Microsoft 365 price increase 1 July 2026: what does this mean for your workplace?

Effective 1 July 2026, Microsoft is rolling out a fresh round of price increases on its commercial Microsoft 365 suites. For SMBs running on these licences, it's worth understanding now what the increases mean — and which plans to leave alone.

Source: Microsoft 365 Pricing and Packaging Updates and the Public FAQ, both published by Microsoft in March 2026.

What changes on 1 July 2026?

The increases apply to both new purchases and renewals from that date. A selection:

(Prices in USD per user per month.)

What stays flat? (Optimisation opportunity)

Two plans popular with SMBs are unchanged:

• Microsoft 365 Business Premium — no change
• Office 365 E1 — no change

This isn't a coincidence: Microsoft positions Business Premium as *the* SMB package and wants to keep entry to it accessible. For customers currently on Apps for Business or Microsoft 365 Business Standard, an upgrade to Business Premium can become rational right now — not because it's cheaper, but because the Business Premium feature set (Defender, Intune, Conditional Access) joins without a price increase.

How big is the actual impact?

Worked example for a typical 25-employee SMB on Microsoft 365 Apps for Business:

• Before 1 July: 25 × $8.25 = $206/month (~€193)
• After 1 July: 25 × $10.00 = $250/month (~€234)
• Difference: roughly €41/month or €492/year

Manageable on its own, but if your organisation also takes EMS E3, Entra P1 or an E3 suite the bill ramps up. For a 50-seat organisation on M365 E3 with EMS E3, we've seen calculations show €2,000-4,000 extra per year.

Our approach — what we do for customers

In the lead-up to 1 July we run a licence audit for each customer. Three steps:

1. Inventory current state. Which licences run per user, what's underused, and which add-ons are bundled in that you didn't realise?

2. Compare with Business Premium. For many customers, consolidation onto Business Premium ends up cheaper or equal in total cost *and* delivers a better security baseline (Defender + Intune + MFA via Entra). A no-brainer for a large slice of the SMB market.

3. Schedule renewals smartly. Locking in a 1-year term before 1 July fixes today's price for 12 months. No tricks — just timing we use on your behalf.

Combine with the Copilot promo

Microsoft simultaneously extended the Copilot Business promo through 30 June 2026. Customers considering both an M365 renewal and a Copilot rollout can lock both purchases at current pricing — fixing the IT budget for 2026/2027 against today's rates.

Industry impact: not equal across sectors

Workplaces in healthcare, accountancy and law usually run a combination of Microsoft 365 + industry software (Exquise, AFAS, CClaw, Tax Framework). For these customers the price increase only matters on the M365 part — the industry software has its own pricing. Same logic in manufacturing companies running ISAH or Exact Online.

It means that the M365 increase has limited impact on these industries. As VC we look at the full stack per customer and optimise where possible without changing the workplace experience.

Concrete next steps

1. Before 1 July: renew your annual contract to lock current pricing if it fits your growth plan
2. Customers on Apps for Business: let us calculate the upgrade to Business Premium — often a better security baseline comes free
3. E3/E5 customers: licence audit first, decide after — we routinely find 10-20% savings in unused add-ons
4. Copilot considerers: think about a combined lock-in with the Copilot promo

Our stance

We're not Microsoft fanboys and we're not Microsoft critics. We sell what our customers need, and we're transparent about what the price increases mean. Sometimes upgrading is the move, sometimes downgrading or consolidating is smarter, sometimes the right answer is just to renew the current contract. We do the maths for every customer.

Schedule a call if you want clarity on your specific licence situation before 1 July — no obligations, no sales pitch.