Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscription costs increase next March – Redmondmag.com

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Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscription costs increase next March

Microsoft on Thursday announced plans to increase subscription costs for business users of Office 365 and Microsoft 365, effective March 1, 2022.

Subscription costs per user per month will increase for all commercial plans except the Microsoft 365 E5 plan, which was not listed as changing as of March. Price increases will vary by plan, with the largest increase bringing Microsoft an additional $ 4 per user per month (the Microsoft 365 E3 plan).

Price increases will only affect business subscribers. Microsoft is not changing costs for users of educational and consumer products “at this time,” the announcement said.

Here are the specific cost increases coming in March for Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Business subscribers:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($ 5 to $ 6 per user)
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium ($ 20 to $ 22)
• Office 365 E1 ($ 8 to $ 10)
• Office 365 E3 ($ 20 to $ 23)
• Office 365 E5 ($ 35 to $ 38), and
• Microsoft 365 E3 ($ 32 to $ 36).

The price increase has been described as “the first substantial price update since the launch of Office 365 ten years ago.” Microsoft had added 24 applications since its launch, as well as 1,400 new features.

Microsoft previously announced in February that users of “perpetual license” Office products (Office Professional Plus, Office Standard, and individual apps) would get a 10% price increase with the next version of the product, as well as a five percent reduction. % of product support. years. Perpetual licensees buy the product once instead of subscribing, and they do not get the new features that subscription licensees receive.

Microsoft’s price hike announcement also described plan changes for teams’ audio conferencing capability. Microsoft will add audio conferencing with “unlimited connection capabilities” to more subscription plans than the current Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5 plans. This addition of audio conferencing functionality will arrive “within the next few months” for users of “enterprise, business, frontline and government suites,” Microsoft said.

Audio conferencing is a feature reserved for people who start meetings. This allows them to use their phone to do so. It is intended as a benefit for those occasions when people may be on the road and without the bandwidth for a Teams session.

Microsoft had offered a one-year free trial of audio conferencing to Teams users in September 2020, and is still promoting this offering in 2021. Audio conferencing is being added to plans other than E5 because “we came seeing connection as an important part of the entire teams experience, ”explained the announcement.