Microsoft 365 Buying Guide: Which Office Version Should You Buy?

Microsoft Office is now greater than three a long time previous, having first launched all the best way again in 1990. That predated widespread availability of the web, so few might have predicted the affect it might have on society. 

The likes of Word, Excel and PowerPoint quickly established themselves because the go-to productiveness packages, whether or not you’re writing an article, managing a spreadsheet or making a presentation. All three have undergone enormous adjustments over time, whereas the core Office suite additionally now contains OneNote (note-taking) and Publisher (publishing). 

But as of late, Microsoft Office is synonymous with Microsoft 365, the corporate’s productiveness subscription service. Previously referred to as Office 365, a month-to-month subscription will get you entry to all 5 apps talked about above, plus Teams for communication and Outlook for electronic mail. Even extra software program is offered on skilled and business-focused plans. 

While this text is designed that can assist you determine between them, it’s far out of your solely possibility. As has at all times been the case, Microsoft continues to launch standalone variations of Office apps each few years. The newest model was launched in
2021, however except for software program patches, you received’t get any updates.

For some individuals, it’s additionally potential to entry Microsoft Office free or at a reduced charge. Here’s the whole lot you could know.

How to get Microsoft Office in your laptop computer or PC

In years passed by, one of the best (and solely) method to get Office was to purchase a CD-ROM for a one-off worth and set up it onto your PC or laptop computer. These days that may be a little bit of a faff, with many laptops not even having disc drives anymore, however it was a method to make sure you had a bodily backup.

Nowadays, Office is offered as a obtain, however you may both purchase it outright with a one time buy, or as a month-to-month subscription. There are benefits to both choices.

Any Microsoft product below the ‘365’ umbrella is subscription-based, referring to the variety of days in a yr. Any Microsoft product with out ‘365’ in its title is more likely to be a one-time buy – good in case you solely need to pay as soon as, however you received’t be capable to improve the software program with on-line updates like you may with 365 subscriptions. 

There are additionally a number of completely different variations of Office obtainable, and you must select one of the best one for you relying in your wants. It’s value noting that whereas this shopping for information covers each platform, Mac customers would possibly need to check out the particular
Office for Mac buying guide on our sister website Macworld.

First, we’ll break down Office choices in case you are shopping for for private house or pupil use, after which go on to the choices in case you are shopping for it for work or use inside a small enterprise.

Which model of Microsoft Office do you might have?

If you’re trying to improve, it’s straightforward to examine which model of Microsoft Office you might have put in. Provided you’ve downloaded all of the apps on the identical time, they need to all be working the identical model. 

For the aim of this text, we’re utilizing Microsoft Word. The course of might fluctuate barely relying in your machine and app, however it ought to nonetheless be straightforward to seek out:

1. Open the Office app of your selection. You must be offered with a house display just like the one beneath
2. From the bottom-left nook, click on ‘Account’
   
3. Under the ‘Product Information’ part, search for ‘About Word’. Here, you must see ‘Version’ adopted by a four-digit quantity
   
4. To discover out when this model was launched, a fast internet search will inform you

However, the method differs on older Office apps. In Word 2010, you could select ‘File’, then ‘Help’. The data will then be displayed on the suitable aspect of the display, as you may see beneath.

It’s completely different once more in Word 2007. Click on the spherical Microsoft Office icon within the high left after which ‘Word Options’ on the backside of the menu. Next, select ‘Resources’ – the final possibility on the left-side panel. You ought to see an ‘About’ button on the backside of the record which is able to present you extra particulars concerning the model that you just personal.

In the 2003 model, go to the ‘Help’ possibility within the high menu bar, after which the ‘About Microsoft Office Word’. In the pop-up, you will notice the MS Office World model together with the suite it belong to, just like the Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003.

Will Windows 11 include Microsoft Office?

