Office 365 E1 vs E3 Enterprise Plans Comparison – Business Essentials Customers

Are you looking to opt for Office 365 Enterprise plans? Microsoft offers three different options regarding Enterprise plans – E1, E3, and E5. Choosing the best plan among them can be a little tricky if you do not have an idea of how to do these plans work or constitute of. We will compare the most popular plans – Office 365 E1 vs E3 Enterprise Plans Comparison – in today’s post.

Office 365 E1 vs E3 Enterprise Plans Comparison – How do they differ?

Working with the cloud model has been the core focus of Microsoft these days. The freedom of working anytime anywhere has been the best option that a cloud-based model offers you. With that perspective, Microsoft launched Office 365 – its cloud-based online solutions.

In this article, we will analyze the two plan options for the clear understanding of the concept.

Office 365 Enterprise E1

This is the lightest variant of the Office 365 Enterprise plans offered by Microsoft. It can be the best option for the small businesses with no specific needs for advanced features. The most common beneficiary of this plan should ideally be the Startups or Non-Profit organizations.

The plan comes equipped with core apps of Office 365 family. Notable among them would be OneDrive, Yammer, SharePoint, Lync/Skype for Business, Email, Office Graph, Office Online, and Sway. If that is precisely what you need, you may not need to opt for the higher plans as such. Do remember that you will not have access to the Microsoft Office apps with the Enterprise E1 subscription. You can use only the browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

You can use the existing options of your Office programs. The minimum requirement should ideally be Office 2010. If your necessities are email, social, video, file sharing and storage, the Enterprise E1 should be your ideal option. You will not be able to opt for app installations on smartphones or other devices. The plan will need you to have constant internet connectivity as the Office apps available through the programs do not work through the offline mode.

Office 365 Enterprise E3

The second most popular plan among the Enterprise plans offered by Office 365, the Enterprise E3 provides you all the features available on Enterprise E1, but packs in a few more options.

In addition to the tools available with E1, you can have access to the offline office apps (like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and the document management functionality. In fact, availability of offline apps will let you use them on any device, and you can be assured of the updated versions of the apps at any time. The document management features available on Enterprise E3 include archival, Right management and data loss prevention.

That would make it quite evident that the plan is best suited for those requirements where you need a compliance-based performance.

What’s included?

What does each of these plans come with? Well, here are a few inputs that may be helpful. You can check out the features included within each of the plans so that you can opt for a plan that consists of exactly what you would need.

Enterprise E1 Plan

The plan consists of

• Email and Calendar– The Email service is available through the Outlook. If you have used the email service from Outlook, you will understand the efficiency of the service. You get the Email and calendar service from Outlook as part of Enterprise E1 plan. You have access to 50 GB mailbox and 150 MB attachment option.
• Communication –The corporate social media platform Yammer forms part of the plan. You can engage in online conversations through conferences and video calls. It allows meeting broadcast with around 10000 participants.
• Skype and Instant Messaging– Skype subscriptions that form part of the instant messaging and video call options. Best in class social networking and IM functionality would make it an excellent choice.
• File Storage options –The plan comes with 1 TB of storage option through OneDrive. The files can be stored within or outside the organization. You can publish the files to assign people who can view or edit files.
• App Development – The plan offers you templates that can be used for creating business applications. Use PowerApps to create any apps that you may need.
• Online Office Applications –The E1 subscription plan comes with the suite of online browser-based applications of the Office suite – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Enterprise E3 Plan

The Enterprise E3 plan comes with all the features available on Enterprise E1 plan. There are a few additional offerings that would make it an excellent option for a more enterprise-oriented organization. The primary inclusion is the availability of the offline Office installations.

The offline versions of the Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can be installed on up to 5 different machines. The additional apps that are included in addition to the E1 plan include

• MS Office Suite – E3 plan comes with updated versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, OneNote, Publisher, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive for Business, and Skype
• Multiple Installations – The Enterprise E3 plan comes with installation support for numerous devices. You can install the apps on Windows and Mac devices.
• Advanced Email Service –In addition to the essential emailing services, the E3 plan comes with advanced features concerning the Email services. The mailbox size is unlimited.
• Intelligent Search Options –The E3 subscription plan comes with an intelligent search option. You will be able to pick the required content right from any source including Office applications, SharePoint and Delve.

The Pricing

The Enterprise E1 plan is understandably the cheapest plan among the Enterprise plans available from Office 365. In fact, it is available at a price lower than the Business Premium plan. It can best suit those users who do not want the offline Office applications but need access to eDiscovery features. The service is available at $ 8 per user per month.

The Enterprise E3 is the favored option for those looking to have the best offers for the digital-driven functions of their organization. It offers you email, archiving, and better storage options. The service is available at $ 20 per user per month.

The tabulated Comparison

Well, the discussion above should have provided you with a suitable input into the similarities and differences between the Office 365 Enterprise E1 and Enterprise E3 plans. We present the tabulated comparison table for a clear understanding of the concept behind the plans.

Features	Enterprise E1 Plan	Enterprise E3 Plan
Email and Calendar	Available	Available
Skype for Business	Yes	Yes
Yammer support	Yes	Yes
SharePoint	Yes	Yes
OneDrive For Business	Yes	Yes
Offline Office Apps	No	Yes
Online Office apps	Yes	Yes
Delve	Yes	Yes
Power BI	No	Yes
Skype Telephone integration	No	Yes
Data loss prevention	No	Yes
eDiscovery and Rights management	No	Yes
Exchange Online	Yes	Yes
Azure Information Protection	Yes	No
Price	$8 per user per month	$20 per user per month
Agreement/Commitment	Annual	Annual
Archiving	Yes	No

A Word of Caution

The Enterprise E1 plan is available with online Office application alone. The files stored on the cloud may accidentally get deleted or may be removed with malicious intent by a user within the organization. We would advise securing the data and its security.

That should not be a warning sign though. Under standard conditions, the data saved on the cloud is considered safer and secure. That is precisely why we would suggest keeping a backup of all your data on Office 365. There are few additional tools available that can help you opt for the security of your data. Some good examples are Office 365 Export PST tool or any other similar utility.

The Concluding Thoughts

Well, that was a tabulated comparison between the two different plans offered by Office 365. Which one should go with? Well, that is something that would be dependent upon your exact requirements and features. In fact, it may sometimes so happen that you may need to opt for the plan not discussed here.

The choice should be clear enough. If your business needs you to create or edit files and applications on your device, you will need to opt for Enterprise E3 plan. But, if your business is what needs to have access to security and backup features or you need to have access to the BI features – the Enterprise E3 solution should be your best option.

Check out the features and choose the plan that best meets your needs.

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