Share In this post, we are comparing the SharePoint Online Plan 1 vs Plan 2 to better understand the key differentiators. So, let us get started. GigXP | SharePoint Online Plan 1 vs. Plan 2: The Definitive 2025 Guide GigXP.com Comparison Which Plan is for You? Pricing Subscribe Comparison Which Plan is for You? Pricing Subscribe DEEP DIVE ANALYSIS SharePoint Online Plan 1 vs. Plan 2: The Definitive Guide for August 2025 It's not just about features; it's about strategy. We break down the critical differences in compliance, storage, and cost to help you make the right choice. Published: August 20, 2025 In This Article Section 1: The Common Ground - Core Capabilities Section 2: The Strategic Divide - Key Differentiators Section 3: Interactive Tool - Which Plan Fits You? Section 4: Financial Analysis & Pricing Charts Section 5: Interactive TCO Calculator Section 6: Beyond the License: Total Cost of Ownership Section 7: Real-World Scenarios in Detail Section 8: SharePoint's Role in the M365 Ecosystem Section 9: Conclusion & Decision Framework Section 1: The Common Ground of SharePoint Online Before diving into the differences, let's be clear: Plan 1 is not a "lite" product. Both plans are built on the same powerful platform, offering identical day-to-day user experiences for core collaboration and content management. Core Content Management Robust document libraries, comprehensive version control, real-time co-authoring, and secure file sharing are standard in both plans. Intranet & Collaboration Hubs Build vibrant Team Sites for projects and stunning Communication Sites for company-wide news, regardless of your plan. Universal Limit: Both plans share a 250 GB max file upload size and support up to 30 million files per library. Automation Ready: Both plans integrate fully with Power Automate, replacing legacy SharePoint alerts (retiring July 2026) for modern, powerful workflow automation. Section 2: The Strategic Divide: Core Differentiators The choice to upgrade is driven by three critical areas: advanced compliance, enterprise search, and scalable storage. Infographic: OneDrive Storage Explained Plan 1 1 TB Fixed Personal Storage vs. Plan 2: The "Unlimited" Journey 1 TB Default → 5 TB Admin Increase → 25 TB Support Ticket → 25 TB+ SharePoint Sites "Unlimited" is an administrator-managed process, not an automatic allocation. Search & Content Discovery: Standard vs. Enterprise Plan 1: Modern User-Centric Search Leverages Microsoft Search to deliver personalized, contextual results from across a user's M365 world. It's powerful for individual productivity but offers limited administrative customization. Plan 2: Enterprise-Grade Search Control Includes all standard search features plus advanced admin controls. Manage the search schema, create custom result sources, and tailor the experience for eDiscovery, ensuring precise, defensible information retrieval. Feature SharePoint Plan 1 SharePoint Plan 2 Per-User OneDrive Storage 1 TB (Fixed) Up to 25 TB+ (Tiered) Data Loss Prevention (DLP) ❌ No ✅ Yes eDiscovery & Legal Hold ❌ No ✅ Yes (with Preservation Hold Library) Advanced Search Admin ❌ No ✅ Yes Pooled Tenant Storage 1 TB + 10 GB/user 1 TB + 10 GB/user Infographic: How Plan 2's Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Works 1 Policy Creation Admin defines rules to find sensitive data (e.g., credit card numbers). → 2 Content Scanned System automatically scans files in SharePoint & OneDrive. → 3 Match Detected A user tries to share a file containing sensitive data externally. → 4 Action Taken Sharing is blocked, user gets a policy tip, and an alert is sent to compliance. Which Plan is Right for You? Select the profile that best describes your organization to see our recommendation. Small/Medium Business University / Department Large Enterprise Regulated Industry (Finance, Health) Our Recommendation: Plan 1 Ideal for organizations focused on collaboration and efficiency without heavy compliance needs. Best Value: Delivers the full core SharePoint experience at a lower cost. Sufficient Storage: 1 TB of OneDrive storage is ample for most users. Our Recommendation: Plan 2 A necessary investment for enterprises with strict compliance, legal, and data protection requirements. Critical Compliance: Unlocks eDiscovery, Legal Hold, and DLP for risk management. Scalable Storage: Essential for users who work with massive files (video, research data). Section 4: Financial Analysis & Pricing While standalone plans exist, the best value is often found in Microsoft 365 bundles. Here's a visual breakdown of the costs as of August 2025. Note: