About a decade ago Microsoft introduced Office 365 as the successor of their Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). Office 365 has been the ‘go to’ productivity solution based on Microsoft cloud services. In the past decade, Microsoft invested a lot in security, additional Apps, AI and management, thus having a complete productivity solution. So far the commercial break. The good news is, now Microsoft has announced a price increase from 10 to 25% for this cloud productivity in the spring of 2022.
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Price increase
The announced price increase starting March 2022 is the first one in the aforementioned decade. This means that customers still get an awful lot for their money (compare it to other technology providers price increases…). Still, it might come as a shock that there will be new, higher pricing. This is what you can expect:
For SMBs
| Service | Old price US$ | New price US$ |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | 5 | 6 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | 20 | 22 |
For Enterprises
| Service | Old price US$ | New price US$ |
| Office 365 E1 | 8 | 10 |
| Office 365 E3 | 20 | 23 |
| Office 365 E5 | 35 | 38 |
| Microsoft 365 E3 | 32 | 36 |
All prices mentioned are per user per month for (current) 12-month subscriptions for commercial customers. Regional and local markets adjustments may apply. There are no current changes announced for education and consumer products.
Might you think “I’m missing Microsoft 365 Business Standard, E5 and Microsoft Apps for Business and Enterprise”, that’s correct. No price changes announced for those online subscriptions.
Subscription term price protection
All prices listed here are Microsoft Suggested Retail Prices for the current 12 month subscriptions with monthly payments. If your software and/or cloud supplier is going to charge you (the customer) these changed prices depends on the supplier. Most likely, they will. But … if you are in a 12-month subscription now, you do have price protection for the duration of your subscription. When you started your subscription in September 2021, your price should not change until September 2022.
New seat based offerings
We like to emphasize that Microsoft is going to offer new subscription term offers with monthly, 12-month and (soon) 36-month subscriptions for the aforementioned cloud services (through Cloud Solution Providers). Again, all prices mentioned are for current 12-month subscriptions with monthly payments. But after October 14 these prices may increase by another 20% if you want extra flexibility with month-by-month subscriptions. Please read our knowledge base article on that subject for more information.
Act timely
To prevent surprises in the near future we recommend to talk to your licensing provider soon. Or talk to one of our certified licensing experts to help you.