Choosing your Microsoft 365 licence

From the plan landscape to a defensible licensing decision — the SMB fork, the E3 vs E5 fork, Copilot, and the suites that change the maths.

For: Anyone who owns the Microsoft 365 renewal or a licensing decision.

6 guides in this path

  1. 1
    Microsoft 365 plans and pricingThe licensing decision, made navigable: three routes — Business Premium for SMB, E3 plus add-ons for enterprise, E5 when you'll use it — and links to every comparison you need.
  2. 2
    Business Premium vs Microsoft 365 E3The 300-seat licensing decision most growing organisations get wrong — Business Premium beats E3 on security for a lot less money, E3 wins on mailboxes, Windows, and scale. How to choose, and how to mix them.
  3. 3
    Microsoft 365 E3 vs E5 — what's worth the upgradeA practical comparison of Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 plans — what E5 adds, where the value sits, and step-up patterns.
  4. 4
    Microsoft 365 Copilot licensingThe Copilot licensing landscape without the marketing — which Microsoft 365 SKUs are eligible, how the add-on works, the free and paid Copilot Chat tiers, and the practical trade-offs between them.
  5. 5
    The Intune Suite explainedMicrosoft's Intune Suite bundles Endpoint Privilege Management, Remote Help, Advanced Analytics, Enterprise App Management, Microsoft Tunnel, and Cloud PKI into a single per-user licence. What each product does, and when the bundle is the right SKU.
  6. 6
    The Entra Suite explainedMicrosoft's Entra Suite bundles Internet Access, Private Access, Verified ID, ID Governance, and Identity Protection into a single per-user licence. What each product does, how the bundle economics work, and when it's the right SKU.
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