Jul 29, 2020 For organizations weighing the benefits and costs of Microsoft's enterprise licenses, two plans in particular often stand out: Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3. At first glance, the two subscriptions have a lot in common. Office 365: Microsoft Office plans compared Standalone Office is still available, but Microsoft makes its subscriptions far more appealing. Find a Microsoft 365 subscription that’s right for your business with added benefits from Sherweb. Plans & pricing. Find a Microsoft 365 subscription that's right for you. Overview; Plans & pricing. Microsoft 365 Apps formerly Office 365 ProPlus $13.99. Office 365 E1 $9.99. This plan works with Office 2019, Office 2016, Office 2013, and Office 2011 for Mac. Previous versions of Office, such as Office 2010 and Office 2007 may work with Microsoft 365 with reduced functionality. This compatibility with Office does not include the Office 365 F3 plans.
-->Microsoft 365 is available in a variety of plans to best meet the needs of your organization. If you're looking for the differences between the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Education plans, this article will show you which features are included in each of them.
Microsoft 365 provides a complete system, including Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility and Security. The following table lists the Office 365 for Education A1, A3, and A5 features along with the corresponding Microsoft 365 for Education A3 and A5 features. To compare features across business and enterprise plans, see Compare Microsoft 365 for business plans, or, for a more detailed list of features, see the relevant service description under Microsoft 365 and Office 365 service descriptions. To search for support articles and information, see Office Help & Training.
Services and features
Each Microsoft 365 Education 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 Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plan so that you can choose the solution that best meets your needs. To review services and features in greater detail, see the Office 365 Education service description.
| Service | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office 365 platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office for the web | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange Online | Yes1 | Yes2 | Yes2 | Yes2 | Yes2 | Yes1 | Yes1 | Yes1 | Yes1 |
| SharePoint Online | Yes3 | Yes4 | Yes4 | Yes4 | Yes4 | Yes3 | Yes3 | Yes3 | Yes3 |
| OneDrive for Business | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Skype for Business Online | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Project | No5 | No5 | No5 | No5 | No5 | No5 | No5 | No5 | No5 |
| Yammer Academic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Stream | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Planner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Classroom tools | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
| Classroom experiences in Microsoft Teams | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OneNote Class Notebook | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Sway | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Forms | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learning tools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Accessibility Checker | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office Lens | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Minecraft Education Edition with Code Builder | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Take a Test app | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Set up School PCs app | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Voice video and meetings | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
| Skype Meeting Broadcast | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Microsoft Bookings | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Audio Conferencing | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Phone System | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Analytics | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
| Delve | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Power BI Pro | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| My Analytics | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Azure Active Directory | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
| Azure Active Directory Basic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Azure Active Directory Plan 1 | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Azure Active Directory Plan 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Compliance | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
| Office 365 Rights Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Azure Information Protection Plan 1 | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Azure Information Protection Plan 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Litigation Hold | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content search | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Core eDiscovery (including Hold and Export) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced eDiscovery | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Data loss prevention (DLP) for email and files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Endpoint DLP | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Communications DLP (Teams chat) | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Communication Compliance | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Customer Key | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Basic Auditing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Auditing | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Basic Office 365 Message Encryption | Yes9 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes9 | Yes9 | Yes9 | Yes9 |
| Advanced Office 365 Message Encryption | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Customer Lockbox | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Insider Risk Management | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Privileged Access Management | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Management and security | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
| Microsoft Defender for Office 36510 Plan 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| School Data Sync | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Security Management | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Intune for Education6 | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Threat Analytics | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Defender Antivirus | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Microsoft Defender Device Guard | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Microsoft Defender for Identity11 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Office 365 Cloud App Security | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 Cloud App Security | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Microsoft Defender for Endpoint12 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Server and CAL benefits | Office 365 Education A1 | Office 365 Education A3 | Office 365 Education A5 | Microsoft 365 Education A3 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Office 365 A3 Student Use Benefit | Office 365 A5 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A3 Student Use Benefit | Microsoft 365 Education A5 Student Use Benefit |
| Exchange7 | No | No | No | Yes8 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| SharePoint7 | No | No | No | Yes8 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Skype for Business7 | No | No | No | Yes8 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Windows Server CAL | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| System Center Endpoint Protection | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Note
1 Includes Exchange Online Plan 1 plus supplemental features.
2 Includes Exchange Online Plan 2.
3 Includes SharePoint Online Plan 1 plus supplemental features.
4 Includes SharePoint Online Plan 2.
5 Microsoft Project is not included in Office 365 but can be acquired separately. Project Online Essentials is free. If you are a student or an educational institution, you may be eligible to purchase Project Plan 3 and Plan 5 at educational prices.
