Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard -What you need to know

Microsoft 365 Business Basic is one of the cheapest Microsoft 365 plans available. But is it any good and how does Business Basic compare to Microsoft 365 Standard, which cost twice as much.

Comparing Microsoft 365 plans can be quite difficult. There are 4 business plans to choose from and in total there are 12 Microsoft 365 plans. So the question is really, what do you need and what are the big differences between these two plans?

In this article, we are going to take a look at the main difference between Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard and I have compared all important features in a comparison table for you.

Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard

Business Basic and Standard are really the step-in plans for Microsoft 365. They are both affordable but have one big difference between them. Let’s take a look a quick look at the most important ones:

The biggest difference between the two plans is really in the desktop apps. Microsoft 365 Business Basic doesn’t come with desktop client apps. That means that you can’t install Word, Excel, Outlook, etc on your computer.

Note

Microsoft added new plans without Teams wich are only available in the European Union. These plans are less expensive. Read everything about it in this article

You can however use the online version of the Office apps. The online versions work really well these days, so most users can use Word or Outlook perfectly in the browser. Good to know is that the new Outlook desktop app, that is currently in preview, is exactly the same as the online version.

Webinars

If you are planning to give webinars, then you will need to go for the Business Standard plan. With the basic plan, you can’t give webinars with Teams. Everything else in Teams works exactly the same.

Other features

The only small difference between the two is the support for group policies, but most small companies don’t even use them. For the rest, both plans are exactly the same.

Business Basic and Standard Compared

In the table below you will find all the details of both plans compared. You can find the prices for your country here at Microsoft.com. Keep in mind that all Business plans are limited to 300 users.

Tip

You can mix Microsoft 365 Business plans with Enterprise plans, so if you have more than 300 users, you buy Microsoft 365 E3 plans for the other users.

	Microsoft 365
	Business Basic	Business Standard
Annual commitment	$6.00 p/m	$12.50 p/m
monthly commitment	$7.20 p/m	$15.00 p/m
Core Details
Number of installs	Online and mobile only	5 per user
Supported devices	Web, tablets, and phones	PCs/Macs, tablets, and phones
Office Apps
Office Online
Office Apps (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)
Publisher and Access (pc only)
Microsoft Editor premium features
Standard Services
Exchange	Plan 1 (50Gb Mailbox)	Plan 1 (50Gb Mailbox)
OneDrive Storage	Plan 1 (1 TB per user)	Plan 1 (1 TB per user)
SharePoint
Teams
Webinars
Yammer
Business Apps
Planner
Microsoft Shifts
Power Automate
PowerApps
Forms
To-Do
Stream
Microsoft Bookings
Advanced Services
Group policy support
	More info	More info
	Buy	Buy
		Trial

Wrapping Up

If you like to work online and don’t need desktop apps, then Microsoft 365 Business Basic is the perfect plan for you. It’s really cheap, comes with 1TB cloud storage for your documents, and a 50GB mailbox.

There isn’t much to compare between Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard, as they are besides the desktops apps, completely the same.

I hope this comparison helped you with selecting the correct Microsoft 365 plan for you. If you have any questions, just drop a comment below.