What is the biggest difference between E3 and E5?

The biggest difference is that Microsoft 365 E5 includes advanced security, compliance, analytics, and voice features beyond E3's foundational productivity tools, making E5 ideal for large organizations needing proactive threat protection, AI-driven insights, and integrated communication (like Cloud PBX/audio conferencing), while E3 offers essential Office apps, core security, and basic compliance at a lower cost for most businesses. Essentially, E5 is E3 plus a comprehensive suite of premium, AI-powered management and protection tools.

What is the main difference between E3 and E5?

E5 offers advanced security measures like Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics and data loss prevention. It also includes audio conferencing features, providing enhanced communication options. E3, while suitable for productivity, lacks these advanced security and compliance capabilities.

Why upgrade from E3 to E5?

Microsoft 365 E5 offers security features, compliance, and advanced analytics that E3 lacks, although E3 covers basic performance and security. E5 is built for businesses that need the ultimate in protection, improved communication tools, and powerful business intelligence capabilities.

What is the E5 add on for E3?

Licensing requirements and cost savings

The E5 add-ons can be easily added to an existing O365 E3 license and EMS E3 subscription. This means that companies have the ability to integrate advanced security and compliance tools without the higher costs of a more comprehensive suite.

Is E5 better than E3?

E3 covers the essentials for productivity and security, while E5 adds advanced security, compliance, analytics, and voice capabilities. The choice comes down to needs and budget: E3 is cost-effective for most businesses, while E5 suits organisations requiring top-tier security and insights.

Microsoft 365 E3 Vs E5: Find Your Perfect Plan - Features & Pricing | Peter Rising MVP

What does an E5 license give you?

Get unified endpoint, identity, and access management; best-in-class productivity apps, including Microsoft Teams, and Windows for Enterprise; plus advanced security and analytics, cloud storage, and web-connected AI chat.

Who needs an E5 license?

Business Premium: Designed for small to medium businesses needing essential productivity and security tools. E5: Suited for organisations with advanced security, compliance, and analytics requirements.

Does the E3 give a 100GB mailbox?

Maximum Mailbox Size Limit in Microsoft 365

The maximum mailbox size for most mailboxes in Microsoft 365 is 50 GB. However, there are exceptions: User mailboxes can be increased up to 100 GB when assigned a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license (Exchange Online Plan 2).

What is included in an E3 license?

Includes identity and access management; powerful desktop, web, and mobile productivity apps, including Microsoft Teams; and basic security, cloud storage, and web-connected AI chat.

Can you mix E3 and E5 licenses?

Yes, there are multiple ways to add Microsoft E5 value to Microsoft 365 E3 without purchasing the full E5 Step-up. 1. Add Microsoft Defender Suite (formerly Microsoft 365 E5 Security) and/or Microsoft Purview Suite formerly Microsoft E5 Compliance (or Microsoft Purview Suite “mini suites”):

How to upgrade to E5?

Utilise the Microsoft 365 admin centre to initiate the upgrade process. Navigate to the 'Billing' section, select 'Subscriptions,' and choose the upgrade option to E5. Follow the prompts to complete the transition.

Is Intune suite coming to E3?

If your business is on Microsoft 365 E3 (or EMS E3), here's what gets added to your license starting July 2026: Intune Remote Help – Secure, integrated remote support for employees. Intune Advanced Analytics – Insights that help IT detect issues before they affect users.

How big is the mailbox in Office 365 E5?

A Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3, E5, Office 365 E3, E5 or Exchange Online Plan 2 mailbox looks like: It has a 100GB primary mailbox and an unlimited archive thanks to the fact that the features of the Compliance mailbox are baked into these plans as shown above.

What is the difference between E3 and E5 information protection?

The key difference between Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 licences lies in the level of security, compliance, and analytics features. While both offer core productivity tools like Office apps, E5 provides advanced security capabilities, enhanced compliance features, and more comprehensive business intelligence tools.

How to upgrade from E3 to E5?

Yes, it is possible to upgrade from an Office 365 E3 plan to a Microsoft 365 E5 plan without interruption or loss of currently operational data and/or configurations. In most cases, you can use the Switch plans wizard in your Admin center to upgrade your plan.

How many emails are in 100GB?

As a simple reference: 2 GB can typically store up to 26,400 emails; 15 GB can typically store up to 200,000; and. 100 GB can typically store up to 1.3 million.

How do I get 25 TB on OneDrive?

You must already have filled 90% of the 5 TB storage before the administrator can request to increase the limit for you. Admins can request Microsoft to increase the default storage space up to 25 TB per user, although a lower per-user quota can be set at their discretion.

What is the 500 recipient limit in Outlook?

Microsoft 365 subscribers can include a maximum of 500 recipients in a single email. They can also send emails to as many as 5,000 recipients per day. Those using the free Outlook.com option have a lower limit than subscribers.

What are the features of E3 vs E5?

Key takeaway: E3 and E5 share the same core productivity apps, making them suitable for organizations looking for reliable collaboration tools. E5 provides superior security and compliance features, making it a better choice for organizations with advanced security requirements.

Is 8GB RAM enough for Office 365?

It's good to know that the computer has 8GB of RAM installed, which is sufficient since Microsoft 365 only requires a minimum of 4GB.

Can I still use Microsoft Office if it is unlicensed?

If Office activation fails, you'll see Unlicensed Product or Non-commercial use / Unlicensed Product in the title bar of your Office apps, and most features of Office are disabled.

What is the point of paying for Microsoft 365?

With a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscription, you'll always have the most up-to-date productivity tools with the latest AI-powered features, such as Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Designer.

What are the 5 types of MS Offices?

The 5 core types of MS Office applications are Word (documents), Excel (spreadsheets), PowerPoint (presentations), Outlook (email/calendar), and OneNote (notes), forming the foundation of the suite, with other apps like Access and Publisher often included in different plans. Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) provides these apps with subscriptions, while older perpetual licenses offer fixed versions, all available on desktop, web, and mobile.