Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is what you get when you want email hosting that ain't cutting corners. It's $6 per user every month, and that price is sticking. None of that bait-and-switch nonsense where they get you cheap then jack it up later. You got Exchange handling your mail with a custom domain, plus a fat 50GB mailbox and 1TB of OneDrive storage. The basic plan gives you web and mobile versions of Office, but step up to Business Standard at $12.50 a month if you want those desktop apps too.

Now Exchange itself is still the king when it comes to handling shared mailboxes, calendars, and all those corporate policies. Stuff like distribution lists and retention policies just work, which ain't something you can say for every provider out there. Outlook on Windows is still a solid bet, despite what some haters say. Compliance and eDiscovery features are on point too, so if you gotta worry about keeping your data in line, this setup got you covered.

But let's not pretend everything's perfect here. The admin centers are like a bad trip through a maze, with overlapping sections that make your head spin. Pricing and SKUs seem to change more often than I change my socks, and just when you think you got it all figured out, they raise prices and start bundling Copilot onto plans. Plus, the 2024 Outlook redesign broke a bunch of old workflows, so if you loved your COM add-ins, well, it's time to say goodbye. But if you're managing a team and need email that's reliable, this is where you should look, even with the headaches.