Describe Microsoft 365 pricing, licensing, and support Flashcards
Explore pricing models for Microsoft cloud services
Cloud Solution Provider
The Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) model is a Microsoft partner program that provides the expertise and services you need through an expert CSP partner.
Your Microsoft 365 subscription is provided through a CSP partner who can manage your entire subscription, provide billing and technical support. The CSP partner will have admin privileges that will allow them to access your tenant. They’ll have the ability to directly support, configure and manage licenses and settings. The CSP partner can provide extra consultancy and advice to ensure security and productivity targets are met. Furthermore, other Microsoft cloud-based products and services can be added to your subscription such as Microsoft Entra services and Dynamics 365.
The Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program provides a pay-as-you-go subscription model with per-user, per-month pricing that enables your business to scale up or down from month to month as your needs change.
You can find a suitable CSP at I’m looking for a solution provider.
Enterprise Agreement
The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) is designed for organizations that want to license software and cloud services for a minimum three-year period. The Enterprise Agreement offers the best value to organizations with 500 or more users or devices. One of the benefits of the Enterprise Agreement is that it’s manageable, giving you the flexibility to buy cloud services and software licenses under a single organization-wide agreement. Additionally, through Software Assurance, your organization can receive 24x7 technical support, planning services, end-user and technical training.
Learn more about the benefits of the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement at Enterprise Agreement | Microsoft Volume Licensing.
Direct Billing
Buy and pay for your Microsoft 365 subscription with a credit or debit card, or a bank account. The payment method you use to pay will continue to be charged until the subscription expires or is canceled. Payment methods can be managed through the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Trial
Sign up for a free trial subscription for Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, or Microsoft 365 Apps for business and try it out for 30 days. Learn more information on trying a free trial subscription at Try or buy a Microsoft 365 for business subscription.
Explore the billing and bill management options
Billing account options
A billing account is created when you sign up to try or buy Microsoft products. You use your billing account to manage your account settings, invoices, payment methods, and purchases. The Microsoft 365 admin center currently supports the following type of billing accounts:
Microsoft Online Services Program: This billing account is created when you sign up for a Microsoft 365 subscription directly.
Microsoft Products & Services Agreement (MPSA) Program: This billing account is created when your organization signs an MPSA Volume Licensing agreement to purchase software and online services.
Microsoft Customer Agreement: This billing account is created when your organization works with a Microsoft representative, an authorized partner, or purchases independently.
Consumption and fixed cost models
Consumption-based price: You’re charged for only what you use. This model is also known as Pay-As-You-Go.
Fixed-price: You provision resources and are charged for those instances whether or not they’re used.
Bill management
Microsoft 365 billing is managed from the Microsoft 365 admin center. The admin center allows you to manage subscriptions, view billing statements, update payment methods, change your billing frequency, and more. The following list describes in further detail what can be reviewed and modified in the Microsoft 365 admin center:
Upgrade, renew, reactivate or cancel subscriptions.
Buy, remove, and view the number of subscription licenses and how many of those licenses are assigned to individual users for each service.
Assign and unassign licenses from users.
View a bill, invoice, and past billing statements.
Modify payment methods like updating, deleting, replacing, and adding other types of payment. Payment options can include credit card, debit card, or pay by invoice using a check or electronic funds transfer (EFT).
Modify your billing frequency to monthly or annual billing.
Buy and manage other services or features. For example, depending on your Microsoft 365 subscription, you can add on eDiscovery (Premium), Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Teams Calling Plan, and more.
Manage your billing notification emails and invoice attachments, such as the list of email accounts of who should receive automated billing notifications, and renewal reminders for the subscription.
Explore the available licensing and management options
Every organization and person has unique requirements, so Microsoft offers various subscription plans and a range of licensing options to meet the needs of people and organizations.
Subscription plans
The pricing associated with your account depends on the subscription and the number of licensed users. Each service has a specified price that’s typically rated on a per-user, per-month basis.
Note
The plans, exact set of features, pricing, and licensing requirements can vary between countries and regions. If you require a Microsoft 365 subscription for a non-US organization, contact your regional sales representative to learn what subscriptions, plans, features, and pricing are available.
