Microsoft 365 Prices Went Up July 1 - Here's What You Actually Got For It

Microsoft raised Microsoft 365 prices on July 1, 2026 but the packaging changes that came with it added real security and Intune capability to most tenants by August 1. Here's what actually landed, and how to check if it's switched on.

If your Microsoft 365 invoice went up this summer, you're not imagining it. On July 1, 2026, Microsoft raised prices across most commercial suites - and by August 1, the packaging changes that came with the increase finished rolling out to tenants. For many small and medium businesses, that means new capabilities landed in your tenant over the past few weeks, whether or not anyone told you about them.

What changed, in plain numbers

Microsoft 365 Business Basic rose 16% and now costs 80.29 SEK per user/month in Sweden (ex. VAT). Business Standard rose 12%, to 160.58 SEK. Business Premium held flat at 252.35 SEK. (Your actual invoice will reflect your specific partner agreement, but these percentage increases apply broadly across Swedish pricing too.)

Enterprise suites saw similar increases: Microsoft 365 E3 went up 8%, E5 up 5%. Standalone components like Entra Plan 1 and Plan 2 rose 16% and 11% respectively.

What you got for the increase

This is the part most admins miss, because Microsoft rolled it out quietly through the Message Center rather than with a big announcement. Business Basic and Business Standard both gained:

• 50GB of extra mailbox storage per user, on top of the existing allowance
• URL time-of-click protection - links in email are checked again at the moment someone clicks them, not just at delivery, which closes a gap attackers have been exploiting for years (a malicious link that looks clean at scan time but gets weaponised later)
• Copilot Chat enhancements - inbox and calendar awareness, plus access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint agents inside Copilot Chat, without needing a full Copilot license

What Enterprise tenants got

On the Enterprise side, Microsoft 365 E3 picked up Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 (previously an add-on), plus a bundle of Intune features - Remote Help, Advanced Analytics, and Intune Plan 2 - that used to require separate licensing.

Why this is worth checking, not just noting

Two things are worth ten minutes of your time:

• Check whether time-of-click protection is actually switched on. Packaging changes add the entitlement to your tenant; they don't always turn the feature on by default, and Safe Links / Safe Attachments policies sometimes need to be applied or extended to cover it. If you're already paying for it, you may as well be using it.
• Check what license SKU you're actually on. If you're on an older SKU or a grandfathered plan, some of these additions may not apply to you yet, or may apply only at renewal. It's a good moment for a quick licensing review - you might already own security capability you're not using, or you might be paying enterprise prices for features you could get for less on a different plan.

Conclusion

The July price increase is real, but so is what came with it - most Business Basic and Standard tenants quietly gained real security and productivity capability. The only question worth ten minutes is whether it's actually switched on in yours.