Why are basic security features locked behind expensive tiers?
Essential protections like conditional access and geo-blocking are restricted to premium licensing tiers rather than being included in standard packages. This forces organizations to pay extra for fundamental safeguards or accept lower security baselines, making it difficult to implement basic location-based policies for clients without expensive upgrades.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Upgrading clients to higher-tier bundles like Microsoft 365 Business Premium
- 2Using on-premise Active Directory and ADFS to federate authentication
- 3Relying on restrictive out-of-the-box security defaults
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Conditional Access is like having to pay extra for a packet filtering firewall on your router.”source ↗
“Unless you pay for premium you actually get less security than if you just used on prem AD and ADFS to federate.”source ↗
“trying to explain to clients why they can't have basic location-based policies without upgrading gets old fast.”source ↗
“Microsoft gatekeeping basic geo-blocking behind P1/Business Premium in 2026 feels like a tax on fundamental security.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Why do restaurants charge extra for basic sides and additions?
- 3Why does software installation fail on secure systems?
- 5Why are service fees so expensive for tiny repairs?
- 2How to protect a home network from AI cyber threats
- 3Why is security software generating so many false alerts?
- 2Why can't I talk to a real person on enterprise software support?