Microsoft 365 Business vs Office 365 comparison

Microsoft 365 Business and Office 365 are both solutions in the Content Collaboration Platforms category. Microsoft 365 Business is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.3, while Office 365 is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5. Microsoft 365 Business holds a 1.8% mindshare in CCP, compared to Office 365’s 6.8% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Microsoft 365 Business users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Office 365 users who would recommend it.

Microsoft 365 Business

Read 245 Microsoft 365 Business reviews

505 Views
90 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Office 365

Read 143 Office 365 reviews

1,562 Views
344 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft 365 Business

Office 365

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft 365 Business and Office 365 based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Content Collaboration Platforms solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft 365 Business vs. Office 365 Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft 365 Business vs. Office 365

June 2025

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Helped 858,038 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft 365 Business

Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

245

Ranking in other categories

Mobile Device Management (MDM) (2nd)

Office 365

Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

143

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Microsoft 365 Business is 1.8%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Office 365 is 6.8%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Content Collaboration Platforms

Featured Reviews

CharlesBrewer

Managing Director at NaMax Limited

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.

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Gary Cook

Executive at Empowered Analytics

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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has been stable over the years."

"Ease of collaboration and sharing documents."

"I have been using Microsoft Office for a long time since I was young. This solution is very similar and is easy to use, and the interface is adequate."

"Upgrading and setting up newer versions like Microsoft 365 has not been difficult for me, as I'm familiar with the process."

"The features that I like best with Microsoft 365 Business are that the files are available offline."

"It is a scalable solution."

"The packages provided in the solution enable my company's team members to carry out their daily tasks."

"The solution is easy to use."

More Microsoft 365 Business pros

"It's inexpensive to license."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the integration."

"I like that it is cloud-based, wherefrom any computer I can access my documents and continue working."

"There are all sorts of really good tools for use on the information security side that allow us to make sure that our people are doing business and doing business right."

"The products are quite simple for the end-users to use, the up-time is very good, the product is practically maintenance-free, and the multi-layer security is excellent from the security standpoint."

"There are no more server and hardware operational costs and downtime, updates, etc. for all the workloads available. Newer features and updates are available immediately. Can be managed from a single web interface. Cloud-based, so same experience for all users, regardless of location."

"As an email provider, I believe Office 365 is the best email provider."

"I like Office 365's usability."

More Office 365 pros

Cons

"If Microsoft could do something about data loss prevention, that would be ideal."

"If you're looking at Microsoft 365, Intune is a part of that as well and Intune is kind of a nightmare."

"From my experience, I would like to have a very clear way to distinguish between the billing plans and what is offered for the corporation and for personal usage."

"The only problem with 365 nowadays is that it expires."

"The technical support process could be a bit more secure. The information should stay within the ticketing system itself and not be passed via email."

"The user interface could be better."

"The performance of the solution is sometimes slow. However, I am not sure if it is the solution's fault or the network we are using."

"n the future, a dashboard should be included."

More Microsoft 365 Business cons

"Office 365 could allow for smoother collaboration with other companies, which is the main reason we use it. The B2B connection is something we need, like global adverse lists between two tenants or multiple users. That's what we're missing at the moment."

"I would like to see better integration with Teams, and better usability with SharePoint."

"Their support is so terrible and unusable except during dire emergencies."

"In the next release, I would like to have a more intuitive tutorial."

"Improvements can be made to the products generic offering. It's not customized for health care. It doesn't understand the meaning of health care related concepts. Providing a greater degree of industry specificity would make the tool much more unique and valuable."

"The feature to convert PDF file to a Word document needs improvement as well as the feature to save the file automatically when typing, without using the save command."

"There are some complexities to the initial setup if you use some of the more advanced features."

"Integration with other platforms can be improved."

More Office 365 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our fees are paid monthly."

"There would be licensing costs because Microsoft 365 Business requires a product key and a license to be present in order to use its products."

"The price of the solution could be reduced, it is expensive. We recommend customers purchase annual subscriptions because they receive a discount of two free months."

"The solution is not very expensive."

"This is an expensive product because it is subscription-based, which is always more expensive than a perpetual license."

