Price increases ahead for Microsoft 365

We’ve all grown used to the fact that life has become a little more expensive of late, and given all that’s happened in the world over the last couple of years, it’s what everyone’s been expecting. With that backdrop, it probably won’t come as much of a surprise that Microsoft is upping its prices for Microsoft 365 in the “first substantive pricing update” since they launched the product a decade ago. We’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we wanted to make sure you’re kept in the loop about the prise rise so that you can adjust your IT budgets accordingly. Let’s take a look at what’s changing and why.

What are the new prices?

The price increases (let’s call them what they are, rather than trying to disguise as “changes”, Microsoft!) will be coming into effect on 1 March 2022, and they’ll be as follows:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: from $5 to $6 per user
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: from $20 to $22
• Office 365 E1: from $8 to $10
• Office 365 E3: from $20 to $23
• Office 365 E5: from $35 to $38
• Microsoft 365 E3: from $32 to $36

As you can see, it’s only for specific commercial products – there aren’t any increases planned for their consumer and education products just yet.

Why is the price increasing?

The price increase is a move Microsoft says “reflects the increased value we have delivered to our customers over the past 10 years.” Pointing to a “decade of continuous innovation”, they outline how far the product has come in terms of its communication and collaboration tools (with 24 new apps added and 1,400 features released since launch); its ever-evolving security and compliance in an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape; and its AI and automation, which powers productivity and collaboration features such as automatic chart creation, email sorting and real-time translation.

To sweeten the deal, Microsoft have announced, in the same post as the price increases, that they’ll also be improving their audio conferencing offering. This improvement takes the form of “unlimited dial-in capabilities for Microsoft Teams meetings” – a way of addressing the fact that many users are joining meetings while they’re on the move or grappling with a poor internet connection. The unlimited dial-in feature will enable users to be able to access meetings wherever they are, on “virtually any device”, and will be available “across our enterprise, business, frontline, and government suites over the next few months”.

Of course, these price increases unfortunately do mean that you’ll see a corresponding increase in the invoices you receive from us if you’re using Microsoft 365 services. For now, Microsoft has only announced the price changes in US dollars, but rest assured that we’ll keep you updated when the figures are out for GBP. If you have any questions, feel free to give our friendly team a ring on 01509 80 85 86 or email us at [email protected].

Posted on: 17th September 2021.