Microsoft 365, the most used online productivity and collaboration suite in the world, will increase in Price in 2026 for commercial customers by “addition of new artificial intelligence, security and administration functions”they justify from the Redmond firm.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the first price increase for access to Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscriptions and last September, it advanced its plans to simplify the offering of its Copilot solutions for finance, service and sales teams. Until now, the company offered these dedicated Copilot solutions as add-ons to the standard subscription. It had a price of 20 dollars to which the 30 dollars of the official Microsoft 365 Copilot package had to be added. 50 dollars a month is a very high price for many companies that still do not see much benefit in AI.
Price increase for Microsoft 365
Microsoft has announced a substantial price increase for commercial Microsoft 365 customers, reaching up to 33% on some plans. To justify the change, Microsoft says it has added new artificial intelligence, security and management features according to the plan. To give customers enough time to prepare, the new prices will take effect on July 1, 2026 and can be seen in the following table:
As for the new capabilities addedMicrosoft summarizes them as follows:
- Copilot Chat– Copilot Chat now works in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote with a unified chat experience within the app. It also includes inbox and calendar integration, as well as Agent Mode to facilitate interactive creation of documents and presentations. IT administrators also have built-in controls to secure, manage, and measure Copilot Chat usage.
- Security: Microsoft is expanding the email security capabilities of Defender for Office P1 to Office 365 E3/Microsoft 365 E3, improving protection against phishing, malware, and malicious links. URL checks are now included in E1, Business Basic, and Business Standard to block known malicious sites when users click on links.
- Administration– Microsoft 365 E3/E5 now includes enhanced endpoint tools, such as Intune Remote Help, Advanced Analytics, and Intune Plan 2, for faster issue resolution and proactive risk detection. E5 incorporates Endpoint Privilege Management, Enterprise Application Management, and Cloud PKI to protect the use of AI and strengthen regulatory compliance.
- Security Copilot: Security Copilot agents are now integrated directly into Defender, Intune, and Purview to streamline security operations. More than 70 built-in and partner agents will help teams get started quickly, and Security Copilot is rolling out widely to all Microsoft 365 E5 customers with 30 days’ notice before activation.
Microsoft highlights that it has delivered more than 1,100 features in Microsoft 365, Security, Copilot, and SharePoint in the last year alone, citing this additional value to justify the Microsoft 365 price increase.