"USD $1,250 annually for the standard package."

"The licensing cost is reasonable."

"We pay a monthly licensing fee for Microsoft 365 Business."

More Microsoft 365 Business pricing and cost advice

"I think that we pay $9.99 USD per user, monthly."

"Licensing, billing, and accounting are available from the management interface."

"For the moment, we are paying on a monthly basis because we are still adapting the support and how we want to proceed. I think we will move to paying for the annual license."

"The pricing is not really high, but one can get the software with the license key for free."

"The pricing is high and has actually caused us to limit the number of licenses we purchase due to budgeting."

"The pricing/licensing is easy to manage."

"Most of the time, we purchase Microsoft Exchange licenses, which are less expensive and provide only an email platform and 50 gigabytes of email storage for free."

"The price of Office 365 is very expensive."

More Office 365 pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

65%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Business?

The product's initial setup phase was straightforward.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Business?

The solution might be considered pricey for some, however, the comprehensiveness of the suite justifies its cost. It is generally still worth the money and is cost-effective when considering the pr...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Business?

Every year, they are increasing their price significantly. The price has more than doubled now. Once you start using this product, it becomes difficult to switch to alternatives. Microsoft should b...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Office 365?

For pricing, I think it's fairly priced, I would rate it 8.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Office 365?

The areas of Office 365 that have room for improvement are what should be better in this solution.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Office 365?

A typical use case for Office 365 is how I primarily use this solution.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Hypori Halo vs Microsoft 365 Business

Compared 16% of the time

Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 Business

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft 365 Business

Compared 14% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft 365 Business

Compared 13% of the time

More Microsoft 365 Business Competitors

Google Workspace vs Office 365

Compared 37% of the time

Amazon WorkDocs vs Office 365

Compared 9% of the time

Atlassian Confluence vs Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive vs Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Box vs Office 365

Compared 6% of the time

More Office 365 Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft 365 Business

May 2025

Download Microsoft 365 Business product report

Buyer's Guide

Office 365

May 2025

Download Office 365 product report

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

Microsoft 365 Business is an essential tool for organizations focusing on emails, document management, and collaboration, leveraging its cloud-based applications for daily office tasks and remote work.

Organizations utilize Microsoft 365 Business to enhance productivity and ensure secure document sharing, integrating it with tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint. It's widely used for business intelligence, mobile device management, and remote document access. Many businesses migrate to Microsoft 365 Business for better connectivity and efficiency, appreciating its seamless tool integration, which aids in financial functions and team collaboration. Users value its high productivity, extensive collaboration via Teams, and cost-effective subscription plans, despite areas needing improvement, such as admin panels, security integration, and user experience.

What are the most important features of Microsoft 365 Business?

High productivity without custom tools
Seamless integration across devices
Extensive collaboration via Teams, file sharing, and video conferencing
Offline access
Ease of use and simplicity in adding licenses
Security and cost-effectiveness of subscription plans
Auto-updating software
SharePoint, Power BI, OneDrive, Outlook integration
Unified cloud storage

What are the benefits or ROI users should look for in reviews?

Enhanced productivity and collaboration
Cost savings with subscription plans
Increased mobility and remote access
Improved document security and sharing
Seamless integration with business applications
Efficiency in business intelligence and mobile device management

In specific industries like finance and remote work-centric sectors, Microsoft 365 Business is implemented extensively for its robust document management, financial functions, and exceptional team collaboration capabilities. Its unified cloud storage and mobile access ensure teams stay connected and productive, regardless of location.

Microsoft

Office 365 is more than just Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It provides powerful services like business-class email, online storage, and teamwork solutions that you can access from anywhere. Bring teams and resources together with solutions like Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business that make working together more productive and enjoyable regardless of where participants are located. Easily implement security and privacy controls to help protect business data and devices against malicious threats and help you meet your compliance obligations. Automatic updates ensure your employees will always have the latest features and security updates.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company

Me & the Bees Lemonade

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft 365 Business vs. Office 365

June 2025

Free Report: Microsoft 365 Business vs. Office 365

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft 365 Business vs. Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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