Microsoft 365 Business Premium: a UK guide to what you get and whether you need it

Microsoft 365 comes in several business plans, and the names don’t make the differences obvious. For many small businesses the real question is: is Business Premium worth the extra over Business Standard?

The short answer: if your business handles client or personal data, Business Premium is usually worth it. It adds the security and device management that would otherwise mean buying several separate tools.

Business plans compared

	Business Basic	Business Standard	Business Premium
Email, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint	✓	✓	✓
Desktop Office apps	Web and mobile only	✓	✓
Device management (Intune)			✓
Endpoint protection (Defender for Business)			✓
Conditional Access (Entra ID P1)			✓
Advanced email protection (Defender for Office 365)			✓
Sensitive data protection (Purview)			✓
Maximum users	300	300	300

What Business Premium adds, in plain English

• Intune (device management). Set up, secure and update every laptop and phone centrally; lock or wipe a lost device; keep company data separate on personal phones.
• Defender for Business. Endpoint detection and response that spots suspicious behaviour and stops attacks, including ones no antivirus has seen before. See what is an endpoint.
• Conditional Access. Rules like “only allow sign-in from company devices” or “block sign-ins from unusual countries”, a big step beyond passwords and basic MFA.
• Defender for Office 365. Checks links and attachments in email and Teams before people click.
• Purview information protection. Labels and protects sensitive documents so they can’t be shared outside the business by mistake. The same sensitivity labels can stop a team in Teams having guests at all (see Teams guest access).

Who needs Business Premium?

It’s usually the right choice if any of these is true:

• You handle client, financial, health or other personal data.
• You want Cyber Essentials, or you’re answering cyber insurance questionnaires.
• Your staff work from home or on personal devices.
• Clients have asked about your security.

Business Standard can be enough for very small teams with simple needs, but it leaves you buying security separately.

The catch: it has to be configured

Business Premium’s security doesn’t switch itself on. When we first look inside a Microsoft 365 tenant, we usually find it left half done: no Conditional Access, Intune half set up, Defender in its default state. The value comes from configuring it properly and keeping it maintained.

What has changed since we first wrote this

• Prices moved. Microsoft raised Business Basic and Business Standard prices on 1 July 2026; Business Premium stayed the same. Check Microsoft’s current UK price before budgeting.
• Copilot can be added to any business plan as a paid add-on. See Copilot for small business.

Security expectations rose too. Insurers and clients now often ask about MFA, device management and endpoint protection, which is what Business Premium provides.

How Jera can help

We license, configure and manage Microsoft 365 Business Premium for businesses across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeenshire, so you get the security you’re paying for. Already paying for Premium? Book a call and we’ll talk through what’s switched on and what isn’t.