M365 most asked questions

• 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.1
• 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.1
• Business Premium includes the desktop Microsoft 365 Apps, Exchange Online Plan 1, Entra ID P1 (Conditional Access), Intune Plan 1, Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365 P1, manual sensitivity labels and DLP for email and files, and a Windows 11 Pro upgrade.2
• E3 adds what Business Premium does not have: no seat cap, Exchange Online Plan 2, Windows Enterprise E3 (a step-up from Windows Pro), Defender for Endpoint P1 and eDiscovery (Standard). Since the July 2026 packaging update it also includes Defender for Office 365 P1 and Intune Plan 2 features, Remote Help and Advanced Analytics.3
• Neither plan gives Defender for Endpoint P2, automatic sensitivity labelling or eDiscovery (Premium). Those come with E5 or the Defender and Purview Suites.4
• Mixing has a technical catch: Defender for Business cannot be mixed with Defender for Endpoint P1/P2 in one tenant. A company growing past 300 usually has to plan a move of its endpoint security.5
• Swiss list prices per user and month (annual commitment, excl. VAT): Business Premium CHF 17.82 (CHF 21.38 on monthly commitment), E3 CHF 35.32, E3 without Teams CHF 28.38 plus Teams Enterprise CHF 6.92, E5 CHF 54.33.6

• The service descriptions (Defender, Entra, Intune, Purview and others) are the primary feature-to-licence reference. For each feature they list the suites and add-ons that give the right to use it.1
• The Product Terms are the contractual basis for use rights. If a slide or PDF says something different, the Product Terms win.2
• “Product names and service plan identifiers for licensing” maps every SKU to the service plans it switches on. It shows what gets provisioned in a tenant — useful for admins, but it is not a statement of use rights.3
• Working is not the same as licensed. Many services run for the whole tenant and cannot be limited technically, but Microsoft requires a licence for every user who benefits — for example custodians in eDiscovery (Premium), or everyone whose mailbox Defender for Office 365 protects.4
• Conditional Access needs Entra ID P1 (in Business Premium, E3 and EMS E3). Risk-based policies need Entra ID P2 (E5, or the Defender Suite).5
• Intune Plan 1 is in Business Premium and E3; since July 2026 E3 also has Intune Plan 2 features, Remote Help and Advanced Analytics. Endpoint Privilege Management, Enterprise App Management and Cloud PKI need E5.6
• Automatic sensitivity labelling and eDiscovery (Premium) need E5, Office 365 E5 or the Purview Suite. Business Premium and E3 allow manual labelling and eDiscovery (Standard) only.4
• Teams Phone is included in E5. On Business plans, E3 and Teams Enterprise it is the Teams Phone Standard add-on (CHF 8.10), and calls to the phone network also need a Calling Plan, Operator Connect or Direct Routing.7
• Windows Enterprise E3 comes with Microsoft 365 E3 (E5 with E5) by subscription activation on top of Windows Pro. Business Premium gives Windows Pro only.8

• Qualifying base licences include Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium, E3, E5, F1 and F3, Office 365 E1, E3, E5 and F3, Microsoft 365 Apps, Teams Enterprise, and Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive plans. Microsoft 365 E7 (CHF 85.92) already includes Copilot.1
• Copilot Business is an add-on for Business-plan customers, limited to 300 users. It is also sold as bundles: Business Standard + Copilot Business (CHF 19.03) and Business Premium + Copilot Business (CHF 25.92).2
• Technical requirements: an Entra ID account, a primary mailbox in Exchange Online (on-premises mailboxes are not supported), OneDrive for some features, and user-based (not device-based) licensing of the Microsoft 365 Apps.3
• Update channel: Copilot needs Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel. Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel was merged into Monthly Enterprise Channel from July 2026.4
• Copilot Chat is free for users signed in with a work account: it answers from the web, and since July 2026 it also appears in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. Answers grounded in your own mail, files and chats, Copilot in Teams meetings and the Researcher and Analyst agents need the paid licence.1
• There is no minimum number of seats any more (the original 300-seat minimum was dropped in January 2024). Microsoft 365 Copilot is sold on annual terms; paying an annual term monthly costs 5% more.5

