Topic hub · Try Microsoft 365 with guidance
Microsoft offers a 30-day trial itself — without a credit card. But: self-service tenant, no setup, no training, no migration advisory. The arades trial program adds that on top: tenant setup for 3 users within 48 hours, 2-hour key-user training, weekly 30-min office hours with the architect, and a written architecture recommendation at the end. Free of charge. Afterward you decide whether to adopt, extend, or shut down.
Microsoft 365 Free Trial — what Microsoft offers
Microsoft provides a free 30-day trial for all main Microsoft 365 plans. You sign up at microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/compare-all-plans with a business email address, choose a plan, and get a new tenant with the selected license for up to 25 users (depending on plan).
Bottom line: Microsoft's trial is a good first click test. For a well-informed mid-market decision with real setup, training, and migration advisory, it isn't enough on its own.
Why the arades trial program is better
The arades trial program takes Microsoft's 30-day trial as a basis and adds active engineering, training, and honest architecture advisory on top. The difference in practice:
Time investment for you: about 4 hours over 30 days — initial conversation, training, 4 weekly office hours, closing call. The rest is handled by our architects in the background.
Concretely included in the trial program
Five clearly delineated deliverables — no marketing promises, but work we do for you free of charge.
3 user mailboxes, a Teams team with channel structure, a SharePoint site, conditional access baseline (MFA + device requirements), basic DLP policy. You get tenant admin access.
Live training with the responsible architect via Teams or on-site. Content per your request — typical: Teams basics, SharePoint navigation, OneDrive sync, admin center tour, license assignment.
Four weekly 30-min sessions during the 30 days. You collect questions, we answer directly. Topics: plan comparison, migration strategy, customization options, security questions.
One use case of your choice prototyped — e.g., Teams telephony for one department, SharePoint intranet skeleton with custom branding, Intune MDM for 3 test end devices, Power Automate workflow.
At the end of the 30 days: 4–8 page recommendation. Plan choice with rationale, migration path with effort estimate, approximate license effort for full build-out, rollout steps with timeline. An honest negative recommendation is also possible.
After 30 days: adoption of the tenant into production (you pay Microsoft directly for licenses, we support the migration as a paid project) — or shut down the tenant (Microsoft deletes data after another 30 days). No obligation.
Honest negative recommendation possible: We only recommend Microsoft 365 where it really fits. If the trial shows that another collaboration platform fits your existing IT better, an industry software cloud is more sensible, or compliance reasons argue against cloud mail, we say so in the written recommendation.
Test schema · 25 users × 30 days · what to concretely check in the trial
A 25-user trial over 30 days is more than enough time to gain productive insights in four main areas. We focus on what later hurts in production — not on what's already in the Microsoft datasheet.
What you CANNOT test in the 30-day trial: Full mail migration from Exchange on-premises or Google Workspace (too complex for 30 days), hybrid identity with Microsoft Entra Connect (needs productive domain controller connectivity), real Teams telephony contract negotiations with carriers. These topics belong in implementation, not in the trial.
License options after the trial · Direct from Microsoft vs. CSP
After a successful trial, two procurement paths are open — direct purchase from Microsoft or sourcing via a CSP partner (Cloud Solution Provider). The choice affects billing, support, and license optimization.
Model license spend in advance: License Cost Calculator — per audience group, with NCE logic and frontline bundles.
Pitfalls · what gets complicated after the trial ends
Anyone who adopts the trial tenant into production has an easy path. Anyone who wants to migrate into a new tenant (e.g., because the trial domain name doesn't fit the brand or because the trial tenant is in the wrong region) runs into three typical hurdles:
Microsoft offers no native "copy tenant" function. Anyone who wants to transfer data, configuration, and identities to a new tenant needs a migration project with SharePoint Migration Tool, mailbox migration via third-party tools (e.g., BitTitan, Quest, AvePoint), and manual re-configuration of tenant settings. Effort: 4 to 12 weeks depending on data volume.
In a tenant migration, users get new UPNs (User Principal Names), new license assignments, and usually new passwords. Single sign-on to third-party systems must be re-set up, conditional access policies redefined. End devices in Microsoft Intune must be re-enrolled.