Let’s explore some of the more familiar subscription plans offered:
Microsoft 365 for home
Microsoft 365 for home exists to bring the same great productivity benefits into your personal and family life. Microsoft 365 Home comes in two plans, Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family. Personal is for a single person with multiple devices and family is for up to six people. For more information, see Compare All Microsoft 365 Plans (Formerly Office 365) - Microsoft Store.
Microsoft 365 Education
Microsoft 365 Education is available for educational institutions to help empower educators to unlock creativity and promote teamwork while providing a safe experience in a single, affordable solution. Academic licenses can be tailored to fit any institution’s needs, including productivity and security solutions for faculty, staff, and students. Microsoft 365 Education has three subscription plans for faculty and students that include different features: A1, A3, and A5. For more information, see Microsoft 365 Education - Microsoft Education.
Microsoft 365 Government
Microsoft 365 Government is available for government institutions to help empower US public sector employees to work together in a secure way. Microsoft 365 Government has two subscription plans that include different features: G3, and G5. Your organization can also choose from two Office 365 subscription tiers: Office 365 Government G3 and Office 365 Government G5. For more information, see Microsoft 365 Government.
Microsoft 365 for business
Microsoft 365 for business is designed for small to medium-sized organizations that have up to 300 employees. It offers the full set of Office 365 productivity tools and includes security and device management features. There are four subscription tiers that include different features: Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Microsoft 365 Apps for business. For more information, see Microsoft 365 for Business | Small Business | Microsoft 365.
Microsoft 365 Enterprise
Microsoft 365 Enterprise is designed for enterprise-sized organizations. It provides enterprise-class services to organizations that want a productivity solution that includes robust threat protection, security, compliance, and analytics features. Microsoft 365 Enterprise has three subscription tiers that include different features: Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, and Microsoft 365 F3. For more information, see Compare Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans. Your organization can also choose from four Office 365 subscription tiers: Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, and Office 365 E5. For more information, see Compare Office 365 Enterprise | Microsoft.
To learn more about subscription plans offered to empower frontline workers or nonprofit organizations, see Frontline worker Productivity Tools | Microsoft 365 and Compare Microsoft 365 Nonprofit Plans | Microsoft 365 respectively.
Licenses
A license, or base license allows users to use the features and services included in the subscription plan. When you buy a subscription, you specify the number of licenses you need, based on the number of people you have in your organization. After you buy a subscription, you create accounts for people in your organization, and then assign a license to each person. As your organizational needs change, you can buy more licenses to accommodate new people, or reassign licenses to other users when someone leaves your organization.
Microsoft 365 products and services are available as user subscription licenses (USLs) and are licensed on a per-user basis. Each user accessing Microsoft 365 products and services is required to be assigned a USL. Administrators manage licenses in the Microsoft 365 admin center. They can assign the licenses to individual user or guest accounts. The following list describes the options available:
Full USLs are for new customers who haven’t previously purchased Microsoft products and services.
Add-on USLs are for on-premises software customers who want to add Microsoft 365 cloud products and services.
From SA USLs are for on-premises Software Assurance customers that want to transition to the cloud.
Step Up USLs are for customers who want to upgrade the level of their service.
Types of add-ons
Microsoft 365 business plans have add-ons that you can purchase for your subscriptions. Add-ons provide more capabilities to enhance your subscription. There are two types of add-ons:
Traditional add-ons are linked to a specific subscription. If you cancel the subscription, the linked add-on is also canceled.
Standalone add-ons appear as a separate subscription on the “Your products” page within the Microsoft 365 admin center. They have their own expiration date and are managed the same way you would any other subscription.
Explore support options for Microsoft 365 services
Administrators and users in your organization might find it difficult to resolve issues on their own. It’s helpful to know they can receive assistance for Microsoft 365 services whenever they need it through various support options.
The support option chosen to deal with a particular issue depends on:
The tool or service where the issue has arisen.
The type of subscription your organization uses.
The kind of support your organization needs.
Your organization can get access to support in the following ways:
Support type Description
Community-based support Your organization can take advantage of community-based support through the Microsoft 365 community or Microsoft Support Community. You can collaborate with others, ask questions and solve problems and issue with members of Microsoft and the community.
Self-help Your organization can receive help via the Microsoft 365 admin center by using the “Help & support” button, or navigating to Contact Microsoft Support. Ask a question and view the results. If the recommended instructions or articles don’t answer your question, then you can contact technical support.
