Licensing Visio Online

Overview

Depending on the types and sophistication of the diagrams you want to create, there are three ways to access Visio Online functionality.

Visio in Microsoft 365

Visio in Microsoft 365 is a lightweight Visio web experience aimed at casual diagrammers who need to create basic diagrams. It’s available to anyone with Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium, Office 365 E1/E3/E5 or F3, Microsoft 365 F3 or E3/E5/E7, and Microsoft 365 Apps for Business/Enterprise licenses.

You’ll also see this functionality referred to as “The Visio web app in Microsoft 365” and, if you look at Microsoft’s plan comparison documents for Enterprise and SMB, you’ll see this included feature is referred to as “Visio for the web”.

Visio Online Plan 1

Visio Online Plan 1 is a paid-for User Subscription License. Users access functionality through a web app – and thus it’s also often referred to as “Visio for the web”. As you might imagine, you’ve got a more sophisticated set of Visio tools compared to the included Visio in Microsoft 365 features.

Visio Online Plan 2

A User SL for Visio Online Plan 2 includes the functionality of Plan 1, including the right to use the web app. It also enables users to create more advanced diagrams, and to install the Visio desktop app. As you might expect, licensed users can install and activate this app on up to 5 devices.

The Visio desktop app is installed locally, and users don’t need to be connected to the internet to use it. However, licensed users must connect to the internet at least once every 30 days so that the status of their license can be checked. If a license has been removed from a user, or the Visio Online Plan 2 subscription hasn’t been renewed, then the app goes into Reduced Functionality Mode. In this mode users can open and view existing files but all features for editing or creating new diagrams are disabled.

History

Microsoft made Visio in Microsoft 365 available on June 9, 2021.