Glossary
License
A Microsoft 365 subscription seat assigned to a user, granting access to services.
A license in Microsoft 365 is the subscription seat that grants a specific user (or group of users) access to a specific set of services. A tenant buys a quantity of licences for a plan — for example, 50 of Microsoft 365 Business Standard — and assigns those licences to user accounts in the admin center or via group-based licensing in Entra ID. Each plan is internally a bundle of service plans (Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, etc.), and administrators can turn individual service plans on or off per user. Unlicensed accounts can exist but cannot use most services until a licence is assigned.