Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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
8.2
Microsoft 365 Business enhances remote work with cost savings, security, and efficient tool access, boosting ROI and project delivery.
Sentiment score
7.3
Organizations benefited from Office 365 with cost savings, productivity enhancements, flexibility, integration, improved security, and valuable Microsoft support.
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 customer support is generally helpful and responsive, though experiences vary with some inconsistencies and language barriers.
Sentiment score
4.2
Office 365 customer service is highly rated for responsiveness, but some users prefer internal IT or 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.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft 365 Business scales well for small to large enterprises, despite cost increases, offering strong cloud-based expansion capabilities.
Sentiment score
7.8
Office 365 efficiently scales to accommodate organizational growth, handling thousands of users with high adaptability and licensing flexibility.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft 365 Business is reliable and stable, with minimal issues, primarily related to Teams or large data handling.
Sentiment score
7.4
Users find Office 365 reliable, appreciating improvements and support, despite minor issues with Excel macros and Teams connectivity.
The file-sharing feature in Microsoft 365, specifically using OneDrive, is unreliable.
The stability of Microsoft 365 Business is rated nine out of ten.
It works properly, and I have never needed to contact support.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft 365 Business struggles with UI, integration, pricing, security, and support, needing improvements for performance and cross-platform ease.
Office 365 faces challenges with platform compatibility, performance, costs, integration, and requires enhancements in user-friendliness and documentation.
Providing Power BI for a lower package, such as e3, would be beneficial.
Once you start using this product, it becomes difficult to switch to alternatives.
The comprehensive nature of the solution justifies the cost.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft 365 Business provides flexible, tiered pricing starting at $12.50 monthly, offering scalable options tailored to business needs.
Office 365 provides scalable licensing plans offering good value and flexible pricing, although setup can be complex for larger enterprises.
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.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft 365 Business boosts productivity with cloud storage, collaboration tools, robust security, and flexible subscription, supporting efficient remote work.
Office 365 enhances productivity with strong integration, collaboration tools, AI features, scalability, cloud storage, and comprehensive app support.
Microsoft 365 Business integrates well and improves communication, cooperation, and security.
Whether users are in the office, outside, or at home, they remain connected which makes the work proceed efficiently.
The subscription model of Microsoft 365 Business is beneficial since it provides continuous updates, including functional updates and transformations of the product.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft 365 Business
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
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
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
143
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Microsoft 365 Business is 1.7%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Office 365 is 6.9%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Content Collaboration Platforms solutions are best for your needs.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Performing Arts
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
51%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

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.
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...
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...
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: June 2025.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.