockbox, Privileged Access Management, Advanced Audit, Records Management, and Advanced eDiscovery capabilities; and Microsoft 365 E5 Security, which includes Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Azure Active Directory Plan 2, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Cloud App Security, and Safe Documents.
16 Microsoft 365 F1 does not include rights to an Exchange mailbox. To enable a full Teams experience, M365 F1 licenses may come with the Exchange Online K1 service plan enabled. Although the Exchange Online K1 service plan will provision a mailbox for the user, M365 F1 users are not entitled to use the mailbox. We recommend that your customers disable Outlook on the web via these steps and ask users not to access the Exchange mailbox via any other methods.
17 Includes SharePoint Online Kiosk. Cannot be administrators. No site mailbox. No personal site.
18 Microsoft 365 F1 users can read files using Office for the web, but do not have create/edit/save rights.
Basic client limitations
The following features are available in the full client, but are not available in the basic client:
O365 E3 Pricing
- Manage team call settings
- Manage delegates
- Make calls on behalf of another contact (manager/delegate scenario)
- Handle another's calls if configured as a delegate
- Manage a high volume of calls
- Initiate a call to a Response Group
- Call park
- Group call pickup
Changing or mixing plans
As the needs of your organization change, you may need to change your Microsoft 365 plan. You can switch from your current subscription to another subscription:
- In the same service family: For example, you can move from Microsoft 365 Business Basic to Microsoft 365 Business Standard, or from Office 365 E1 to Office 365 E3.
- From a standalone plan: For example, you can move from Exchange Online Plan 1 to Office 365 E1.
- To a different service family: For example, you can move from Microsoft 365 Business Basic to Office 365 E3.
For information about how to change subscriptions, including how to move from a trial to a paid subscription, see Switch to a different Microsoft 365 plan or subscription.
You can combine Enterprise, Business, and standalone plans (for example, Exchange Online Plan 1) within a single account. However, existing limitations on the number of seats per plan do not change. For example, you can have up to 300 seats per plan on both Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Microsoft 365 Business Standard, but an unlimited number of users on Exchange Online Plan 1.
Standalone services
O365 E3 Vs E5
The following online services are available on their own, as standalone plans. They can also be added to Business and Enterprise service family plans that don't already include them. For pricing information, or to chat with an online representative, select any of the plans listed in the following table.
Service | Plans |
---|---|
Exchange Online | Exchange Online Plan 1 Exchange Online Plan 2 Exchange Online Protection Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Exchange Online Archiving Exchange Online Kiosk |
SharePoint Online | SharePoint Online Plan 1 SharePoint Online Plan 2 |
OneDrive for Business | OneDrive for Business Plan 1 OneDrive for Business Plan 2 |
Office applications | Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise Microsoft 365 Apps for business |
Project portfolio management | Project Plan 1 Project Plan 3 Project Plan 5 |
Yammer | Yammer Basic |
Organizational insights | Workplace Analytics |
Business intelligence service | Power BI |
Online diagram software | Visio Plan 1 Visio Plan 2 |
Information Rights Management | Azure Information Protection |
O365 E3 Plan
Feature availability
To view feature availability across Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans, see Microsoft 365 and Office 365 platform service description.