What is Microsoft Exchange Online?

Microsoft Exchange Online is for email without the Microsoft Office suite. This license gives you Outlook and enables you to send emails, manage your calendar and tasks, and add contacts to your address book.

Simply put, it’s your business email inbox.

You can purchase Exchange Online as a standalone license, but most often you get it as part of Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium.

We’ll break down the two Exchange Online plans Microsoft offers, what they include, how much they cost and why you might purchase each one.

Exchange Online Plan 1

What is it?

Exchange Online Plan 1 gives you business-class email using Outlook on the web.

What does it include?

You get a 50 GB mailbox and a 50 GB archived mailbox.

How much does it cost?

It costs $4 per user, per month.

Why would you purchase it?

If you have employees who need email but don’t need Office apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Additionally, maybe you have volunteers or contractors who aren’t technically employees but still need to be part of your email ecosystem to access shared inboxes.

It is important to note that Exchange Online Plan 1 doesn’t come with a desktop version of Outlook. You can only access email using Outlook on the web.

Exchange Online Plan 2

What is it?

The same product as Exchange Online Plan 1 but with some additional features and, most importantly, a larger inbox storage limit.

What does it include?

You get a 100 GB mailbox and up to 1.5 TB archived mailbox. It also includes built-in data loss prevention and cloud voicemail services with call answering, dial-in UI and automated attendant.

How much does it cost?

It costs $8 per user, per month.

Why would you purchase it?

Purchase Exchange Online Plan 2 if you need a bigger inbox. We don’t really ever see this purchased as a standalone license. Most often, we see it purchased for an employee who already has Business Premium but needs a larger inbox.

If you or your employees receive several emails a day and if those emails contain large attachments like photos, audio or video files, and archiving doesn’t solve your need for space, it might be worth doubling your mailbox storage with an Exchange Online Plan 2 license.

Exchange Online plans are great for employees who only need a mailbox without the extra Office apps.

They don’t come with the desktop version of Outlook, but if you’re fine with using the web version, it’s an inexpensive way to get email.

Find an Exchange Online Plan for Your Organization

Email is vital in today’s business world.

If you want more information about Microsoft Exchange Online plans, contact us to schedule a meeting. We can help answer your questions about the different Exchange Online plans Microsoft offers.

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