• The Defender Suite contains Defender XDR, Defender for Endpoint P2, Defender for Office 365 P2, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud Apps and Entra ID P2. It is an add-on to Microsoft 365 E3.1
• The Purview Suite contains automatic labelling, DLP for Teams and endpoints, Insider Risk Management, Communication Compliance, eDiscovery (Premium), Audit (Premium), records management, Customer Key and Customer Lockbox.2
• Microsoft renamed both suites on 1 October 2025; content and price did not change. Quotes and portals may still use the old names.3
• Full E5 includes things neither suite has: Teams Phone (CHF 8.10 on its own), Audio Conferencing, Power BI Pro (CHF 11.30 on its own), Windows Enterprise E5 and an allowance of Security Copilot. Since summer 2026 also Intune Endpoint Privilege Management, Cloud PKI and Enterprise App Management.4
• Swiss list prices per user and month: E3 CHF 35.32 + Defender Suite CHF 9.70 + Purview Suite CHF 9.70 add up to slightly more than E5 at CHF 54.33. E3 with one suite is clearly below E5 — until you also need Teams Phone or Power BI Pro.1
• For Business Premium there are dedicated add-ons (maximum 300 seats): Defender Suite for Business Premium (CHF 8.10), Purview Suite for Business Premium (CHF 8.10) or both (CHF 12.10). The enterprise suites require E3.5
• Microsoft 365 E7 (CHF 85.92, generally available since 1 May 2026) bundles E5 with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent 365 and the Entra Suite.6

• Microsoft’s 2023 change explicitly covered “the European Economic Area and Switzerland”: from 1 October 2023 new customers there had to buy suites without Teams plus a separate Teams licence.1
• The European Commission made Microsoft’s Teams commitments binding on 12 September 2025: cheaper suites without Teams, switching rights and interoperability. The decision covers the EEA; Microsoft applies the same offers worldwide voluntarily.2
• Since 1 November 2025, suites with Teams are available again to all customers, new and existing, and the suites without Teams became cheaper.3
• Swiss list prices per user and month, with Teams vs without: E3 CHF 35.32 vs CHF 28.38; E5 CHF 54.33 vs CHF 47.40; Business Premium CHF 17.82 vs CHF 15.21; Business Standard CHF 11.34 vs CHF 8.73. Teams on its own: CHF 6.92.4
• Existing subscribers can keep and renew their suites with Teams and add seats. Switching between the variants happens at the anniversary or renewal date.1
• Teams Phone, Audio Conferencing, Teams Premium and Teams Rooms are add-ons to a Teams licence. On a suite without Teams, users need the Teams licence first — E5 without Teams includes the Teams Phone rights, but they only work together with a Teams licence.5

• Manual sensitivity labels are included in Business Premium, E3 and E5. Automatic labelling — in the Office apps or on stored mail and files — needs E5, Office 365 E5 or the Purview Suite.1
• DLP for Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive is included in Business Premium and E3. DLP for Teams chats and for Windows and macOS devices needs E5 or the Purview Suite.1
• Retention policies for the whole organisation (including Teams) and manually applied retention labels are included in E3 and Business Premium. Automatically applied labels, adaptive scopes, event-based retention, records and disposition review need E5 or the Purview Suite.1
• eDiscovery (Premium) needs E5 or the Purview Suite — for the custodians whose data is searched as well as for the admins.1
• Audit (Standard) is in every Business plan and E3. Audit (Premium) adds one-year log retention and important events and needs E5, the Purview Suite or a Business Premium Purview add-on.1
• On Business Premium, the Purview Suite for Business Premium (CHF 8.10, up to 300 users) adds automatic labelling, DLP for Teams and devices, records management, Insider Risk, Communication Compliance, eDiscovery (Premium) and Audit (Premium), according to Microsoft’s Swiss comparison page.2

• Conditional Access, self-service password reset with on-premises writeback and MFA for on-premises apps are P1 features. Microsoft requires a licence for every user you intend to benefit, even where the feature technically works for unlicensed users.1
• Dynamic groups need P1 for every unique member. The licences don’t have to be assigned to those users, but the tenant must own at least that many. Device-based dynamic groups need no licence.2
• P1 is included in Business Premium, E3, E5, E7, F1, F3 and EMS E3 (standalone CHF 5.70). Business Basic and Standard and the Office 365 plans include only Entra ID Free.3
• P2 (CHF 8.10, or in E5 and the Defender Suite) is needed for risk-based policies (ID Protection) and Privileged Identity Management — for admins with eligible or time-bound roles and the people who approve them.4
• Guests are not licensed per user: they are billed per monthly active user through External ID, and the first 50,000 monthly active users are free, including P1 and P2 features.5
• Security defaults are free: MFA registration for everyone, MFA for admins and blocked legacy sign-ins. They are all-or-nothing and can’t be combined with your own Conditional Access policies.6

• An unlicensed shared mailbox can hold 50 GB. Going to 100 GB needs Exchange Online Plan 2 (CHF 6.50) on the mailbox.1
• An archive or auto-expanding archive, and litigation hold, need Exchange Online Plan 2 or Plan 1 (CHF 3.20) plus the Exchange Online Archiving add-on.2
• Microsoft’s Defender terms say licences are required for shared mailboxes that benefit from Defender for Office 365, and for every user who accesses a protected mailbox.3
• People who open a shared mailbox need their own Exchange Online licence. Sign-in to the shared mailbox’s own account should be blocked — used as a normal account, it is no longer a shared mailbox.1
• Room and equipment mailboxes need no licence and are limited to 50 GB.2
• A shared mailbox used only to collect copies of everyone’s mail for archiving is not allowed.2

