Transitioning from Office 365 to Microsoft 365 represents a major shift in how enterprises consume Microsoft‘s cloud services. With so many overlapping capabilities and plan options, it can be downright confusing for subscribers to know exactly what changed.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll make clear sense step-by-step of exactly what differs between Microsoft 365 compared to legacy Office 365. You’ll learn:
- How the platforms and included apps evolved over time
- How Microsoft structured the transition and what specifically got rebranded
- Mapping of old Office 365 plan names to new Microsoft 365 equivalents
- A detailed feature comparison and breakdown of specific plans
- Clear advice on which platform works best for your needs
Let’s get started at the beginning – understanding the past and present of Microsoft 365 vs Office 365…
A Brief History of 365: From Office to Microsoft
Before we dive into the details of Microsoft 365, it’s helpful to understand the full context of how Office 365 evolved over the past decade:
Launched in 2010 – Office 365 origins date back to 2008 as BPOS before officially launching mid 2010 with web versions of Exchange, SharePoint, Office apps and Lync. It focused exclusively on business usage of online Office apps and cloud storage/workspaces.
Expansion Years (2011-2016) – Microsoft rapidily enhanced Office 365 adding email, messaging, video chat, cloud storage capabilities and most importantly support for mobile devices and tablets alongside PCs. Personal and home plans also joined business offerings.
Functionality Boosts (2017-2019 ) – 2017 marked a major milestone with the announcement of Microsoft 365 bundling Windows 10 and advanced security into Office 365. But Office 365 and Microsoft 365 branded plans overlapped for years with continual updates to apps and services.
Rebranding Completes (2020-2023) – The rebranding started in April 2020 for consumer plans, later expanding to enterprise customers as Microsoft communicated Microsoft 365 as the future unified branding. The shift fully completed by January 2023.
Breaking Down Microsoft 365 vs Office 365 Features
With the history giving us context of the Microsoft 365 transition, let’s map out exactly what major tools and capabilities are included with each platform:
| Capability | Microsoft 365 | Office 365 |
|---|---|---|
| Word Processing (Word) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Spreadsheets (Excel) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Presentations (PowerPoint) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Email (Outlook) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Instant Messaging (Teams) | ✅ | ✅ |
| File Storage (OneDrive) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Desktop full Office apps | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tablet/phone apps | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows OS License | ✅ | ❌ |
| PC Management (Intune) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Advanced Security tools | ✅ | ❌ |
The key takeaway is that Microsoft 365 encompasses all the same tools as the past Office 365 suite plus adds enhanced enterprise capabilities around Windows, security, and mobile device management.
So if you were an Office 365 customer in the past, everything you knew and loved is still included along with some nice enterprise boosts in Microsoft 365 licenses.
Below we’ll explore exactly how Microsoft structured their subscription plans and pricing across both brands – including which legacy Office 365 plans map to modern Microsoft 365 SKUs.
Microsoft’s Transition Process from Office 365 to Microsoft 365 Subscriptions
To avoid disruption for the millions of existing Office 365 customers, Microsoft executed a slow, calculated shift in branding and packaging between 2020 and 2023.
Rather than attempt to force overnight changes, they provided a transition period where both Office 365 and Microsoft 365 branding co-existed. This allowed enterprise customers flexibility on when to adopt the new Microsoft 365 licensing based on their own needs.
Here is an overview of how specific subscription plan naming evolved over the transition years:
Office 365 Personal -> Microsoft 365 Personal
Office 365 Home -> Microsoft 365 Family
Office 365 Business Essentials -> Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Office 365 Business Premium -> Microsoft 365 Business Standard
Office 365 E3 -> Microsoft 365 E3
Office 365 E5 -> Microsoft 365 E5
So in virtually all cases, Microsoft aimed to retain consistent plan naming and stability in the transition process – simply porting the existing Office 365 branded SKUs over to new Microsoft 365 branding.
For you as the subscriber, this means continuity of what plans deliver which capabilities – just with updated naming and branding. We’ll explore the specific plans and included tools in more detail next.
Comparing Microsoft 365 Plans: What’s Included?
Let’s explore how Microsoft aligns key apps, services and enterprise tools across the different Microsoft 365 license tiers available to both business and home users:
| Plan Capabilities | Personal | Family | Business Basic | Business Standard | E3 | E5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99/month | $9.99/month | $5/user/month | $12.50/user/month | $20/user/month | $35/user/month |
| Storage | 1TB | 6TB | NA | 1TB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Desktop Office Apps | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tablet & Mobile Access | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Email (Outlook) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Team Chat (Teams) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| File Sharing (OneDrive) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows License | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| PC Management | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Advanced Security | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Analyzing this plan breakdown reveals a clear tiering strategy by Microsoft across capabilities and pricing:
- Personal – Affordable plans focused on Office apps, email/chat access tailored to individual use
- Business – Boosts storage, user limits for small/medium business needs
- Enterprise (E3/E5) – Unlocks security, device management and Windows licensing for large organizations
By breaking down subscriptions this way, it becomes simple to understand which plan type best aligns to your individual or company requirements. Next we’ll explore some quick use case recommendations.
Choosing the Right Microsoft 365 Plan For You
With a better understanding now the history, transition, and capability breakdown across Microsoft 365 licenses, let‘s map out which is the best fit depending on your specific situation and needs:
Personal Use
If you just need access yourself to Office apps and email for personal use, the Microsoft 365 Personal plan provides excellent value at just $69 per year. With 1TB of storage and full suite of tools, it has you covered for basic home/student needs.
Family or Small Business Teams
For families or small business collaborators, Microsoft 365 Family or Microsoft 365 Business Standard both offer affordable options for groups to collaborate. You receive 6TB storage for Family plans and robust business capabilities like SharePoint team sites and analytics with Business Standard.
Large Enterprises
If you need to license a large workforce including advanced security, device management for seamless Windows deployments, and unlimited storage, Microsoft 365 E5 is the flagship plan designed for enterprise-grade capabilities. Of course E3 may suit some large org needs fine as well at lower cost by sacrificing some cutting edge security.
My recommendation is to think through your specific usage – which apps and services does your circumstance require? Then utilize the capability mapping charts to narrow down one or two Microsoft 365 plans that best align to your priorities.
You can’t go wrong picking a plan closer to your actual needs vs. overspending on Enterpise capabilities you may not leverage fully. Evaluate team size, security needs and budget to land on the right Microsoft 365 fit.
Key Takeaways – Making Sense of 365 Transition
Transitioning from Office 365 to Microsoft 365 brought along plenty of name changes and capability shifts which led to confusion across the industry. In this guide, my aim was to pragmatically break down exactly how the platforms differ and what the new Microsoft 365 licensing provides vs legacy Office 365 plans.
Here are some of the key points we covered to help clear up the haze:
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Office 365 focused more narrowly on cloud Office apps and business email/storage to start while Microsoft 365 bundles in Windows, management and security
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Core Office apps and collaborative tools stayed consistent, while Microsoft 365 adds enterprise-centric capabilities atop the past foundation
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Microsoft smartly executed a slow transition holding both Office 365 and Microsoft 365 brandings for a couple years during shift
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Old Office 365 plan names like E3, Business Premium directly map to same new Microsoft 365 conventions
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Breakdown of Personal, Family, Business and Enterprise Microsoft 365 plans clarifies what capabilities come at each tier
Hopefully this gives you clarity on Microsoft‘s transition and confidence choosing the perfect 365 plan for your needs. Don‘t hesitate to reach out with any other questions!