No, it doesn’t. Windows 11 is predicted in late 2021, however Microsoft Office apps received’t be included. The key exception right here is that if you have already got a standalone model (akin to Office 2019 or Office 2021), however everybody else might want to subscribe to Microsoft 365 for entry. 

Learn extra in our separate information:
Does Windows 11 come with Microsoft Office?

Microsoft 365 (beforehand Office 365)

Microsoft’s productivity-focused subscription service was referred to as Office 365 from its preliminary launch in 2011 till 2020. Since April 2020 it’s been identified merely as ‘Microsoft 365’. However, except for the title, the one different adjustments had been
a few new features.

First up are the choices designed for the person client (i.e. in all probability you). There are three completely different choices to select from, alongside two pricing tiers for the Microsoft 365 subscription, and one model of Office Home & Student 2021 which you can purchase outright (non-subscription).

There’s additionally a particular free model for college kids and college employees which we’ll get to later. Let’s sort out Microsoft 365 first.

The predominant profit to choosing Microsoft 365 is that you just’ll get common updates for so long as you’re a subscriber, without having to leap from one model to the following each few years, and no complications about file compatibility.

You can even save your work to the cloud, just like Google Docs. Microsoft additionally throws in a couple of further advantages akin to 1TB of cloud storage and full entry to Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft 365 – Family vs Personal

Microsoft 365 has two choices: Family (beforehand Office 365 Home) for
£79.99/
US$99.99 per yr or Personal (beforehand Office 365 Personal) for
£59.99/
$69.99 per yr.

The key distinction is that Microsoft 365 Family permits as much as six customers to make use of the software program throughout a number of units at one time, whereas the Personal account is meant for a single person.

The Family possibility licenses as much as 6 individuals and presents as much as 6TB of cloud storage. In 2018, Microsoft lifted the machine restrict on Office 365 installations, which implies each Family or Personal subscribers can set up the software program on as many units as wanted.

The further £20/$30 per yr or £2/$3 per thirty days for the Family subscription is a good deal in case you select to share the subscription prices amongst mates. The yearly subscriptions prevent on two months of cost as effectively, in comparison with the £7.99/US$9.99 or £5.99/US$6.99 month-to-month charge for every subscription kind, respectively.

Microsoft 365 Family

• For 6 customers at at time throughout limitless PCs/Macs, tablets and telephones
• 1TB cloud storage per person for 6 customers (6TB complete)
• 60 minutes month-to-month Skype calls to cellular and landlines
• Ongoing entry to updates
• Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher (PC Only), Access (PC Only), OneDrive, Skype, Microsoft Teams

UK: 
£79.99 per year or £7.99 per month
US: 
$99.99 per year or $9.99 per month

Microsoft 365 Personal

• For 1 PC/Mac throughout limitless PCs/Macs, tablets and telephones
• 1TB cloud storage per person for 1 person
• 60 minutes month-to-month Skype requires 1 person
• Ongoing entry to updates
• Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher (PC Only), Access (PC Only), OneDrive, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Family Safety

UK: 
£59.99 per year or £5.99 per month
US: 
$69.99 per year or $6.99 per month

Office 365 Education – Free choices for college kids

Office 365 Education is (because the title suggests) a particular model of Microsoft 365 for college kids and college college or employees. Students and lecturers can join free internet entry to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Microsoft Teams below the Office 365 A1 plan.

Unsurprisingly, you’ll want a college electronic mail tackle or different proof of your standing to assert it. See our full article on tips on how to get
Microsoft Word for free.

There’s additionally the 
Office 365 A3 plan if you would like desktop entry to the apps, which prices £2.20/US$2.50 per thirty days for every pupil and £2.85/$3.25 for every lecturers or different member of employees. The top-tier Office 365 A5 plan, which prices £5.30/$6 per thirty days for college kids and £7.05/$8 per thirty days for lecturers, presents desktop and internet entry together with added safety features.

If you need to search for different nice pupil tech offers, try
Tech Advisor’s back to school hub. 