6 Includes Intune.
7 Servers and CALs are included for Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business.
8 ECAL or Core CAL, depending on the version of A3 that is purchased—with A5, the ECAL rights are included.
9 Microsoft 365 apps is required in order to apply protections and send protected emails from the Outlook Desktop.
10 Formerly Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection.
11 Formerly Azure Advanced Threat Protection.
12 Formerly Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection.
There's no getting around the importance of Office 365 for day-to-day business.
Or is it Microsoft 365 now?
Wait. What's going on?
The confusion surrounding the recent changes with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 is completely understandable. The shift has a lot of people scratching their heads and wondering, 'OK, so what's the difference?'
But organizations that currently depend on Microsoft's Office suite, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and other cloud apps and services to keep their remote workers connected and productive don't need to worry.
Because although names might have changed for some of the business and enterprise subscriptions, the license features have pretty much been untouched.
Here's a quick breakdown of what's different and what's stayed the same.
Office 365 vs. Microsoft 365
Why all the sudden confusion between Office 365 and Microsoft 365? Well, it really comes down to rebranding.
Microsoft 365, also known as M365, is a cloud-based, subscription suite that encompasses Office and other productivity apps, cloud services, device management, and security. It first emerged as an enterprise-level licensing bundle in 2017.
Microsoft announced in late March that Office 365 would officially become Microsoft 365 effective April 21. And as part of that, Office 365 subscriptions for small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as the enterprise-level Office 365 ProPlus, would be renamed.
Those plans are now called:
- 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 or Enterprise (formerly Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus)
But by any other name, those business licenses retain the same features and pricing. And Office 365 Enterprise subscriptions — as well as select Office 365 plans for education, government, and first-line workers — remain unchanged in name and details.
So why make the move to Microsoft 365 at all?
The branding shift is meant to better reflect the innovative cloud-based productivity tools offered in these plans, as well as the new Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions, according to a blog post authored by Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365. But the name changes should also help better differentiate between subscriptions, too.
And although no major subscription changes were made along with the rebranding, it's almost guaranteed that Microsoft 365 will be introducing added features as newer versions are released. Meanwhile, a later announcements revealed a steady elimination of older Office versions and Office 365 services:
- Microsoft 365 Apps for Business of Enterprise (formerly Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus), Office 2019, and Office 2016 are the only Office versions supported to connect to Office 365/Microsoft 365 services as of Oct. 13, 2020.
- Connecting to Office 365 via Office 2016 for Mac, as well as older versions of Project and Visio are no longer supported as of Oct. 13, 2020. (InfoPath 2013 and SharePoint Designer 2013 have extended support into 2026.)
- TLS 1.0 and 1.1 was retired on Oct. 15, 2020; TLS 1.2 is now required to connect to Office 365 services.
- Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021.
- Versions of Office 2019 will be supported until October 2023.
'The Office you know and love will still be there,' according to Spataro's March 30 blog post, 'but we're excited about the new apps and services we've added to our subscriptions over the last few years and about the new innovations we'll be adding in the coming months.'
Comparing Business and Enterprise Plans
Name changes aside, the current business licenses Microsoft 365 has to offer should look fairly familiar.
For business plans — which support up to 300 users — web and mobile Office apps as well as cloud file storage come standard. Most of the subscriptions also include Teams, Outlook, Exchange, and SharePoint.
But some of the key differences among the business licenses lie desktop versions of Office apps, as well as advanced security and device management offered by the Premium plan, which includes Intune and Azure Information Protection.
Here's a quick look at the main features of the newly renamed business subscriptions, directly from Microsoft:
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic (FKA* O365 Business Essentials) | Microsoft 365 Business Standard (FKA O365 Business Premium) | Microsoft Business Premium (FKA M365 Business) | Microsoft 365 Apps for business(FKA O365 Business) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web and mobile versions of Office apps | X | X | X | X |
| Email and calendar | X | X | X | |
| Teamwork and communication | X | X | X | |
| File storage and sharing | X | X | X | X |
| Security and compliance | X | X | X | X (partially) |
| Support and deployment | X | X | X | X |
| Tools to build and manage your business | X | X | X | |
| Desktop versions of Office apps for PC and Mac | X | X | X | |
| Advanced threat protection | X | |||
| PC and mobile device management | X | |||
| Price (per user per month) | $5 | $12.50 | $20 | $8.25 |
*FKA = formerly known as
Enterprise licenses — available for an unlimited number of users — offer a broader variety of apps, cloud services, and device and security management.
On the lighter end of the subscription spectrum are Office 365 E1, E3, and E5, as well as the newly renamed Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (formerly Office 365 ProPlus), all of which have different mixes of Office and productivity apps, device management, and even analytics. The more advanced protection, security, and compliance features, though, can be found with the Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 plans, which also include the Windows OS.
