Office 365's Per-User Subscription Model

All Office 365 suites and stand-alone offerings are licensed under the same per-user subscription licensing model, which offers time-limited access to hosted services and on-premises desktop software along with support services.

Subscriptions Are Per User

Each user needs a User Subscription License (USL) to use the hosted services and on-premises Office Professional Plus 2010 software associated with Office 365. Licensed users may access the hosted services from any device (including multiple devices simultaneously). For subscriptions that include Office Professional Plus for Office 365, each USL entitles a user to install the Office software on up to five devices, but all five installations must be for the exclusive use of the licensed user. (Licensing rules for Office Professional Plus for Office 365 are outlined in “Office Professional Plus Subscription Offered with Office 365” on page 19 of the Aug. 2011 Update.)

Organizations can purchase USLs for third parties (nonemployees), including contractors or business partners, as long as the third party is using the software to fulfill the customer’s internal business needs.