Microsoft 365 Is Getting More Expensive: Overview of the July 2026 Price Increase
By Jerome Scheidegger · CEO and Owner
New Microsoft 365 list prices have been in effect since 1 July 2026. Globally, they rose between 5 and 43 percent depending on the plan. In Switzerland, though, the maths works out rather differently, and considerably more favourably: on 1 February, Microsoft cut Swiss franc prices for all cloud services by 9.5 percent. Add both movements together and several plans are cheaper today than they were in January.
Official Swiss franc prices from July 2026
All figures per user per month, annual subscription, excluding VAT:
Plan | CHF from July 2026 | Global increase | Net vs. pre-February |
|---|---|---|---|
Business Basic | 5.67 | +16,7 % | +5,6 % |
Business Standard | 11.34 | +12 % | +1,4 % |
Business Premium | 17.82 | 0 % | −9,5 % |
Apps for Business | 10.10 | +21 % | +9,7 % |
Office 365 E1 | 8.10 | 0 % | −9,5 % |
Office 365 E3 | 24.56 | +13 % | +2,3 % |
Office 365 E5 | 38.72 | +7,9 % | −2,4 % |
Microsoft 365 E3 | 35.32 | +8,3 % | −2,0 % |
Microsoft 365 E5 | 54.33 | +5,3 % | −4,7 % |
Apps for Enterprise | 14.20 | +16,7 % | +5,6 % |
The calculation nobody else is doing
It gets interesting when you compare against the price level before the February reduction. Business Standard cost CHF 11.20 back then and stands at CHF 11.34 today. Across the full year, that is an increase of roughly one percent, not twelve. Business Premium was CHF 19.70 and now costs CHF 17.82, a drop of 9.5 percent, even though the plan saw no increase at all in the global list.
Net, measured from January to today, the picture looks like this:
- Cheaper now: Business Premium and Office 365 E1 at −9.5 percent each, Microsoft 365 E5 at −4.7 percent, Office 365 E5 at −2.4 percent, Microsoft 365 E3 at −2.0 percent
- More expensive now: Business Standard at +1.4 percent, Business Basic at +5.6 percent, Apps for Enterprise at +5.6 percent, Apps for Business at +9.7 percent
The increase remains most noticeable on the Frontline plans F1 and F3, which rose by 33 and 25 percent globally. Even after deducting the February reduction, that leaves an effective increase of around 21 and 13 percent respectively. Microsoft does not publish Swiss franc prices for F1 and F3 publicly, so you will need to obtain those through your partner.
The most important side effect: the gap to Premium has narrowed
Before February, CHF 8.50 per user per month separated Business Standard from Business Premium. Today it is CHF 6.48. Because Standard went up while Premium came down, the surcharge for the full security package has shrunk by roughly a quarter.
For many SMEs, that changes the decision fundamentally. Business Premium includes Intune, Conditional Access, Microsoft Defender for Business and Defender for Office 365 Plan 1. Anyone buying those building blocks separately on top of Business Standard today will as a rule pay more than the CHF 6.48 difference.
What you get for the money
Microsoft justifies the adjustment with more than 1,100 features added to Microsoft 365, Security, Copilot and SharePoint in the past year alone. The rollout of the new suite contents has been running since June and completes on 1 August, with 30 days' advance notice in the Message Center.
- Business Basic and Standard: 50 GB of additional mailbox storage, plus URL time-of-click protection for links in Outlook and the Office apps
- Business Premium: also 50 GB more mailbox storage; Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 was already included here
- Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3: Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 with Safe Links, Safe Attachments and impersonation protection, and for Microsoft 365 E3 additionally Intune Remote Help, Intune Advanced Analytics and Intune Plan 2
- Microsoft 365 E5: on top of that, Security Copilot, Intune Endpoint Privilege Management, Enterprise Application Management and Cloud PKI
Contrary to some reporting, Copilot Chat is not a new addition. It has been included in every Microsoft 365 licence since 2025. What is new are the enhancements: inbox and calendar awareness, access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint agents, plus admin controls and usage analytics.
One important qualification: Basic, Standard and Office 365 E1 do not receive the full Defender plan, only the link check. Genuine attachment and identity protection remains reserved for Business Premium and the E3 plans.
The two cost drivers nobody has on their radar
Beyond the list price, the billing arrangement determines what you actually pay. Choose a true monthly term instead of an annual subscription and you pay around 20 percent more. Business Standard then costs CHF 13.61 instead of CHF 11.34, Business Basic CHF 6.80 instead of CHF 5.67. On top of that comes a 5 percent surcharge if an annual contract is paid monthly rather than upfront.
For 45 users on Business Standard, that adds up to over CHF 1,200 a year without anything changing in what you actually get.
Your renewal date is the date that matters
Existing subscriptions continue at the previous price until their next renewal. The new prices only take effect at the first renewal after 1 July 2026. Until then, there is time to review your licence structure.
Conclusion
For Swiss companies, the price increase turned out considerably milder than the global percentages suggest. Several plans cost less in francs today than they did in January. The real leverage lies elsewhere: in the narrowed gap between Standard and Premium, in choosing the right billing arrangement, and in licences nobody uses any more. Review those three points before your next renewal date and you will usually save more than the increase ever cost you.
All prices in CHF per user per month, annual subscription, excluding VAT. Sources: microsoft.com/de-ch and the Microsoft Licensing Pricing and Packaging Update. As of August 2026. Prices via CSP partners may differ.