The short answer: Microsoft 365 Business Premium costs £16.90 per user per month in the UK on an annual subscription, excluding VAT. It is Business Standard plus Microsoft’s security layer: Conditional Access (Entra ID P1), device management (Intune), Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 and Purview data protection. For a business that holds client or financial data it is usually worth the extra £6.10 per user over Standard, but only once those security features are actually configured, because most are not switched on out of the box.
Last updated: 30 September 2026. Prices checked against Microsoft’s UK Business Premium page and security add-on pricing on that date. Microsoft changes prices and features from time to time, so confirm before you buy.
In this guide
- What is Microsoft 365 Business Premium?
- How much does Business Premium cost in the UK?
- What Business Premium includes
- What the security features actually do
- Business Premium and Cyber Essentials
- Standard or Premium: who needs it?
- The Defender and Purview add-ons
- Business Premium with Copilot
- What to set up first
- Frequently asked questions
What is Microsoft 365 Business Premium?
Microsoft 365 Business Premium is the top Microsoft 365 plan for businesses with up to 300 users. It includes everything in Business Standard, the desktop Office apps, business email, Teams and 1TB of OneDrive per user, and adds the identity, device and threat protection tools that the cheaper plans leave out.
Microsoft describes the extra as four things: policy-based identity and access management, device security and management, advanced threat protection against phishing and malware, and discovery and protection of sensitive data. In product terms that is Entra ID P1, Intune Plan 1, Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 and Purview Information Protection with data loss prevention.
The 300-user limit applies across all the Business plans combined. Above that, organisations move to the enterprise plans such as Microsoft 365 E3 and E5.
How much does Business Premium cost in the UK?
Business Premium is £16.90 per user per month on an annual subscription, excluding VAT. These are Microsoft’s current UK list prices:
| Version | Annual subscription (per user, per month) | Monthly subscription (per user, per month) |
|---|---|---|
| Business Premium | £16.90 | £20.28 |
| Business Premium (no Teams) | £14.40 | £17.28 |
| Business Premium with Copilot | £24.60 | Not shown |
| Business Premium with Copilot (no Teams) | £22.10 | Not shown |
Three things are worth knowing about the price:
- It was not part of the July 2026 rise. Microsoft’s 1 July 2026 price increase applied to Business Basic and Business Standard but not to Business Premium, so the step up from Standard is now £6.10 per user per month at UK list prices. Existing customers see new prices at their next renewal.
- Monthly subscriptions cost 20% more. An annual subscription is cheaper but generally cannot be reduced until renewal.
- Microsoft’s compare page now shows the Copilot versions. The plain £16.90 plan is listed on the Business Premium page itself, which is why some people think Premium now costs £24.60.
For the full price list across Basic, Standard, Premium and Apps for business, see our guide to Microsoft 365 business prices in the UK.
What does Business Premium include?
Business Premium includes everything in Business Standard plus five security products. This table shows what each part does and whether Standard has it:
| Feature | What it does | In Business Standard? |
|---|---|---|
| Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams | Desktop, web and mobile apps, chat and meetings | Yes |
| Exchange email | 100GB mailbox | Yes (100GB) |
| Email archive | Auto-expanding archive up to 1.5TB | 50GB archive |
| OneDrive and SharePoint | 1TB of storage per user plus shared team sites | Yes |
| Entra ID P1 | Conditional Access: rules for who can sign in, from where and on what device | No |
| Intune Plan 1 | Enrol, configure, update and wipe laptops and phones | No |
| Defender for Business | Antivirus plus endpoint detection and response on company devices | No |
| Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 | Safe Links, Safe Attachments and anti-phishing for email and Teams | Partly: Microsoft is adding basic time-of-click link checks to Standard, rolling out from summer 2026 |
| Purview Information Protection and DLP | Sensitivity labels, encryption and rules that stop sensitive data leaving | No |
| Windows Autopilot | New laptops set themselves up for your business at first sign-in | No |
| Azure Virtual Desktop rights | Licence to use Microsoft’s hosted Windows desktops (you still pay for the Azure capacity) | No |
What do the Business Premium security features actually do?
Each security feature in Business Premium closes a specific gap that Business Standard leaves open. This is what they mean in day-to-day terms.
Conditional Access (Entra ID P1)
Conditional Access lets you set rules for every sign-in. Typical rules are: always require multi-factor authentication, block sign-ins from countries you do not work in, block older email apps that cannot do multi-factor authentication, and only allow access to company data from devices you manage. Without it, the free security defaults give you basic multi-factor authentication but none of the control over where and from what device people sign in.
