What matters most in this plan, and the business problem each part solves
You know which department clicks before an attacker does, and a real phishing wave is cleaned out of every mailbox automatically.
A legal hold across hundreds of mailboxes and Teams is a workflow, not a month of manual work; leaks by insiders are flagged.
The old PBX and its contract go; numbers, queues and voicemail live in Teams.
The board sees live dashboards instead of a spreadsheet forwarded ten times.
What it is
Office 365 E5 is the top of the Office 365 line: everything in E3, plus the security and compliance features that live in the mail and collaboration layer — Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 with attack simulation and automated investigation, Purview eDiscovery Premium and Insider Risk, Customer Lockbox — plus Teams Phone system, Audio Conferencing and Power BI Pro. Like Office 365 E3 it has no Intune, Entra ID P1 or Windows Enterprise; those come with Microsoft 365 E5. It is the plan for organisations that manage identity and devices elsewhere but want E5-grade mail security, compliance and voice.
Choose it if
- Enterprises that run Teams Phone and Power BI for most users
- Legal and regulated organisations needing eDiscovery Premium and Insider Risk without the Microsoft 365 stack
- Companies that want phishing simulation (Defender P2) for every user
Do not choose it if
- Anyone needing Intune, Entra ID P2 or Defender for Endpoint — Microsoft 365 E5
- Organisations where only a few users need Power BI or Teams Phone — buy those as add-ons on E3
- Under 300 users without voice needs — Business Premium plus add-ons is far cheaper
What is included
Defender for Office 365 Plan 2: attack simulation training, automated investigation and response, threat explorer
Purview eDiscovery Premium, Insider Risk Management, Communication Compliance, Customer Lockbox, 10-year audit
Teams Phone system, Audio Conferencing (calling plan separate)
Power BI Pro
Intune, Entra ID P1/P2, Windows Enterprise, Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Identity
What Office 365 E5 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 E5; each can also be bought on its own on top of this plan.
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 E5, 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 E5, which includes it.
Identity protection and privileged access (Entra ID P2)
Risk-based sign-in rules, time-limited admin rights, access reviews of who still needs what.
Without it: Administrators hold permanent global-admin rights; a compromised admin account is a compromised company. Leavers keep access to systems nobody reviews.
Add it: Microsoft Entra ID P2 — from €8.70 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E5, which includes it.
Endpoint detection and response, enterprise (Defender for Endpoint Plan 2)
The full endpoint security product: threat hunting across all machines, vulnerability management, automated investigation.
Without it: The security team sees alerts but cannot hunt across the estate for the same attacker, and unpatched vulnerabilities are found by the attacker before IT.
Add it: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 — from €4.50 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E5, which includes it.
Windows Enterprise rights
The Enterprise edition of Windows 11 for company PCs: Credential Guard, application control, long-term servicing, and the licence for virtual desktops.
Without it: Virtual desktops and terminal servers are not licensed for Windows at all, and a set of security controls exists only in Enterprise; an audit finds both.
Add it: Windows 10/11 Enterprise E3 — from €6.60 per user per month Add to proposal What it is and what it costs →
Or step up to Microsoft 365 E5, 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 cap
- Teams Phone included but a calling plan or operator connect is bought separately
- A "without Audio Conferencing" SKU exists at the same price for markets where conferencing is not available
- 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 CFQ7TTC0LF8S:0002 | €49.70 | €596.40 | Cancel or reduce at any monthly renewal Temporary staff, pilots, headcount that moves | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, billed annually upfront CFQ7TTC0LF8S:0002 | €41.42 | €497.04 | Seats can be added, not reduced, until renewal The headcount you are sure of; lowest price | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, paid monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8S:0002 | €43.49 | €521.88 | 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 CFQ7TTC0LF8S:000X | €40.81 | €489.72 | Cancel or reduce at any monthly renewal Temporary staff, pilots, headcount that moves | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, billed annually upfront CFQ7TTC0LF8S:000X | €34.01 | €408.12 | Seats can be added, not reduced, until renewal The headcount you are sure of; lowest price | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, paid monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8S:000X | €35.71 | €428.52 | 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 |
| Without Audio Conferencing (same price) | ||||
| Monthly commitment, billed monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8S:0001 | €49.70 | €596.40 | Cancel or reduce at any monthly renewal Temporary staff, pilots, headcount that moves | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, billed annually upfront CFQ7TTC0LF8S:0001 | €41.42 | €497.04 | Seats can be added, not reduced, until renewal The headcount you are sure of; lowest price | Add to proposal |
| Annual commitment, paid monthly CFQ7TTC0LF8S:0001 | €43.49 | €521.88 | 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 E5 includes Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Purview eDiscovery Premium, Teams Phone, Audio Conferencing and Power BI Pro.
- It does not include Intune, Entra ID P1 or P2, Windows Enterprise or Defender for Endpoint.
- It is licensed per user with no user cap.
Questions
Office 365 E5 or Microsoft 365 E5?
Microsoft 365 E5 adds Entra ID P2, Intune, Defender for Endpoint P2, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud Apps and Windows Enterprise E5. If you want the full Defender suite and identity governance, Microsoft 365 E5; if you only want E5 mail security, compliance and voice, Office 365 E5.
Can I get the E5 security on E3 instead?
Yes: Defender for Office 365 P2, the E5 compliance add-ons, Teams Phone and Power BI Pro are all sold separately and attach to E3. Buy E5 when three or more of them are needed for the same users.
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.