Microsoft 365 was launched in 2017 as an evolution of Office 365, which was announced in 2010. In the past decade or so, Microsoft has introduced several new features, capabilities, and enhancements to its offering - with the most recent one that we reported being integration of Universal Print with OneDrive. All of these changes have come at no additional cost to the core product. However, this is set to change soon as the company has announced that it is making Microsoft 365 pricier for commercial customers.
Microsoft explains that in the past ten years or so, it has added multiple new capabilities to its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 offerings without a price hike. Since announcing Microsoft 365 alone, the company has added 1,400 new capabilities to three domains. These include communication and collaboration, security and compliance, and AI and automation. 24 apps have been introduced across various Microsoft 365 offerings as well.
As such, the Redmond tech giant believes that it is time to increase the price for its 300 million paid seats in the commercial space. The cost hike will be applicable from March 1, 2022 and will impact Microsoft 365 configurations as follows:
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: From $5 to $6 per user
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium: From $20 to $22
- Office 365 E1: From $8 to $10
- Office 365 E3: From $20 to $23
- Office 365 E5: From $35 to $38
- Microsoft 365 E3: From $32 to $36
Microsoft says that these pricing adjustments will be applied globally. It is important to note that education and consumer offerings are not affected by this change.
To sweeten the pot a bit, the tech giant says that it will be introducing unlimited dial-in connectivity for Teams in light of the fact that people sometimes take meetings on the go and do not always have satisfactory internet stability. This will be available to enterprise, business, frontline, and government offerings within the next few months.