Microsoft has announced its first price increase for its
Office 365 and
Microsoft 365 services since 2011. The price increases will affect commercial and business users of Microsoft’s software as a service (SaaS) offerings starting from next year.
Microsoft’s updated pricing will go into effect globally on March 1st, 2022:
- 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)
Microsoft has added more than 20 apps to Office 365 since it originally launched, including
Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, and To-Do. The increase in price comes as a way to compensate for the "increased value" Microsoft's suite of tools has provided to customers over the last ten years, Microsoft has announced.
Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365 notes some of the ways that Microsoft 365 has grown in prominence, including that it has added 24 different apps to its suite of tools:
“Since its launch a decade ago, Office 365 has grown to over 300 million commercial paid seats. Along the way, we have continuously re-invested to meet the changing needs of our customers. Four years ago, we introduced Microsoft 365 to bring together the best of Office, Windows, and Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS). That same year we added Microsoft Teams as the only integrated solution where you can meet, chat, call, collaborate, and automate business processes—right in the flow of work.
In fact, since introducing Microsoft 365 we have added 24 apps to the suites—Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate, Stream, Planner, Visio, OneDrive, Yammer, and Whiteboard—and have released over 1,400 new features and capabilities in three key areas.”
Consumer and education subscriptions won’t be affected.
