Microsoft 365, Office 365 Prices Hiked for Nonprofit Customers Globally, to Take Effect From September 1

Microsoft has increased the prices of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 for nonprofit customers around the globe. The change, which will come into force from September 1, will make Microsoft products up to 28 percent costlier for nonprofits globally. It will impact Microsoft Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, and Office 365 E5 licence prices. The update will also be applicable to Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 Business Premium. However, there will be no impact on any nonprofit offers available as a grant, the company said.

Despite the increase, Microsoft said that it would continue to provide nonprofits discounts of up to 75 percent on many other Microsoft 365 products.

As a result of the update, which was initially reported by The Register and was appearing on the Microsoft Partner Centre page at the time of filing this article, Microsoft Office 365 E1 will be available at $2.50 (roughly Rs. 200), up from $2 (roughly Rs. 150). The Office 365 E3 licence will, however, go up to $5.75 (roughly Rs. 430) from $4.50 (roughly Rs. 340) and Office 365 E5 will be available at $15.20 (roughly Rs. 1,150), up from Rs. $14 (roughly Rs. 1,060).

Microsoft 365 E3 price will also go up to $9 (roughly Rs. 680) from $8 (roughly Rs. 600), while the Microsoft 365 Business Premium will be increased to $5.50 (roughly Rs. 400) from $5 (roughly Rs. 380).

Microsoft said that the price increases will apply globally, with local market adjustments for certain regions.

Gadgets 360 reached out to Microsoft to understand when the price hike will come into force in India. The company responded and confirmed that the India price list will be published closer to the effective date of the change.

In an FAQ, the Redmond company answered why it chose to update the Microsoft 365 price at this time.

"This is the right time to update our pricing," the company said. "Although there are still questions and uncertainty, we see clear signs of economic recovery around the world. Moreover, over the past few years our competitors have increased prices, in some cases aggressively. We simply have a better story and proven track record of reinvestment in the product and consistently delivering new value to our customers."

The updated pricing will affect both annual and monthly billion options for new and existing customers. In case of existing users, it will be effective at the next renewal after September 1, the company said.

Microsoft also stopped its on-premise software grants as of April 4.

"Ahead of the April 4th updates to our on-prem grant program we sought to provide nonprofit customers with enough time to transition to the cloud and lock in existing Microsoft 365 nonprofit prices," the company said in its FAQ. "With this in mind, we delayed this price increase by six months from the commercial price changes to give nonprofits enough time to make the transition."

Microsoft had announced the price increase of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 for commercial customers last August. The update was aimed to increase prices as much as 20 percent and was planned to go live from March 1, though the company delayed it until March 15.