Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium: Which?

You have chosen Microsoft 365. Now you have to pick one of three business plans. Business Basic gives you the apps in a browser and on your phone. Business Standard adds the apps installed on your computer. Business Premium adds a set of security tools on top of Standard. That is the whole choice. Below we price each step up and say when it is worth paying for.

One note on money before the numbers. Microsoft prices its Singapore plans in US dollars, and every plan card says the price does not include GST. Every price in this guide is per user, per month, on a yearly plan, in US dollars, unless we say otherwise. Prices checked 11 September 2026.

The one sentence that settles Basic versus Standard

Basic runs the apps in your browser and on your phone. Standard installs them on your computer, so you can also work offline. Microsoft says the same thing in the FAQ on its plan pages:

“Microsoft 365 Business Basic provides lightweight web and mobile versions of apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook that are accessible online. Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Business Premium, and Microsoft 365 Apps for business provide installable desktop applications that can be used offline.”

So the first question is simple. Does anyone on your team need Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook installed on their computer, or need to work without an internet connection? If yes, that person needs Standard. If no, Basic does the job.

Premium is a separate question. It is about security, not apps. We cover it further down.

What the three plans cost

All three plans share the same limits. Each allows up to 300 users. Each gives every user 1 TB of OneDrive storage and a 100 GB mailbox. So you do not move up a plan because your team grows. You move up because someone needs the installed apps, or because you need the security tools.

Each plan also comes in a version without Teams, at a lower price. Basic without Teams is US$5.40. Standard without Teams is US$10.79. Premium without Teams is US$18.79. If nobody in your company uses Teams, ask for the no-Teams version.

Two numbers drive the whole decision. Going from Basic to Standard costs US$7.00 more per seat per month, which is US$84.00 a year. Going from Standard to Premium costs US$8.00 more per seat per month, which is US$96.00 a year. For a team of ten, that is US$840 a year for the first step and US$960 a year for the second. We refer back to these two numbers below rather than repeat them.

Business Basic: the email-first plan

Do not read Basic as the cut-down plan. It is a full working suite for a team that lives in email and a browser. Here is what you get:

• Business email on your own domain through Exchange, Microsoft’s business email system. It is the same mail system the bigger plans use.
• Teams for chat, calls and meetings, with meetings for up to 300 people.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, the free AI assistant. More on this below.
• The same storage and user limits as the bigger plans: 1 TB of OneDrive per user, up to 300 users.

What Basic does not have is the installed apps. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook run in your browser and on your phone. Microsoft’s plan card calls this “web and mobile only”. That is the main difference between Basic and Standard. Standard adds a few more things, which we cover next.

Business Standard: where the installed apps begin

Standard is the same suite with the apps installed on each computer, so people can work offline. It also adds a few tools. Microsoft Access, a database tool, on Windows PCs. Microsoft Loop, a shared workspace app. Clipchamp, a video editing app. In Teams, webinar hosting with sign-up forms and attendee reports. Everything in Basic stays.

That is what the US$84.00 a year per seat buys. Before you pay it, name the people who will install the desktop apps and use them every day. If you can name them, buy Standard for them. If you cannot, you are paying for something nobody asked for, one licence at a time.

Business Premium: the security stack

Premium is Standard plus a set of security tools. “More security” does not tell you much on its own, so here is what each tool does, in plain words:

• Microsoft Defender for Business watches your company computers for ransomware, malware and phishing. It is built on the capabilities of Microsoft’s larger Defender for Endpoint product.
• Microsoft Defender for Office 365 protects your email against phishing (fake emails that trick people into giving up passwords or money) and ransomware.
• Microsoft Entra ID P1 controls who can sign in and what they can reach. Premium includes the paid P1 level of Entra ID, not the free version.
• Microsoft Intune lets you set rules on company laptops and phones, across Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
• Microsoft Purview is two tools. Data Loss Prevention stops sensitive information leaving by email or file. Information Protection labels your data, so you can see where sensitive files sit.
• Windows 11 Pro and Windows Hello for Business: an upgrade to Windows 11 Pro for company PCs, and sign-in without a password.

Premium also gives each user a much bigger archive mailbox: 1.5 TB, against 50 GB on Basic and Standard.

That is what the US$96.00 a year per seat buys. Whether you need it is a security question, not a features question. Ask three things. Do your people work on company-managed laptops and phones? Do you handle customer data? Do you need to show someone that sensitive information stayed inside the company? If the answer to all three is no, skip Premium. If any answer is yes, Premium is the plan that covers it.

Copilot: what each plan already includes

Copilot is Microsoft’s AI assistant, and it comes at three levels. Each level is a separate decision.

