Office 365 E3 VS Office 365 E5

Office 365 is a popular Office suite that offers a plethora of productivity apps for sending emails, collaborating in real-time, maintaining spreadsheets, conducting conference calls, etc. For this purpose, it offers two different plans - Office 365 E3 and Office 365 E5. Let's learn more about these plans and their differences in terms of features below.

Office 365 E3 vs E5: Overview

Office 365 E3 and Office 365 E5 are the two most popular plans offered by Microsoft for using and managing office applications. Both these plans provide different features for the customers. With Office 365 E3, you get Data Loss Prevention only for emails and files and along with this it offers features like basic conferencing and basic message encryption. On the other hand, Office 365 E5 provides compliance audit, communication compliance, privileged access management, threat protection, and so on. We have done a detailed comparison of these two plans based on the following parameters to help you choose the right plan:

• Power BI
• Office 365 Cloud App Security
• DLP for Teams chat
• Manual sensitivity labeling for Teams meetings
• Advanced Message Encryption
• Customer Key
• Records Management
• Storage Space
• Advanced Analytics
• Pricing plans
• Data and Security

Office 365 E3 vs E5: Pros and Cons

• Compliance Audit is only available in Office 365 E5
• Privileged Access Management is available in Office 365 E5 and not in Office 365 E3
• Communication compliance is currently supported only in Office 365 E5
• eDiscovery (Premium) is included in Office 365 E5 and not in Office 365 E3.
• Threat protection is available in Office 365 E5 only.

Office 365 E3 vs E5: In terms of Features

Office 365 E3 and Office 365 E5 are the two most popular plans in Office suite. They offer some common features like email, Calander, meeting scheduling, document sharing, etc. However, they differ from each other in terms of the below mentioned features:

• Power BI: If you want Power BI for analyzing and visualizing data, then Office 365 E5 is the better plan. On the other hand, Office 365 E3 does not support this feature.
• Office 365 Cloud App Security: Office 365 E5 lets you keep your cloud apps secure and protected against any breaches. However, Cloud app security is currently not available in Office 365 E3.
• DLP for Teams chat: This feature will block any type of sensitive information when shared during the Teams chat or call. You get this feature only when you buy Office 365 E5.
• Manual sensitivity labeling for Teams meetings: Manual sensitivity labeling can help you in hiding organizational sensitive data during the Teams meetings. If you want this feature, you can choose Office 365 E5 as Office 365 E3 does not support this feature.
• Advanced Message Encryption: If you need advanced encryption for messaging, choose Office 365 E5 because Office 365 E3 does not offer this feature.
• Customer Key: With this, you can control the encryption keys used by users to encrypt data for meeting compliance obligations. Currently, Microsoft offers this feature only in Office 365 E5 plan.
• Records Management: This feature helps to keep a record of documents to meet the legal requirements and regulatory compliance. You can manage records if you buy Office 365 E5 plan. On the contrary, Office 365 E3 does not offer this feature.

Office 365 E3 vs Office 365 E5: Storage Space

In terms of storage space, both Office 365 E3 and Office 365 E5 are on equal footing. In Office 365 E3, you get 5TB of storage space per user which can also be increased as per the user requirements. The available storage space is the same in Office 365 E5. However, Office 365 E3 is a better plan because you will get 5Tb of storage space at a lower price.

Office 365 E3 vs Office 365 E5: Advanced Analytics

Advanced analytics is important to visualize and analyze data to take the data driven decisions. For this purpose, Office provides Viva Insights and Power BI so you can easily visualize different data sets and gain insights. If you want to use these data visualization tools, you can buy Office 365 E5 as Office 365 E3 currently does not support this feature.

Office 365 E3 vs Office 365 E5: Data and Security

Security is an important concern for organizations to keep the data secure and protected against any breaches. Office 365 E3 provides basic security features like multi-factor authentication and data loss prevention. On the other hand, Office 365 E5 offers more advanced features like threat protection, security management, privileged access management, etc. Therefore, in terms of security, E5 is a better choice for organizations that require advanced security features.

Office 365 E3 vs E5: Pricing Details

If we talk about pricing plans, both Office 365 E3 and Office 365 E5 have different pricing plans. Office 365 E3 plan is priced at INR 1,805.00/user/month. Under this plan, you get features like email, calendar, meeting scheduling, screen sharing, and so on.

On the other hand, Office 365 E5 plan is priced at INR 2,985.00/user/month and offers more advanced features like Power BI, cloud app security, records management, customers key, and so on. In terms of pricing, which plan is best depending on the features you need. If you require more advanced features, then Office 365 E5 is a better option.

Office 365 E3 vs E5: Which is better?

The choice for the better Office suite plan will depend on the features you need and also on your budget. Office 365 E3 can be a great fit if you want limited security features, basic conferencing functionalities, and Data Loss Prevention only for emails and files. Whereas you require features like privileged access management, advanced analytics, cloud app security, etc., you can choose Office 365 E5 plan.