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Microsoft 365 Business vs Office 365 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft 365 Business enhances productivity and efficiency by reducing costs, improving communication, and offering scalable, secure cloud solutions.
Sentiment score
7.1
Office 365 boosts productivity, offers flexibility, enhances security, integrates well, and provides good return despite perceived costs.
It also provides good security and the ability for normal users to create simple applications without needing developers.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.5
Microsoft 365 Business support is generally reliable, with users praising knowledgeability and responsiveness despite some improvement needs in response times.
Sentiment score
4.2
Office 365 support is efficient but variable, with response times often needing improvement; users favor stability and community resources.
We have had good support from Microsoft, with responsive and well-trained staff who are very polite.
It would be beneficial if Microsoft had more expert customer support staff.
I haven't needed any support from Microsoft with Microsoft 365 Business; in my three years, I haven't encountered any instances.
At times if you're trying to use their online support, they'll send you to an article that may or may not have anything to do with what you're looking for.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft 365 Business is scalable with easy deployment and adaptability, though growth may increase costs and present capacity issues.
Sentiment score
7.7
Office 365 is praised for its scalability and cloud integration, despite some noting the cost of licensing when expanding.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft 365 Business is praised for stability and reliability, with occasional minor issues in Teams and Excel.
Sentiment score
7.4
Office 365 offers strong reliability and performance, with minor disruptions, high uptime, and favorable user comparisons to alternatives.
It works properly, and I have never needed to contact support.
The file-sharing feature in Microsoft 365, specifically using OneDrive, is unreliable.
The stability of Microsoft 365 Business is rated nine out of ten.
The integration capabilities of Office 365 with Word, Excel, and Outlook with OneDrive for cloud storage have been smooth and work well.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft 365 Business needs enhancements in security, pricing, integration, user interface, scalability, support, updates, and training resources.
Office 365 needs better inclusivity, performance on Mac, integration, cost management, UI consistency, security, customization, and simplified updates.
The comprehensive nature of the solution justifies the cost.
Providing Power BI for a lower package, such as e3, would be beneficial.
Microsoft has very poor security, and Defender is ineffective.
One of the big changes is when Microsoft updates anything, they will switch where some of the settings are and where to find them, which becomes a little frustrating because you're used to it in one spot and it's someplace else.
Microsoft could improve their support; I don't deal with Office 365 or Office 365 application-specific issues, but I wonder if it's similar where you get someone from Microsoft to hold your case, which could take a couple of days, maybe a week in between when they get back in contact with you.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft 365 Business offers flexible licensing and valuable features, starting at $6, though pricing complexity and expense are concerns.
Office 365 offers flexible, scalable plans suitable for enterprises, providing value through integration and device capabilities despite complex licensing.
Microsoft 365 is cost-intensive, and alternate options like OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or Google Workspace are not as expensive.
The solution might be considered pricey for some, however, the comprehensiveness of the suite justifies its cost.
It could be more affordable.
My experience with the pricing or licensing of Office 365 is that a lot of times we've gotten them when they've been on sale, so we've had really good pricing for the Microsoft products.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft 365 Business enhances productivity with seamless tools, real-time collaboration, and efficient global file sharing through a subscription model.
Office 365 enhances productivity with cloud collaboration, integration, real-time editing, and robust tools, benefiting organizations with time-saving advantages.
Using Teams helps our team's productivity because rather than having to make a proper chart again, if I am reviewing someone else's work and I find a mistake, I'll just do it in Excel and it automatically gets updated in the PPT.
When working with data, I am easily able to share among team members through Microsoft Teams.
The subscription model of Microsoft 365 Business is beneficial since it provides continuous updates, including functional updates and transformations of the product.
Office 365 has positively impacted my organization by making the salespeople more accurate because they've been able to use the features in Excel instead of relying on the calculator or adding machine.
The best features with Office 365 include the ability to access email anywhere since it's not an on-premises server, it's in the cloud, which saves us on storage and exchange administration.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft 365 Business
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
246
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (2nd)
Office 365
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
145
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Microsoft 365 Business is 1.9%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Office 365 is 8.8%, up from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Office 3658.8%
Microsoft 365 Business1.9%
Other89.3%
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

CharlesBrewer - PeerSpot reviewer
Price and reliability need improvement while general tasks are streamlined
The pricing for Microsoft 365 is too high, and quality-wise, it does not meet high standards. The operating system is outdated and inadequate. Microsoft has very poor security, and Defender is ineffective. In terms of collaboration and file sharing, OneDrive is very clunky and has frequent sync issues. It also crashes a lot and is unreliable.
Gary Cook - PeerSpot reviewer
Access to advanced features boosts productivity despite pricing concerns in developing regions
I need to do maintenance for Office 365 very seldom, once a year. In the maintenance process for Office 365, we have about 12 people involved. For the maintenance side of Office 365, only one person is involved. Looking at Office 365's pricing, I would give it a 4 on a scale from 1 to 10. My overall rating for Office 365 is an 8 out of 10, but for the product itself, I would give it a 10. I would definitely recommend Office 365 to other businesses, probably a 9 out of 10 for recommendation. This is only because of its price and the fact that they do not take into account developing countries such as South Africa, where they should give us more favorable prices or local prices. We do not have a partnership with Microsoft, which is a sore point for us. We have reached out to Microsoft South Africa, and they are very hard to contact and largely uncooperative. We are a B-Level 2 and a B-Level 1, which are local affirmative action ratings that companies get. Level 1 is the highest, and Level 8 is the lowest. We hold amongst the highest BEE ratings, but we have not found Microsoft South Africa to be forthcoming or very open. We should have a partnership with them, and we run Power BI as we are a Power BI shop now. I strongly would want to see a box within Office 365 for our team to have ChatGPT through OpenAI as well. We use Excel as a data source for many tasks and find that it integrates really well with Python. We write a lot of Python code and use Excel as a data sheet many times, and we operate through SQL and other zero elements as well. From an Office 365 viewpoint, we find that with Copilot and Python and Excel's provision for Python, it is very useful.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business110
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise101
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise68
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Business?
The product's initial setup phase was straightforward.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Business?
I have no idea about the pricing of Microsoft 365 Business, since I'm not the party concerned.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Business?
I don't have knowledge about the benefits of Advanced Threat Protection within Microsoft 365 Business, such as the Defender, because I think we don't have that. Currently, I can't think of anything...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Office 365?
For pricing, I think it's fairly priced, I would rate it 8.
What needs improvement with Office 365?
The areas of Office 365 that have room for improvement are what should be better in this solution.
What is your primary use case for Office 365?
A typical use case for Office 365 is how I primarily use this solution.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F1, MS 365 Business
Microsoft Office 365, Office 365 Enterprise, Office 365 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Enterprise E3, Office 365 Enterprise E5, Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Business, Office 365 Business Essentials, Office 365 Business Premium, Office 365 F1
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company
Me & the Bees Lemonade
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft 365 Business vs. Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.