No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Microsoft 365 Business vs Microsoft Office SharePoint Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft 365 Business
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
252
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (2nd)
Microsoft Office SharePoint...
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Microsoft 365 Business is 2.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is 3.5%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server3.5%
Microsoft 365 Business2.8%
Other93.7%
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Jitender Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Principle Consultant at Akaal Cyber Solutions
Comprehensive cloud tools have unified identity security and device management for my clients
I would suggest a lower cost for my clients because Microsoft 365 has many other licenses that provide different types of features. Microsoft 365 Business covers most of their requirements, and for the other parts, they use other third-party tools for cybersecurity. Although Microsoft 365 Business offers some cybersecurity features, it does not offer everything, such as endpoint detection response and mitigation. For those, clients need to buy a higher version of a license, such as Enterprise E1 or E5. I think Microsoft 365 Business can be improved if it adds more features such as endpoint detection or more features from Microsoft Defender, including cloud app security. With cloud app security, the application status or application logs can be monitored. Currently, cloud app security is not part of Microsoft 365 Business. You have to purchase a standalone license for that. If that can be added, it can increase the volume of purchases for Microsoft 365 Business.
Daniel Giacomelli - PeerSpot reviewer
Security and Compliance at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has transformed how I manage documents through metadata and automation while enabling structured collaboration
Microsoft should restore some functionalities from older versions of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2003 and 2010. Specifically, bringing back something similar to SharePoint Designer would be beneficial. SharePoint Designer was both advantageous and challenging - developers found it limiting and preferred Visual Studio, while non-developers struggled to use it effectively. A new tool for configuring webpage design and development for content pages would be valuable. The current system is too basic. While integration of filtered lists and libraries is possible, it requires knowledge of Python or jQuery. A WYSIWYG editor would be preferable to requiring programming knowledge or Visual Studio.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The initial setup and deployment were straightforward."
"The platform is stable and easy to use."
"The features that I like best with Microsoft 365 Business are that the files are available offline."
"Overall, I have found it to be a good, reliable product."
"First, most people are very used to working with Microsoft Office; second, we can work offline as well; third, staff from the accounting side or those working on huge data feel comfortable with Microsoft 365 Business."
"We have thousands of users using this solution in my organization."
"Everything that you need is included inside."
"The software can be used on any device or any form which is a really big benefit."
"Ability to collaborate with others in one location."
"What I appreciate most about Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is how it centralizes information and collaboration in one place."
"From my partner perspective, the best advantages of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server are that it's easy to use, and we can easily communicate, share documents, and assign permissions to specific people."
"Microsoft Office SharePoint Server's document management significantly improves collaboration within my organization."
"The most valuable feature is the "Alert Me", which provides the ability to set an alert when content is either added or changed and that the alerts can be either real-time or aggregated for the day or the week."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the fact that it doesn't require coding. You just need to configure it. You don't need to code before getting something running. It makes it very fast."
"The software is friendly to use for mixing data and analyzing it."
"The forms aspect of the solution, for example, the creation of surveys, is its most valuable aspect."
 

Cons

"Overall, I would rate Microsoft 365 Business a seven out of ten because there is a lot of scope for improvement; sometimes it gets laggy, and I don't know if there's an issue with our system or our connectivity."
"Of late, the support has been very patchy at Microsoft's end."
"The management could be a bit better."
"The Microsoft 365 Business suite could improve by adding additional template-type tools. For example, if you specifically are creating a fillable form, there are times where I did not find the right type of template that I was looking for."
"Video feeds cannot be disabled which is a distraction during video conferencing."
"The solution could improve the user interface a little bit to make it easier to navigate."
"For the end-user, it's always nice if the product is cheaper, especially for home use."
"Technical support could be a bit better. It's an aspect Microsoft could improve upon."
"Searching information internally in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server could be better because when we get a lot of information, it is difficult to find."
"One of the reasons why we don't recommend the cloud version of SharePoint is the cost."
