Last reviewed: October 19, 2026, against Microsoft’s current education pages. Prices are Microsoft’s published Canadian prices in CAD, plus applicable tax.
Microsoft 365 Education, which many institutions still call Office 365 Education, gives schools, colleges, universities, educators, and students a cloud-based foundation for teaching, learning, collaboration, and administration. It combines familiar Office applications with services such as Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Forms, and OneNote.
The right licence depends on who needs access, whether desktop applications are required, how much security and compliance the institution needs, and whether users or devices are being licensed. This guide summarizes the main education licence families currently documented by Microsoft.
Quick answer
- Office 365 A1: free, web-based core services. Available to order at $0 for eligible institutions.
- Office 365 A3: add this when users need the full Office desktop apps, Exchange Plan 2 and SharePoint Plan 2, without device or identity management.
- Microsoft 365 A3: Office 365 A3 plus Windows 11 Enterprise, Intune for Education, Entra ID Plan 1, Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 and Minecraft Education.
- Office 365 A5: Office 365 A3 plus Power BI Pro, Teams Phone, Audio Conferencing and advanced compliance.
- Microsoft 365 A5: Office 365 A5 plus Entra ID Plan 2, Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Defender for Identity, Insider Risk Management and Windows 11 Enterprise. Choose A5 only for a documented security or compliance requirement.
- Microsoft 365 A1 for devices: shared or institution-managed devices licensed per device instead of per user.
Office 365 or Microsoft 365?
These are two different product lines with different prices and features, not two names for the same thing. Office 365 A1, A3 and A5 are the Office-and-services subscriptions. Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 include everything in the matching Office 365 plan and add Windows 11 Enterprise, device management with Intune for Education, stronger identity and security, and Minecraft Education. Microsoft also brands its free web apps “Microsoft 365 for the web (formerly Office 365)”, so you will see both names when you compare offers.
What Office 365 Education includes
- Office applications and Microsoft 365 for the web, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
- Collaboration through Microsoft Teams, class notebooks, Forms, Planner, and shared files.
- Cloud services such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Stream.
- Education-focused capabilities including School Data Sync, learning tools, and classroom experiences in Teams.
- Higher-tier plans with additional desktop applications, management, security, compliance, analytics, and communications features.
Education licences at a glance
Eligibility, availability and pricing vary, so confirm the current offer before ordering. Prices are indicative Canadian list prices in CAD, excluding tax. See the pricing table below for faculty and student rates.
| Licence | Best for | What it adds | Price (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office 365 A1 | Eligible students, educators and institutions needing core web-based services. | Web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, plus Teams, OneDrive, Exchange Online (Plan 1), SharePoint (Plan 1), Class Notebook and Forms. No desktop Office apps. Microsoft also lists PC-only Publisher and Access. | $0. Donated by Microsoft to eligible institutions and available to order at no cost. |
| Office 365 A3 | Institutions that need desktop Office and larger mailboxes without device management. | Everything in A1 plus Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (desktop), Exchange Plan 2, SharePoint Plan 2, Litigation Hold and eDiscovery Standard, and Defender for Cloud Apps. | Starting from $4.83/user/month* |
| Microsoft 365 A3 | Institutions that also manage devices and identities. | Everything in Office 365 A3 plus Windows 11 Enterprise, Intune for Education, Entra ID Plan 1, Defender for Endpoint Plan 1, Information Protection Plan 1, Minecraft Education, Universal Print, Take a Test, Set up School PCs, Clipchamp and Remote Help. | Starting from $8.19/user/month* |
| Office 365 A5 | Advanced compliance, analytics or voice requirements without device management. | Everything in Office 365 A3 plus Power BI Pro, Teams Phone, Audio Conferencing, My Analytics and advanced Purview capabilities such as eDiscovery Premium, Audit Premium and Communication Compliance. | Starting from $11.87/user/month* |
| Microsoft 365 A5 | The most comprehensive Microsoft education subscription. | Everything in Office 365 A5 plus everything in Microsoft 365 A3, upgraded: Entra ID Plan 2, Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Defender for Identity, Information Protection Plan 2, Endpoint DLP and Insider Risk Management. | Starting from $15.33/user/month* |
| Microsoft 365 A1 for devices | Shared or institution-managed devices licensed per device. | Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Windows 11 Pro Education, Intune for Education, Minecraft Education Edition with Code Builder, Remote Help, Entra Basic and Office 365 Rights Management. Does not include Defender, Entra ID Plan 1 or 2, Windows 11 Enterprise or Universal Print. | One-time payment per device. Quote required. |
Pricing (CAD per user, excluding tax)
| Licence | Faculty / month | Faculty / year | Student / month | Student / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office 365 A3 | $4.83 | $55.20 | $3.68 | $42.00 |
| Microsoft 365 A3 | $8.19 | $93.60 | $6.09 | $69.60 |
| Office 365 A5 | $11.87 | $135.60 | $8.93 | $102.00 |
| Microsoft 365 A5 | $15.33 | $175.20 | $11.45 | $130.80 |
*Depending on the billing commitment. Monthly prices are for a one-year commitment billed monthly, and yearly prices are for a one-year commitment billed annually. Month-to-month terms cost about 20% more than the annual-billed equivalent (for example, Office 365 A3 faculty is $5.52 per user per month). Prices change, and Microsoft states that its July 1, 2026 Microsoft 365 price increases do not change education pricing. Your Guava quote may differ.
