Microsoft 365 & Cloud
Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard vs Premium: which plan does your business need?
Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium compared for UK SMEs: apps, Intune, Defender for Business, Entra ID P1 and which plan each business needs.
By Dig IT SolutionsUpdated 8 September 20267 min read
Short answer
Business Basic gives you email, Teams, OneDrive and web-only Office apps. Business Standard adds the full desktop Office apps. Business Premium adds device management (Intune), endpoint security (Defender for Business) and Conditional Access through Entra ID P1. Most UK SMEs handling client data, working remotely or pursuing Cyber Essentials are best served by Premium.
Choosing between the three Microsoft 365 Business plans is less about features on a spec sheet and more about three questions: do your people need the desktop apps, do you need to manage and secure their devices, and are you handling data that someone would sue you or fine you over. This guide sets out what each plan includes, what it leaves out, and which type of business each one suits.
The three plans in one sentence each
- Business Basic is email and collaboration in the browser: Exchange, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint and the web and mobile Office apps.
- Business Standard is Basic plus the full desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and the rest, installable on up to five PCs or Macs per user.
- Business Premium is Standard plus the security and device-management tools that larger companies get from the enterprise plans: Intune, Defender for Business, Entra ID P1 and Purview.
All three are capped at 300 users. Above that, or if you need features such as unlimited archiving or the enterprise-grade Defender suite, you move to the Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 plans. Microsoft publishes its UK list prices for all three Business plans per user per month, and they change occasionally, so treat the live page as the source of truth.
Feature comparison table
| Area | Business Basic | Business Standard | Business Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Online email (50 GB mailbox) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams meetings, chat and calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OneDrive (1 TB per user) and SharePoint | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook on the web and mobile | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Office apps (Windows and Mac) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Bookings, webinar hosting, Loop, Clipchamp | No | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Intune (device management) | No | No | Yes |
| Defender for Business (endpoint detection and response) | No | No | Yes |
| Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 (Safe Links, Safe Attachments) | No | No | Yes |
| Entra ID P1 (Conditional Access, self-service password reset) | No | No | Yes |
| Purview Information Protection (sensitivity labels, DLP) | No | No | Yes |
| Windows Autopilot and Azure Virtual Desktop rights | No | No | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Paid add-on | Paid add-on | Paid add-on |
| Independent point-in-time backup | No | No | No |
| Maximum users | 300 | 300 | 300 |
Microsoft's own service descriptions on Microsoft Learn carry the definitive feature lists, and a few details have moved between plans over the years, so check there if a specific capability is decisive for you. Note also that Microsoft now sells versions of each Business plan with and without Teams, so confirm which variant you are being quoted for.
Business Basic: who it suits
Basic is the right answer for users who live in a browser or on a phone and never need to open a spreadsheet on a PC. Typical examples in the businesses Dig IT supports across Hertfordshire and London:
- Depot, warehouse or shop-floor staff who need email and Teams on a shared terminal or a phone.
- Shared mailboxes and resource accounts that need a licence for archiving or larger storage.
- Part-time and seasonal staff, where the cost of desktop apps is hard to justify.
- Very small businesses that have already standardised on browser-based tools for everything else.
The limitation is real. Web Excel and web Outlook are good but not complete, and staff who have used the desktop apps for years will notice missing features quickly. Basic also has none of the security controls that make a laptop safe to take home.
Business Standard: who it suits
Standard is the most common plan in UK small businesses because it is the cheapest way to get the desktop apps that most office staff expect. It suits:
- Office-based teams working on desktops inside a network that is already protected by a firewall and a managed antivirus product.
- Businesses that already pay for a separate endpoint security and device-management stack and do not want to duplicate it.
- Professional services firms whose main need is Outlook, Word and Excel with reliable email and shared files.
Standard's gap is the same as Basic's: no Intune, no Defender for Business, no Conditional Access. If a laptop on Standard is lost on the train, you cannot remotely wipe it through Microsoft 365. If a password is phished, you cannot require a compliant device or block sign-ins from outside the UK. Those controls have to come from somewhere else, and that "somewhere else" usually costs more than the difference between Standard and Premium.
Business Premium: who it suits
Premium exists because Microsoft recognised that a 30-person accountancy practice faces the same threats as a 3,000-person one, with none of the internal security team. It bundles the tools that would otherwise be bought separately:
- Intune manages Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices: enforce encryption, push updates, install apps, and wipe a device remotely. This is the foundation of Dig IT's Microsoft 365 security service.
- Defender for Business is endpoint detection and response, not just antivirus. It watches behaviour on each device and can isolate a machine automatically when something looks like ransomware. See endpoint security and EDR for how that fits a wider security stack.
- Entra ID P1 brings Conditional Access, explained in detail in Conditional Access for small businesses. In short: MFA everywhere, sign-ins only from managed devices, and blocks on countries you do not trade with.
- Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 scans links and attachments in email and Teams before a user can open them.
- Purview adds sensitivity labels and data loss prevention, so a document marked "client confidential" cannot be emailed to a personal address without at least a warning.
Premium is the plan to choose if any of the following apply: staff use laptops or work from home, you hold client financial, legal or health data, you are working towards Cyber Essentials, or your cyber insurer asks about MFA and endpoint protection. For most businesses of up to 250 people handling other people's data, it is the sensible default.
What none of the plans include
It is easy to buy a Microsoft 365 licence and assume the job is done. Four things sit outside every plan:
- Backup. Retention windows and recycle bins are not backup. Microsoft recommends backing up your own content and sells backup separately. Read does Microsoft 365 back up your data for the detail, and see the Microsoft 365 backup service for how Dig IT covers it.
- Configuration. Premium ships with Conditional Access, Intune and Defender available, not switched on. A tenant that nobody has configured is a Standard tenant with a bigger invoice.
- Migration. Moving mailboxes, calendars and files from your current platform is a project in its own right, covered in the Microsoft 365 migration checklist.
- Support and training. Microsoft's support is for the platform, not for your staff. Day-to-day help comes from your IT provider.
A simple decision path
Work through these in order and stop at the first "yes".
| Question | If yes |
|---|---|
| Does this user only need email, Teams and browser apps? | Business Basic |
| Does this user need desktop Office apps but work only on a protected office desktop, with endpoint security already covered elsewhere? | Business Standard |
| Does this user work on a laptop, from home, or handle client, financial, legal or health data? | Business Premium |
| Do you need Cyber Essentials, cyber insurance evidence, or remote wipe of lost devices? | Business Premium for everyone with a device |
| Do you have more than 300 users or need advanced compliance and archiving? | Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 |
Mixing is normal. Mr Plant Hire, a multi-depot plant and tool hire business Dig IT has supported for over 15 years, runs Microsoft 365 with SharePoint for document sharing between its companies, and the licence mix reflects who actually sits at a PC and who works from a phone in a yard.
What to do next
If you are unsure which mix of plans fits your business, or you suspect you are paying for Premium features nobody has switched on, Dig IT can review your tenant and licence assignments as part of its Microsoft 365 service. To talk it through with an engineer, get in touch.