"Workflows could be simplified."
"The ability to preview files in different formats should be expanded to include formats such as embedded postscript (EPS), AutoCAD, and Adobe Acrobat PDF."
"I would like to see more Agile techniques and seamless integration with other applications."
"From Microsoft, the support normally takes longer than we need and it's not a route we appreciate."
"Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is more accessible for the average user, but it lacks certain features that more advanced users would look for, making it seem unnecessarily complicated to do simple things or things one expects to be simple."
"Making it more intuitive could help teams adopt it faster and use it more effectively by being more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay a monthly licensing fee."
"We pay a monthly subscription fee for the license."
"The price of the subscription for the solution could be less expensive."
"We pay a monthly licensing fee for Microsoft 365 Business."
"We pay annually for the license."
"It is expensive. It should be cheaper, especially for companies and businesses. Licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The price of the Microsoft 365 Business is fair. It is a great suite of products, but then there are other great products on the market as well. The main concern is competition. With Microsoft generally, it comes down to what people have become familiar with, what people have grown up using when they were younger, and when they are older. It depends on the actual adoption of the environment that they work in. The price is not an issue, it is about what people are used to using, and what they are familiar with is what influences their purchase."
"The tool’s licensing and pricing are interconnected. There are different levels of licensing."
"One of the reasons why we don't recommend the cloud version of SharePoint is the cost. With the on premise version, you pay for the license once. For the cloud version, there is a recurring fee. It is very expensive. They expect everyone to pay $20 or $30 per user per month."
"Pricing plans may be flexible depending on volume usage and your corporate relationship with Microsoft."
"It can be expensive for on-premises deployments, especially when you have to support SQL Server as your backend database. That's where the cost comes into play. SQL Server has its own licensing, which Microsoft keeps on changing. Therefore, it can become costly. In the earlier versions of SharePoint, version 2007 or 2010, they had an express version where the SQL Server licensing was free. It wasn't like a full-blown SharePoint. It was only a slimmed-down version. It used to be whatever your hardware costs. You would install the free software and work with it, but you were very limited in what you could do in SharePoint. If you wanted the SharePoint Enterprise Server with all the bells and whistles, then you had to pay more to get the SQL Server license based on the number of users or servers. The subscription model is different for cloud deployments. Licensing is per user and per month. The cost also depends on the storage required. If you have a lot of sites or documents, then you need to expand it based on your needs."
"There are some aggressive discounts offered by Microsoft for organizations that are not for profit, which we are, and it makes it quite attractive to consider."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Content Collaboration Platforms solutions are best for your needs.
907,768 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business115
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise104
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Business?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that pricing is reasonable, but it depends on the plan, as some advanced security features require higher-tier licenses.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Business?
I would suggest a lower cost for my clients because Microsoft 365 has many other licenses that provide different types of features. Microsoft 365 Business covers most of their requirements, and for...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft 365 Business?
My name is Jitendra Singh and I am a Principal Consultant at Akal Cyber Solutions. I have been working in this field for the past 12 years, and I have been working with managed service providers ba...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server?
I am not aware of the pricing, so I cannot say if the solution is expensive or quite affordable.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server?
My expectation when I start using a Microsoft product is that it would be easy to incorporate diagrams and such from other Microsoft Office products. Incorporating a diagram I've embedded in a slid...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server?
I produce content about the work I'm doing inside the company, making information about IT architecture, work processes within IT architecture, and security reviews of applications or infrastructur...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 F1, MS 365 Business
Office SharePoint Server, MS Office SharePoint Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Urban Agriculture Co., The Detroit Wallpaper Co., TransBlue Facility Management, Garner Food Company
Del Monte Foods, Unicredit Leasing, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Nokia Czech Republic, Perkins Eastman, JLL, ICA, óxito Software, Dorset Software, PKP Cargo, Arcapita Bank B.S.C., AVE CZ, Chesapeake Energy
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft 365 Business vs. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
907,768 professionals have used our research since 2012.