Choosing between Microsoft 365 and Office 2021

Those who want to use the programs Word, Excel and Outlook will have to pay for it to maker Microsoft. The software maker has a number of packages for this. The differences between them are, for example, in the number of computers on which you can install the programs, in buying once or paying a subscription and of course in the costs. Microsoft makes a distinction between the Microsoft 365 and Office 2021 (formerly Office 365) packages.

Microsoft 365 works entirely over the internet. The package includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access and Teams. In addition, the user will receive free updates, the Skype program and 1 TB (thousand gigabytes) of online storage space in the OneDrive cloud service.

Each Microsoft 365 user can be signed in on up to five devices at the same time. What does that mean? In principle, there is no limit to the number of devices a user can install their package on. But the product works with a Microsoft account, which keeps track of how many devices it is active on at the same time. If you install Microsoft 365 on six PCs, for example, you can use the product on up to five of them simultaneously.

Microsoft offers two plans; Microsoft 365 Family and Microsoft 365 Personal.

• Microsoft 365 Family costs 99 euros annually or 10 euros per month. This package is for up to six users. Each user gets 1 TB of online storage space (so a total of 6 TB).
• Microsoft 365 Personal costs 69 euros annually or 7 euros per month. This package is for a maximum of one user.

Only with Microsoft 365 Family it is possible to try the package for a month for free. Around the trial version download a Microsoft account is required. Anyone with a Hotmail, Live or Outlook.com address has such an account. If you don’t have an account yet, read the article ‘Create a Microsoft account’. For the trial version, you must enter payment details: a credit card number, a PayPal account or iDEAL. Payment will start after the first free month unless you cancel within 30 days.

Please note: there is no trial version for Microsoft 365 Personal.

The Office 2021 package for Home Use and Students costs a one-off EUR 149. For that amount you can use all Office services and programs endlessly. The services and programs correspond to Microsoft 365 but there are some differences:

1. Office 2021 can only be installed on one computer. Once every 90 days you can put it on another computer, for example if the first computer breaks or when you buy a new one.
2. When you purchase Office 2021, you will only receive Word 2021, Excel 2021 and PowerPoint 2021. You will not receive any updates. Publisher, OneNote, Access, Outlook 2019 and the 1 TB OneDrive storage are not included.

The advantage of Office 2021 is that you do not have to pay a subscription. In exchange, there are fewer programs – such as the e-mail software Outlook – in the package. Another disadvantage is that you are not entitled to newer versions of the programs. You will only receive security updates, so the package will become obsolete over time.

The system requirements are the same for both Microsoft 365 products: requirements Microsoft 365. For Office 2021: requirements Office 2021.

Every Microsoft account holder gets 5 GB of free cloud storage as standard. A big advantage of storing in the cloud is that you can access your files from any computer with internet. Even when, for example, you are with family or are on holiday far away. In addition, you can collaborate on a document with others. All you need to do is log in to your account.

Also included with a Microsoft account are free online versions of Word and Excel. These versions work in all browsers, they cannot be installed on the PC. For some people, those free versions are enough to work with. More in Getting Started with Word Online and Getting Started with Excel Online.

In addition, there is the LibreOffice package with programs that are very similar to those of Microsoft, but they are free. More about that in ‘LibreOffice’.

When choosing the best package, it is good to keep a few points in mind:

• Do you want to install the programs on multiple computers for a number of users? Then Microsoft 365 Family is probably the best option.
• Do you want to use the programs on multiple devices with one account for yourself? Then Microsoft 365 Personal is probably the best option.
• Do you want to use the programs on one computer and do you place less value on online storage? Then Office 2021 is probably the best option.

An overview of the different packages and prices can be found at this page from Microsoft. You can also buy the package of your choice there.