Web chat, email, and phone support Your organization can submit issues to Microsoft support for technical, billing, and subscription support via email, online web chat, or phone. To contact support, see Contact Us - Microsoft Support.
Q&A forums and online help Find accurate answers to questions about Microsoft technologies through Microsoft Q&A, Microsoft Q&A. You can also find information and answers to questions through online help such as, Microsoft 365 help & learning or Microsoft Learn.
Pre-sales support Your organization is provided with assistance on subscription features, benefits, and your purchasing decision for Microsoft 365 services.
FastTrack FastTrack is a service provided by Microsoft that helps customers onboard Microsoft Cloud solutions and drive user adoption. Customers with eligible subscriptions to Microsoft 365, Azure, or Dynamics 365 can use FastTrack at no extra cost for the life of their subscription.
Microsoft Unified support Microsoft Unified support is a service that provides comprehensive support across your entire organization through 24/7 as-needed technical support, an assigned Customer Success Account Manager, advisory support, cloud assistance, technical training and more.
Support through a Microsoft Partner Your organization can get support directly through a certified Microsoft 365 partner. For example, if your organization has purchased a Microsoft 365 subscription through a cloud services provider (CSP), they’ll receive direct support from the CSP. The CSP will act as the first line of support for all issues and will escalate issues to Microsoft if they’re unable to resolve them.
Other support options Your organization can install the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant to help identify problems by running tests and offer the best solution for those problems. It can currently fix Office, Microsoft 365, or Outlook problems. Business Assist for Microsoft 365 is available for small businesses to give you and your employees around-the-clock support and access to small business specialists as you grow your business, from onboarding to everyday use.
For more information on support offerings with your Microsoft 365 subscription, see Compare Microsoft 365 Support Options.
Create a support request
If you need help with Microsoft 365 create a support request through the Microsoft 365 admin center. You can also view existing support requests. The following steps describe how to create a support request as an administrator:
Sign into the Microsoft 365 admin center with your Microsoft 365 admin account.
In the left navigation menu, select Show all to expand more options.
Select Support to expand the support options.
Select Help & support.
On the right, a support window will open where you can enter your support problem and view the results.
If the recommended instructions or articles don’t answer your questions, select on the headset icon at the top of the support window, or select the blue Contact support button at the bottom to contact technical support.
Fill in the required information like Title, Description, Preferred contact method, etc.
Select Contact me and a support agent will contact you.
Practice creating a support request in the Microsoft 365 admin center in the following walkthrough activity:
Explain service level agreement (SLAs) concepts
It’s vital that organizations know that the products and services they’re using are reliable and secure. Microsoft 365 services guarantees level of service for your organization. Level of service is detailed in a legal agreement referred to as a Service Level Agreement (SLA). The SLA describes Microsoft’s commitments for uptime and connectivity for Microsoft Online Services. You can view and download the current and archived editions of the SLAs for Online Services at Licensing Documents (microsoft.com).
In addition to the Microsoft Online Service Level Agreement, your organization can also take advantage of the Service Level Agreement with your Cloud Service Provider. The guarantees of service provided for Microsoft 365 services will vary between Cloud Service Providers.
Microsoft’s Online Service Level Agreement introduces several concepts:
Concept Description
Service level The performance metric(s) set forth in the SLA that Microsoft agrees to meet in the delivery of the Services.
Incident A set of events or single event that results in downtime.
Uptime The total time your services are functional.
Downtime The total time your services aren’t functional, but what is considered downtime depends on the relevant service, which is defined in the SLA. For example, for Microsoft Teams, any period of time when end users are unable to see presence status, conduct instant messaging conversations, or initiate online meetings is considered downtime.
Scheduled downtime Periods of downtime related to network, hardware, or service maintenance or upgrades.
Claim A claim raises information about an incident. Your organization is responsible for submitting a claim on an incident. The organization should provide the details about the experienced downtime, affected users, and how it was attempted to resolve the incident. Microsoft is responsible for processing the claim.
Applicable monthly service fees The total fees paid by you for a Service that are applied to the month in which a service credit is owed.
Service credit The percentage of the applicable monthly service fees credited to you following Microsoft’s claim approval. Service credits are submitted by your organization’s admin through a claim. If the claim is successfully approved by Microsoft, your organization will receive service credits. Service credits apply only to fees paid for the particular service, service resource, or service tier for which a service level hasn’t been met.