Prices shown are per user/month with an annual commitment paid annually. A ~5% premium may apply for monthly payments. Interactive TCO Calculator Estimate your annual Total Cost of Ownership. Adjust the sliders to match your organization's scale and operational costs. Number of Users: 500 IT Admin Hourly Rate ($): 75 Annual IT Hours for Plan 2 Features: 100 Estimated Annual Cost SharePoint Plan 1 $30,000 Based purely on license cost. SharePoint Plan 2 $67,500 $60,000 (Licenses) + $7,500 (IT Overhead) Cost Difference $37,500 This is the annual premium for advanced compliance and storage features. Section 6: Beyond the License: Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) The sticker price of a license is only part of the story. For Plan 2, the true TCO must include the "hidden" operational costs associated with managing its advanced features, as illustrated in the calculator above. Administrative Overhead Managing "unlimited" storage isn't automatic. IT staff must actively monitor usage, manually increase quotas, and open support tickets with Microsoft. This consumes valuable time and resources. Specialized Expertise Effectively using DLP and eDiscovery requires specialized knowledge. Your organization may need to invest in training for existing staff or hire dedicated compliance officers to configure policies and manage legal cases within Microsoft Purview. Section 7: Real-World Scenarios in Detail Let's see how these plans work in practice for different types of organizations. The Marketing Agency (Plan 1) A 60-person agency uses Plan 1 via M365 Business Standard. They create a SharePoint Team Site for each client to manage project files and campaign assets. A central Communication Site serves as their intranet for company news. The core features are perfect for their collaboration-heavy workflow. The Financial Services Firm (Plan 2) A wealth management firm requires Plan 2 for FINRA compliance. Their compliance team places indefinite Legal Holds on all advisor accounts to ensure no data is ever permanently deleted. DLP policies are configured to automatically block emails containing client account numbers from being sent externally, preventing data leaks. Section 8: SharePoint's Role in the M365 Ecosystem SharePoint doesn't operate in a silo. It's the foundational content layer for many other Microsoft 365 services, a role that is identical across both plans. Microsoft Teams Files shared in a Team channel are stored in a SharePoint site. + OneDrive Provides personal storage, while SharePoint handles shared team content. + Power Platform Acts as a data source for Power Apps and a trigger for Power Automate flows. Section 9: The Decision Framework Your choice boils down to a few key questions. If your answer to the first two is 'yes', Plan 2 isn't just an option—it's a requirement. 1. Compliance & Legal Needs? Do you operate in a regulated industry or frequently face litigation? If you need data retention policies and legal hold, you need Plan 2. 2. High-Risk Sensitive Data? Do you handle critical intellectual property or PII? Plan 2's automated Data Loss Prevention is a vital security control. 3. Extreme Storage Requirements? Do your users consistently exceed 1 TB of personal storage? Plan 2 provides the necessary scalability, but requires IT management. 4. IT Expertise & Resources? Is your IT/compliance team equipped to manage advanced Purview features? If not, the cost of Plan 2 may not be justified if you can't leverage its tools. Microsoft SharePoint is one of the most powerful web-based CMS that offers browser-based productivity tools. It is designed as a cloud-based SaaS service that lets your organization share, manage, and collaborate on the content, knowledge base, and other ‘line of business applications’ LoB. This can be an excellent option to enhance teamwork within your organization, getting information rather quickly and faster and collaborating with your teams rather efficiently. Related: OneDrive for Business Plan 1 vs Plan 2 – Feature comparison SharePoint Online is a subscription-based service that lets you share the content across your organization in a cloud-based environment. In fact, the term Online has recently been added to what was earlier known merely as SharePoint which was predominately an on-premise software. The SharePoint Online tool comes with two different subscription plans. Microsoft has recently done away with the fancy nomenclature and has been using just the naming in the form of SharePoint Online Plan 1 and SharePoint Online Plan 2. How do the two plans compare against one another? Let us check out the differences between Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 1 and Microsoft SharePoint Plan 2. Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 1 – An Overview The Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 1 is designed for the small scale and medium-sized organizations. It packs in both SharePoint and OneDrive as part of the package. The plan is available at $5.00 per user per month with the annual commitment. You get access to a host of features as part of SharePoint Online Plan 1 – The plan provides 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage per user. It enables your users to share the files seamlessly and securely within or outside the organization. You can sync the local copies of your documents for offline viewing. You can also edit them on PCs and Mac. You can co-author the files and documents using your familiar Microsoft apps. The users would be able to organize the content and manage it efficiently libraries and lists. You would be able to use features such as metadata, retention policies, and record management. The plan lets you share files seamlessly between SharePoint and OneDrive. Comfortable people search and fully indexed documents when needed. Availability of mobile apps for an “on the go” work options. You have access to SharePoint and OneDrive mobile apps on Android, iOS, and Windows. FastTrack deployment support. A 24×7 support both on the web and phone. The plan is made available as part of the commercial license. SharePoint Online Plan 1 lets you access to enterprise features with limited accessibility. You can view Visio diagrams and visit the access-based webpages. The SharePoint Online Plan 1 also enables you to see the embedded excel content and data insights within the content. The plan also allows you to create and fill in and submit the InfoPath forms. Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 2 – An Introduction Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 2 is designed for use with large-scaled organizations and enterprises. It provides you access to a full-featured SharePoint that has all the capabilities required for an enterprise. Plan 2 is available at $10 per user per month. The SharePoint Online Plan 2 comes with all the features available on Plan 1 and offers you a few additional features. Apart from what we have covered under the SharePoint Online Plan 1 above, plan 2 comes with the following features – Unlimited access to cloud storage. Unlike the 1 TB limit per user on plan 1, every user will get access to unlimited cloud storage on Plan 2. A high degree of customized search options that offer you an exciting choice of enterprise search compatibility. You would be able to find your content in an electronic format. This can be an excellent option if you are looking to use some of this content for legal or litigation purposes. It can also be a good option for auditing purposes where you may need to have access to the data in an electronic format. The SharePoint Online Plan 2 also provides you access to advanced DLP capabilities. This is extremely useful for protecting, monitoring, and identifying sensitive data. The In-Place holds is yet another best option available on Plan 2 to help you safeguard the content from being deleted or editing. The SharePoint Online Plan 2 provides complete access to enterprise features. You would be able to create and view your Visio diagrams. It also lets you build and execute Access-based apps. The ability to create Excel embedded graphs and create or publish (and fill in) and submit the InfoPath forms. The Comparison: SharePoint Online Plan 1 vs SharePoint Online Plan 2 Having gone through the basic concepts and features offered by SharePoint Online Plan 1 and SharePoint Online Plan 2, it would be apt enough to give serious thought to the feature comparison between the two. A tabulated comparison would be one of the best options to assist you in picking the best features on either of the plans and choose the right one based on your individual preferences. Features and particulars SharePoint Online Plan 1 SharePoint Online Plan 2 Access to all Team sites Yes Yes Enterprise features Yes, only viewing permissions on Access, InfoPath Forms, Excel, and Visio Services Yes, creating and editing along with viewing permissions Access, InfoPath Forms, Excel, and Visio Services Office Web apps support View only View and edit App Catalog and Marketplace Yes, available Yes, available External Sharing options Yes, available Yes, available Search Compatibility Basic and