The brand was first introduced at Microsoft Inspire in July 2017 as an enterprise subscription product, succeeding the "Secure Productive Enterprise" services released in 2016. They combine Windows 10 Enterprise with Office 365 Business Premium, and the Enterprise Mobility + Security suite, which includes Advanced Threat Analytics, Azure Active Directory, Azure Information Protection, Cloud App Security, and Windows Intune. Microsoft 365 is sold via Microsoft and its cloud services reseller network.[3][4]
Consumer and business launch
On March 30, 2020, microsoft 365 apps for business unveiled a consumer-oriented subscription product under the Microsoft 365 brand for release on April 21,[5] to succeed the existing consumer plans of Office 365. It is a superset of the existing Office 365 products and benefits, positioned towards "life", productivity, and families, including the Microsoft Office suite, 1 TB of additional OneDrive storage and access to OneDrive Personal Vault, and 60 minutes of Skype calls per month. Under the brand, Microsoft will also add access to its collaboration platform Teams (which will also add additional features designed around family use), and a premium tier of Microsoft Family Safety. Microsoft also announced plans to offer trial offers of third-party services for Microsoft 365 subscribers, with companies such as Adobe (Creative Cloud Photography), Blinkist, CreativeLive, Experian, and Headspace having partnered. The services will be sold in "Personal" and "Home" (up to six devices by up to six users) versions, at the same price as their Office 365 counterparts.[6][7][8][9]
microsoft 365 business basicfor small- and medium-sized businesses was also renamed Microsoft 365, with Office 365 Business and ProPlus becoming "Microsoft 365 Apps for business" and "Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise" , Office 365 Business Essentials becoming "Microsoft 365 Business Basic", and Office 365 Business Premium becoming "Microsoft 365 Business Standard" (with the existing Microsoft 365 Business product becoming "Microsoft 365 Business Premium"). The Office 365 brand remains in use for its enterprise, education, healthcare, and governmental plans. Microsoft stated that "over the last several years, our cloud productivity offering has grown well beyond what people traditionally think of as 'Office'”, citing examples such as Forms, Planner, Stream, and Teams.[9][10]
Consumerurl=Aimed at mainstream consumers, both plans offer access to Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and Access for home/non-commercial use on one computer (Windows, macOS, and mobile devices), with access to additional online-based services and premium creative content, 1 TB of OneDrive storage with Advanced Security, 60 minutes of Skype international calls per month (subject to area), and partner offers.[11][12][13][14]
Microsoft 365 Personal (formerly Office 365 Personal): For up to five computers (PC or Mac) with the same Microsoft account and on mobile devices.
Microsoft 365 Family (formerly Office 365 Home): For up to six devices by up to six users.
Small business
Microsoft 365 Apps for business (formerly Office 365 Business): Offers Office applications for Windows, Mac, and mobile platforms for up to five computers, tablets, and smartphones per user.[15]
Microsoft 365 Business Basic (formerly Office 365 Business Essentials): Offers access to hosted e-mail (Exchange), SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams services, and access to the mobile app and Office Online versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.[15]
Microsoft 365 Business Standard (formerly Office 365 Business Premium): Offers Office applications for Windows, Mac, and mobile platforms for up to five computers, tablets, and smartphones per user, as well as hosted Exchange, MileIQ, Microsoft Bookings, SharePoint, and Teams services.[15][16][17]
Microsoft 365 Business Premium (formerly Microsoft 365 Business): Similar to Business Standard, but including additional security services such as Azure Information Protection, Microsoft Intune device management, and Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection.
Enterprise
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (formerly Office 365 Professional Plus, or ProPlus): Offers access to the Office Professional Plus applications on up to five devices per user
