Business Premium is the right choice for organizations under 300 users. E3 is for organizations over 300 users OR those needing unlimited mailbox archiving, advanced compliance features, or Windows 11 Enterprise edition.
Both plans include the same Office apps, Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Intune, and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1. The differences are around the edges and matter at scale.
~$22/user/month. Includes everything most SMBs need:
Cap: 300 users.
~$36.75/user/month. Adds:
What it does NOT add over Business Premium: Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 (still need to add separately), advanced Defender for Office, Entra ID P2.
E5 (~$57/user/month) adds Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, Defender for Cloud Apps, advanced Defender for Office, Entra ID P2 (Identity Protection, PIM), Power BI Pro, and audio conferencing. For mature security organizations, the bundled security alone often justifies the upgrade.
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