What matters most in this plan, and the business problem each part solves
Licenses the whole organisation past 300 people on one plan family, with enterprise storage and 1,000-person meetings.
Right for shared-PC and browser users; desk staff who need installed Office belong on E3.
Company email on your domain for staff who do not need archiving or holds.
What it is
Office 365 E1 is where enterprise licensing starts. It carries the same web and mobile Office apps, Teams and Exchange Online as Business Basic, but with no 300-user cap, 5 TB or more OneDrive per user from five seats, and the enterprise versions of SharePoint and Teams. It is the plan for large organisations where a share of staff work from browsers and shared PCs, and for the first tier of a mixed estate below E3.
Choose it if
- Organisations over 300 users with staff who do not need desktop Office
- Seats for shared-PC users, reception, warehouses with a desk PC
- Groups standardising on Enterprise plans from the start
- A cheaper tier under E3 in a mixed tenant
Do not choose it if
- Anyone needing Office installed — E3
- Security beyond Exchange Online Protection — Microsoft 365 E3 or add-ons
- Frontline staff without a desk — F1 or F3 are a third of the price
- Companies under 300 users — Business Basic is cheaper and equivalent
What is included
Exchange Online Plan 1, 50 GB mailbox
Teams enterprise: meetings up to 1,000, live events
OneDrive 1 TB, expandable to 5 TB+ from five seats on request; SharePoint
Web and mobile only
Exchange Online Protection; Entra ID Free
What Office 365 E1 does not do, and what that means for the business
The names above in plain language: what each capability is, what goes wrong without it, and how to add it. Most of them are included in Microsoft 365 E3; each can also be bought on its own on top of this plan.
Desktop Office apps
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook installed on PCs and Macs, working offline and with add-ins.
Without it: People work in the browser. Complex Excel models, mail merges, offline work on a flight and Outlook add-ins for CRM or e-signature do not work; the finance team notices first.
Add it: Microsoft 365 Apps for business — from €11.00 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E3, which includes it.
Office on terminal servers (shared-computer activation)
The Office edition licensed to run on terminal servers, Citrix and virtual desktops that many users share.
Without it: Office installed on a terminal server is unlicensed — one of the most common findings in a Microsoft audit, and it is discovered after the fact.
Add it: Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise — from €15.40 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E3, which includes it.
Device management (Microsoft Intune)
IT enrols company laptops and phones, pushes settings and apps, requires encryption and updates, and can wipe a lost device from a browser.
Without it: A laptop left in a taxi still holds company files and mail with no way to wipe it. Staff install what they like. When the insurer or a client’s auditor asks “are your devices encrypted and managed?”, there is no honest yes.
Add it: Microsoft Intune Plan 1 — from €6.90 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E3, which includes it.
Conditional Access (Microsoft Entra ID P1)
Rules for who may sign in, from where and from what: require MFA, block unknown countries, allow company data only on a managed device.
Without it: A password stolen by a phishing page works from anywhere in the world, because nothing checks where the sign-in comes from. MFA is all-or-nothing instead of “always outside the office”. There is no way to say “company laptops only”.
Add it: Microsoft Entra ID P1 — from €6.10 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E3, which includes it.
Archiving and litigation hold (Exchange Online Archiving)
An archive mailbox that grows to 1.5 TB, and the ability to put a mailbox on hold so nothing in it can be deleted, by anyone.
Without it: A leaver empties the mailbox on the last day and it is gone. A regulator or a court asks for two years of correspondence and gets whatever survived. Mailboxes hit their limit and people delete to keep working.
Add it: Exchange Online Archiving for Exchange Online — from €2.60 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E3, which includes it.
Advanced mail security (Defender for Office 365 Plan 1)
Links and attachments are opened in a sandbox before the user gets them; mails pretending to be the CEO or a supplier are flagged.
Without it: A well-made phishing mail with a clean-looking link reaches the inbox untouched; the only defence is the person reading it, and one in ten clicks.
