Having launched in 2017, Microsoft 365 has seen several new features, enhancements, and capabilities introduced that have come at no additional cost to the core product.
But this is set to soon change, as Redmond has made the decision to make the service pricier.
This service is an evolution of Office 365, which itself has been live since 2010. And this is the first time that both the productivity subscription offerings are getting a price hike — for commercial customers and business users, at least, as education customers and consumers will stay on the same prices.
Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365, explains:
“We are announcing changes to our commercial pricing for Microsoft 365—the first substantive pricing update since we launched Office 365 a decade ago. This updated pricing reflects the increased value we have delivered to our customers over the past 10 years.”
As the company outlines, since its announcement, Microsoft 365 alone has seen 1,400 new capabilities added to three domains. These include communication and collaboration, security and compliance, as well as AI and automation.
24 apps have also been introduced across various Microsoft 365 offerings.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: From $5 to $6 per user
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium: From $20 to $22
- Office 365 E1: From $8 to $10
- Office 365 E3: From $20 to $23
- Office 365 E5: From $35 to $38
- Microsoft 365 E3: From $32 to $36
The new prices will go into effect in six months, not just in the United States, but all over the world.
To sweeten the pot a bit, Microsoft is introducing unlimited dial-in connectivity for Teams because of the fact that that people sometimes take meetings on the go and do not always have satisfactory internet stability.
This capability will be available to enterprise, business, frontline, and government customers within the next few months.
