Which is better and why – Office 365 or Hosted Exchange?

Are you confused about which email client to cater to your business needs Office365 or Hosted exchange? Do not worry you have landed on the perfect article. After the end of this article, you will be educated enough so that you can choose the best product for your enterprise.

Let us take an eye upon both, before going for Office 365 or Hosted Exchange.

Office 365

Office 365 is launched in 2011. It has similar features to word with increased security. Office 365 comes in various packages like Publisher, Planner, Exchange Yammer, MS Teams, etc. It is a cloud-first application that comes in various subscription models.

Hosting Exchange

Hosting Exchange is a kind of email solution provided by a third party to small and medium scale enterprises. These Small Scale Enterprises want their email provider but do not want any headache about setting up data centers and servers. So, in that case, people buy hosting exchanges from various sources. Microsoft also provides its hosting servers.

What to choose Hosting exchange or Office 365?

Office 365 contains all the subsidiaries like Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc. Office 365 is owned by Microsoft and on the other hand, Hosting Exchange can be owned by any third party. Microsoft also has its Hosting Exchange. Without taking much time let us take a look at the difference between Office 365 and Hosting exchange based on several points.

Office 365 vs Hosting Exchange

S.NO.	Basis for Comparison	Office 365	Hosting Exchange
1	Availability	It is available in the Tenant cloud that is already defined by Microsoft. We can change and take the version acc to our need by spending some extra penny.	Available in both Single as well as Multi-Tenant cloud as the client services may vary.
2	Provider Switching	Microsoft makes it easy for the user to switch providers.	You need to first migrate your data then only you can change your provider.
3	Storing Capacity	The storage limit for the mailbox is 50GB per user ( Message Limit is 150MB)	The storage limit for the mailbox can be 100GB per user depending upon the service provider’s Message Limit is (50MB).
4	Customization	You cannot customize office 365 according to your needs.	You can fully customize Hosting Exchange based on your needs and wants.
5	Costing	It is low in cost with various features including hosting the exchange. You can buy Office 365 with Microsoft Hosting exchange or without it. The opposite can also be done.	It is almost twice as costly as Office 365.
6	Analytics	If your company depends on log analysis then you need to wait for 24 hours before getting the latest information.	You will get real-time access to log analytics.
7	Security	Office 365 is inducted with various Security credentials like SSAE 16, EU MODEL, ISA 27001 certified. Also, both HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FISMA (Federal Information Security Management Act) credentials are provided by Office 365.	Security credentials that are provided by Hosting Exchange always depend upon the service provider. But, office 365 has more of them than any service provider.
8	Productivity Tools Provided	Office 365 provides access to contacts, calendar, one drive, skype. Also, users have the privilege to get the online versions of Microsoft office software.	Hosting exchange provides access to contacts, calendars, and Emails.
9	Recovery and Maintenance	In case of data loss, recovery and maintenance can be easily done as the Microsoft servers store all the data online.	In-hosted exchange servers are privately held so you need to research before buying a Hosting Exchange which provider has the better recovery mechanism.
10	Patch and Updates	Office 365 is always coming up with regular updates and security patches.	Hosted Exchange updates according to the third-party software’s up-gradation.

Pros and Cons of both Office 365 and Hosted Exchange based on various parameters are explained through tabular format. Using office 365 Backup, you can easily take a backup of Office 365 emails into another Office 365 account. Also, you can take backup in various other email formats like Gmail, Yahoo, Live exchange, etc. You should also consider the following reasons in Office 365 or Hosted Exchange.

Main Reasons to choose Hosted Exchange over Office 365:

1. Are you an Admirer of instantaneous support?

I do not know anybody that does not need instantaneous support. If you are one of the admirers of instant support then you should choose Exchange Online while comparing between Office 365 or Hosted Exchange.

2. Do you trust Cloud technology?

If you like Cloud technology over the traditional method of On-Premises and have no issues in trusting the server then you should go for Cloud technology.

3. Real-time Information

4. Does costing affect you?

Buy cheap again and again and invest only once inexpensive tool. If the costing budget is high go for Exchange online.

Main Reasons to choose Office 365 over Hosted Exchange:

1. Collaborative Tool

If you want to get into a collaborative tool then go for Office365. It focuses on OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint that makes it easier for the staff to work with each other.

2. Suite of Products

Office 365 is a suite of products. It comes with older Microsoft features like Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint along with the latest features like cloud technology, etc.

3. Maintainance and management on your own.

If you can handle this then choose Hosted Exchange otherwise go for office 365 as IT staff is not well versed with the maintenance part on their own.

Bottom Line Office 365 or Hosted Exchange. I think you know the right answer now. No of them is 100% true to choose and both of them are not bad. It all depends upon your business need and demand. It’s like choosing between Tea and Coffee. Both are good at their place. In choosing Hosting Exchange you will get complete control over options. You can manipulate them according to your needs and wants. On the other hand in Office 365, you will get innovated newly added features and technological advancements. All you need to do is to pin down your organization’s needs and select the product accordingly.