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Microsoft 365 Business vs SharePoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.1
Microsoft 365 Business boosts ROI by reducing infrastructure costs, enhancing efficiency, providing security, and ensuring reliable access even offline.
Sentiment score
5.6
SharePoint reduces costs and enhances efficiency with centralized document management and improved collaboration, benefiting organizations significantly.
It also provides good security and the ability for normal users to create simple applications without needing developers.
Project Manager at Protonmail
Time spent searching for documents has reduced significantly, and I saw a noticeable drop in duplicate or outdated documents, speeding up the search system by more than thirty to forty percent.
SDE 1 at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.5
Microsoft 365 Business support is mixed; users find it robust but desire more consistent and faster access when needed.
Sentiment score
5.9
Customer service varies widely, from responsive to inefficient, depending on purchase options, support type, and regional effectiveness.
It would be beneficial if Microsoft had more expert customer support staff.
Project Manager at Protonmail
We have had good support from Microsoft, with responsive and well-trained staff who are very polite.
ICT Manager at Calzavara S.p.A
I haven't needed any support from Microsoft with Microsoft 365 Business; in my three years, I haven't encountered any instances.
asc at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
There is a lack of detailed and timely responses, and support is not always transparent with the solutions.
Practice Manager at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
The quality of Microsoft's technical support is very high.
Consultant/Administrator O365 solutions at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
It's also difficult sometimes to get the right information because we speak at first to a generalist and they have to go to a specialist.
Supervisor at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft 365 Business effectively scales for organizations, offering flexibility, seamless integration, and support for all business sizes while managing costs.
Sentiment score
6.6
SharePoint is scalable with proper configuration and resources, enhanced by SQL integration, requiring IT expertise for optimal management.
Making it easy to scale from a load-balancing and infrastructure perspective.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
SharePoint is massively scalable and I would rate it as 8.5 out of ten.
Cloud Architect at Freelance
SharePoint allows multiple teams to work at the same time, making it adaptable for large data volumes.
PM at EUIPO - European Union Intellectual Property Office
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft 365 Business is praised for stability, outperforming on MacBook with minimal issues, despite occasional minor external setbacks.
Sentiment score
7.6
SharePoint is stable with proper setup and maintenance, though issues can arise with large datasets and specific integrations.
The stability of Microsoft 365 Business is rated nine out of ten.
Project Manager at Protonmail
The file-sharing feature in Microsoft 365, specifically using OneDrive, is unreliable.
Managing Director at NaMax Limited
It works properly, and I have never needed to contact support.
IT Manager at R K Khanna and Associates
From my experience, it offers high availability and reliability, and I have not faced any major downtime issues.
SDE 1 at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
The stability of SharePoint is high; it is quite stable and resilient.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Everything runs smoothly, and I have no problems with its stability.
Financial Director at Est
 

Room For Improvement

Users find Microsoft 365 Business overpriced, lacking apps, with non-intuitive tools, requiring better updates, support, security, and collaboration.
SharePoint needs improvements in co-authoring, permissions, search, synchronization, mobile experience, cost-effectiveness, integration, complexity, and performance.
Providing Power BI for a lower package, such as e3, would be beneficial.
Project Manager at Protonmail
Microsoft has very poor security, and Defender is ineffective.
Managing Director at NaMax Limited
The comprehensive nature of the solution justifies the cost.
ICT Manager at Calzavara S.p.A
Microsoft forces users to upgrade their license to access proper auditing information, which is essential and should be included in any license.
Practice Manager at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
The rights management aspect can be particularly challenging, which may affect the overall user-friendliness of the product.
Lead Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Expansion of scalability is needed, specifically the threshold limits for site items should be increased beyond the current 5,000 items.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft 365 Business provides competitive pricing but costs can increase with additional features, affected by various organizational factors.
Enterprise SharePoint pricing varies widely; careful planning and professional guidance are essential for cost-effective, tailored solutions.
Microsoft 365 is cost-intensive, and alternate options like OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or Google Workspace are not as expensive.
Managing Director at NaMax Limited
The solution might be considered pricey for some, however, the comprehensiveness of the suite justifies its cost.
ICT Manager at Calzavara S.p.A
It could be more affordable.
Project Manager at Protonmail
Unlike Drupal, all necessary applications are included in the Microsoft license, making it cost-effective.
PM at EUIPO - European Union Intellectual Property Office
Microsoft offers bundled pricing for Office, SharePoint, and Exchange, making it cost-effective.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Enterprise licensing is generally cost-effective compared to individual purchases.
Lead Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft 365 Business enhances productivity with integration, collaboration, scalability, and security, making it essential for global businesses.
SharePoint offers document management, collaboration, Office integration, and security, enhancing processes with workflows and adaptable cross-device accessibility.
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.
asc at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Mobile access to SharePoint in Microsoft 365 Business saves a lot of time because it does not require physical presence, enabling everyone from various distances to access, save, and read all the manuals, which greatly increases efficiency in our business.
Owner at Nexus Auto system
Microsoft 365 Business integrates well and improves communication, cooperation, and security.
Project Manager at Protonmail
Additionally, SharePoint acts as a version control system, allowing easy recovery of past document versions.
Cloud Architect at Freelance
Its rights management capabilities and ability to restrict access to certain people are also very useful.
Lead Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature of SharePoint is the ability to collaborate on documents without having multiple versions.
Financial Director at Est
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft 365 Business
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
248
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (2nd), Content Collaboration Platforms (9th)
SharePoint
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
165
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (1st), Web Content Management (2nd), Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (1st), Enterprise Intranet (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft 365 Business is designed for Mobile Device Management (MDM) and holds a mindshare of 5.7%, down 7.4% compared to last year.
SharePoint, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Content Management, holds 11.6% mindshare, down 16.9% since last year.
Mobile Device Management (MDM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft 365 Business5.7%
Jamf Pro13.5%
NinjaOne7.5%
Other73.3%
Mobile Device Management (MDM)
Enterprise Content Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SharePoint11.6%
OpenText Content Management8.0%
Alfresco7.6%
Other72.8%
Enterprise Content Management
 

