Exchange Online or Outlook.com, what is the difference?
Outlook.com is free Microsoft personal mail, Exchange Online is business mail infrastructure. Same Outlook app, the similarity ends there.
Try this first
- 1Outlook.com gets you @outlook.com or @hotmail.com. No custom domain, no shared mailboxes, no MDM, no DLP, no SLA. Not built for business.
- 2Exchange Online gets you mail on your own domain, shared mailboxes, distribution lists, retention, archive, anti-phishing, audit log. Part of Microsoft 365 Business or as a standalone Exchange Online Plan.
- 3Confusing: the Outlook app on Windows, Mac and iOS works for both. The account settings show which server it hits.
- 4Still invoicing from @outlook.com with half the staff on personal mailboxes for work? Migrate to Exchange Online on a real business domain now. Owning the domain also helps deliverability.
When to bring us in
Personal-Outlook to business Exchange Online we usually finish in an evening. Customers and history come along, no loss.
See also
- Outlook crashes or freezes on large attachmentsUsually the mailbox cache is the culprit, not Outlook itself. Shrinking or relocating usually helps within ten minutes.
- Teams: they cannot hear me, or I hear nothingIn our experience Teams usually picked the wrong audio device after a Windows update or a new headset.
- OneDrive has stopped syncingThe cloud icon is grey or has a warning. Locally changed files are not showing up for colleagues.
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