Leaving Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is priced per seat and per add-on, so the bill a team ends up with rarely resembles the plan it signed up for. Leaving is mostly a question of what depends on it — SharePoint, Teams, Outlook rules and the licences layered on top — and whether the replacement covers those or quietly pushes them onto something else you also pay for.
When this is the wrong answer
You are in a regulated industry with compliance tooling built on Purview, or you manage Windows devices through Entra. Those are deep dependencies, and replacing them is a security project rather than a productivity one.
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Frequently asked questions
- What does Microsoft 365 actually cost per user?
- The plan price is the starting point. Copilot, extra storage, telephony, advanced security and compliance are separate line items and most organisations end up on several. The effective per-seat cost routinely exceeds the advertised plan.
- What breaks when you leave Microsoft 365?
- Whatever depends on it rather than merely uses it: SharePoint sites, Teams channels with embedded files, Outlook rules, and any line-of-business app authenticating through Microsoft identity. Documents and mail migrate; those integrations must be rebuilt.
- Is Microsoft 365 worth it on a Mac?
- The apps run, but they are visibly a port - different keyboard behaviour, a separate window model, and features that arrive later than on Windows. Mac-first teams often find that friction outweighs the file-format compatibility they stayed for.
- Is there a Microsoft 365 alternative that includes email?
- Few. Most alternatives replace documents and collaboration but assume you keep Outlook, which means keeping the subscription. Platforms that include custom-domain mail are the only ones that genuinely remove the Microsoft line item.
See what this looks like in practice
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