Microsoft 365 Basic vs Standard vs Premium: Which to Buy

The three Microsoft 365 Business plans differ in two main ways: whether Office is installed on the PC, and whether advanced security and device management are included.

Quick answer: choose Business Basic if staff only need business email, Teams and cloud storage and can use Office in the browser. Choose Business Standard if people need Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook installed on their computers; this is the right plan for most offices. Choose Business Premium if the company handles sensitive data, has remote staff or personal devices, and wants device management and advanced security built in. According to Microsoft, all three plans are for organisations with up to 300 users.

Picking the wrong plan fails in one of two ways: you pay for features nobody uses, or you discover you lack the one thing you needed when an incident happens (for example, a finance user who needs Excel macros but only has Office on the web). This guide compares the three plans using the feature descriptions on the product pages Vietify sells from, points out which figures you should confirm against Microsoft's official comparison before buying, and gives a five-question method for choosing.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	Business Basic	Business Standard	Business Premium
Exchange email on your own domain	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Teams	Yes	Yes	Yes
SharePoint and OneDrive (1 TB per user)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Office for the web (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Office installed on the PC (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote)	No	Yes	Yes
Devices Office can be installed on, per user	Not applicable	Up to 5	Up to 5
Webinars and online events up to 300 people	Not listed	Yes	Yes
Basic security (MFA, anti-spam, anti-phishing)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Defender for Business (endpoint protection and EDR)	No	No	Yes
Microsoft Intune (remote device management)	No	No	Yes
Azure AD P1 / Microsoft Entra ID P1 (Conditional Access, advanced MFA)	No	No	Yes
Azure Information Protection (labelling and encrypting documents)	No	No	Yes
Defender for Office 365 (advanced anti-phishing and malware)	No	No	Yes

Where this comes from: the feature lists on the Vietify product pages for Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium, plus Microsoft's Business Premium documentation (organisations of up to 300 users). Microsoft renames products and adjusts limits from time to time (Azure AD, for example, is now Microsoft Entra ID), so confirm figures such as mailbox size against Microsoft's current comparison page before you buy.

Business Basic: when is it enough?

Basic gives you the cloud collaboration layer: email on your domain, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and Office in the browser. It does not include Office installed on the PC.

Basic fits when:

• Staff mainly read, write and lightly edit documents in a browser.
• The company already has a legitimate Office licence on the few PCs that need it.
• The main need is professional email, Teams meetings and file sharing.
• You want to try Microsoft 365 before committing to a higher plan.

Basic does not fit when:

• Someone works with heavy Excel: VBA macros, large workbooks, Power Query. Office for the web supports these features only partly.
• People work where the connection is unreliable, because Office for the web needs a connection.
• You need desktop Outlook for shared mailboxes, rules and complex calendars.

A common mistake is buying Basic to save money and then buying Office separately for each PC. Once those licences are added, the total is often no cheaper than Standard.

Business Standard: the balanced choice for most offices

Standard includes everything in Basic, plus Office installed on the PC (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote), up to five devices per person, and webinars of up to 300 attendees.

Standard fits when:

• Most staff use Word, Excel and PowerPoint every day with formatted or formula-heavy files.
• You need desktop Outlook, and want Office on a person's laptop, desktop, phone and tablet.
• You are replacing unlicensed Office with a legitimate, invoiced solution (see Buying and common mistakes below).

If you only want one default answer for "which plan for an office of 5 to 50 people", Standard is a sensible starting point. You can then move specific accounts to Premium where there is a clear security reason.

Business Premium: when security and device management come first

Premium includes everything in Standard plus a security and management layer built for small and mid-sized businesses. According to the product description, the main components are:

• Microsoft Defender for Business: detects and responds to threats on PCs (EDR), which in many cases removes the need to buy separate endpoint security. See what EDR is and how it differs from antivirus.
• Microsoft Intune: manages devices remotely, enforces policies (encryption, passwords, updates) and can wipe company data from a lost device.
• Azure AD P1 (now Microsoft Entra ID P1): Conditional Access, which allows sign-in only when the device, location and risk level meet your conditions, plus advanced MFA.
• Azure Information Protection: labels and encrypts sensitive documents to limit accidental sharing.
• Defender for Office 365: stronger filtering of phishing and malware in email, such as link and attachment checks.

Premium is usually worth it when:

• The company handles customer, financial, medical or legal data.
• Staff work remotely, or use personal phones and laptops to reach company email.
• Customer contracts or industry rules require control over devices and access.
• A mailbox has been compromised before, or you want fewer security vendors to manage.

An honest caveat: Premium does not protect you automatically. Conditional Access, Intune and Safe Links all need to be switched on and configured. Buying Premium and leaving the defaults means most of the security value goes unused, which is why businesses often need help with the initial setup. See Microsoft 365 security for small business and MFA and passkeys.

