Patra vs Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Exchange Online
Microsoft 365 Business Basic costs US$7.00 and email-only Exchange Online (Plan 1) US$4.00 per user per month, paid yearly. Patra is email only: US$49 a year for 25 GB shared by everyone, plus applicable tax. Choose Microsoft 365 for office apps, meetings and big personal mailboxes; choose Patra for email without a per-person fee.
Last checked , against Microsoft’s own pricing and documentation pages. Microsoft prices are its US list prices, in US dollars.
The quick verdict, side by side.
Microsoft 365 here means Business Basic, its plan with email plus web and mobile apps, and Exchange Online (Plan 1), its email-only plan.
| At a glance | Microsoft 365 | Patra |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams that want email together with office apps, file storage, chat and video meetings. | Teams that want business email on their own domain, at one price for everyone. |
| Price for 5 people for a year | US$420 on Business Basic (US$7.00 per user per month, paid yearly), or US$240 on Exchange Online (Plan 1) at US$4.00. | US$49 for everyone on the 25 GB plan, if each person keeps up to 5 GB, plus applicable tax. |
| Storage | Set per person. Business Basic: 150 GB of mail storage (a primary mailbox plus a 50 GB archive) and 1 TB of OneDrive. Exchange Online (Plan 1): a 50 GB mailbox plus a 50 GB archive. | One pool for the whole account: 10, 25 or 50 GB. Any mailbox can have its own limit. More storage on request. |
| Mailboxes | A paid licence for each person with a mailbox, up to 300 users on business plans. Shared mailboxes need no licence up to 50 GB. | Unlimited within fair use (up to 1,000 mailboxes and 100 domains). Adding people doesn’t change the price. |
| Aliases | Up to about 300 addresses per mailbox on business plans, or 400 on Exchange Online plans, plus distribution groups. | Aliases, groups and a catch-all, at no extra cost. |
| AI | Copilot Chat at no extra cost. Copilot in the apps is an add-on, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, at US$21.00 per user per month, paid yearly (US$18.00 for the first year for eligible existing customers who buy by 31 December 2026). | Read-only AI assistant access to your admin console, for AI apps that support custom connectors (MCP). No AI writing or summaries in webmail. |
| Automations | Inbox rules for each person, up to 300 mail flow rules for the organisation, and Power Automate cloud flows on Business Basic. | Built in: Telegram and Slack messages, signed webhooks, forwards, automatic replies and folders. 1,000, 3,000 or 10,000 runs a month, by plan. |
| Reselling and partner branding | Resale through Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) programme; each customer accepts the Microsoft Customer Agreement. Microsoft 365 Lighthouse, for managing customers, has no additional cost. | Partner pools from 75 GB, prices on request. Your name, logo, colour and support address on clients’ admin console, sign-in and setup pages and the emails we send them. Webmail and server names still show Patra (details). |
| Free trial | One month of Business Basic for up to 25 users. A credit card is required, trial storage is limited, and it becomes a paid subscription when it ends. For Exchange Online, Microsoft points to a Business Standard trial. | 14 days on every plan, from approval, with no payment details. Until the first payment: 10 GB and 100 recipients a day. |
Microsoft facts come from Microsoft’s own pages, checked 16 October 2026 (see Sources). Microsoft says its prices may vary by country and currency.
What a team of five pays for a year.
A worked example, with the sums shown: five people who each keep up to 5 GB of mail. Prices checked 16 October 2026.
| Option | The sum | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic, paid yearly | 5 users × US$7.00 × 12 months | US$420 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic, monthly subscription | 5 users × US$8.40 × 12 months | US$504 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic (no Teams), paid yearly | 5 users × US$5.40 × 12 months | US$324 |
| Exchange Online (Plan 1), paid yearly | 5 users × US$4.00 × 12 months | US$240 |
| Patra 25 GB plan, billed yearly | 5 people × 5 GB = 25 GB, one price for the whole account | US$49, plus applicable tax |
Feature by feature, in detail.