• Microsoft 365 is sold on monthly, annual and, for some products, three-year terms, paid monthly, annually or upfront. Not every product has a monthly term.1
• The 20% premium for monthly terms is visible on Microsoft’s Swiss site: Business Standard CHF 13.61 monthly vs CHF 11.34 annual, Business Basic CHF 6.80 vs CHF 5.67.2
• Since 1 April 2025, paying an annual or three-year term in monthly instalments costs 5% more than paying upfront — in every channel (web direct, partner and MCA-E).3
• Cancelling with a prorated refund is only possible within 7 days (168 hours) of the start or renewal of a term. After that you can only switch off auto-renewal.4
• Seats can be added at any time and share the subscription’s end date and price. Removing seats is only possible within the same 7 days; otherwise it takes effect at renewal.5
• The price is locked for the term. List-price changes (like the July 2026 increase) apply at your next renewal; three-year terms lock the price for longer.1
• If auto-renewal is off and you choose nothing, partner subscriptions no longer simply end: since 2026 they move to a month-to-month extension at the monthly price plus 3%.6

• Microsoft announced that from 1 January 2025 “a small percentage” of cloud EAs can no longer be renewed, and recommends CSP (for partner services and support) or MCA-E (for buying direct) instead.1
• Microsoft has not published a seat threshold. Partners report a practical cut-off around 2,400 users, but Microsoft’s EA page still says 500. Only your Microsoft account team or partner can confirm your case.2
• Since 1 November 2025, EA price levels A–D for online services were replaced by a single price aligned with microsoft.com, at your next renewal. On-premises software is unchanged.3
• MCA-E is Microsoft’s direct, open-ended agreement with no purchase minimum, available in Switzerland and billed in CHF.4
• What changes compared with the EA: no annual true-up (you buy seats when you add them), prices are locked per subscription term rather than for the whole enrolment, and seats can only be reduced at renewal.5
• In CSP the partner handles support; you can no longer open tickets with Microsoft yourself. With MCA-E, enterprise support is a separate Microsoft Unified Support contract.6

• Partners set their own prices. Microsoft publishes an estimated retail price — what you would pay buying direct — and a partner can be above or below it, depending on margin, services and promotions.1
• Support: with CSP the partner owns support and escalates to Microsoft; you can’t open Microsoft tickets yourself. Partners must say what support they provide and at what price.2
• Billing: direct customers are invoiced by Microsoft, CSP customers by the partner. A Swiss legal address means CHF billing either way.3
• The commitment rules (terms, 7-day cancellation, reductions only at renewal) are the same in both channels.4
• Admin access: partners should use GDAP — named, least-privilege and time-limited roles that you grant and can revoke. You keep your own Global Admin accounts.5

• A tenant’s country can’t be changed. It determines available services, taxes, billing currency and where data is stored; changing it means signing up for a new tenant.1
• Under the Microsoft Customer Agreement, the legal address decides the billing country and currency — Switzerland means CHF. Without a real US entity there is no legitimate basis for a US billing account.2
• Partners may only sell to customers in their own CSP region, based on the tenant’s country. A US partner can’t sell to a Swiss tenant.3
• Price check on 25 September 2026 (ECB reference rates, 1 USD ≈ CHF 0.828): E3 at USD 39 ≈ CHF 32.30 vs the Swiss list price of CHF 35.32; Business Premium at USD 22 ≈ CHF 18.22 vs CHF 17.82. German EUR prices were about 1% above the Swiss prices.4
• VAT isn’t avoided: services bought from a foreign supplier are subject to Swiss acquisition tax (Bezugsteuer) of 8.1%.5
• Data: a Swiss tenant keeps core data in Microsoft’s Swiss datacenters and can add Advanced Data Residency. A US tenant stores core data in the US and cannot use Advanced Data Residency for Switzerland.6
• Migration costs money: Microsoft’s tool needs a paid Cross-Tenant User Data Migration licence per user, and it doesn’t move SharePoint sites or Teams channels.7
• Every device has to leave the old tenant’s Autopilot before it can be registered in the new one, then be re-enrolled.8
• Compliance: the Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework has applied since 15 September 2024, but only for certified US recipients, and your duties under the revised Swiss Data Protection Act remain.9

Verdict: Not worth it for a Swiss company. The gain is at most a few francs per E3 user a month (Business Premium is cheaper in CHF), and it costs a new tenant, a full migration, Swiss data residency and possibly compliance. It can only make sense for a group whose real foreign company already runs the main tenant — and then for data and organisational reasons, not price.