Sure, your version of Office will grow old and miss out on flashy new features, but you have the freedom to replace it when you choose. Microsoft Office has one obvious perk-you buy the software once and own it forever. Office is also a stellar option for always-offline machines, and for some, it could be more cost-effective than a Microsoft 365 subscription. While Office’s lack of collaborative and cloud features may feel a bit limiting, the software bundle is still useful to individuals and businesses who want a stable, unchanging collection of productivity tools. Both versions of the Office suite work on just one computer and includes a few years of bug and security support from Microsoft (7 years for Office 2019, 5 years for Office 2021). The expanded Office Home and Business bundle, which costs $250, includes the Outlook email and calendar tool on top of the standard Office software. Microsoft Office 2019 and the upcoming Office 2021 suite start at $150 and come with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. But is the Office bundle really that cost-effective? And even if you can save some money by avoiding Microsoft 365, is it worth missing out on the subscription services’ exclusive features? Microsoft Office: Pros and Cons Microsoft Microsoft still sells its traditional Office suite for people who don’t want to pay a monthly fee or use the free, stripped-down Office Online tools. The subscription model allows Microsoft to offer constant updates and support for its productivity software, along the with the cloud storage and deep collaborative features made famous by Google’s browser-based productivity tools (Google Docs, Drive, Sheets, etc). Microsoft launched its 365 service in 2011 to help modernize the Office suite, which hadn’t experienced a major overhaul in nearly a decade. Unlike an Office bundle, which requires a one-time payment of $150 and only works on one computer, Microsoft 365 costs $7 a month, works on all of your computers and mobile devices, and includes collaborative features and perks that don’t come with a standard Office bundle. Today, many people access Excel, Word, and other software through a Microsoft 365 subscription or the free, browser-based Office Online suite (which is a stripped-down version of Office). Rinse and repeat.īut the traditional Office bundle is a lot less common than it used to be. A few years go by, and your job or classroom requires a newer version of the Office suite, so you go out and blow your savings on another disc. You buy a disc full of Word, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft-branded software, stick it in your computer, and get to work. Everyone’s familiar with the old Microsoft Office ritual.

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