Between Office 2021 and Microsoft 365, find out which application suite is best for your office needs.

Office 2021 will be launched together with Windows 11 in October 2021. It is the latest version of Microsoft's 30-year-old productivity suite. But if you visit the Microsoft website, you will find that Microsoft 365 is also offered.

You may be asking yourself: "Why does Microsoft offer two versions of the same product?". To answer this question, here is an overview of the differences between Microsoft 365 and Office 2021.

One-off purchase vs. subscription

Office 2021 is the one-time purchase version of Microsoft's Office suite. It is available in two versions: Home & Student 2021 and Home & Business 2021. The first version costs €149.99 and includes the desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, while the second version, which costs €299.99, also includes Outlook.
With the Home & Business 2021 licence, you can also use the applications for business use.

Microsoft 365, the subscription-based Office suite, is also available in two variants: Personal and Family. The Personal tariff costs €69.00 per year, the Family tariff €99.99 per year.
The acquisition costs for both versions of Office 2021 are significantly higher than for the Microsoft 365 offers. However, as it is a one-off purchase, you only have to pay once for the application. If, on the other hand, you opt for Microsoft 365 Personal, you will have to pay an annual fee of 69.99 €.

In just two years, you will have already spent more if you choose Microsoft 365 Personal over Office Home & Student 2021. However, if you choose the Microsoft 365 Family plan and have six users sharing it, it would take at least nine years for the cost of your Microsoft 365 to match the price of an equal number of Office 2021 licences.

Classic vs. premium version

If you choose Office 2021, you will receive the 2021 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook (included in the Home and Business versions). However, if you opt for Microsoft 365, you will receive the 365 versions of these applications.

What is the difference between the two versions of these applications? Currently there is not much difference between them in terms of features, especially since Office 2021 was recently released.

However, with the Classic 2021 version, you will not receive any further updates or new functions in the future. What you see now is what you will get. With the Premium 365 version, on the other hand, you can update your installed apps every time Microsoft releases an update or a new feature.

Excel 365, for example, received the XLOOKUP function in August 2019. However, if you are using the 2019 version of Microsoft Excel, you cannot use this function at all; you will only find it in the later version of Excel 2021.

Additional applications and services

In addition to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, Microsoft 365 also gives you access to Skype and OneDrive. With Skype, you get a monthly quota of up to 60 minutes for international calls. And with OneDrive, you get 1 TB of storage per user. So if your family account has six users, you get 6 TB of cloud storage.

The 365 subscription also includes Microsoft Access and Publisher when you download it. If you use these applications, you should therefore consider purchasing 365.
In addition, with Microsoft 365, each person can install all included Office applications on up to five different devices in any combination.

So if you have a MacBook, a Windows desktop PC, an iPhone, an Android device and an iPad, you can install the Office suite on all these devices without having to pay extra.
If you have a family plan with six users, you can install all Microsoft 365 apps on up to 30 devices.

Further advantages of Microsoft 365

In addition to the above applications and services, you also have access to various functions.
Microsoft 365 allows you to directly insert royalty-free creative content such as stock photos, icons, fonts, templates and more.
You also get AI-powered tools like the PowerPoint Presentation Trainer, Resume Assistant, Designer and Ideas. These value-added features make your life easier by using AI to help you get things done automatically.
For example, Word can tell if you are writing a CV and offer you templates to improve it. Ideas suggest layouts and images when you create a presentation. And Designer helps you choose the formatting of your Word document and keep it consistent across pages.

Is Microsoft 365 the best choice?

After mentioning all the benefits you get with Microsoft 365 compared to Office 2021, you might think that opting for the former is an obvious choice. Not so fast.
If you keep a computer for two years or more, have no need for cloud storage and only use the basic functions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, then Office 2021 is for you. This version is suitable for young students or retirees who do not use these applications frequently and are not usually connected to the internet.

Professionals whose devices are provided by the company may also opt for the one-off purchase, especially if they do not use these applications outside of work.
However, if you can get at least two users together to share a Microsoft 365 plan for at least three years, then it is better to buy the subscription plan.

That's because you both spend more over three years, which is the price you pay when you buy Office Home & Student 2021 individually. But with this option, you get extra benefits like cloud storage, international calling and more.

It is not that simple

Before you choose one or the other because you want all the extra features or don't like paying for subscriptions, sit down and think. Ask yourself, "Which one offers me the most benefit? " After all, as in all other areas of life, there are no patent remedies.

Above all, we at Licendi can offer you the one-time purchase versions at a much lower price than Microsoft, so that the investment pays off even faster.
If you are clear about your situation, e.g. what you want to use the office suite for, what features you really need and what alternatives you have, you can make the best decision that fits your lifestyle.

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Your Licendi team.