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How to sign up for a Microsoft 365 for business plan - Admin Help

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When you sign up for a Microsoft 365 for business plan, your team can begin using the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other apps in Microsoft 365. You can sign up and get started with a Microsoft 365 for business plan in three easy steps.

Check out our small business content on Small business help & learning.

For video tutorials, visit Microsoft 365 small business help on YouTube.

Step 1. Choose a Microsoft 365 for business plan

Before you start a new subscription, put some thought into the plan you sign up for. Which plan you choose depends on your specific needs. If you don’t know which plan is right for your organization, the Microsoft 365 plan chooser can help you decide. The plan chooser makes recommendations based on your answers to questions like the size of your business, your field of work, the devices you use, and what kind of features, IT support, and security you're looking for.

If you need extra help with deciding which plan is right for you, sales consultants are available to answer your questions. Go to the Plans and pricing page and select one of the contact support options listed on the side of the page.

Watch: Choose a Microsoft 365 subscription

Check out this video and others on our YouTube channel.

If you found this video helpful, check out the complete Microsoft 365 training series for small businesses.

Step 2. Sign up for a free trial

When you’re ready to sign up, go to the Plans and pricing page to choose the plan that you want to try. After your one month free trial ends, your paid subscription begins and you’re automatically charged the applicable subscription fee.

You can cancel your free trial at any time to stop future charges. To cancel a free trial, turn off recurring billing. You can continue using Microsoft 365 until the end of the free trial. If you don't turn off recurring billing, your payment method is automatically charged after your free trial ends.

Watch: Sign up for Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Information we ask for when you sign up

When you sign up for a new subscription, we ask you for the following information.

  • Address and contact information

    • Country—The country/region where you plan to use the services. You can’t change the country/region later, even during the sign-up process. If you enter the wrong country/region, you must restart the sign-up wizard.

    • Email and phone number—We ask for your contact information so we can contact you about your subscription. For example, if you forget your password, we use this information to you reset it. We also send your billing information to this email address.

      Note

      The email address you enter here is different from your Microsoft 365 email address (your sign-in name). Because this is where we also send your billing information, we recommend that you use an e-mail address that's appropriate for receiving business email.

  • A username—The username you provide becomes your initial Microsoft 365 email address, just to get you started quickly, and is the email address that you use to sign in. For example, if your business name is Fourth Coffee, you might choose [email protected] for your username.

    Most people add their own custom domain shortly after they sign up so they can start receiving email at that address. For example, if you have a custom domain named fourthcoffee.com, you can set up your email address as [email protected].

  • Payment information—You can pay for your subscription with a credit card.

Step 3. Set up your new subscription

The steps to set up your new subscription vary depending on the Microsoft 365 for business plan that you signed up for. To learn how to set up your new subscription, see one of the following articles:

Related content

Microsoft 365 for business training videos (link page)