Most small businesses with more than one person, a shared inbox, or files that must not live on a single laptop will be better on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace than on a mix of personal Gmail and USB sticks. You do not automatically need Microsoft, and you do not need the dearest plan. Check Microsoft’s current prices before you buy. The expensive mistake is buying the top licence for people who will never open half of it, then leaving security off.
What does Microsoft 365 actually include?
Microsoft 365 is a per-user subscription. Depending on the plan, you typically get some mix of:
- Business email on your own domain, on Exchange.
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, in the browser and often as installed apps.
- Teams for chat, calls and meetings.
- OneDrive, and on some plans SharePoint, for files.
- Admin controls: who has an account, who can share what, basic security settings.
The useful idea is that email, files and apps sit in a tenant you control, not on one person’s laptop. A phone in a skip is then a replacement job, not a company archive going missing.
It is not a website. It is not a helpdesk. Buying the licences does not mean someone is watching your screens. You still need backups of anything that lives only outside the tenant, and you still need someone who understands the admin centre well enough to turn the important switches on.
How do the small business plans differ?
Microsoft groups small-business plans in a family that usually includes a cheaper email-and-web tier and dearer tiers that add the desktop Office apps, more Teams features, and stronger security and device management. Names and limits change. I am not going to quote licence prices here. They go stale and they differ by country and promotions. Look at Microsoft’s own comparison, then match the row to how people actually work.
A high-level way to read the table:
- Email and browser apps only. Enough for people who write the odd document and live in mail. Wasteful to put a full desktop licence on that person.
- Desktop Office plus Teams and OneDrive. The common fit for an office that still lives in Excel and sends Word files to clients.
- The “premium” small-business row. Extra security and device controls. Worth costing if you have staff laptops you want to lock down, or you handle data that would hurt if it leaked. Not automatically worth it for a two-person firm with simple files.
There are also Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans. Those are consumer products. They are a poor fit for a company mailbox, admin handover and leavers. If a staff member leaves, you want to keep the mailbox and kill the login. Consumer plans are not built for that.
If you are already paying for desktop Office as a one-off purchase, do not assume you must “upgrade”. You might only need Exchange-quality email and OneDrive. You might already be fine. Open the comparison chart with a list of what each person does, not with a salesperson’s bundle.
When is Microsoft 365 the right buy?
It is usually the right buy when most of these apply:
- You want
hello@yourbusiness.co.ukrather than a free webmail address. Customers treat that as basic professionalism, and it is easier to keep when staff change. - More than one person needs the same calendar, contacts or files.
- You already think in Word, Excel and Outlook, and clients send you those files.
- People work from more than one device or more than one place.
- You would like one admin to turn on multi-factor authentication and to disable an account on the last day.
It is also a reasonable default in trades and offices that already have a Microsoft habit. Switching everyone to a new suite for a small saving is a training cost dressed up as IT strategy.
Setup still matters more than the logo. A tenant with MFA off and files in five personal OneDrives is not “in the cloud”. It is the old mess with a nicer login screen. This is project work: migrate, document, hand over. We are not a managed service provider. We do not run a helpdesk or an ongoing support contract. Details sit on IT and AI consulting.
When should you not buy it?
Skip it, or buy much less than you were offered, when:
- You are a sole trader with a laptop and simple email. A single professional mailbox and a disciplined backup may be enough. You can still use the free web versions of documents if you rarely need Excel.
- Nobody will use Teams, SharePoint or the desktop apps. Paying for them is a donation to Microsoft.
- Your team already works well in Google Workspace and nobody is asking for Outlook. Do not move for the brand. See the fork below.
- The quote is per user at the top tier “for future growth”. Buy for this year’s jobs. You can add licences. You cannot un-waste last year’s.
- You were told you need it for “compliance”. MFA, unique passwords and backups are the compliance habits that matter at this size. A dear plan with MFA left off is theatre.
Also wait if the real problem is a dying PC, a missing backup, or a domain that is about to expire. Licences will not fix those. Fix the hole, then choose a suite.
Should you take the Google Workspace fork instead?
Often, yes. The honest comparison is in Microsoft 365 versus Google Workspace. Short version: both give you domain email, documents, calendars, video calls and admin. Microsoft fits heavy Excel, Outlook habits and clients who expect Office files to look identical. Google fits browser-first teams who edit the same sheet at once and want fewer plan names to decode.
Cost is rarely the decider. Both charge per user per month. Check each vendor. Choose on habit and files, then pick the cheapest tier that covers what you use.
You can move later. Moving email and shared drives is a project, not a Friday afternoon. It is better to choose once with a short list than to oscillate every time a friend praises their setup.
What matters more than the brand on the invoice?
Four things, on either suite:
- The domain and DNS are correct, so mail arrives and spoofing is harder. SPF, DKIM and DMARC are boring and worth doing.
- MFA is on for every mailbox, especially the admin.
- Files have an owner and a place, so a leaver does not take the only copy.
- Someone knows how to disable an account and where the bill lives.
If those four are true, you will get most of the value. If they are false, the logo will not save you.
Page Forge can help you choose a plan family, migrate mail and files, and write down what you have. Quoted per project. After handover, you own the tenant. If you later want a helpdesk, that is an MSP, and we will say so rather than pretend we are one.
Website work is a different product. A one-page site is £99 plus £29 a month, or £299 a year. Do not mix that figure with Microsoft’s licence bill.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Microsoft 365 if I already have Office on my PC?
Not necessarily. A one-off Office install does not give you business email, shared files or admin control. You might add a cheaper email-and-storage plan, or you might move the lot into a 365 tenant. Check what you already own before you buy a bundle.
What is the cheapest Microsoft 365 plan for a small business?
It depends on whether you need desktop apps and extra security. Microsoft publishes the current small-business comparison. Start from the row that matches real work, not from the marketing name. I will not quote a pound figure here because it will be wrong next quarter.
Is Microsoft 365 better than Google Workspace?
Neither is better overall. Microsoft suits Outlook and Excel-heavy teams. Google suits browser collaboration. Fit matters more than the feature list. The longer comparison is linked above.
Can I share one Microsoft 365 licence across the office?
You should not. Licences are per user for a reason, and sharing admin logins is how you lose control when someone leaves. If cost hurts, put cheaper licences on people who only need mail, and keep the fuller licence for the people who live in Excel.
Will Page Forge support Microsoft 365 every time something breaks?
No. We help you choose, migrate and configure as a project, then hand it over. We do not run a helpdesk or a monthly support contract. If you need someone on the phone when Outlook misbehaves, you want an MSP. We can talk about that distinction on IT and AI consulting.
Do I need Microsoft 365 for a professional email address?
You need domain email. That can be Microsoft, Google, or another host. Microsoft is a common, solid way to do it. It is not the only way. A free Hotmail address with the business name in the display field is still a free Hotmail address.
What is the first thing to switch on after you buy?
Multi-factor authentication on every account, starting with global admin and the shared mailbox. Then make sure you can list every user and every domain. Licences without that are an open front door with a new coat of paint.
If you want a straight recommendation on which suite and which tier, or a clean migration with MFA on from day one, that is project work we will quote. See IT and AI consulting, or get in touch. Bring a list of how many people you have and what they actually open. That list is more useful than a brochure.