Microsoft 365 business email means an address on your own domain, such as you@yourbusiness.com, hosted on Microsoft’s Exchange. On Microsoft’s pricing page in October 2026 the cheapest way to get it was Exchange Online Plan 1 at $4.00 per user per month, and the cheapest full plan was Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $7.00, both paid yearly and shown in US dollars.
This guide to Microsoft 365 business email reads Microsoft’s own pricing pages and admin help pages, opened in October 2026. Microsoft’s prices change, and we opened its US pages, so a page for your country may show other figures. Check before you buy. The arithmetic on those prices is ours.
Microsoft 365 business email, in brief
- Email only: Exchange Online Plan 1 is $4.00 and Plan 2 is $8.00 per user per month, paid yearly, per Microsoft.
- Email plus apps: Business Basic is $7.00, adding Teams and web and mobile Office apps. Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50 and adds desktop apps.
- Limit: the business plans are for 1 to 300 users.
- Payment: Microsoft says all major credit cards are accepted, and some existing customers can pay by invoice.
- Signatures: the built-in tool has real limits, listed below.
Microsoft 365 business email plans and prices
Microsoft’s business plans page and Exchange plans page list these, all priced per user per month, paid yearly, in US dollars when we opened them:
| Plan | Price | Mailbox | What the page lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Online (Plan 1) | $4.00 | 50 GB primary, 50 GB archive | Email, calendar, custom domain. No device limit |
| Exchange Online (Plan 2) | $8.00 | 100 GB primary, 1.5 TB archive | As Plan 1 with a bigger mailbox |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | $7.00 | 100 GB primary, 50 GB archive | Web and mobile Office apps, Teams, 1 TB cloud storage per user |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot | $23.50 | 100 GB primary, 50 GB archive | Desktop, web and mobile apps, Copilot, Teams |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot | $32.00 | 100 GB primary, 1.5 TB archive | Adds device and threat protection |
All the business plans cover 1 to 300 employees. The pricing page says an annual subscription auto-renews, and that there is a one-month free trial that converts to a paid subscription unless you cancel. The page we read did not say whether tax is included, so check at checkout.
At those prices, 10 people on Business Basic would be $70 a month, and on Exchange Online Plan 1 would be $40 a month. That is our multiplication, before any tax.
Microsoft 365 business email: email only, or the whole suite?
The plan names confuse many small firms. The pages let you separate three needs for Microsoft 365 business email:
- You only need mailboxes. Exchange Online Plan 1 gives custom-domain email for $4.00. You do not get Teams or Office apps in it, and the Exchange page’s table lists no cloud storage for it.
- You want email, chat and web Office. Business Basic adds Teams, 1 TB of cloud storage per user and the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. The comparison table lists the devices for Basic as web and mobile apps only.
- You need desktop Word, Excel and Outlook. Microsoft lists desktop versions starting with Business Standard with Copilot, for up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets and 5 phones per user.
Ask who really needs desktop apps before you price the whole team. Mixed licensing is allowed: Microsoft’s FAQ has a question on mixing plans, and you can put the people who need desktop apps on a higher plan. We did not read the answer, so check the rules with Microsoft first.
Microsoft 365 business email setup, step by step
These steps follow Microsoft’s page on adding a custom domain, read in October 2026. You must be a Domain Name Administrator.
- In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Settings, then Domains, then + Add domain. On a first setup, the Setup page has Get your custom domain set up.
- Type your domain and choose Use this domain.
- Verify ownership. Microsoft offers a TXT record, an MX record as a fallback, or a text file on your website. It says the TXT record can take up to 10 minutes to verify, and some registrars up to 48 hours.
- If your registrar supports Domain Connect, Microsoft can confirm ownership and add the DNS records for you. Its page names GoDaddy, IONOS and Cloudflare among them.
- On Add DNS records, choose the services you want, and add the records at your registrar if you do it by hand.
Microsoft says to add users and set up mailboxes before you add the MX record, so that mail keeps flowing while it moves from your old provider. Its page on adding users gives the path Users, Active users, Add a user in the dashboard view. By default it creates a password automatically and requires a change at first sign-in. You then assign a license. Microsoft warns that a migrated mailbox without a license is disabled after a grace period of 30 days.
Do not skip the follow-up records. Our guides to SPF and DKIM for a small business and the full business email setup in Africa cover them.
