Microsoft has announced upcoming pricing adjustments across several Microsoft 365 plans beginning July 1. While price increases are rarely welcome, this particular shift creates a timely opportunity.
Two of the most commonly used plans are seeing modest increases. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is increasing by 16%, and Microsoft 365 Business Standard is increasing by 12%.
Many organizations also layer additional protections to address modern security risks, including identity protection, endpoint protection, email threat protection, and device management. When those capabilities are added individually, the total cost of a Business Standard environment can quickly exceed the roughly $22 per user monthly cost of Microsoft 365 Business Premium, which bundles these protections into a single integrated platform and is not increasing in price.
As Microsoft adjusts pricing, this is a natural moment to evaluate total spend rather than individual license fees. We see Business Standard licenses supplemented with separate subscriptions for anti-phishing, email links and attachment scanning, secure email messaging and encryption, and conditional access policies, each likely added to solve a specific problem at a specific time.
Viewed in isolation, each cost makes sense. Viewed together, those add-ons often push the monthly cost per user into the same range as Microsoft 365 Business Premium. For example, a business paying for Business Standard often will also be spending:
- $2.10 per user for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 (anti-phishing, impersonation protection, safe attachments, safe links)
- $6.30 per user for Entra ID Plan 1 (conditional access policies, advanced security reports and alerts, enhanced multi-factor authentication enrollment, data classification, labeling, and protection, including email message encryption and delivery restrictions)
- $8.40 per user for Microsoft Intune Plan 1 (mobile device management, mobile app management, data protection, location tracking)
The spend on just the first two add-ons for Business Standard is equal to the cost of Business Premium. All the functionality of Microsoft Intune Plan 1 is included at no additional cost.
Business Premium consolidates advanced endpoint protection, phishing defense, device management, conditional access, identity protection, data loss prevention, and centralized compliance controls into a single integrated framework.
Make the Renewal a Strategic Decision
Before renewal cycles take effect, we recommend a structured license and security review to determine whether your current configuration aligns with where your business is heading. Contact us at (888) 600-4560 or email us at info@coldencompany.com.