Office Home and Student 2021

If you would favor to pay a one-off worth,
Office Home and Student 2021 is the suitable package deal for you. You lose the automated software program updates of Microsoft 365, however meaning you may technically use the software program for years with out being tied right into a subscription.

However, there are different causes you would possibly need to persist with Microsoft 365.

You don’t get full entry to the cellular and pill apps right here (anybody can nonetheless use them to view paperwork free of charge, simply not edit or create them), there’s no cloud storage included, and also you don’t get entry to the total suite of Office packages included in Microsoft 365.

The newest full standalone launch that can be purchased now’s
Office 2021, which incorporates new options akin to a black theme in Word, new studying instruments, new charts and timelines, new transitions in PowerPoint and masses extra.

It’s essential to notice that to run Office 2021 in your PC, you will want to be working Windows 10. The performance can also be extra restricted than Microsoft 365.

• For one PC or Mac solely
• View, share and edit paperwork on-line
• Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote

UK: 
£119.99 one-off purchase
US:
 
$149.99 one-off purchase

Microsoft 365 Business

Microsoft additionally presents business-minded variations of its software program. We’re specializing in the choices for small companies right here, however Microsoft additionally presents
Enterprise plans for bigger corporations. Once once more, there’s a break up between the 365 subscription packages and the one-off buy model of Office 2021.

There are three predominant variations of Microsoft 365 Business obtainable, every providing very completely different software program packages, so ensure you choose the suitable one. Be particularly conscious about Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from
£4.50/
$6 per person per thirty days), which doesn’t really embody desktop variations of the core Office software program like Word and Excel – simply Microsoft’s on-line and cloud instruments.

Also be aware the Microsoft 365 Apps for marketing strategy (
£7.90/
US$8.25 per person per thirty days) contains each desktop and cellular model of the apps however with out the opposite productiveness instruments akin to electronic mail, calendar and Teams convention name options.

Here’s a abstract of all 4 predominant business-focused plans we’d suggest:

Microsoft 365 Business Standard

• One licence for five PCs/Macs plus 5 tablets and 5 telephones per person
• 1TB cloud storage per person
• Allows as much as 300 customers
• Ongoing entry to updates
• Desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access, OneDrive
• Web variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint

UK: 
£9.40 per user per month
US: 
$12.50 per user per month

Microsoft 365 Business Premium

• For 5 PCs/Macs plus 5 tablets and 5 telephones per person
• 1TB cloud storage per person
• Allows as much as 300 customers
• Email internet hosting with 50GB mailbox and customized area tackle
• Ongoing entry to updates
• Desktop variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access
• Access to OneDrive, Exchange, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Yammer, Skype for Business
• Web variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

UK: 
£16.60 per user per month
US: 
$22 per user per month

Microsoft 365 Business Basic

• 1TB cloud storage per person
• Email internet hosting with 50GB mailbox and customized area tackle
• Allows as much as 300 customers
• Ongoing entry to updates
• Video conferencing with as much as 250 individuals
• OneDrive, Exchange, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Yammer, Skype for Business
• Web variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote

UK: 
£4.50 per user per month (annual plan)
US: 
$5 per user per month (annual plan)

Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise

• For 5 PCs/Macs plus 5 tablets and 5 telephones per person
• 1TB cloud storage per person
• Web variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive
• Ongoing entry to updates
• Allows as much as 300 customers

UK: 
£7.90 per user per month (annual plan)
US: 
$8.25 per user per month (annual plan)

Recent worth rises

The costs of a few of Microsoft’s business and business-focused plans have just lately elevated in worth.

In an
official blog post from August 2021, Microsoft 365 Corporate VP Jared Spataro says the brand new pricing “displays the elevated worth we have now delivered to our prospects over the previous 10 years”. It’s the primary hike we’ve seen since Microsoft 365 launched as Office 365 in 2011 – the likes of Teams, OneDrive, To-Do and SharePoint have all been added since then.

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