Describe the Differences between Licensing Levels – Identify Licensing Options Available in Microsoft 365
By Leatha King / August 2, 2023 / No Comments / Microsoft Exams, Microsoft MS-900, Other Ways to Assign Licenses
Describe the Differences between Licensing Levels
Microsoft offers a wide range of licensing plans and options designed to fit the needs of every customer.
While this flexibility is nice, it can also lead to confusion. There are two core types of licenses available:
- Base licenses
- Add-on licenses
In addition, you can also buy bundles of base licenses together in suites. For purposes of the MS-900 exam, you’ll want to be familiar with both base and add-on licenses as well as some of the popular bundled or suite products.
Base Licenses
Base licenses are used to describe any of the standalone licensed products or services. Examples of base licenses include the following:
- Exchange Online Plan 1
- Exchange Online Plan 2
- SharePoint Online Plan 1
- SharePoint Online Plan 2
A standard license or feature grants the right to use a product. They are typically charged as a per-user, per-month fee.
Add-On Licenses
Add-on licenses are used to enable additional features in a base license or expand the capabilities of an existing service. Examples of add-on licenses include the following:
- Microsoft Teams EHR Connect
- Dynamics 365 Customer Voice Additional Responses
- Compliance Manager Premium Assessment Add-On
- Microsoft Viva Insights Capacity
- Exchange Online Archiving
- Communications Credits
In each of these scenarios, the add-on license enables additional features or usage capacity of an already existing service. Purchasing Exchange Online Archiving doesn’t enable any additional feature if there’s not a corresponding user with the Exchange Online Plan 1 mailbox license to which the archiving license can be applied. There are not, however, gates or blocks that prevent you from purchasing add-on products without the underlying base product, so work with your account team or licensing specialist to understand the exact features you’re trying to enable as well as any prerequisite licensing.