Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is Microsoft's flagship productivity subscription. It includes the desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), cloud services for email (Exchange Online), file storage (OneDrive, SharePoint), and collaboration (Teams), along with identity and security tooling built around Microsoft Entra ID.

Microsoft 365 replaced the older "Office 365" branding in 2020. The two names refer to broadly the same product line, but Microsoft 365 plans also include Windows licensing and device-management features on the higher tiers. Plans are sold in Business, Enterprise, Frontline, Education, and consumer families.

Worked example

A 40-person company evaluating Microsoft 365 for the first time isn't really choosing "Microsoft 365" as a single thing — they're choosing a plan within it (Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium) that decides which pieces they actually get: whether the desktop Office apps are included, whether Intune device management is included, whether Entra ID Premium features like Conditional Access are available. Two companies both "on Microsoft 365" can have meaningfully different capabilities depending on which plan and which add-ons sit underneath that umbrella name.

Common pitfalls

Talking about "Microsoft 365" as if it were one fixed feature set is the most common confusion — the brand covers plans from Business Basic (email and web apps only) up through E5 (the full security and compliance stack), and a statement true for one plan is often false for another. Assuming "Microsoft 365" and "Office 365" are different products rather than the same product line under a renamed and re-scoped brand is a related mix-up that shows up constantly in older documentation and support forum answers. And treating the subscription as just "email and Office apps" undersells what's actually included on mid-to-higher tiers — identity, device management, and compliance tooling are part of the same bundle, not a separate purchase, once the right plan is in place.