Microsoft announces increases to 365 Plan Costs

As of 1st March 2022 all plans will increase anywhere from 8.5% to 20%

Stating that it is the "first substantive pricing update" since its launch in 2011 Microsoft have announced uplifts to all of its Office 365 plans early next year, citing the addition of 24 apps to the suites —Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate, Stream, Planner, Visio, OneDrive, Yammer, and Whiteboard — and the release of over 1,400 new features and capabilities in the three key areas of Communication and collaboration, Security and compliance, and AI and automation as justification for the rise.

As a sweetener they have also added unlimited dial-in capabilities for Microsoft Teams meetings across the enterprise, business, frontline, and government suites over the next few months, currently only available under the E5 plans. This will allow users to access Microsoft Teams meeting from virtually any device regardless of location when unable to access an internet connection.

So what are the prices changes?​

Per User charges as of 1st March 2022 will be as follows:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic increases from $5 to $6  (+20%)
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium increases from $20 to $22  (+10%)
• Office 365 E1 increases from $8 to $10  (+25%)
• Office 365 E3 increases from $20 to $23  (+15%)
• Office 365 E5 increases from $35 to $38  (+8.6%)
• Microsoft 365 E3 increases from $32 to $36  (+12.5%)

So biggest increases to the lower cost plans, with the popular O365 E5 attracting the smallest hike. The increases will apply globally with local market adjustments for certain regions, and there are no changes to pricing for education and consumer products at this time.

With Microsoft Teams being industries tool of choice lately the rise is unlikely to cause much of a stir in the marketplace, however worth leveraging your enterprise agreements and overall spend to get the best discounts available — ​larger orgainsations could be up for a hefty and no doubt unexpected budget blowout if they're unlucky enough to be renewing next year!