Device management (Intune)
Intune manages the laptops and phones that access your data. It can require encryption and a screen lock, push Windows and Office updates on a schedule, install the apps staff need, and remotely wipe a lost or stolen laptop. Combined with Conditional Access, it means a personal device that does not meet your rules simply cannot open company email or files. Our guide to Microsoft Intune covers it in more detail.
Defender for Business
Defender for Business is endpoint protection for up to 300 users. As well as antivirus, it includes endpoint detection and response, which watches for suspicious behaviour such as ransomware encrypting files, and automated investigation and remediation that can quarantine malicious files and stop harmful processes, plus the option to isolate a compromised device from the network. It also reports on missing updates and weak settings across your devices.
Defender for Office 365 Plan 1
Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 checks links at the moment someone clicks them (Safe Links), opens attachments in a sandbox before delivery (Safe Attachments) and adds impersonation protection, which helps catch emails pretending to come from your managing director or a regular supplier. That matters because payment diversion fraud usually starts with a convincing email.
Purview Information Protection and data loss prevention
Purview lets you label documents and emails as, for example, Confidential, and encrypt them so only the right people can open them, even if they are forwarded outside the business. Data loss prevention rules can warn or block when someone tries to send data such as bank details or National Insurance numbers to an outside address.
Does Business Premium help with Cyber Essentials?
Business Premium does not give you Cyber Essentials on its own, but it contains a tool for each of the five technical controls, which makes it much easier to meet them and show the assessor evidence. The Cyber Essentials requirements, version 3.3, which apply to assessments started from 27 April 2026, state that cloud services such as Microsoft 365 cannot be excluded from scope, that sign-in to cloud services must always use multi-factor authentication, and that high-risk and critical updates must be applied within 14 days.
This mapping is our own view from preparing clients for assessment, not an official Microsoft or NCSC mapping:
| Cyber Essentials control | Business Premium tool that helps | What it does not cover |
|---|---|---|
| Firewalls | Intune can enforce the Windows firewall on every device | Your office router or firewall |
| Secure configuration | Intune security baselines and compliance policies | Servers and other devices Intune does not manage |
| Security update management | Intune update rings for Windows and Microsoft 365 Apps; Defender for Business reports missing updates | Third-party apps usually need extra tooling or a clear process |
| User access control | Conditional Access for multi-factor authentication; Entra ID for separate admin accounts | Accounts on other cloud services you use |
| Malware protection | Defender for Business on every enrolled device | Devices that are not enrolled |
See our Cyber Essentials requirements checklist for the full list, and our guide to what Cyber Essentials costs.
Business Standard or Premium: who needs Business Premium?
Business Premium is the right plan if any of these apply to your business:
- You hold client, patient or financial data that would cause real harm if it leaked.
- Staff work from home or on the move, on laptops that leave the office.
- People use their own phones for work email.
- You have Cyber Essentials, or a client, insurer or tender is asking for it.
- You are regulated, for example by the SRA or FCA, and need to show how data is protected.
Business Standard can be enough for a very small business with no sensitive data, office-based staff on company-owned PCs, and another security product already covering its devices and email. In our experience that describes fewer businesses than people expect.
You can mix plans. Many businesses put office staff on Premium and occasional users, such as part-time or site staff who mainly need email and Teams, on Business Basic. Each user who is protected by Conditional Access or managed by Intune needs a licence that includes it, so mixing works best when the people touching sensitive data are all on Premium.
What are the Business Premium add-ons?
Microsoft now sells two security add-ons that only work with Business Premium: the Defender Suite and the Purview Suite. Microsoft introduced them in September 2025, and the Defender Suite replaced the earlier Microsoft 365 E5 Security add-on for Business Premium. UK Microsoft partners can sell both.
| Add-on | UK price (annual, per user, per month) | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Defender Suite for Business Premium | £7.70 | Entra ID P2 (risk-based sign-in protection), Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud Apps |
| Purview Suite for Business Premium | £7.70 | eDiscovery (Premium), Audit (Premium), Insider Risk Management, Communication Compliance, Compliance Manager |
| Defender and Purview Suites for Business Premium | £11.50 | Both of the above |
Most small businesses do not need either add-on. The Defender Suite makes sense where account takeover would be very costly, for example a firm that moves client money. The Purview Suite suits firms that need to search, hold and audit email and files for legal or regulatory reasons. Microsoft’s Security Copilot is not part of Business Premium or these add-ons; Microsoft is including it with Microsoft 365 E5.
