Business email and office suites · Comparison
Microsoft 365 Business vs Zoho Workplace
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Microsoft 365 Business | Zoho Workplace |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceA 100 GB Exchange mailbox, 1 TB of OneDrive and Office for the web per user from $5.40 a month, with desktop Office apps one plan up. | Worth the priceBusiness mail on your own domain from $1 per user a month, with SSO, audit logs and an online DPA on every paid plan, and a free plan for 5 users. |
| Overall score | 7.6 | 8.5Best |
| Free option | 30-day free trial | Free plan |
| Card to start | Card required | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $5.40/user/mo | $1/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per user per month; up to 300 users across all Business plans | Per user; Mail plans yearly only, Workplace plans yearly or monthly |
| Free option | No free plan; one-month trial for up to 25 users, credit card required | Mail Free for up to 5 users on one domain; 15-day trial, no card |
| Reference scenario (5 users, annual) | $27/mo on Business Basic (no Teams) ($5.40 × 5), computed; $35 with Teams | $6.88/mo on Mail Lite 5 GB + 45 GB add-ons ($1 × 5 + $1.88), computed; $15 on Workplace Standard |
| Month-to-month price | $6.48 per user on Business Basic (no Teams); $8.40 with Teams | None for Mail Lite and Mail Premium; $4 / $7 for Workplace Standard / Professional |
| Storage per user | 100 GB mailbox + 50 GB archive and 1 TB of OneDrive (1.5 TB archive on Premium) | 5 or 10 GB (Lite), 50 GB (Premium), 30 GB + team drive (Standard), 100 GB + 1 TB team drive (Professional) |
| Domains, aliases and catch-all | Up to 5,000 domains, 300 to 400 aliases per user; no catch-all stated | Up to 30 domains and 30 addresses per mailbox on paid plans; catch-all |
| Office apps | Office for the web and mobile on Basic; desktop apps from Standard | Writer, Sheet and Show in the browser from Workplace Standard |
| Video meetings | Teams for 300 with recording in the plans with Teams | Zoho Meeting with cloud recording from Workplace Standard |
| Retention and eDiscovery | Litigation hold and eDiscovery export on Premium ($22); archiving add-on $3 | Mail Premium ($4) and Workplace Professional ($6) |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Office 365 in SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 scope (Service Trust Portal) | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 for all cloud services (report under online NDA) |
| HIPAA BAA | Included in the data protection addendum by default | BAA template on request from Zoho legal |
| EU data storage | EU Data Boundary for EU and EFTA sign-ups | EU data center (Amsterdam, Dublin) chosen by country at sign-up |
| SAML SSO | Single sign-on for apps with Entra ID on every plan | Every paid plan |
| Mailbox export | PST from classic Outlook per user; admin eDiscovery export on Premium | Users: EML in ZIP; admins: every mailbox as ZIP or PST on paid plans |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Microsoft 365 gives a large mailbox and 1 TB of OneDrive per user at a low price, with shared mailboxes, an audit log and a BAA on Business Basic. Retention and eDiscovery sit on Premium or add-ons, and refunds and seat cuts are limited to 7 days. | From its public pages, Zoho Workplace is the lowest-priced suite here, with SSO, audit logs, shared mailboxes and migration on every paid plan and retention from $4. Mail plans are yearly only, editors and meetings start on Workplace Standard, and a few prices differ between pages. |
Evidence: Microsoft 365 Business: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Zoho Workplace: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Microsoft 365 Business review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Microsoft 365 Business when
- You need desktop Office apps, Teams meetings for 300 and a HIPAA BAA that comes with the terms.
- Pick Zoho Workplace when
- You want a free plan for up to 5 users, a catch-all address, retention and eDiscovery from $4, and seats you can cut mid-term.
From our Zoho Workplace review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Zoho Workplace when
- You want a free plan, a catch-all address and retention and eDiscovery from $4 per user.
- Pick Microsoft 365 Business when
- You want a 100 GB mailbox and 1 TB of OneDrive on the entry plan, desktop Office apps and Teams meetings for 300.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Microsoft 365 BusinessBusiness Basic (no Teams)$5.40/user/moAnnual commitment; $6.48 month to month
- Exchange mail on your domain, 100 GB mailbox + 50 GB archive
- 1 TB of OneDrive per user
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for web and mobile
- No Teams meetings
- Zoho WorkplaceMail Lite$1/user/moBilled annually only; $1.25 for 10 GB
- 5 GB or 10 GB of mail per user, shared calendars
- Up to 30 domains and 30 addresses per mailbox
- Shared mailboxes, IMAP and SAML SSO
- Mail storage add-ons at $1 a year per 10 GB
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Microsoft 365 Business 2026-10-16, Zoho Workplace 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Zoho WorkplaceSelf-serve sign-up, no card needed; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (8.5/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- Zoho WorkplaceFree plan, no card needed; scored 8.5/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Zoho Workplace$1/user/mo for the Mail Lite 5 GB (billed annually) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Zoho Workplace8.5/10 (Excellent). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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