If your business uses Microsoft 365 Business Standard, you are running without the security tools that most cyber insurers, auditors and regulators now expect. Defender for Business, Intune device management, conditional access — none of these are included in Standard.
They are all included in Premium.
The short version: Business Premium costs roughly £4 more per user per month than Standard. For that, you get enterprise-grade security built in — not bolted on.
What Standard is missing
Business Standard gives you the Office apps, email, Teams and OneDrive. That is the productivity side handled. But it includes almost nothing for security:
- No Defender for Business — no endpoint protection, no threat detection
- No Intune — no device management, no ability to enforce policies or wipe lost devices
- No conditional access — no way to block logins from suspicious locations or non-compliant devices
- No Azure AD Premium P1 — no advanced identity protection
- No Defender for Office 365 — no protection against phishing links or malicious attachments beyond basic filtering
If your staff work remotely, use personal devices or access company data from phones, Standard leaves you exposed.
What Premium adds
Business Premium includes everything in Standard, plus:
- Microsoft Defender for Business — endpoint protection, threat detection and automated investigation across all your devices
- Intune device management — enforce security policies, manage apps, remotely wipe lost or stolen devices
- Conditional access — control who can log in, from where, on what device, and under what conditions
- Azure AD Premium P1 — self-service password reset, dynamic groups, advanced identity protection
- Defender for Office 365 — safe links and safe attachments that scan email content in real time
One licence. Productivity and security together. No bolt-on subscriptions, no third-party tools needed for the basics.
The pricing argument just got stronger
In July 2026, Microsoft is increasing prices for Business Basic and Business Standard — but Business Premium is not increasing. The gap between Standard and Premium is shrinking.
For most UK SMEs with 10–250 users, the additional cost of Premium works out at roughly £3–4 per user per month. For a 20-person business, that is about £70 a month for enterprise-grade security across every device.
Compare that to buying a separate endpoint protection tool, a separate MDM solution and a separate email security product. You would spend three or four times as much — and have three separate consoles to manage.
Who should be on Premium?
Honestly, most businesses. But especially:
- Anyone with remote or hybrid workers (Intune and conditional access become essential)
- Businesses handling sensitive data (client records, financial data, personal information)
- Organisations pursuing Cyber Essentials (Premium’s controls map directly to the five requirements)
- Companies whose cyber insurer asks about endpoint protection and MFA enforcement
- Any business that has been phished or had a credential compromise in the last two years
What a migration looks like
Moving from Standard to Premium is straightforward. There is no data migration — your email, files and Teams stay exactly where they are. What changes is the security layer:
- Licence upgrade applied in the Microsoft admin centre
- Defender for Business deployed to all devices
- Intune policies configured (PIN enforcement, encryption, app management)
- Conditional access rules set up (block risky logins, require compliant devices)
- Defender for Office 365 enabled (safe links, safe attachments)
For a typical 20-person business, the whole process takes a day or two with no disruption to staff.
Want to understand what a move to Business Premium would look like for your team? We handle licensing, migration and security configuration.
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