standard search Basic, standard and Enterprise search Content management Yes, available Yes, available Record management Yes, available Yes, available E-discovery, ACM, Compliance Not available Yes, available Business Intelligence services Not available Excel Services, PowerPivot, PowerView Scorecards & Dashboards Not available Not available Which one should you go with? Well, the choice of the SharePoint Online plan would be dependent on the actual enterprise requirements you may have. You would find that if you are a small scale or a medium-sized organization, you would be okay with the SharePoint Online Plan 1. Unless you need the high end and full-scale enterprise solutions, you would not need to opt for Plan 2. Plan 2, on the other hand, is specially designed for large-scale organizations and enterprises. It packs in a wide range of enterprise solutions. The above discussion and the tabulated comparison chart here should help you pick the best options based on your individual needs. More on Microsoft 365 Plans: Microsoft 365 Apps for Business vs Enterprise Microsoft 365 Business Basic vs Standard vs Premium Comparing Microsoft Visio Plan 1 vs Plan 2 Microsoft Project Plan 1 vs 3 vs Plan 5 Disclaimer: The Questions and Answers provided on https://gigxp.com are for general information purposes only. 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DEEP DIVE ANALYSIS SharePoint Online Plan 1 vs. Plan 2: The Definitive Guide for August 2025 It's not just about features; it's about strategy. We break down the critical differences in compliance, storage, and cost to help you make the right choice. Published: August 20, 2025 In This Article Section 1: The Common Ground - Core Capabilities Section 2: The Strategic Divide - Key Differentiators Section 3: Interactive Tool - Which Plan Fits You? Section 4: Financial Analysis & Pricing Charts Section 5: Interactive TCO Calculator Section 6: Beyond the License: Total Cost of Ownership Section 7: Real-World Scenarios in Detail Section 8: SharePoint's Role in the M365 Ecosystem Section 9: Conclusion & Decision Framework Section 1: The Common Ground of SharePoint Online Before diving into the differences, let's be clear: Plan 1 is not a "lite" product. Both plans are built on the same powerful platform, offering identical day-to-day user experiences for core collaboration and content management. Core Content Management Robust document libraries, comprehensive version control, real-time co-authoring, and secure file sharing are standard in both plans. Intranet & Collaboration Hubs Build vibrant Team Sites for projects and stunning Communication Sites for company-wide news, regardless of your plan. Universal Limit: Both plans share a 250 GB max file upload size and support up to 30 million files per library. Automation Ready: Both plans integrate fully with Power Automate, replacing legacy SharePoint alerts (retiring July 2026) for modern, powerful workflow automation. Section 2: The Strategic Divide: Core Differentiators The choice to upgrade is driven by three critical areas: advanced compliance, enterprise search, and scalable storage. Infographic: OneDrive Storage Explained Plan 1 1 TB Fixed Personal Storage vs. Plan 2: The "Unlimited" Journey 1 TB Default → 5 TB Admin Increase → 25 TB Support Ticket → 25 TB+ SharePoint Sites "Unlimited" is an administrator-managed process, not an automatic allocation. Search & Content Discovery: Standard vs. Enterprise Plan 1: Modern User-Centric Search Leverages Microsoft Search to deliver personalized, contextual results from across a user's M365 world. It's powerful for individual productivity but offers limited administrative customization. Plan 2: Enterprise-Grade Search Control Includes all standard search features plus advanced admin controls. Manage the search schema, create custom result sources, and tailor the experience for eDiscovery, ensuring precise, defensible information retrieval. Feature SharePoint Plan 1 SharePoint Plan 2 Per-User OneDrive Storage 1 TB (Fixed) Up to 25 TB+ (Tiered) Data Loss Prevention (DLP) ❌ No ✅ Yes eDiscovery & Legal Hold ❌ No ✅ Yes (with Preservation Hold Library) Advanced Search Admin ❌ No ✅ Yes Pooled Tenant Storage 1 TB + 10 GB/user 1 TB + 10 GB/user Infographic: How Plan 2's Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Works 1 Policy Creation Admin defines rules to find sensitive data (e.g., credit card numbers). → 2 Content Scanned System automatically scans files in SharePoint & OneDrive. → 3 Match Detected A user tries to share a file containing sensitive data externally. → 4 Action Taken Sharing