Microsoft 365 Business pricing at Vietify

Current list prices on the Vietify website (excluding VAT):

Plan	List price	Note
Business Basic	from 1,500,000 VND per user per year	see the Business Basic page
Business Standard	from 3,590,000 VND per user per year	see the Business Standard page
Business Premium	quote on request	see the Business Premium page

The unit and billing period (per user, per month or per year) are not stated on the product pages. So ask for a quote that specifies: the price per user, the commitment term (monthly or annual), whether VAT is included, and the rules for adding or removing users mid-term. Do not compare prices between suppliers until they use the same unit and term.

To estimate the annual total:

Annual total = sum of (number of users on each plan × price per user per year) + VAT.

An illustration of how to split a team (an example, not a quote): a 20-person company might put 3 managers and people handling sensitive data on Premium, 12 office staff on Standard, and 5 people who only need email and Teams on Basic. Microsoft allows plans to be mixed within one organisation; confirm the conditions with your supplier before buying.

Choosing in five questions

1. Does anyone need Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook installed on the PC? If nobody does, Basic may be enough. If yes, Standard or higher.
2. Do people use macros, large workbooks, or work without a reliable connection? If yes, you need Office on the PC (Standard or Premium).
3. Do you hold sensitive data, or do customers require control over access? If yes, lean towards Premium.
4. Do people use personal devices or work remotely often? If yes, Premium (Intune, Conditional Access) gives the clearest value.
5. Is someone responsible for configuring security? If not, budget for setup or ask a partner to do the initial configuration.

If the answer to questions 3 and 4 is "no", Standard is usually the most economical choice.

Buying and common mistakes

• Running unlicensed Office while buying Basic: Basic has no installed Office, so some companies keep an unlicensed copy on the PC. That is still a licensing violation. If you are unsure, check whether Office is licensed with the free tool.
• Forgetting backup: Microsoft runs the service, but keeping your own copy of the data is your responsibility. Read Microsoft 365 does not back up your data.
• Not enabling MFA: it is the cheapest and most effective step on every plan.
• Over-buying users on day one: ask how adding users mid-term works rather than buying spare seats.
• Not planning the email migration: moving from hosting or Gmail needs a plan; see Microsoft 365 deployment.

If you are also weighing Google Workspace, read Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace for Vietnam, and for the wider cost picture see business email pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Does Microsoft 365 Business Basic include Teams?

Yes. All three plans, Basic, Standard and Premium, include Microsoft Teams for online meetings, chat and file collaboration.

Does Basic include desktop Word and Excel?

No. Basic has Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the web (and on mobile). To install Office on a PC you need Standard or Premium.

Can one company mix different plans?

Yes, an organisation can assign different plans to different users, for example Premium for managers, Standard for the office and Basic for people who only need email. Confirm the purchase terms and billing period with your supplier.

Is upgrading from Basic to Standard easy?

You can usually change plans in the admin centre, but how the price difference is calculated and when it applies depends on how you bought (directly or through a partner, monthly or annual). Ask before you sign.

What is the user limit for Business plans?

According to Microsoft's Business Premium documentation, the Business plans are for organisations with up to 300 users. Beyond that you move to the Enterprise plans.

How is Business different from Personal and Family?

Personal and Family are for individuals and households: no email on your own domain, no organisation admin centre, and not for business use under the terms. Business is the product line for organisations.

Does Premium replace antivirus?

Defender for Business covers endpoint protection and EDR, so many companies do not need a separate product. Whether that satisfies your needs, for example a customer requirement or an industry standard, is something to assess with whoever deploys it.

What else should I buy with Microsoft 365?

Plan for backup of Microsoft 365 data (Microsoft does not keep long-term copies for you), email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and someone to configure everything. See email security with SPF, DKIM and DMARC (Vietnamese).

How Vietify can help

Vietify supports businesses in Da Nang and remotely with:

• Choosing a plan based on headcount, Office needs and security requirements.
• Buying genuine licences with a VAT invoice.
• Migrating email from hosting or Gmail without losing data.
• Configuring MFA, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and security policies.
• Training staff on Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive.

Details are on the Microsoft 365 deployment and Microsoft 365 and cloud pages.

Next step

To pick the right plan for your headcount and needs, request a free IT assessment. An engineer will review your email, devices and security, then recommend how to split the plans. You can also contact Vietify for a quote that states the unit, term and VAT. For a role-by-role view of who should get which plan, read Microsoft 365 plans by employee role.

Vietify IT Services — Microsoft 365 advice and deployment for small and mid-sized businesses in Da Nang. List prices checked 14 October 2026.