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Microsoft 365 E3

The mid-tier enterprise plan: Office, Windows Enterprise, and Intune with no seat cap, but without the advanced security stack.

E3 has no 300-user limit and adds Windows Enterprise rights, which Business Premium does not include. As of the July 2026 packaging update it also carries Intune Plan 2, Intune Remote Help, Intune Advanced Analytics, and Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 at no extra cost.

That change matters when budgeting, because a great deal of published comparison material still lists those capabilities as paid add-ons on top of E3.

Where this comes up

Microsoft 365 E3 sits inside our microsoft 365 and cloud work. If you are trying to work out what this means for your own environment rather than in the abstract, that is the page worth reading next, and a short call will get you a straight answer faster than either.

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Related terms

Microsoft 365 E5 The top enterprise plan, bundling everything in E3 plus the full Defender security stack, advanced Purview compliance, Power BI Pro, and Teams Phone. Microsoft 365 Business Premium The top small-business Microsoft 365 plan, bundling Office apps with device management and a real security stack, capped at 300 seats. Microsoft Defender Suite Microsoft's bundled security add-on: Entra ID P2, Defender for Endpoint P2, Defender for Office P2, Defender for Identity, and Defender for Cloud Apps. Microsoft Intune Microsoft's cloud service for managing and securing laptops, phones, and tablets.

More in microsoft 365 and cloud

300-seat capBYODCloud migrationCloud Solution ProviderData loss preventioneDiscoveryExchange OnlineInfrastructure as a service

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