Basic, Standard, Premium and Apps for business: what each Microsoft 365 (M365) plan gives your staff in Dubai and across the UAE, what changed in 2026, and the 300-user cap that catches growing companies.
Microsoft PartnerVerify on Microsoft Marketplace →Four plans, aimed at organisations up to 300 users. The differences that matter are whether Office is installed on the machine, and whether device management and security come with it.
Web and mobile Office apps, Exchange mailbox, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. No desktop Word, Excel or Outlook installed on the machine.
Right when: Staff who live in a browser and do not need Office installed locally.
Everything in Basic, plus the desktop Office applications installed on the PC or Mac, and webinar hosting.
Right when: The default for most desk-based staff in this market.
Everything in Standard, plus device management through Intune, Entra ID P1, Defender for Business and Purview information protection.
Right when: Companies that need the security and device management without moving to Enterprise pricing.
The Office desktop applications and OneDrive, with no Exchange mailbox and no Teams.
Right when: Rare on its own. Occasionally right where email lives somewhere else entirely.
The quickest way to choose. Business plans cover up to 300 users in total; Microsoft 365 E3 is the step up for larger organisations or for companies that need Enterprise compliance and Windows Enterprise.
| What you get | Business Basic | Business Standard | Business Premium | Microsoft 365 E3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook | Web and mobile only | Desktop, web and mobile | Desktop, web and mobile | Desktop, web and mobile |
| Business email mailbox | 50 GB | 50 GB | 100 GB, plus archiving | 100 GB, plus auto-expanding archive |
| OneDrive cloud storage | 1 TB per user | 1 TB per user | 1 TB per user | 1 TB or more per user |
| Teams | Included | Included | Included | Confirmed at quote* |
| Email security | Exchange Online Protection, plus link checks added in 2026 | Exchange Online Protection, plus link checks added in 2026 | Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 | Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 (from 2026) |
| Sign-in security | Multi-factor sign-in (security defaults) | Multi-factor sign-in (security defaults) | Entra ID P1 with Conditional Access | Entra ID P1 with Conditional Access |
| Device management | Not included | Not included | Intune Plan 1 and Autopilot | Intune, with Plan 2 features added in 2026 |
| Laptop and phone protection | Not included | Not included | Defender for Business | Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 |
| Windows licence | Not included | Not included | Windows Business upgrade | Windows Enterprise E3 |
| Maximum users | 300 across all Business plans | 300 across all Business plans | 300 across all Business plans | No limit |
| Best for | Browser-based and frontline office staff | Most desk-based teams | SMEs that handle client data or work remotely | Companies over 300 users or with compliance needs |
*Microsoft now sells its Enterprise suites to new subscribers with Teams licensed separately. We include the right Teams option in your quote. Plan contents checked October 2026.
Choosing between Business Premium and E3? Read our Business Premium vs E3 guide for UAE companies.
Business Premium is Business Standard plus the security and device management most companies would otherwise buy separately. If your team handles client data, works from phones or from home, or a client or insurer has asked you about multi-factor sign-in, it is usually the right plan.
Enrol company laptops and phones, push settings and apps, and wipe a lost or stolen device remotely.
Require multi-factor sign-in and block access from unmanaged devices or unexpected locations.
Endpoint protection with detection and response for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices.
Label and protect sensitive files and emails, with Exchange Online Archiving for long-term mailbox retention.
New laptops can go straight to the user and set themselves up on first sign-in, with your company settings applied.
The plans are the same worldwide, but a few things work differently when your company is in the UAE. These are the questions Dubai finance and IT teams ask us most.
Microsoft runs cloud datacenter regions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the UAE is one of Microsoft 365's data residency locations. For a tenant set up with the UAE as its country, core data such as Exchange mailboxes, OneDrive and SharePoint files is stored in the UAE. We confirm your tenant's data location before you sign.
Microsoft 365 is billed per user. An annual commitment gives the best per-user rate and still lets you add users at any time. Monthly commitment costs more per user but lets you reduce seats from month to month, which suits project staff and seasonal teams.
Microsoft raised list prices for Business Basic, Business Standard and its Enterprise and Frontline plans from 1 July 2026. Existing customers usually see the new price at their next renewal. Business Premium kept its price and gained a 100 GB mailbox, so it is better value than it was a year ago.
