Microsoft introduced the Agent 365 license in May (Product ID CFQ7TTBZZR6G). Effective 1 June, Microsoft updated the licensing prerequisites for Agent 365.
Licensing prerequisites for Agent 365 are as follows:
- You must have Microsoft 365 E5 if you are an enterprise customer
- You must have Microsoft Defender + Purview Suite FLW if you are a Frontline Worker
- You must have Microsoft 365 Business Premium if you are a small and medium-sized business (SMB) customer
If you are an SMB customer, you also need Defender and Purview Suite for SMB to unlock Agent 365 functionality, but these are not formal prerequisites.
As a reminder, Microsoft 365 E7 already includes Agent 365.
Customers without the prerequisite licenses may lose access to certain Agent 365 capabilities, as Microsoft describes:
Core Agent 365 functionality relies on the technical capabilities from the underlying Microsoft 365 E5 (ME5) license (or Microsoft Defender + Purview Suite FLW for Frontline Workers) to be fully enabled. If you do not have these licenses, you cannot take full advantage of core Agent 365 capabilities.
- Purview: does not provide advanced classification or auto-labeling of grounding data
- Defender: does not provide detection of local agents on endpoints, posture and runtime protection for local agents, or threat hunting and investigation for cloud agents
- Intune: does not provide controls for local agents on Windows or the ability to block OpenClaw
- Entra: Entra does not provide Entra network controls for cloud agents if the user does not have Microsoft 365 E3 (ME3) or Microsoft Entra ID P1 (IDP1). It also does not provide Identity Protection or Entra network controls for local agents. You can obtain network controls for local agents through Entra Suite or Entra standalone offerings.
You need this prerequisite to realize the full functionality and value of Agent 365.
If you are on Business Premium, the answer is different—you still need additional add-ons (Defender Suite and Purview Suite for SMB) to unblock A365 functionality.
The updated requirements are not yet reflected in the licensing prerequisites shown in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