| Feature | Microsoft 365 | Patra |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | A monthly subscription you can cancel at any time, or a yearly commitment paid monthly or upfront. | Billed yearly. Self-serve plans have no monthly option; partner pools can be monthly or yearly. |
| Cancelling and refunds | A 7-day cancellation window for a prorated refund once a paid subscription starts. After that, a yearly plan paid upfront isn’t refunded if cancelled early, and one paid monthly may carry penalties. | Cancel any time from Billing; the plan runs to the end of the paid period. Patra’s Refund Policy says the first payment is refunded in full if you ask within 14 days of it. |
| Users and domains | Up to 300 users across Microsoft 365 business plans. Typically up to 5,000 domains per subscription. | Up to 1,000 mailboxes and 100 domains per account, within fair use, at no extra cost. |
| How storage works | Set per mailbox, and admins can lower mailbox sizes. A shared mailbox holds up to 50 GB without a licence, for up to 25 people inside the organisation. | Shared by every mailbox. Give any mailbox its own limit from 1 GB, with warnings at 80% and 95% full. When storage is full, new mail is held until there’s space, and goes back to its sender after 3 days. |
| Message size | 35 MB to send and 36 MB to receive by default; admins can set up to 150 MB (112 MB for mail that leaves Microsoft). | Incoming messages up to 35 MB in total. Keep outgoing attachments under about 25 MB. |
| Sending limits | Each mailbox: 10,000 recipients a day, 30 messages a minute and up to 1,000 recipients per message (an admin setting). The organisation also has a daily cap on external recipients that grows with its licences, 12,006 at 10 licences. Microsoft is rolling out lower caps for new organisations: 10% of it in the first 30 days and 25% in days 31 to 60. | One daily total for the whole account: 400, 600 or 1,000 recipients, by plan. Each address can also send to 400 recipients an hour and 1,000 a day, with up to 50 per message. |
| Bulk mail | Microsoft says Exchange Online isn’t suited to bulk mailing, and points newsletters to specialist providers. | Person-to-person business mail only. Newsletters, marketing and cold outreach aren’t allowed. |
| Webmail | Outlook on the web. | Webmail in any browser, with search, folders and colour tags, filters, signatures and templates, out of office and 27 languages. Address books live in webmail and don’t sync to phone contacts apps. |
| Mail apps | Outlook for iOS and Android, Exchange ActiveSync, IMAP and POP. IMAP and POP apps must sign in with OAuth, and security defaults turn IMAP and POP off. | Any IMAP and SMTP mail app, with setup pages for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Outlook and Thunderbird, and an Apple settings profile. No POP3 or Exchange ActiveSync. |
| Desktop Outlook | With Business Basic or Exchange Online, Outlook for Windows or Mac must first be licensed with an account that includes the Microsoft 365 desktop apps. | Setup guides for new and classic Outlook for Windows and for Outlook for Mac, over IMAP. |
| Office apps, files and meetings | Business Basic: web and mobile Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, Teams with meetings for up to 300 people, 1 TB of OneDrive per person, and SharePoint. Exchange Online (Plan 1) is email only. | Not included. Patra is email only, with no office apps, file storage, video meetings or chat. |
| Integrations | The Microsoft Graph API, Power Automate cloud flows on Business Basic, and apps from thousands of vendors in the Microsoft 365 store. | Signed webhooks for Zapier, Pabbly Connect, Make, n8n or your own code (those tools may need a paid plan of their own for webhook triggers), and messages to Telegram and Slack. |
| Sign-in security | Multifactor authentication is included. Security defaults, on for new organisations, require it and block older sign-in methods. Conditional Access needs Microsoft Entra ID P1, which Business Basic doesn’t include. | Two-step sign-in for admins (authenticator app, with backup codes) and for mailboxes (authenticator app, without backup codes). Mail apps then use app passwords. |
| Filtering and protection | Spam and malware filtering, URL time-of-click protection (added to Business Basic in 2026), Purview Message Encryption (Basic) and S/MIME. | Spam and phishing filtering on all incoming mail. Mail that claims to come from your domain but fails DMARC goes to Junk, and sending pauses automatically if bounces or spam reports climb. |
| Domain authentication | For your own domain, an admin publishes two CNAME records and turns on DKIM signing. Microsoft also recommends DMARC. | Mail you send is DKIM-signed for your domain, with SPF and DMARC. The admin console lists the exact records in your DNS host’s words and checks each one. |
| Admin tools | The Microsoft 365 admin center and Exchange admin center, PowerShell, role-based permissions, message trace, usage reports and Purview Audit (Standard). | An admin console with CSV bulk add (up to 100 people a file), setup links, per-mailbox limits, owner and admin roles, an audit log of admin actions that can’t be edited, and a delivery dashboard. |
| Compliance tools | Business Basic and Exchange Online (Plan 1) don’t include litigation hold or In-Place Hold, and Business Basic doesn’t include Purview data loss prevention. Business Premium and Exchange Online (Plan 2) include them. | Patra is in early access and holds no third-party security certifications. Its Security page lists the measures it runs. |
| Backups and recovery | Single item recovery, and recovery of deleted mailboxes and items. | Backups every 6 hours, kept 35 days, plus point-in-time recovery for 14 days. A deleted mailbox can be restored for 30 days. |
| Moving mail in | Tools for moving from Exchange, from IMAP services (email only), from Google Workspace (mail, contacts and rules) and from PST files. | Each person imports their own mail over IMAP, with ready-made settings for Gmail and Google Workspace, Zoho, Yahoo Mail, Fastmail and others. Mail from Microsoft 365 is moved by dragging folders in a desktop app. |
| Support | Standard support is included, with English technical support by phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Paid support plans add more advanced technical help. | Email support on every plan, at hello@trypatra.com, and a help centre with step-by-step guides. No phone or chat support. |
| Where data is kept | Based on the country given at sign-up. The admin center shows where data is, and Multi-Geo and Advanced Data Residency are add-on subscriptions. | The Subprocessors page lists each provider Patra uses, what it does and where it processes data. |
| Leaving | Microsoft advises saving your data before you cancel. After that, admins can reach it in a limited-function account for 90 days. | Export mail at any time with any IMAP mail app, and contacts as a vCard file. Your domain stays yours, and mailboxes can be restored for 30 days after closing. |
Microsoft facts: Microsoft’s plan and pricing pages and its service descriptions on Microsoft Learn, checked 16 October 2026. Patra facts: this site’s pricing, features, security and help pages. See Sources.
