Microsoft 365
The other giant productivity suite
What it does
Microsoft 365 is the office productivity suite everyone under 50 pretends they do not use and everyone over 50 defaults to. Outlook (email + calendar), Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams (chat, meetings, VoIP), OneDrive (file sync), SharePoint (intranet + document libraries), Intune (device management on Premium). Excel is the load-bearing app for finance, ops, and analyst work; nothing else in the world matches it for pivot tables, Power Query, and structured data at desktop-app performance. Direct competitor: Google Workspace. Microsoft wins in Excel-heavy, regulated, on-premise, or Windows-first environments; Google wins in collaboration-first, browser-native, non-technical teams.
Free tier
No
Starts at
$6/mo
Setup
medium
Key features
Integrates with
Salesforce, Zapier, Slack, Zoom
Who this fits
- Any business that lives in Excel (finance, accounting, ops, real estate, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing)
- Regulated verticals (legal, financial services, healthcare) - Microsoft's compliance posture is deeper
- Teams already on Windows fleets and Active Directory / Azure AD
- Enterprise IT wanting Intune device management, DLP, and security baselines
- Small businesses upgrading from a random Gmail + Dropbox + Zoom mess
Who it does NOT fit
- Startups whose entire workflow is Google Docs and Slack (switching cost > benefit)
- Cross-org agencies where every client is on Google Workspace (multi-tenant Microsoft is painful)
- Solo founders who only need email + a doc editor (Google Workspace free tier or paid Individual is cheaper)
- Design/creative shops living in Figma, Notion, and Slack (Microsoft adds friction)
Pricing
Real gotchas
- **Business Basic does NOT include desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook** - even if you install them, they will not activate on a Basic license, and users see "sign in to activate" or "your account doesn't allow desktop apps" (Microsoft Learn Q&A and LazyAdmin comparison, 2026). If anyone on the team needs Excel offline or heavy Excel work, Business Standard is the actual minimum.
- Teams webinars are Standard-tier and up - Basic gets meetings, not webinars.
- Licensing model punishes small teams that mix seat types - keep everyone on the same tier unless there is a real reason.
- SharePoint governance is the graveyard of most rollouts - default site sprawl creates a permissions mess within a year without an owner.
- Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a separate add-on ($30/user/month range) - not included in any Business tier.
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Recommend Microsoft 365 when: industry is finance/legal/accounting/healthcare/real-estate/insurance/manufacturing, team already runs Windows, or the workflow is Excel-heavy. Default to Business Standard - Basic saves $6/user but breaks desktop apps and most users will hit the wall in week two. Business Premium when the buyer cares about security controls (Intune, DLP, conditional access). Do NOT recommend when the team is a startup living in Google Docs + Slack + Figma (the switch cost outweighs the benefit) or when the client is a solo founder with basic needs (Google Workspace Individual or free tier is enough).
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