In this guide · 8 sections
- 01Business Basic vs Standard at a glance
- 02Prices in Singapore as of October 2026
- 03Do your staff actually need desktop Office?
- 04Copilot in Basic and Standard after the 2026 changes
- 05Mixing Basic and Standard by role
- 06Switching plans without losing anything
- 07Do it yourself or get help?
- 08Frequently asked questions
Short answer
Choose Business Basic (US$7/user/month) for staff who work in email, Teams and web or mobile Office. Choose Business Standard (US$14) for people who need desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on up to 5 PCs or Macs, or who host Teams webinars. Most offices mix the two by role.
Business Basic vs Standard at a glance
Prices below are from Microsoft's Singapore pages for Business Basic and Business Standard, in US dollars, excluding GST, as of October 2026.
Business Basic
Web and mobileUS$7.00/user/month, paid yearly
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook on web and mobile only
- Business email, Teams, OneDrive 1 TB, SharePoint
- Bookings, Planner and Forms
- Copilot Chat included
Best for: Front-line, sales and admin staff who mainly email and chat.
Business Standard
Desktop appsUS$14.00/user/month, paid yearly
- Everything in Basic
- Desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote; Access on PC
- Install on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets, 5 phones
- Teams webinars with registration; Clipchamp and Loop
Best for: Finance, proposals, design and anyone living in Excel.
Both plans are sold for 1 to 300 users. Versions without Teams are cheaper (US$5.40 for Basic, US$10.79 for Standard) for businesses that use another chat tool.
Prices in Singapore as of October 2026
Microsoft raised business plan prices on 1 July 2026. Its licensing announcement lists Business Basic from US$6.00 to US$7.00 and Business Standard from US$12.50 to US$14.00, with existing customers staying on current pricing until renewal.
| Plan | Annual plan, paid yearly | Annual plan, paid monthly | No-Teams version (paid yearly) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Basic | US$7.00 | US$8.40 | US$5.40 |
| Business Standard | US$14.00 | US$16.80 | US$10.79 |
| Business Standard with Copilot | US$23.50 | US$28.20 | US$20.30 |
Our guide to the 2026 Microsoft 365 price increase covers what changed and when it reaches your renewal.
Do your staff actually need desktop Office?
Web versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint handle most everyday work: letters, simple spreadsheets, editing shared documents. Desktop apps still matter for heavier work.
Basic is usually enough for
- Reading and replying to email, Teams chat and calls
- Editing shared documents and simple spreadsheets in the browser
- Staff who work mainly on phones or tablets
- Shared or occasional-use accounts that still need a mailbox
Standard is worth it for
- Large Excel files, pivot tables, macros and add-ins
- Mail merge, complex Word templates and tracked changes on long documents
- Working offline on a laptop, for example at client sites
- Accounting or CRM add-ins that only work in desktop Excel or Outlook
Copilot in Basic and Standard after the 2026 changes
Microsoft's Singapore comparison says Copilot Chat is available at no additional cost to users with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription who sign in with Microsoft Entra ID. Both Basic and Standard qualify. Microsoft's 2026 packaging update adds Copilot Chat enhancements, including inbox and calendar awareness and access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint agents, to both plans, along with 50 GB more email storage and URL time-of-click protection.
Full Microsoft 365 Copilot, which works inside the desktop apps with your files, is separate. Microsoft now sells 'Business Standard with Copilot' at US$23.50 per user per month (paid yearly), and a Copilot Business add-on listed at US$18.00 on promotion until 31 December 2026 (normally US$21.00). Some AI features also carry usage-based charges. See our comparison of Copilot Business and Copilot Chat before paying for it.
Mixing Basic and Standard by role
You do not have to give everyone the same plan. Mixing licences by role is the most common way to save, and Microsoft's plan FAQ covers mixing plans in one organisation.
| Role | Typical plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Director, finance, proposals | Business Standard | Desktop Excel, Word templates, Outlook rules and add-ins |
| Sales, customer service, admin | Business Basic | Email, Teams and web Office are enough |
| Warehouse, field or retail staff | Business Basic | Phone-first; shared device use |
| Anyone handling sensitive data on laptops | Consider Business Premium | Adds Intune, Defender for Business and data protection |
Our licence optimisation guide shows how to find unused and over-specified licences, and our review of Business Premium explains when the security features justify US$22.
Switching plans without losing anything
Moving a user between Basic and Standard is a licence change in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. Mailboxes, OneDrive files and Teams chats stay. The main thing that changes is whether desktop apps keep working.
Before changing a user's plan
Do it yourself or get help?
If you already run Microsoft 365, reassigning licences is a quick admin task. If you are setting up from scratch, the choice of plan per person matters less than getting the tenant, domain records and security right first.
Our Business Email Setup (S$249) creates a Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant in your name with up to 5 mailboxes, aliases and a shared inbox, sets MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, and hands over admin so you own everything. IT Sorted is a Singapore-based team of developers with over 10 years of experience; you pay upfront, send the brief in writing and follow progress on your order page.
Frequently asked questions
Both include business email, Teams, 1 TB of OneDrive storage and SharePoint. Business Basic gives web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook only. Business Standard adds the installed desktop apps on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets and 5 phones per user, plus Teams webinars, Clipchamp and Loop.
Microsoft's Singapore site lists Business Basic at US$7.00 per user per month on an annual plan paid yearly, or US$8.40 paid monthly, excluding GST, as of October 2026. Business Standard is US$14.00 paid yearly or US$16.80 paid monthly. Reseller prices can differ.
Business Basic includes Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat at no extra cost for users signed in with their work account. Full Microsoft 365 Copilot inside Word, Excel and Outlook is not included in Basic or Standard; it is a paid add-on or comes with the Business Standard with Copilot and Business Premium with Copilot plans.
Yes. Small businesses commonly mix plans, giving Business Standard to people who need desktop Office and Business Basic to those who work in email, Teams and the browser. Each user needs one licence. Microsoft's business plans are each sold for up to 300 users.
Their mailbox, OneDrive files, SharePoint access and Teams chats remain, because both plans include those services. The installed desktop Office apps on their computers will stop working with that licence, so they need to use Office on the web or mobile instead. Check add-ins they rely on first.