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Office 365 E3 vs Microsoft 365 E3
Office 365 E3 is the productivity suite for large organisations. Microsoft 365 E3 is the same suite with Windows Enterprise, Intune and Entra ID P1 bundled in — the enterprise version of the step from Business Standard to Premium. Organisations that manage devices some other way often do not need the step; organisations that want Microsoft to do it usually do.
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Devices are managed by another tool and identities are protected by another product, both already paid for. Windows licences come with the hardware and nobody needs Enterprise. You want the Office suite, mail and files at enterprise scale and nothing more.
Office 365 E3 in full, with every buying option →…
You want Intune and Conditional Access from the same vendor as the mail. You need Windows Enterprise for long-term servicing, virtual desktops or Autopatch. You intend to add E5 components later, or you have started counting the separate subscriptions you hold and want one.
Microsoft 365 E3 in full, with every buying option →| Feature | Office 365 E3… | Microsoft 365 E3… |
|---|---|---|
| Apps and productivity | ||
| Desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web and mobile Office apps | ✓ | ✓ |
| Install on 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets, 5 phones per user | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft TeamsIn the EEA, most plans are also sold without Teams at a lower price. Teams is then bought separately. | ✓ | ✓ |
| SharePoint | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft Bookings | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email and storage | ||
| Business email hosting (Exchange Online) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mailbox sizeBusiness Premium moved from 50 GB to 100 GB in summer 2026. | 100 GB | 100 GB |
| Auto-expanding archive mailboxBasic and Standard include a 50 GB archive that does not expand. Business Premium (through Exchange Online Archiving), E3 and E5 expand up to 1.5 TB. | ✓ | ✓ |
| OneDrive storage per user5 TB+ applies from five seats and can be raised on request to Microsoft. | 5 TB+ | 5 TB+ |
| Identity and devices | ||
| Microsoft Entra ID P1Microsoft 365 E3 onlyThis is the line that most often decides between Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3. | — | ✓ |
| Microsoft Entra ID P2 (identity protection, PIM) | — | — |
| Conditional AccessMicrosoft 365 E3 only | — | ✓ |
| Microsoft Intune Plan 1Microsoft 365 E3 only | — | ✓ |
| Windows 11 Enterprise upgrade rightsMicrosoft 365 E3 only | — | ✓ |
| Security | ||
| Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 (Safe Links, Safe Attachments)Microsoft 365 E3 onlyIncluded in Microsoft 365 E3 from July 2026, with the E3 price change; earlier E3 had Exchange Online Protection only. | — | ✓ |
| Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 (attack simulation, threat hunting) | — | — |
| Defender for Business (endpoint protection)The SMB endpoint product. Enterprise plans use Defender for Endpoint instead. | — | — |
| Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 | — | — |
| Defender for Identity | — | — |
| Defender for Cloud Apps | — | — |
| Sensitivity labels and information protectionMicrosoft 365 E3 only | — | ✓ |
| Compliance | ||
| Data loss prevention for email and files | ✓ | ✓ |
| Retention policies and litigation holdLitigation hold is a feature of Exchange Online Plan 2, and of Plan 1 with Exchange Online Archiving, which Business Premium includes. Basic, Standard and E1 need the Archiving add-on, around EUR 2.60 per user per month. | ✓ | ✓ |
| eDiscovery (Standard) | ✓ | ✓ |
| eDiscovery (Premium) | — | — |
| Insider Risk Management | — | — |
| Communication Compliance | — | — |
| Customer Lockbox | — | — |
| Voice and analytics | ||
| Power BI Pro | — | — |
| Teams Phone (phone system)A calling plan or direct routing is still needed on top, and is bought separately. | — | — |
| Limits | ||
| Maximum usersThe 300-seat cap is the most common reason a growing company has to move off the Business plans. | No limit | No limit |
highlighted rows differ included. The same rows, for every plan at once, are on the full comparison; prices are Microsoft’s list per user a month on a one-year commitment, in the currency of the region chosen at the top of the page.
Very nearly. Enterprise Mobility + Security E3 carries Intune and Entra ID P1; Windows Enterprise E3 carries the operating-system rights. Microsoft 365 E3 bundles both with Office 365 E3 at a lower price than the three separately.
Usually not: Business Standard and Business Premium cover the same ground at a lower price and cap at three hundred. Office 365 E3 makes sense under the cap only when Enterprise-only features are needed.
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