Add it: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (Plan 1) — from €1.73 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E3, which includes it.
Licensing rules and limits
Commercial summary; the rights are governed by the Microsoft Product Terms and the Microsoft Customer Agreement. Reviewed by IT Partner engineers; date at the foot of the page.
- Per user, no maximum
- Litigation hold needs the Exchange Online Archiving add-on (Exchange Plan 1 base)
- No desktop apps and no shared-computer activation
- New customers worldwide buy the no-Teams SKU since April 2024; Teams Enterprise is bought separately
- Annual commitment: seats can be added at any time; they cannot be reduced until renewal. Cancellation with refund only within the first seven days of the term.
- Monthly commitment: about 20% more per seat than annual; reduce or cancel at each monthly renewal.
- A Microsoft Customer Agreement must be accepted by the customer before the first order; we send it for e-signature.
How to buy it: every option that exists for this product
Only the terms and billing options Microsoft actually sells for this SKU. Prices are Microsoft list prices in EUR; the same table in the other currencies is one click above. “Add to proposal” puts the line with ten licences into the proposal builder, where the quantity is changed.
| Commitment and billing | Per user / month | Per user / year | Flexibility · who it suits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard, with Teams | ||||
| Monthly commitment, billed monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8Q:0001 | €10.39 | €124.68 | Cancel or reduce at any monthly renewal Temporary staff, pilots, headcount that moves | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, billed annually upfront CFQ7TTC0LF8Q:0001 | €8.66 | €103.92 | Seats can be added, not reduced, until renewal The headcount you are sure of; lowest price | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, paid monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8Q:0001 | €9.09 | €109.08 | One-year commitment under a signed agreement; monthly payments, about 5% more By arrangement: the commitment is for the year, the invoice is monthly | Enquire by email agreement required |
| EEA and Switzerland, without Teams | ||||
| Monthly commitment, billed monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8Q:0012 | €7.06 | €84.72 | Cancel or reduce at any monthly renewal Temporary staff, pilots, headcount that moves | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, billed annually upfront CFQ7TTC0LF8Q:0012 | €5.88 | €70.56 | Seats can be added, not reduced, until renewal The headcount you are sure of; lowest price | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, paid monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8Q:0012 | €6.17 | €74.04 | One-year commitment under a signed agreement; monthly payments, about 5% more By arrangement: the commitment is for the year, the invoice is monthly | Enquire by email agreement required |
In one paragraph, for the record
- Office 365 E1 is licensed per user with no user cap.
- It includes web and mobile Office apps, Exchange Online Plan 1, Teams and SharePoint; no desktop apps.
- Litigation hold requires the Exchange Online Archiving add-on.
Questions
E1 or Business Basic?
If you are under 300 users, Business Basic: same features, lower price. E1 is for organisations over 300 or those that need enterprise storage and Teams limits.
Does E1 come with Teams?
For new Enterprise customers worldwide since April 2024, the suite is sold without Teams and Teams Enterprise is a separate licence; our catalogue prices both.
Which SKU do I buy in the EU: with Teams or without?
In the European Economic Area and Switzerland Microsoft sells the suite without Teams at a lower price, and Teams as a separate licence — Microsoft Teams EEA. If your people use Teams, the total is close to the old bundled price; if you use another meeting platform, the no-Teams SKU saves the difference. Outside the EEA the bundled SKU is still sold.
Is there a user cap?
No. Enterprise plans have no maximum; they also carry the Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise edition of Office, which is the version with shared-computer activation for terminal servers and virtual desktops.
Can an existing tenant move its licences to IT Partner?
Yes, without migration: the tenant, data and users stay; we become the partner of record and issue the next invoice. Existing annual commitments run to their renewal date.
Should I buy the three-year term?
Only for the headcount you are certain of for three years. The three-year SKU is the cheapest per seat and protects against Microsoft price rises, but seats cannot be reduced until the end of the term.