Microsoft 365 Apps for Business [New Commerce Experience]

What it is

Microsoft 365 Apps for Business is the applications-only plan in Microsoft's small and medium business range. It licenses the installed Office applications and nothing else.

Who it is for

Organisations that keep email and file storage elsewhere and need only the Office applications, and users inside a larger tenant who need installed applications without a full productivity plan.

Key capabilities

• The Office desktop applications installed on the device
• Installation on up to five desktops or laptops, five tablets and five mobile devices per user
• The web and mobile versions of the same applications
• Licence carried in the user profile, activated by signing in with a Microsoft Entra account

The limit that decides between this and the enterprise plan

Shared computer activation. It is the mode required whenever several people sign in to the same machine with their own accounts: Remote Desktop Services, virtual desktop infrastructure, shift-worker machines, a shared conference room PC. Microsoft's wording is exact: the ability to enable shared computer activation is a Microsoft 365 Business Premium entitlement and not a feature of Microsoft 365 Apps for business in general. Business Premium is the only Business plan that supports it.

Apps for Business also does not support using Group Policy to enable shared computer activation, so even where the entitlement exists the configuration route is narrower.

When Apps for enterprise is the right plan instead

Any plan that includes Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise supports shared computer activation, and device-based licensing is an enterprise capability as well. Shared devices, terminal servers and virtual desktops all point to the enterprise plan.

Requirements

Activation requires internet connectivity to the Office Licensing Service and TLS 1.2 enabled on the operating system. Shared computer activation is not available for Office for Mac in any plan.