Not everyone needs the same plan. How to tell who needs Microsoft 365 and who only needs Exchange Online, plus four common licensing mistakes.
Short answer: Exchange Online is the email, calendar and contacts service only; Microsoft 365 adds the Office apps, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. If your staff only use email, Exchange Online is enough. People who work with files, documents and meetings need Microsoft 365. Both can be mixed per user in the same tenant.
The difference in one table
| Feature | Exchange Online Plan 1 | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Microsoft 365 Business Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailbox | 50 GB | 50 GB | 50 GB |
| Outlook | Web and mobile | Web and mobile | Desktop, web and mobile |
| Word, Excel, PowerPoint | No | Web and mobile | Desktop, web and mobile |
| Teams | No | Depends on plan | Depends on plan |
| SharePoint and OneDrive | No | Yes | Yes |
Figures are as of October 2026. Microsoft changes plan contents from time to time, especially whether Teams is included; the current situation is confirmed in the quote.
Who needs what?
- Staff who only read and write email (field teams, warehouse, drivers, shift supervisors): Exchange Online Plan 1.
- People who open documents in the browser and join Teams meetings but do not need desktop Office: Business Basic.
- Office staff who use Excel and Word heavily on the desktop: Business Standard.
- Users who carry company data on laptops and phones and need device management and advanced security: Business Premium.
- Mailboxes with legal retention duties: Exchange Online Plan 2 (expanding archive, litigation hold).
Example: a 20-person business
8 office staff on Business Standard, 2 managers on Business Premium, 10 field staff on Exchange Online Plan 1. Licences allocated by need keep the same level of security while avoiding licences nobody uses. Shared addresses such as info@ or accounts@ need no licence; they are set up as shared mailboxes.
Four common mistakes
- Giving everyone the same plan: a field worker licensed for the biggest plan carries licences for apps they never open.
- Creating shared addresses as users: info@ does not need its own licence; a shared mailbox is enough.
- Choosing Basic and expecting desktop Office: in Business Basic, Word and Excel are web and mobile only.
- Forgetting leavers' licences: before the user is deleted, the mailbox should be converted to a shared mailbox and the licence freed.
How we help
We list your current users, look at who uses what and recommend a plan per user. We supply the licences through a distribution channel and handle setup and migration for Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online. Licence tracking is part of monthly management.