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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
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
250
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 June 2026, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Microsoft 365 Business is 2.5%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is 3.3%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server3.3%
Microsoft 365 Business2.5%
Other94.2%
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Hemanthreddy Vakiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Collaborating securely across project teams has improved communication and streamlined workflows
In my view, Microsoft 365 Business has all the features, but there are some areas for improvement. One area is that the licensing structure can be confusing, especially with the different plans, so understanding each plan is somewhat difficult. When using large Excel files, such as extracting data from an SQL query and pasting it into Excel, it sometimes encounters performance issues when dealing with large files. Integration with non-Microsoft tools is sometimes limited; however, integration within the Microsoft tools is very good. It would be useful if it were possible to integrate with other tools outside of Microsoft. Managing permissions and access in SharePoint and Teams can be complex for new users, but once they become familiar with the tool, they can manage it easily. The security and permissions for new users in SharePoint and Teams can be made more intuitive for them. Additionally, the pricing structure, which involves explaining different plans, could be clearer to help users easily choose the plan they need. Improving performance when working on large Excel files would also be beneficial.
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

"OneDrive feature is great."
"Valuable features are video conferencing, email, and Office suite."
"This product is reliable."
"The flexibility of the solution has been great."
"The solution is stable."
"I like that there's no maintenance involved."
"My favorite feature is the collaboration."
"It helped a lot, especially with all of us working from the home office and still practically being as though we were at work in the office."
"The solution is scalable, and you can do both horizontal and vertical scaling."
"I would recommend this product."
"The online version doesn't have any bugs or glitches, doesn't crash or fail, doesn't need any infrastructure or virtual machine as it's completely online, and the cloud keeps it very stable."
"Ability to collaborate with others in one location."
"The software is friendly to use for mixing data and analyzing it."
"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."
"Using these features together, we converted our paper work to electronic digital data."
"It is a decent tool for collaboration, especially if you are already using other Office products."
 

Cons

"Most Microsoft applications are not the most user-friendly."
"If Business 365's documentation were better, then the user could read it and fix their issues by themselves. Microsoft could also add some more detailed pop-up troubleshooting messages. When a user has a problem, the messages they get don't help much."
"We have OneNote, where you type something, and it's saved automatically, so if Microsoft could add that option in 365, it would help us avoid potential data loss."
"Microsoft 365 Business’s stability needs improvement. There are a lot of system downtimes. It could work better."
"The dashboard can be made more user-friendly."
"The management could be a bit better."
"User access costs need improvement. Previously, it was on concurrent basis access, but currently, it's on named user access."
"The solution's licensing framework needs improvement."
"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."
"Searching information internally in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server could be better because when we get a lot of information, it is difficult to find."
"It is a bit restrictive to develop in the cloud version."
"With the complexity and performance, it's hard to work with."
"This solution is not very stable. It is useful to arrange data but it's not the best for big data. Sometimes we have issues with our reports as a result."
"I would like to see more Agile techniques and seamless integration with other applications."
"I would rate my experience with Microsoft technical support as sometimes frustrating because of the time it takes for the Microsoft team to react to their particular case."
"The solution needs to have more flexibility. The classic version had more flexibility, however, the modern version has many more limitations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing is annual. We have a Volume Licensing deal with them."
"I think it is expensive."
"There is a licensing cost, but considering the features that it's equipped with, it's not that expensive."
"I have heard the solution is a little expensive and there is a licence needed."
"As a customer, I would like the licensing fees should be cheaper."
"Pricing can always be improved."
"The price of the subscription for the solution could be less expensive."
"The price is high."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
18%
Marketing Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Performing Arts
8%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business114
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise102
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?
Microsoft 365 Business can be improved because sometimes the admin portal can be confusing, especially for a new user, and policies are spread across multiple dashboards. Better centralized visibil...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft 365 Business?
My main use case for Microsoft 365 Business is securing collaboration, email security, and identity management across the organization. A specific example of how I use Microsoft 365 Business for em...
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: April 2026.
899,283 professionals have used our research since 2012.