Office 365 A1 vs Microsoft 365 A3
107 of 156 features differ. Differences are shown first, grouped by product area.
- Office 365 A1
- Microsoft 365 A3
Prices are US list prices per user/month with an annual commitment, verified November 1, 2026. Sources: Office 365 A1, Microsoft 365 A3 (opens in a new tab).
Key differences
- 107 of 156 features differ, most in Windows & Cloud PC (34), Identity & access (19) and Threat protection (16).
- Office 365 A1: no cost. Microsoft 365 A3: Microsoft publishes no list price for this Education plan; prices come from a sales partner.
- Microsoft 365 A3 includes 99 features Office 365 A1 does not, such as Intune Remote Help, Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 and Entra ID Plan 1.
- Every feature Office 365 A1 includes is also included in Microsoft 365 A3.
- 7 features are in both at a different level, such as Exchange Online: Plan 1+ (50 GB) in Office 365 A1, Plan 2 (100 GB) in Microsoft 365 A3.
- 1 more feature differs only in how it is listed: partial, announced, an add-on or to verify.
- 99 included only in Microsoft 365 A3
- Included
- Included at that level
- Add-on
- Partial or announced
- Unclear in the sources; verify before buying
- Not included
| Feature | Office 365 A1, No cost | Microsoft 365 A3, No published list price |
|---|---|---|
| Suite editions, 3 differences | ||
| Office apps and services edition | A1 | A3 |
| Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) edition | Not included | A3 |
| Windows edition | Not included | A3 |
| Apps & productivity, 7 differences | ||
| Bookings | Not included | Included |
| Dataverse for Teams | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft Graph connector capacity | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft 365 Apps | Not included | Education |
| Power Automate attended desktop flows | Not included | Included |
| Clipchamp | Not included | Included |
| Loop workspaces | Not included | Included |
| Email & calendar, 2 differences | ||
| Exchange Online | Plan 1+ (50 GB) | Plan 2 (100 GB) |
| Exchange Online Archiving | 50 GB | 1.5 TB |
| Files & intranet, 2 differences | ||
| OneDrive for Business | Plan 1 (1 TB) | Plan 2 (1 TB+) |
| SharePoint Online | Plan 1+ | Plan 2 |
| Teams, meetings & calling, 4 differences | ||
| Teams live events | Not included | ~ No new events; scheduled ones run until Feb 28, 2027 |
| Teams town halls | Foundational events | Included |
| Teams webinars | Foundational events | Included |
| Advanced webinars and town halls | Not included | Included |
| Identity & access, 19 differences | ||
| Entra ID Plan 1 | Not included | Included |
| Administrative units | Not included | Included |
| Application Proxy, including PingAccess | Not included | Included |
| Conditional Access | Not included | Included |
| Custom security attributes | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft Entra Connect Health | Not included | Included |
| External ID | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft Identity Manager | Not included | Included |
| Password protection | Not included | Included |
| Self-service group management | Not included | Included |
| Service level agreement (SLA) | Not included | Included |
| Shared account password rollover | Not included | Included |
| SMS sign-in | Not included | Included |
| Terms of use | Not included | Included |
| Third-party MFA integration | Not included | Included |
| Advanced security reports and alerts | Not included | Included |
| Dynamic groups | Not included | Included |
| Enterprise State Roaming | Not included | Included |
| Self-service password reset (SSPR) with on-premises writeback | Not included | Included |
| Threat protection, 16 differences | ||
| Office 365 Cloud App Security | Not included | Included |
| Advanced Threat Analytics (support ended) | Not included | Included |
| Configuration Manager Endpoint Protection | Not included | Included |
| Cloud app discovery | Not included | Included |
| Attack surface reduction (ASR) rules | Not included | Included |
| Defender Antivirus | Not included | Included |
| Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 | Not included | Included |
| Attack surface reduction (enhanced) | Not included | Included |
| Block at first sight | Not included | Included |
| Centralized management | Not included | Included |
| Cross-platform support | Not included | Included |
| Manual response actions | Not included | Included |
| Mobile threat defense | Not included | Included |
| Next-generation protection | Not included | Included |
| Tamper protection | Not included | Included |
| Web content filtering | Not included | Included |
| Data protection & compliance, 4 differences | ||
| eDiscovery (Standard) | Not included | Included |
| Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) | Not included | Included |
| Azure Rights Management (Azure RMS) | Not included | Included |
| Information Protection | Not included | Included |
| Device management, 9 differences | ||
| Windows Autopilot | Not included | Included |
| Intune Plan 1 | Not included | Education |
| Mobile application management (MAM) | Not included | Included |
| Configuration Manager | Not included | Included |
| Mobile device management (MDM) | Not included | Included |
| Endpoint analytics | Not included | Included |
| Intune Remote Help | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft Tunnel for mobile application management | Not included | Included |
| Firmware updates for specialty devices | Not included | Included |
| Windows & Cloud PC, 34 differences | ||
| Always On VPN | Not included | Included |
| App Control for Business | Not included | Included |
| AppLocker | Not included | Included |
| App Assure | Not included | Included |
| Assigned Access | Not included | Included |
| BitLocker | Not included | Included |
| BitLocker to Go | Not included | Included |
| BranchCache | Not included | Included |
| Custom logon | Not included | Included |
| Custom shell | Not included | Included |
| Credential Guard | Not included | Included |
| Device Guard | Not included | Included |
| DirectAccess (deprecated) | Not included | Included |
| Domain join | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft Edge for Business | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft Entra join | Not included | Included |
| Keyboard Filter | Not included | Included |
| Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) | Not included | Included |
| Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) | Not included | Included |
| Manage by mobile device management (MDM) | Not included | Included |
| Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP, retiring) | Not included | Included |
| Persistent memory | Not included | Included |
| Resilient File System (ReFS) | Not included | Included |
| SMB Direct | Not included | Included |
| Unbranded Boot | Not included | Included |
| Unified Write Filter | Not included | Included |
| Universal Print | Not included | Included |
| Windows Autopatch | Not included | Included |
| Windows Conditional Access | Not included | Included |
| Windows Firewall | Not included | Included |
| Windows Hello for Business | Not included | Included |
| Windows Update for Business | Not included | Included |
| Windows virtualization rights | Not included | Included |
| Windows 11 support period | Not included | 36 months |
| Viva, analytics & reporting, 1 difference | ||
| Viva Insights (personal) | Not included | Basic |
| Education, 2 differences | ||
| Minecraft Education | Not included | Included |
| Student use benefits | Not included | Included |
| Licensing rights & services, 4 differences | ||
| Productivity Server client access license (CAL) | Not included | Included |
| Windows Server client access license (CAL) rights | Not included | Included |
| FastTrack | Not included | Included |
| Office server rights | Not included | Included |