Uptime agreement The uptime agreement is defined by the monthly uptime percentage. This percentage is for a given active tenant in a calendar month and the calculation varies depending on the product or service. For example, the calculation could be as follows: 𝑈𝑠𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 − 𝐷𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 / 𝑈𝑠𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑥 100.
Microsoft is confident in its commitment to service levels. The percentage of service credit your organization can receive is linked to your monthly uptime percentage. For example, if downtime has resulted in a monthly uptime percentage lower than 95 percent, your organization could receive a 100 percent service credit. The monthly uptime percentage and corresponding service credit depend on the service, which is defined in the SLA. The following table describes an example of monthly uptime percentages and corresponding service credits:
Monthly uptime percentage Service credit
< 99.9% 25%
< 99% 50%
< 95% 100%
To learn how and when to request a credit from Microsoft, visit Request a credit from Microsoft.
Your organization should always review all Service Level Agreements and ask questions, including the following list:
If you’re using a Cloud Service Provider, how do they determine service levels and whether they’re achieved or not?
Who is responsible for reports? How can your organization access reports?
Are there any exceptions in the agreement?
What does the agreement say about both unexpected and scheduled maintenance?
What does the agreement say about what happens if your infrastructure goes down because of an attack? What about natural disasters and other situations outside of your control?
Does the agreement cover non-Microsoft service or system failures?
What are the limits to the Cloud Service Provider’s liability in the agreement?
Identify how to track the service health status
It’s crucial for an organization to know the health status of the Microsoft 365 services they’re using. Your organization’s administrators can use the Microsoft 365 admin center to view the current health status for each of your Microsoft 365 services and tenant. They can also view the history of services that have been affected in the last 30 days, and information about current outages or disruptions to services. It’s useful to view the health to find out whether you’re dealing with a known issue that has a solution in progress and you don’t spend time troubleshooting, or if you should contact support.
How to check service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center
Sign into the Microsoft 365 admin center with your admin account.
On the left navigation menu, select Show all to expand more options.
Select Health to expand health options.
Select Dashboard to view the current health status of your apps and services and recommended actions to keep your services updated and secure.
On the left navigation menu, select Service health to view active issues, the current health status of your Microsoft services, issue history and reported issues.
Under Service health, select Reported issues then Report an issue in the toolbar if your organization is experiencing a service issue.
On the navigation menu, select Message center to view upcoming changes, new and changed features, planned maintenance, or other important announcements.
On the navigation menu, under Admin centers, select All admin centers to expand more options. Select Microsoft Entra to view the health status of your Microsoft Entra ID Domain Services managed domain. You can also navigate directly to the Microsoft Entra admin center and sign in with your admin account.
Other ways to check the status of services
Sign up for email notifications of new incidents that affect your tenant and status changes for an active incident. You can also subscribe to email notifications for individual events instead of every event for a service.
Use the Microsoft 365 Admin app on your mobile device to view Service health and stay up-to-date with push notifications.
Use the Microsoft 365 Service health status (office365.com) page to check for known issues.
Sign up to follow Microsoft 365 at @MSFT365status on Twitter to see information on certain events or issues.
Explore how organizations can share feedback on Microsoft 365 services
Microsoft always strives to better serve their customer and partners. You can directly influence change at Microsoft by providing feedback. Your organization’s administrators and users often have great insight into how specific elements of products and services can be improved based on their daily experiences. Microsoft values your feedback and encourages idea sharing to improve products and services for everybody. You can make the greatest impact on the products and features you’d like to see or improve by providing clear feedback.
Microsoft has a few ways for you to submit feedback on Microsoft 365 products and services. For example, if you’re using Feedback, the community feedback web portal, you can submit new feedback directly within the web portal. Community feedback is publicly displayed within different forums. You can participate in existing feedback by voting or commenting on existing topics. Review feedback you’ve submitted, its impact, and status, by viewing official responses from the Microsoft product teams.
The following list describes the ways you can provide feedback to Microsoft:
Send feedback from within an application, for example, in Microsoft Word under Help select Feedback to provide your input.
Send feedback directly within the community feedback web portal, Feedback.
Send feedback from the Windows Feedback Hub, located directly on your Windows device.
Take advantage of the different ways you can share your thoughts and help improve Microsoft products and services for you and other people around the world!