Copilot Chat is free on every plan, Basic included. It answers questions using the web, helps with writing and analyses data. Microsoft’s FAQ puts it this way: “Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is a web-grounded AI assistant available, at no additional cost, with eligible Microsoft 365 plans.”

Standard and Premium can come with the full Copilot built in. Basic cannot. Business Standard with Copilot is US$23.50 and Business Premium with Copilot is US$32.00. That is US$9.50 and US$10.00 more than the plain plans. On Basic, the full Copilot is only sold as an add-on.

A Basic customer can still buy Copilot as an add-on. Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is US$21.00 a seat, or US$18.00 while Microsoft’s introductory discount runs. It is for existing Microsoft 365 customers on an eligible business plan. Discount terms change, so check Microsoft’s Copilot pricing page for the current terms before you buy.

One thing to know. Microsoft’s compare-plans page lists Standard and Premium only in their with-Copilot versions. The plain plans are still for sale on their own product pages, at US$14.00 and US$22.00, with working buy buttons. Microsoft recommends the bundles. It does not force them.

Our advice to our own clients is to switch on the free Copilot Chat first and watch what your team actually uses for a month, because you may already be paying for what you need. Pay the extra US$9.50 or US$10.00 only when people use AI every day and hit the free assistant’s limits. The full story of the bundles and the add-on is on our Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing page.

Microsoft lets you mix plans per person. A Google upgrade moves everyone

This is the best cost saver on this page. You do not have to put everyone on the same Microsoft plan.

Google Workspace works the other way. One subscription covers your whole organisation, which is why our guide to Google’s Starter and Standard plans prices the upgrade across every seat you own.

Microsoft lets you buy Premium for some people and not others. Its own security FAQ asks: “Is everyone in my organization required to have a Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription?” The answer: “No. However, the security and management benefits of Microsoft 365 Business Premium are available only to users with devices managed with a Business Premium subscription.” The same answer says “you can deploy Microsoft 365 Business Premium to part of your organization”.

So a ten-person team does not need ten Premium licences. Put Premium on the people whose devices need protecting. Keep everyone else on Basic or Standard. Microsoft recommends moving everyone to Premium in time, but you can start with the seats that need it and pay for those alone.

Can you try the bigger plan first?

Yes. Every plan comes with a 30-day free trial. Three things to know before you start one.

The trial needs a credit card. When the 30 days end, it turns into a paid subscription on its own. Cancel during the trial if you do not want to pay.

After the paid subscription starts, you get seven days to cancel and receive a prorated refund. Prorated means you pay only for the days you used. Microsoft’s footnote says: “Once your paid subscription begins, you have a seven-day cancellation window to receive a prorated refund, only paying for what you use.”

So here is a low-risk way to decide. Run Standard or Premium for the trial month. Work the way you normally do. If the installed apps or the security tools do not earn their keep, cancel within the first seven days of the paid period. You pay only for the days you used. That is a cheap way to settle a decision that costs a small team hundreds of US dollars a year.

When to stay on Business Basic

Basic is the right plan for a small team that works in email and a browser. You keep business email on your own domain, your cloud storage, Teams meetings and the free Copilot Chat, at a third of the Premium price.

Move up only when one of these is true:

• Someone needs the installed desktop apps, works offline, or needs Microsoft Access.
• You host client webinars and want sign-up forms and attendee reports built in.
• Your team handles customer data or works on company-managed devices, and you can name the risk that Premium’s tools cover.
• People hit the free Copilot Chat’s limits every day, and the built-in Copilot starts to pay for itself.

If none of these is true, the higher plans buy things nobody asked for, on every seat you pay for. That is shelfware: software you pay for and never use. It is the same thing we warn our Google Workspace clients about.

Which plan should you buy?

Two questions settle it.

First, the apps question. Will anyone on the team use Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook installed on their computer? If yes, those people need Standard. If no, Basic does the job.

Second, the security question. Does anyone handle sensitive data on a company-managed laptop or phone? If yes, count those people. That is how many Premium licences you need.

Now work out the cost. Take the number of seats that need the bigger plan. Multiply by the extra cost per seat: US$7.00 a month for Basic to Standard, US$8.00 a month for Standard to Premium. Multiply by twelve for the year. Then ask one question. Does the upgrade save your team more than that? If not, stay on the smaller plan. If you cannot name the people who would use the extra features, the answer is the same: stay.

If anyone in your company is still weighing Google against Microsoft, our comparison of the two suites covers that choice. Once you have picked a plan, that is where our reseller work starts. We license Microsoft 365 for Singapore businesses, and our job is matching the licence to what you actually run, not selling you the biggest one.