We quote per user in AED with 5% VAT shown separately, supply against your LPO and issue a VAT invoice. No company credit card or overseas billing is needed, and renewals are tracked for you.
These plans are good value and most UAE SMEs belong on them. The problems come from two places: the seat cap nobody mentions at the point of sale, and buying Basic to save money on staff who needed Standard.
Microsoft limits the Business family to 300 users in total across Basic, Standard, Premium and Apps for business combined. A company with 250 Business Premium seats can add only 50 more across the entire family. Microsoft states it reserves the right to enforce that tenant limit.
Microsoft's own guidance is that organisations above 300 users should move to the Enterprise plans. In practice most companies run a mixed tenant — Business plans up to the cap and Enterprise seats above it — which works but needs planning rather than discovering it on the day a new starter cannot be licensed.
The single most common complaint after a Basic rollout. Web and mobile apps only. If your finance team lives in Excel with heavy workbooks and add-ins, Basic will not do, and the upgrade mid-term is more disruptive than buying Standard at the start.
The difference between Standard and Premium is not productivity, it is Intune device management, Entra ID P1, Defender for Business and Purview. If you have staff on personal devices or handling client data, that gap matters more than the price.
Business Basic and Business Standard went up in price from 1 July 2026. Business Premium stayed at the same price and its mailbox grew to 100 GB. If you were paying separately for email security or device management on top of Standard, Premium may now work out cheaper overall.
Licensing rules on this page were checked against Microsoft’s own documentation in October 2026. Microsoft changes plan contents regularly — if you are reading this much later, ask us to confirm before you commit to a term.
300, in total across Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium and Apps for business combined — not 300 of each. Microsoft states it reserves the right to enforce that limit on the tenant. Organisations above 300 users are directed to the Enterprise plans.
You either move the organisation to Enterprise plans, or run a mixed tenant with Business plans up to the cap and Enterprise seats above it. Both work. Which is cheaper depends on how many of those extra users genuinely need enterprise features, and it is worth modelling before you are forced into it.
Security and device management. Premium adds Intune, Entra ID P1, Defender for Business and Purview information protection on top of everything Standard includes. The Office applications are the same in both.
No. Basic is web and mobile apps only, with the Exchange mailbox, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. For Office installed on the machine you need Business Standard or above.
Yes, and most companies should. There is no requirement to put everyone on the same plan, and doing so usually means either overpaying for some staff or under-equipping others.
Yes, against your company LPO with a VAT tax invoice, TRN 105539797800003, from a single seat upward. Migration and tenant setup are included.
Proto Link IT Solutions supplies Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium to companies in Dubai and across the UAE, activated in your own Microsoft 365 tenant, against your LPO with a VAT invoice. Setup and email migration are free when you licence through us. Call or WhatsApp +971 56 696 1736 or email sales@proto-link.ae.
Usually yes, if you handle client data or have staff working remotely. Business Premium adds Intune device management, Entra ID P1 with Conditional Access, Defender for Business and Purview information protection to everything in Business Standard, which would cost more to buy separately.
Yes. When you buy your Microsoft 365 licences through Proto Link, we set up the tenant and domain and migrate your existing mailboxes and files at no extra charge.
It can be. Microsoft runs datacenter regions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the UAE is one of Microsoft 365's data residency locations. For a tenant set up with the UAE as its country, core data such as mailboxes, OneDrive and SharePoint files is stored in the UAE. We confirm the data location for your tenant before setup.
Yes. From 1 July 2026 Microsoft raised list prices for Business Basic, Business Standard and its Enterprise and Frontline plans. Business Premium kept its price and its mailbox grew to 100 GB. Existing customers usually move to the new price at their next renewal.
M365 is short for Microsoft 365. Office 365 was the earlier name for the email and Office apps bundle, and in 2020 Microsoft renamed most Office 365 business plans to Microsoft 365 Business. Microsoft 365 plans add security and device management on top of the Office apps, email and Teams.
Annual commitment gives the lowest per-user price and lets you add users at any time. Monthly commitment costs more per user but lets you reduce seats month to month. Many Dubai companies put permanent staff on annual and project staff on monthly.
Tenant setup, mailbox and file migration, user onboarding and activation are included at no extra charge on Microsoft licences bought from Proto Link. You pay for the licences, not for the project around them.
Send us your headcount and what your team actually needs. We will come back with the right plan mix and a price — usually the same working day.