Feature comparison by tier
Based on Microsoft’s Microsoft 365 Education service description. Office 365 and Microsoft 365 are separate columns because the features differ.
| Capability | Office 365 A1 | Office 365 A3 | Microsoft 365 A3 | Office 365 A5 | Microsoft 365 A5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop Office apps | No (web only) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange Online and SharePoint | Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 2 | Plan 2 | Plan 2 |
| Microsoft Entra ID | Basic | Basic | Plan 1 | Basic | Plan 2 |
| Intune for Education | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 11 Enterprise | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Defender for Endpoint | No | No | Plan 1 | No | Plan 2* |
| Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Defender for Identity | No | No | No | No | Yes* |
| Purview Information Protection | No | No | Plan 1 | No | Plan 2* |
| Purview eDiscovery Premium and Audit Premium | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Power BI Pro | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Teams Phone and Audio Conferencing | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Minecraft Education with Code Builder | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
* The Student Use Benefit does not cover Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Identity or Purview in Microsoft 365 A5. Microsoft offers a discounted standalone licence for them.
Student Use Benefits and A5 add-ons
Student Use Benefits are not a separate licence family to purchase independently. They provide eligible students with corresponding benefits when an institution licenses qualifying faculty or staff subscriptions. Microsoft lists separate benefits for Office 365 A3 and A5 and for Microsoft 365 A3 and A5.
Two Microsoft rules are easy to miss. In Microsoft 365 A5, the Student Use Benefit does not cover Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender for Identity, or Microsoft Purview, so students need the discounted standalone licence for those. And Microsoft’s A5 Compliance and A5 Security add-ons are available only to customers who already hold Microsoft 365 A3 subscriptions.
Storage limits and pooling
Microsoft’s education storage model affects licence planning, especially for institutions with large student populations:
- Office 365 A1 users are limited to 100 GB of OneDrive storage. Administrators can set a lower limit.
- Every tenant gets a 100 TB base storage pool.
- Each paid A3 user adds 50 GB to the pool, and each paid A5 user adds 100 GB.
- Student Use Benefit and alumni users add nothing to the pool but still consume storage from it.
- Additional pooled storage can be purchased in 10 TB increments through a licensing partner.
Capacity equals 100 TB plus 50 GB per paid A3 user, plus 100 GB per paid A5 user, plus any purchased storage. Microsoft’s storage page does not show a date, so confirm current terms before you size a tenant.
How to choose the right plan
- Start with eligibility. Confirm that the organization qualifies as an educational institution and complete Microsoft’s verification process.
- Decide whether desktop apps are required. A1 is web-based, while A3 and A5 provide desktop application rights.
- Separate user and device requirements. Shared computer labs and managed devices may need a device-based approach rather than a user-only subscription.
- Map security and compliance needs. Institutions handling sensitive student or research data may need the additional identity, device and security controls that come only with Microsoft 365 A3 or A5.
- Check storage needs. A1 users are capped at 100 GB of OneDrive storage, and the tenant pool grows only with paid A3 and A5 users.
- Check regional terms before purchase. Pricing, taxes, availability, and terms vary by country and licensing channel. Guava can quote Canadian pricing.
Official Microsoft resources
- Office 365 Education overview, eligibility, and Canadian pricing
- Compare Microsoft 365 Education plans
- Microsoft 365 Education service description and feature matrix
- Microsoft 365 Education licensing resource
- Microsoft 365 Education storage options
- Microsoft 365 packaging and pricing updates FAQ (2026)
Need help selecting an education licence?
Guava can help you assess eligibility, compare user and device licensing, get a Canadian quote, and plan a secure Microsoft 365 education rollout.