Microsoft 365: Major Licensing Changes Coming in 2026
December 10, 2025
Microsoft has confirmed significant updates to Microsoft 365 that will take effect from 1 July 2026. These include new capabilities across Business, Office 365 and Enterprise plans, along with global price increases. Every organisation using Microsoft 365 will be impacted.
Below is a clear overview of what’s changing.
Pricing Changes (Effective July 2026)
Microsoft will increase prices by 5 to 35 percent across most Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans. This applies to Commercial, Government and Non-profit customers.
Examples of new monthly pricing:
- Business Basic: $6 → $7
- Business Standard: $12.50 → $15
- Business Premium: $22 → $22 (no change)
- Office 365 E1: $10 → $10 (no change)
- Office 365 E3: $23 → $26
- Microsoft 365 E3: $36 → $39
- Microsoft 365 E5: $57 → $60
- Microsoft 365 F1: $2.25 → $3
- Microsoft 365 F3: $8 → $10
Customers renewing before July 2026 will not see the increase until their next renewal cycle.
New Capabilities Coming in 2026
Alongside the pricing shift, Microsoft is introducing substantial functionality upgrades across the product family.
Business Plans (Basic, Standard, Premium)
Enhancements include:
- Improved Copilot Chat
- Strengthened security and analytics
- URL protection in Outlook and Office apps
- +50GB mailbox storage
- Defender for Office P1
- Expanded Intune features including Remote Help
- Advanced device analytics
- Cloud PKI
- Security Copilot capabilities aligned to plan level
Office 365 E1 and E3
Additions include:
- Defender for Office P1
- Enhanced URL protection
- Increased mailbox storage
- Copilot Chat improvements
- Improved reporting and insights
Microsoft 365 E3
New capabilities:
- Remote Help
- Advanced device analytics
- Intune Plan 2 including firmware management and Microsoft Tunnel for MAM
Microsoft 365 E5
Expanded functionality:
- Endpoint Privilege Management
- Cloud PKI
- Enterprise App Management
- Full Intune Suite uplift
- Additional Security Copilot credit and integrations
What this means for organisations
Microsoft is increasing baseline value across all plans, particularly in security and device management. At the same time, the pricing changes create a clear need for organisations to reassess licence allocations, security posture and multi year renewal strategies.
Qwantro is already modelling the full impact of these changes and helping customers plan the most cost effective path ahead of 2026.
Cloud computing promised cost savings through pay-per-use models and elastic scaling. Yet many UK organisations discover their cloud bills steadily increasing without corresponding business growth. The culprit? Cloud waste - unnecessary spending on unused or inefficiently configured resources.
A threat group known as Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters is targeting Zendesk users through a sophisticated campaign involving fake support sites and weaponised helpdesk tickets, according to security researchers at ReliaQuest. The operation represents an evolution in how cybercriminals exploit trust in enterprise SaaS platforms.
Amazon Web Services has launched a new feature allowing customers to make DNS changes within 60 minutes during service disruptions in its US East (N. Virginia) region. The announcement tacitly acknowledges what many have long observed: AWS's largest and most critical region has a reliability problem.
A Scottish council remains unable to fully restore critical systems two years after a devastating ransomware attack, highlighting the long-term consequences of inadequate cybersecurity preparation and the challenges facing resource-constrained local authorities. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, serving Scotland's Western Isles, suffered a ransomware attack in November 2023 that required extensive system reconstruction. According to a report published by Scotland's Accounts Commission, several systems remain unrestored even now, with large data volumes slowing the digital recovery process.
Ready to migrate from Windows 10? Contact Altiatech for a comprehensive migration assessment and strategy tailored to your organisation's needs.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued an alert warning that multiple cyber threat actors are actively leveraging commercial spyware to target users of mobile messaging applications including Signal and WhatsApp. The sophisticated campaigns use advanced social engineering and exploit techniques to compromise victims' devices and gain unauthorized access to their communications.
Microsoft has introduced experimental AI agent capabilities into Windows through Copilot Actions and agent workspaces, features designed to automate everyday tasks like organising files, scheduling meetings, and sending emails. However, the announcement comes with significant security warnings that business leaders and IT administrators must understand before enabling these capabilities.
Anthropic has disclosed the first documented case of a large-scale cyberattack executed with minimal human intervention, marking a significant escalation in AI-enabled cyber threats. The campaign, attributed with high confidence to a Chinese state-sponsored group, demonstrates how rapidly AI capabilities are being weaponised for espionage operations.
Microsoft has unveiled its first "AI superfactory" - a revolutionary approach to cloud infrastructure that connects multiple datacentres across vast distances to function as a single, unified AI training system. The innovation marks a significant shift in how hyperscale computing infrastructure can be architected.
The UK's National Savings & Investments bank has spectacularly exceeded its digital transformation budget by £1.3 billion whilst running four years behind schedule, according to a damning National Audit Office report. The programme's failures illustrate how ambitious technology projects collapse under procurement weaknesses, underestimated complexity, and insufficient expertise.