Which one fits your team?
Good to know about Microsoft 365
Good to know about Patra
More comparisons
See all seven providers side by side, or compare Patra with Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, MXroute, Fastmail and Proton Mail.
Switching from Microsoft 365 to Patra.
Set Patra up next to Microsoft 365. Nothing changes for your mail until you switch your MX record.
Six steps, in this order
Microsoft doesn’t let other services sign in with a password, so old mail moves through a desktop app.
Questions, answered.
Something else? Write to hello@trypatra.com.
How much does Microsoft 365 Business Basic cost in 2026?
US$7.00 per user per month on an annual subscription, paid yearly, or US$8.40 per user per month on a monthly subscription. Those are Microsoft’s US list prices on 16 October 2026, and Microsoft says prices may vary by country and currency. Business Basic cost US$6.00 before 1 July 2026; existing customers pay the new price from their first renewal after that date.
What’s the difference between Business Basic and Exchange Online (Plan 1)?
Exchange Online (Plan 1) is email only: US$4.00 per user per month, paid yearly, with a 50 GB mailbox and a 50 GB archive. Business Basic, at US$7.00, adds Teams, 1 TB of OneDrive, SharePoint and web and mobile Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with 150 GB of mail storage per user, including a 50 GB archive. Neither includes the desktop office apps, and Microsoft says desktop Outlook must first be licensed with an account that includes them.
Is Patra cheaper than Microsoft 365?
For email alone, it can be. Five people who each keep up to 5 GB of mail fit Patra’s 25 GB plan at US$49 a year, plus tax; the same team pays US$420 a year for Business Basic or US$240 for Exchange Online (Plan 1). Microsoft’s price buys much more storage and sending per person (10,000 recipients a day per mailbox, against 600 for the whole Patra account), and Business Basic adds office apps, Teams and OneDrive.
Does Patra charge per user?
No. Patra charges one price per account, by storage: US$35, US$49 or US$79 a year for 10, 25 or 50 GB shared by everyone, plus applicable tax. Mailboxes and domains are unlimited within fair use (up to 1,000 mailboxes and 100 domains), so adding people doesn’t change the price.
Can I use Outlook with Patra?
Yes. Outlook connects to Patra over IMAP and SMTP, and Patra has setup guides for new and classic Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, and Outlook on iPhone and Android. Exchange ActiveSync isn’t available, and contacts stay in Patra webmail rather than syncing to your phone.
How many emails can I send a day with Microsoft 365 or Patra?
On Microsoft 365, each mailbox can send to up to 10,000 recipients a day and 30 messages a minute, and the whole organisation has a daily cap on external recipients that grows with its licences (12,006 at 10 licences). On Patra, the whole account shares a daily total of 400, 600 or 1,000 recipients, depending on the plan, and each address can send to 400 an hour and 1,000 a day. Neither is meant for newsletters or bulk mail.
Can I resell Microsoft 365 or Patra to my clients?
Microsoft 365 is resold through Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider programme, either through a distributor or as a direct-bill partner, and each customer accepts the Microsoft Customer Agreement. Patra partners get one pool for all their clients, from 75 GB, with prices on request, and their name, logo, colour and support address appear on clients’ admin console, sign-in page, setup pages and the emails Patra sends them. Webmail, web addresses and server names still show Patra.
How do I switch from Microsoft 365 to Patra?
Set up Patra next to Microsoft 365: add your domain, the DNS records and your people, then switch your MX record when everyone is ready. Patra’s import can’t sign in to Microsoft 365, so each person moves old mail by dragging folders across in a desktop app such as Outlook or Apple Mail. Patra’s switching guide has every step.
Sources
Last checked . Microsoft facts come only from Microsoft’s own pages: microsoft.com, Microsoft Learn and the Exchange Team Blog. Prices are Microsoft’s US list prices in US dollars, per user per month.
Patra facts come from this site: Pricing, Features, Partners, Security, Switch to Patra, Move your old mail, Set up email on phones and computers, Storage, limits and fair use, Two-step sign-in, Export your mail or close your account, Subprocessors, the Acceptable Use Policy and the Refund Policy.
Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint and Copilot are trademarks of their owner; we are not affiliated.
Product names are trademarks of their owners. Patra isn’t affiliated with them.
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