Here's Microsoft's general overview of what the enterprise licenses include:
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise(FKA O365 ProPlus) | Office 365 E1 | Office 365 E3 | Office 365 E5 | Microsoft 365 E3 | Microsoft 365 E5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office apps (PowerPoint, Word, Excell, OneNote, Access (PC only)) | X | X (partially, web apps) | X | X | X | X |
| Email and calendar (Outlook, Exchange, Bookings) | X (partially) | X | X | X | X | X |
| Meetings and voice (Teams) | X (partially) | X (partially) | X (partially) | X | X (partially) | X |
| Social and intranet (SharePoint, Yammer) | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Files and content (OneDrive, Stream, Sway) | X (partially) | X | X | X | X | X |
| Task management (Power Apps, Power Automate, Planner, To Do) | X (partially) | X | X | X | X | X |
| Advanced analytics (MyAnalytics, Power BI Pro) | X (partially) | X (partially) | X | X (partially) | X | |
| Device and app management | X | X (partially) | X | X | X | X |
| Identity and access management | X | X | X | X | X (partially) | X |
| Threat protection | X | X (partially) | X | |||
| Information protection | X (partially) | X | X (partially) | X | ||
| Security management | X | X | ||||
| Advanced compliance | X (partially) | X | X | |||
| Price (per user per month) | $12 | $8 | $20 | $35 | $32 | $57 |
Of course there are even more Microsoft 365 subscriptions — including personal/family, first-line workforce, education, and government plans — not covered in this post. But in terms of licenses that can fulfill the needs of large-scale organizations, these business and enterprise plans are a great place to start.
It's also worth taking a closer look at two popular enterprise plans, Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3, that are frequently compared in terms of features and value.
Differences Between Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3
For organizations weighing the benefits and costs of Microsoft's enterprise licenses, two plans in particular often stand out: Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3.
At first glance, the two subscriptions have a lot in common. Both include Office suite apps (desktop, mobile, web), Outlook, Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and more productivity apps. They also include some of the same services, such as Microsoft 365 admin center, Graph API, Mobile Device Management for Office 365, shared computer activation, on-premises Active Directory sync for single sign-on, and information protection.
But Microsoft 365 E3 has a bit more to offer, including device management options such as Microsoft Intune, Windows Autopilot, analytics, and a System Center Configuration Manager. It also features Windows Hello, Windows Credential Guard, DirectAccess, Azure Active Directory Premium, advanced threat and information protection measures, Microsoft Secure Score, and Microsoft Security and Compliance Center.
Microsoft 365 E3 also includes the Windows 10 Enterprise OS, which might explain why the plan is $12/user/month higher than Office 365 E3.
So which subscription offers the best value? Well, that's tough to say.
When it comes to choosing the best license, or even combination of licenses, organizations need to start by looking at their own users.
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How to Choose the Right Licenses for Your Users
With so many different license tiers to pick from, finding the right fit can be a challenge.
Because while it's important for organizations to provide all the apps and services employees need to stay productive, it's just as important to avoid costly overprovisioning and unused software.
That's why understanding end-user needs is crucial. In order to strategically provision licenses and prevent wasted resources, IT teams need clear, detailed usage data.
With a digital experience monitoring solution, such as SysTrack, organizations can gain better visibility of their digital environments and end-user behavior by gathering data metrics — such as application usage and performance, storage needs, license info, etc. — directly from the endpoint.
IT teams can then use that information to start considering some critical questions:
- Where are licenses needed? Are there unused licenses that can be re-provisioned or removed?
- What does the usage data show over a 30-, 60-, or 90-day period?
- Are there edge cases where users can benefit from an upgrade? Or are there users who can be moved to a less expensive license without impact?
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Backed bys still the matter of keeping everything running smoothly and maintaining a great digital employee experience.
Although the SaaS model of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 make them ideal for many workspaces, their third-party infrastructure makes it tricky for IT admins to troubleshoot. And tools such as Microsoft Support and Discovery Assistant and the Admin Center's Microsoft 365 service health page offer only basic help with mainly external factors.
For deep root cause analysis and more effective troubleshooting — especially with Office 365 Enterprise licenses — an internal monitoring solution such as SysTrack is invaluable for providing visibility into other areas, including:
- Browser
- Network
- Operating system
- Hardware
- Other apps
Using SysTrack's comprehensive analytics in combination with its Office 365 Performance Monitoring Kit, which includes specially designed dashboards and reports, also gives IT teams greater insights into license usage and performance across their environment.
In addition to summary information about usage and performance, the kit also helps IT teams track underused or unused licenses; location-based details; and performance and consumption info for specific users.
So when issues do arise, IT has the means to quickly identify, resolve, and even prevent problems before they impact end-user experience and productivity.
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