A custom domain (e.g., firma.de) cannot be verified in two tenants at the same time. Switching mail routing responsibility requires a coordinated DNS cutover — typically over a weekend. During the cutover, mail delivery delays may occur.
Practical advice: If a productive tenant in a different configuration than the trial tenant is desired, the arades trial program offers an upstream architecture decision: we set up the trial tenant in such a way that productive adoption is possible — or we use the trial only for functional evaluation and set up the productive tenant separately. Both are clean; a subsequent switch is rarely so.
Which Microsoft 365 plans are testable
In the initial conversation we clarify which plan fits your scenario. The arades trial program works with all current Microsoft 365 plans.
Business Basic (cloud apps only) · Business Standard (desktop apps + online) · Business Premium (with Intune and Defender for Business). Up to 300 users per tenant — ideal for small and medium-sized companies.
E1 (cloud apps + Teams) · E3 (desktop apps + compliance) · E5 (with Defender for Endpoint, Audio Conferencing, Phone System, Advanced Compliance). Unlimited user count — for larger companies.
F1 (cloud web only, no mailbox) · F3 (with 2 GB mailbox and Teams). For staff without a fixed workplace — production, warehouse, field service, retail.
Add-on for E3/E5/Business Standard/Premium. AI assistant in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams. In the trial program prototyped for 3 users.
Only the Office desktop apps (Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Outlook) without Exchange/SharePoint/Teams. Makes sense when mail/collaboration stays with another provider.
Microsoft Defender for Office, Intune Plan 1/2, Power BI Pro, Power Apps, Teams Phone, Audio Conferencing, Visio, Project. Testable as a prototype in the trial as needed.
Request trial guidance
Fill out the form — we'll get back to you within 1 business day to coordinate appointments. Initial conversation (30 min), tenant setup within 48 hours, then 30 days of guidance.
Further reading
Platform overview, all apps (Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Intune), license bundles, architecture options.
Detailed plan comparison, NCE strategy, frontline special licenses, CSP sourcing, discount models.
Migration from Exchange on-premises, Google Workspace, another M365 tenant. Cutover scenarios, pilot wave, big bang.
Mobile device management and endpoint security for Microsoft 365. Conditional Access, App Protection Policies.
Intranet, document libraries, team sites. Architecture patterns, governance models, hub site structures.
Analogous trial program for Microsoft Dynamics 365 — try CRM/ERP modules with guidance.
Model Microsoft 365 license spend — audience groups, frontline bundles, NCE mix with 3-year forecast.
Frequently asked questions about the Microsoft 365 trial
Yes. Microsoft offers a free 30-day trial for all main plans (Business Basic/Standard/Premium, Enterprise E1/E3/E5, Frontline F1/F3) — without a credit card. Add-ons such as Copilot for Microsoft 365 are also testable. The arades trial program adds active setup, training, and architecture advisory on top — also free of charge.
Microsoft trial = self-service, empty tenant, you configure yourself. arades trial program = active tenant setup for 3 users in 48h, 2-hour training, weekly office hours with architect, written architecture recommendation at the end.
All of them: Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, Enterprise E1, E3, E5, Frontline F1, F3, and Copilot for Microsoft 365 as an add-on. In the initial conversation we clarify which plan fits your scenario best.
Three options: (1) Adoption — tenant becomes productive, we continue the migration as a paid project. (2) Shutdown — tenant is deleted, data is lost after another 30 days of retention. (3) Extension — trial often extendable by 30 days.
Yes. We invest the architect's time free of charge because a well-guided trial often leads to an informed purchase decision — and thus later to a paid implementation project or an Application Care contract. No hidden costs, no contractual commitment in the trial.
That's a valuable outcome. We say honestly in the written recommendation if another collaboration platform fits better, industry software is more sensible, or compliance speaks against cloud mail. An honest negative recommendation at the end is common — and appreciated by clients.
About 4 hours over the 30 days: initial conversation (30 min), key-user training (2 hrs), four weekly office hours (30 min each), closing call (30 min). The rest is handled by our architects in the background.
Plan trial guidance
30-minute initial conversation — we clarify which Microsoft 365 plan fits your scenario, whether a guided trial makes sense, and which migration topics we should address up front. You'll receive an honest assessment usually within one business day.