Is Business Premium with Copilot worth it?
Business Premium with Copilot costs £24.60 per user per month on an annual subscription and bundles Microsoft 365 Copilot, the version that works inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams using your own files and email. Buying Premium at £16.90 and the Copilot Business add-on at £16.10 separately would come to £33.00 at list price, or £30.70 during Microsoft’s promotional offer on the add-on (first year only, for existing Business customers, until 31 December 2026), by our arithmetic.
So the bundle is the cheaper route for people who will use Copilot every day. For everyone else, plain Premium plus Copilot Chat, which is included at no extra cost, is usually enough. Before switching Copilot on, tidy up file permissions: Copilot can find anything a user already has access to, so overshared folders become visible very quickly.
What should you set up first in Business Premium?
Buying Business Premium does not make you more secure until the features are configured. These are the first things we set up for clients moving to Premium:
- Multi-factor authentication for everyone through Conditional Access, with a separate, protected emergency admin account so you cannot lock yourself out.
- Block legacy authentication, which lets older email apps sign in without multi-factor authentication.
- Separate admin accounts, so nobody reads email while signed in with global administrator rights.
- Enrol every company device in Intune, with compliance rules for encryption, supported Windows versions and Defender being switched on.
- Onboard devices to Defender for Business and check they report in.
- Turn on Microsoft’s preset security policies for Safe Links, Safe Attachments and anti-phishing.
- Require a compliant device for access to company email and files once enrolment is complete.
- Add sensitivity labels and data loss prevention for the data that matters most, starting small.
We license, set up and manage Microsoft 365 for businesses across Sussex and beyond. Licences are billed at cost, and the configuration and ongoing management sit within our fixed monthly IT support price. See our Microsoft 365 services, or take the free IT security review to check who holds the keys to your systems today.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Microsoft 365 Business Premium per user in the UK?
£16.90 per user per month on an annual subscription, excluding VAT, or £20.28 on a monthly subscription. The version without Teams is £14.40, and Business Premium with Copilot is £24.60, both on an annual subscription.
What does Business Premium have that Business Standard does not?
Business Premium adds Entra ID P1 for Conditional Access, Intune device management, Defender for Business endpoint protection, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 email protection, Purview sensitivity labels and data loss prevention, and an email archive of up to 1.5TB.
Is Microsoft 365 Business Premium worth it for a small business?
For most small businesses that hold client or financial data, yes. It costs £6.10 more per user per month than Business Standard at UK list prices and is the only Microsoft 365 Business plan that includes Intune, Conditional Access and endpoint detection and response. The value depends on the features being configured.
Does Microsoft 365 Business Premium include antivirus?
Yes. Business Premium includes Defender for Business, which provides antivirus plus endpoint detection and response for up to 300 users on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices.
Does Business Premium give you Cyber Essentials?
No. Cyber Essentials is a separate certification with its own assessment. Business Premium includes tools that help meet all five technical controls, including multi-factor authentication for cloud services, but they must be configured and the assessment passed separately.
Did Business Premium go up in price in 2026?
No. Microsoft’s 1 July 2026 price increase applied to Business Basic and Business Standard but not to Business Premium.
How many users can have Business Premium?
Up to 300 users in total across the Microsoft 365 Business plans. Larger organisations use the enterprise plans such as E3 and E5.
Sources
- Microsoft UK: Microsoft 365 Business Premium
- Microsoft UK: Microsoft 365 Business Premium security
- Microsoft UK: compare all Microsoft 365 business products
- Microsoft UK: Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing
- Microsoft Licensing: 2026 Microsoft 365 packaging and pricing updates
- Microsoft UK: security add-on plans for small and medium businesses
- Microsoft Partner Center: September 2025 announcements (Defender and Purview Suites for Business Premium)
- Microsoft Learn: what’s new in Business Premium security
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Defender for Business overview
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Defender for Office 365
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft 365 Business Premium FAQ
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Entra licensing
- Microsoft Learn: Exchange Online limits
- Microsoft Learn: Azure Virtual Desktop licensing
- NCSC: Cyber Essentials requirements for IT infrastructure v3.3
Free • 12 minutes • Written PDF report
Who actually holds the keys to your systems?
List the systems your business runs, answer plain-English questions about how they are controlled, and get a report with a red, amber and green rating for every area and what to fix first. Nothing on your systems is touched.
Cyber Essentials certified · Microsoft Partner · rated 5.0 on Google