Exchange Online Plan 1 or Plan 2?
$5 a seat against $10. One question settles it, and everything below is what the two plans share and where they part.
How much mail has to be kept, and for how long?
It gets cleared out
a seat, a month
A mailbox that gets cleared out, or does not fill up.
Everything is kept
a seat, a month
Anyone who keeps everything, or who has to be able to produce old mail on request.
The step up is $5 a seat, a month — $5 against $10.
Where the two plans part
Three capabilities separate them. Each row is what one plan does and the other does not, taken from the same comparison the hub publishes.
Two figures each, and neither means much on its own. The mailbox doubles between the plans; the archive is where the larger step happens.
| Capability | Exchange Plan 1 | Exchange Plan 2 |
|---|---|---|
Mailbox size How much mail one person can keep before anything has to be cleared out. | Exchange Plan 1: 50 GB | Exchange Plan 2: 100 GB |
Archive storage Older mail moved out of the main mailbox but still searchable. | Exchange Plan 1: 50 GB | Exchange Plan 2: grows to 1.5 TB |
Labeling the files that matter and stopping them leaving by mail. | Exchange Plan 1: —Not included | Exchange Plan 2: |
What the two plans share
The rows that read the same on both. Worth knowing before stepping up, and worth knowing before staying put.
Both plans carry
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Email at your own domain
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Word, Excel and Outlook in a browser: view only
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Extra apps included: Forms only
Neither plan carries
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Word, Excel and Outlook installed
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Microsoft Teams
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File storage per person
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Shared company files and intranet
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Webinars and meeting recording
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Windows 11 upgrade included
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Control over company devices
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Protection on the computers themselves
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Attachment and link scanning
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Rules about who can sign in, and from where
Neither plan carries these, so the step up does not change them. The comparison page shows which plans do.
Common questions
Yes. Licenses are assigned per person, so Exchange Plan 1 for one group of people and Exchange Plan 2 for another sit in the same tenant.
One person, for one month, on an annual commitment, billed monthly. The figures above are $5 a seat for Exchange Plan 1 and $10 for Exchange Plan 2.
Microsoft publishes no limit for the Exchange plans. The business plans stop at 300.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic, at $9 a seat. Email, Teams and the browser versions of the Office apps.
The other decisions in the range
Each of these is one question with two answers, the same shape as this page.
Business Standard or Business Premium?
Does the company need to control the computers and phones themselves, or only the accounts?
Business Basic or Business Standard?
Does anyone need Word, Excel and Outlook installed on the computer, rather than in a browser tab?
Microsoft 365 F1 or F3?
Does this person need a mailbox of their own?
See the whole range
Every plan side by side, with what a seat costs and which capabilities are already bundled in.