Business Premium above 300 users: your options
By ClearSourcePublished Last checked
In short: Per tenant. The 300-seat cap counts every Business plan in the tenant together. Business Premium is the security suite for smaller companies; E3 has no seat cap and adds Windows Enterprise, Exchange Online Plan 2 and more Microsoft Intune. You can mix the two, so user 301 can just get E3.
From the Licensing FAQ, checked against its sources on 25 September 2026: Microsoft 365 Business Premium FAQ · Business Premium or Microsoft 365 E3: how does the 300-seat cap work?
Business plans stop at 300 seats per tenant. What counts towards that cap, how to mix Business Premium with E3 or E5, and what each option costs in CHF.
In short: Microsoft 365 Business Premium CHF 17.82, Microsoft 365 E3 CHF 35.32, Microsoft 365 E5 CHF 54.33 per user and month. Microsoft list prices for Switzerland, annual commitment, excl. VAT, as of 4 October 2026; IT partners often quote lower.
The upgrade path
CHF list price per user and month, annual commitment, excl. VAT
- Business PremiumCHF 17.82Includes
- Business Premium includes the desktop Microsoft 365 Apps, Exchange Online Plan 1, Microsoft Entra ID P1 (Conditional Access), Microsoft Intune Plan 1, Microsoft Defender for Business, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P1, manual sensitivity labels and DLP for email and files, and a Windows 11 Pro upgrade.
- +17.50E3CHF 35.32Includes
- E3 adds what Business Premium does not have: no seat cap, Exchange Online Plan 2, Windows Enterprise E3 (a step-up from Windows Pro), Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P1 and eDiscovery (Standard). Since the July 2026 packaging update it also includes Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P1 and Microsoft Intune Plan 2 features, Remote Help and Advanced Analytics.
- +19.01E5CHF 54.33Includes
- Microsoft Entra ID P2
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P2, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
- Microsoft Purview Information Protection P2, Insider Risk Management, Audit (Premium), eDiscovery (Premium), Communication Compliance
The options
- Lowest list priceBusiness
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Includes
- Business Premium includes the desktop Microsoft 365 Apps, Exchange Online Plan 1, Microsoft Entra ID P1 (Conditional Access), Microsoft Intune Plan 1, Microsoft Defender for Business, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P1, manual sensitivity labels and DLP for email and files, and a Windows 11 Pro upgrade. [2]
SPBLimits
- The 300-seat limit applies to the whole Business family in one tenant, not to each plan. Microsoft’s own example: with 250 Business Premium seats, only 50 more seats are possible across all Business plans. [3]
- Enterprise
Microsoft 365 E3
SPE_E3Includes
- E3 adds what Business Premium does not have: no seat cap, Exchange Online Plan 2, Windows Enterprise E3 (a step-up from Windows Pro), Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P1 and eDiscovery (Standard). Since the July 2026 packaging update it also includes Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P1 and Microsoft Intune Plan 2 features, Remote Help and Advanced Analytics. [5]
- Enterprise
Microsoft 365 E5
SPE_E5Includes
- Microsoft Entra ID P2 [6]
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P2, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps [6]
- Microsoft Purview Information Protection P2, Insider Risk Management, Audit (Premium), eDiscovery (Premium), Communication Compliance [6]
Key differences
- User 301 does not force the whole company onto E3. Business plans can be combined with Enterprise plans, so a tenant can keep up to 300 users on Business plans and license the rest with E3 or E5. Each user only gets the features of their own licence. [3]
- Common mistake: reading the cap as “300 per plan” (e.g. 300 Premium plus 300 Basic). It is 300 across all Business plans. [3]
- Mixing has a technical catch: Microsoft Defender for Business cannot be mixed with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P1/P2 in one tenant. A company growing past 300 usually has to plan a move of its endpoint security. [7]
- Neither plan gives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2, automatic sensitivity labelling or eDiscovery (Premium). Those come with E5 or the Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Purview Suites. [8]
Who it’s for
- Up to 300 users, Business Premium is usually the better value: it costs about half of E3 and already includes Conditional Access, Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Defender for Business.
- Above 300 users: keep up to 300 people on Business Premium and license everyone else with Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, or move everyone to one Enterprise plan
ClearSource’s reading of Microsoft’s documentation — not a recommendation for your situation.
What changed recently
1 August 2026
Packaging update rolled out June-August 2026 (MDO P1 into E3; Microsoft Intune Remote Help/Advanced Analytics/Plan 2 into E3; EPM/Cloud PKI/EAM into E5) [9]
Sources
Microsoft’s own pages, read on or before 29 September 2026.
Microsoft changes for these products
All Microsoft changes →- Microsoft Defender and Purview Suite for Business Premium: 7.5% CSP discount from 1 October 2026
- Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium: 50% off with Copilot runs until 31 December 2026
- Microsoft 365 E3: CSP promotions extended to 31 December 2026, E7 offers close 30 September
- Microsoft 365 E3, E5, E7 and Copilot: new and extended CSP promotions of 10–30%
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