Featured Reviews

AM
Owner at Nexus Auto system
Digital documentation has boosted team efficiency and provides secure remote manual access
The best feature is the mobile access to SharePoint. It is incredibly valuable for our technicians to view wiring diagrams and manuals directly on their tablets while working under a vehicle. It removes the need to walk back to the office, saving about 20 minutes per job. Additionally, the data security features give me peace of mind; even if a tablet is broken in the shop, our business data remains safe in the cloud.
reviewer2811600 - PeerSpot reviewer
SDE 1 at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Centralized document governance has boosted collaboration and made knowledge sharing structured
SharePoint is a powerful platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved, such as user experience. For new users, the interface and navigation can feel quite complex, specifically when working with multiple sites and document libraries. Another improvement would be search functionalities. While it is good sometimes, it does not always return the most relevant result unless a document is very well-structured and tagged. Also, initial setup and customizations can be time-consuming and may require technical expertise, specifically when configuring workflows or permissions. From a modern development perspective, tighter and more seamless integrations with tools including Power Automate and better support for custom backend integrations through APIs could make it more efficient. Overall, simplifying usability and enhancing search and integration capability would make SharePoint even stronger. One additional area I would appreciate improvement would be performance and responsiveness, especially when dealing with a large document library. Sometimes loading or navigating through large datasets can feel quite slow. Another aspect is permissions management. While it is very powerful, it can become complex to manage at scale, specifically when there are multiple levels of access across teams and projects. Improving developer experience would also be beneficial. Making customization, API integrations, and extensions more straightforward would help teams, especially backend developers, leverage SharePoint more efficiently.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions are best for your needs.
885,728 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user8925 - PeerSpot reviewer
Developer with 51-200 employees
Aug 23, 2013
Jive vs Sharepoint vs Drupal Commons
At Mediacurrent we often get requests to compare Drupal to other platforms used for intranet sites and social business platforms (like https://dev.twitter.com/ for example). This is often referred to as “Social Business Software”, which has grown in popularity in recent years. I decided to do a…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Marketing Services Firm
14%
Performing Arts
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business113
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise100
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business80
Midsize Enterprise39
Large Enterprise81
 

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?
We are on the Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan, which costs us approximately £10.30 per user per month. For our team of 10, that comes to over £100 monthly, which is a significant recurring cos...
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Business?
The licensing cost is quite high for a small business like ours. Additionally, we faced a steep learning curve during implementation. The mobile interface was somewhat technical for my workshop sta...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SharePoint?
I do not know the difference between the prices of the two solutions; I did not work on this project.
What needs improvement with SharePoint?
It is not really better; we use the same solution as before with Google Drive and the Google App solution. Sometimes I have to refresh pages more than with Google, but it does not charge; the page ...
What is your primary use case for SharePoint?
I create a data warehouse and establish a link between different applications. For data exchange, the vendor is Oracle.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F1, MS 365 Business
SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company
Toyota, Aeroports de Paris, ASBBank Ltd., Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals, CambridgeshireConstabulary, D&M Group, NPL Construction Company, and The Regional Municipality of Niagara.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft 365 Business vs. SharePoint and other solutions. Updated: March 2020.
885,728 professionals have used our research since 2012.