Paying for Microsoft 365 from Africa
Microsoft’s pricing FAQ says all major credit cards are accepted, and that existing customers may be eligible to pay by invoice. It describes three ways to commit: monthly, annual with monthly payments, and annual paid upfront. The $7.00 shown for Basic is the paid-yearly price. The FAQ describes monthly commitments too, but we did not see a monthly price on the page.
Annual terms can carry penalties if you cancel early, and an annual plan paid upfront gets no refund for an early cancellation, per the FAQ. It also mentions a 7-day cancellation window with a prorated refund after a paid subscription starts.
Since the list price is in dollars, ask your bank whether your card allows foreign online payments, and keep it valid for the term. Our comparison of the Google Workspace payment rules for African cards shows the same issue on the other side.
Signatures in Microsoft 365 business email
Microsoft’s signatures and disclaimers page describes one built-in route: in the Exchange admin center, Mail flow, Rules, + Add a rule, Apply disclaimers. It lists these limits:
- It cannot place the signature directly under the latest reply or forward you write.
- Users cannot see server-side signatures in their Sent Items folder.
- You cannot embed images in the signature.
- A line is skipped when it holds a variable that cannot be filled, such as a missing phone number.
Microsoft notes that non-Microsoft tools can overcome some of these. The page on setting a company signature in Microsoft 365 walks through the steps, and our roundup of the best email signature software for Microsoft 365 compares the paid options. emailfooter is free, but different: the admin designs one signature and each person installs it in Outlook by following steps. It does not connect to Microsoft 365 or add signatures on the server. Here is a made-up signature with a logo, drawn by the emailfooter engine, of the kind a person would install in Outlook by following steps:
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A ribbon layout with a logo and social icons. The firm and person are made up.
When Microsoft 365 business email makes sense
- Your team lives in Word, Excel and Outlook and needs desktop apps. Standard or above is the fit.
- You need Teams for meetings, and want one bill.
- You only want mailboxes and each is cheaper on Exchange Online Plan 1 than on a suite.
- You are five people or fewer on a tight budget. Compare Zoho’s free plan in our write-up on Zoho Mail for a small business, and the other big option, Google Workspace. The comparison of Gmail with business email covers the case for staying free.
Whichever route you take, treat Microsoft 365 business email as a monthly per-user bill. Multiply the price on Microsoft’s page for your country by your head count, add the follow-up DNS work, and decide whether a mailbox-only plan or a suite is the better fit before the one-month trial converts to a paid subscription.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Microsoft 365 business email?
On Microsoft’s pages in October 2026, Exchange Online Plan 1 was $4.00 per user per month and Business Basic $7.00, both paid yearly and shown in US dollars on the US page. Figures for your country may differ.
Is there a Microsoft 365 business email plan without the apps?
Yes. Exchange Online Plan 1 and Plan 2 are email-focused plans on the Exchange page, at $4.00 and $8.00. They include a custom domain and no desktop apps.
Do I need a domain for Microsoft 365 business email?
For an address like you@yourbusiness.com, yes. You add the domain in the admin center and verify it with a DNS record. Microsoft’s pages also refer to an onmicrosoft.com fallback domain.
Can I try Microsoft 365 business email before paying?
Microsoft’s pricing page offers a one-month free trial that converts to a paid subscription if you do not cancel.
How many users can Microsoft 365 business plans have?
The business plans on the pricing page list 1 to 300 employees.
Keep reading
- Zoho Mail for a small business in Africa: plans, setup and limits: Zoho Mail for small business: the free plan for five users, paid plans in naira from Zoho’s pricing page, the DNS steps and the limits to know before you start.
- Google Workspace for small business in Africa: costs, setup and alternatives: Google Workspace for small business in Africa: the euro prices on Google’s page, how African cards pay, the DNS and MX setup steps, and cheaper options.
- Gmail vs business email: what it signals and what it costs: Gmail vs business email compared honestly: how each looks, what you control, the real cost from Google, Zoho and Microsoft pages, and when to switch.
- How to set a company-wide email signature in Microsoft 365: Set company email signature Microsoft 365 with an Exchange mail flow rule: the admin center steps, tokens, fallback options and the limits you should know.
Make every signature in your company match
emailfooter is a free WordPress plugin. You design the signature once, and each person adds their own details and installs it in their mail app. Prefer not to run a website? emailfooter Managed is the same software, hosted for you.