is blocked, user gets a policy tip, and an alert is sent to compliance. Which Plan is Right for You? Select the profile that best describes your organization to see our recommendation. Small/Medium Business University / Department Large Enterprise Regulated Industry (Finance, Health) Our Recommendation: Plan 1 Ideal for organizations focused on collaboration and efficiency without heavy compliance needs. Best Value: Delivers the full core SharePoint experience at a lower cost. Sufficient Storage: 1 TB of OneDrive storage is ample for most users. Our Recommendation: Plan 2 A necessary investment for enterprises with strict compliance, legal, and data protection requirements. Critical Compliance: Unlocks eDiscovery, Legal Hold, and DLP for risk management. Scalable Storage: Essential for users who work with massive files (video, research data). Section 4: Financial Analysis & Pricing While standalone plans exist, the best value is often found in Microsoft 365 bundles. Here's a visual breakdown of the costs as of August 2025. Note: Prices shown are per user/month with an annual commitment paid annually. A ~5% premium may apply for monthly payments. Interactive TCO Calculator Estimate your annual Total Cost of Ownership. Adjust the sliders to match your organization's scale and operational costs. Number of Users: 500 IT Admin Hourly Rate ($): 75 Annual IT Hours for Plan 2 Features: 100 Estimated Annual Cost SharePoint Plan 1 $30,000 Based purely on license cost. SharePoint Plan 2 $67,500 $60,000 (Licenses) + $7,500 (IT Overhead) Cost Difference $37,500 This is the annual premium for advanced compliance and storage features. Section 6: Beyond the License: Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) The sticker price of a license is only part of the story. For Plan 2, the true TCO must include the "hidden" operational costs associated with managing its advanced features, as illustrated in the calculator above. Administrative Overhead Managing "unlimited" storage isn't automatic. IT staff must actively monitor usage, manually increase quotas, and open support tickets with Microsoft. This consumes valuable time and resources. Specialized Expertise Effectively using DLP and eDiscovery requires specialized knowledge. Your organization may need to invest in training for existing staff or hire dedicated compliance officers to configure policies and manage legal cases within Microsoft Purview. Section 7: Real-World Scenarios in Detail Let's see how these plans work in practice for different types of organizations. The Marketing Agency (Plan 1) A 60-person agency uses Plan 1 via M365 Business Standard. They create a SharePoint Team Site for each client to manage project files and campaign assets. A central Communication Site serves as their intranet for company news. The core features are perfect for their collaboration-heavy workflow. The Financial Services Firm (Plan 2) A wealth management firm requires Plan 2 for FINRA compliance. Their compliance team places indefinite Legal Holds on all advisor accounts to ensure no data is ever permanently deleted. DLP policies are configured to automatically block emails containing client account numbers from being sent externally, preventing data leaks. Section 8: SharePoint's Role in the M365 Ecosystem SharePoint doesn't operate in a silo. It's the foundational content layer for many other Microsoft 365 services, a role that is identical across both plans. Microsoft Teams Files shared in a Team channel are stored in a SharePoint site. + OneDrive Provides personal storage, while SharePoint handles shared team content. + Power Platform Acts as a data source for Power Apps and a trigger for Power Automate flows. Section 9: The Decision Framework Your choice boils down to a few key questions. If your answer to the first two is 'yes', Plan 2 isn't just an option—it's a requirement. 1. Compliance & Legal Needs? Do you operate in a regulated industry or frequently face litigation? If you need data retention policies and legal hold, you need Plan 2. 2. High-Risk Sensitive Data? Do you handle critical intellectual property or PII? Plan 2's automated Data Loss Prevention is a vital security control. 3. Extreme Storage Requirements? Do your users consistently exceed 1 TB of personal storage? Plan 2 provides the necessary scalability, but requires IT management. 4. IT Expertise & Resources? Is your IT/compliance team equipped to manage advanced Purview features? If not, the cost of Plan 2 may not be justified if you can't leverage its tools.
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