Microsoft charges per person. We charge one flat price for the whole business. Here is the honest comparison, including the places Microsoft wins.
Microsoft’s closest equivalent to our service is Exchange Online (Plan 1) — hosted business email without the Office apps. It is £3.10 per user, per month ex VAT on an annual commitment.
| Mailboxes needed | UKBOX | Exchange Online Plan 1 | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 mailboxes | £4.99/mo | £31.00/mo | £312 a year |
| 20 mailboxes | £8.99/mo | £62.00/mo | £636 a year |
All prices exclude VAT. Microsoft prices checked 30 August 2026 on microsoft.com and require an annual commitment. Our price is held for 3 full years in writing, and there is no contract.
| UKBOX | Microsoft | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | One flat price for the business | Per user, every month |
| Mailbox storage | 10–50 GB per mailbox depending on plan, pooled across the account | 50 GB per mailbox on Plan 1 |
| Office apps | Not included — email only | Included on Business Basic and above |
| Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint | Not included | Included on Business Basic and above |
| Commitment | No contract, cancel any time | Annual commitment for the listed price |
| Price stability | Held 3 years, in writing | Can change at renewal |
| Where your mail sits | Our own hardware, three UK data centres | Microsoft’s global cloud |
| Moving in | Free, done for you, mailbox counts verified | Self-service or a paid partner |
| Support | Tickets, UK humans, 8am–5pm, 365 days | Phone and web support |
Business Basic bundles the Office apps, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. We are email only. If you need the suite, Microsoft is better value than buying it separately.
Exchange Online gives 50 GB per mailbox and Microsoft’s Business plans now 100 GB. Ours give each mailbox 10–50 GB depending on plan, drawn from a shared account pool, with 10 GB top-ups at £2/month. Per person, Microsoft still offers more headroom for years of large attachments.
If your business runs on Entra ID, Intune or Microsoft security tooling, keeping email in the same tenant is usually the sensible choice.
Addresses on your own domain, working properly in Outlook and on phones, without paying for a suite of apps you already have or do not need.
Adding a tenth mailbox costs you nothing. On per-user pricing every new starter adds to the bill for as long as they are with you.
The price you join at is held for 3 full years, in writing, in our terms. No renewal jump.
We migrate every mailbox, verify the counts before anything switches, and leave your old provider untouched until you confirm it is working.
Our own hardware in London, Coventry and Maidenhead, run by us, under UK law.
Tickets answered by UK staff, 8am–5pm, 365 days a year.
For email alone, yes, substantially. Ten mailboxes cost £4.99 a month +VAT with us against £31.00 a month with Exchange Online Plan 1 at £3.10 per user. The gap widens as you add people, because our price does not change when you add a mailbox. Microsoft includes far more mailbox storage and, on Business Basic and above, the Office apps.
Yes. Our email works with Microsoft Outlook over IMAP, on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. Many customers keep their Office licences and move only the mail. Whether that saves money depends on which Microsoft plan you are on.
Starter Email gives every mailbox 10 GB, pooled to 100 GB across the account; Secure Email gives 20 GB per mailbox, pooled to 400 GB. Larger plans go up to 50 GB per mailbox and 1.5 TB per account, and 10 GB top-up blocks are £2 +VAT a month. Microsoft’s Exchange Online Plan 1 gives 50 GB per mailbox — per person Microsoft is still more generous, and if your team archives years of large attachments, that matters.
Yes, free, and we do it for you. Send us the mailbox list and the IMAP details in a ticket. We move every message and folder, verify the counts match, then agree a switchover time with you. Your Microsoft tenant stays untouched until you confirm everything is working.
No. There is no contract and you can cancel at any time. Microsoft’s listed per-user prices require an annual commitment. Our price is separately held for 3 years in writing, so it does not rise at renewal.
Ten mailboxes for £4.99 a month +VAT, twenty for £8.99. We move everything for you and nothing goes offline.
See email hosting plans