Microsoft Office 365 VS 2021 (Easily compare and choose)
Meta: Microsoft Office comes in various forms, including its popular 365 and 2021 editions. What is the right choice for you? Take a look at a breakdown here.
As one of the most useful general purpose packages out there, Microsoft Office is a worldwide product. Commonly used by people from all walks of life, Microsoft Office offers a versatile range of tools. It is an extremely useful package, from word processing to database management to presentation development. Yet, as you might have noticed, there are various editions of Microsoft Office, including Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Office 2021.
What is the right choice for you and/or your team? You can use this quick comparison to determine what is right for you.
Microsoft Office 365 VS 2021: At a glance
The quickest way to break down the major differences between both Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Office 2021 is the below table:
Microsoft Office 365
- Pay a monthly or annual subscription fee.
- Get access to the entire Microsoft Office catalogue, with all of the latest features and bug fixes.
- Get constant updates that fix bugs, improve security functionality, and more.
- Install Microsoft Office 365 on up to five devices at once, regardless of where you are.
- Benefit from extra features when using Microsoft Office 365 on a mobile device.
- Up to 1TB of additional online cloud-backed storage.
- Constantly available technical support.
Microsoft Office 2021
- Pay a one-off fee to keep the software.
- Get the 2021 edition of Microsoft Office, including the likes of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Security updates come along as required, but major functions and updates are not included.
- One-time purchase that can only be installed once on one single device.
- Usable on a mobile device, with basic editing functionality included.
- No extra storage is provided with Microsoft Office 2021.
- Tech support only during the installation phase.
As you can see, Microsoft Office 365 provides a more stable option long-term. While Microsoft Office 2021 is easy to use and still a highly desirable product, it is not regularly updated. It is not going to be improved upon. New features will not be included (though security updates will). This means that what you get with the 2021 edition is what you have moving forward.
By contrast, Microsoft Office 365 is a constantly evolving product that is consistently improved. Microsoft prefers you join the long-term ‘revolution,’ and thus, all major incentives are aimed at those who use Microsoft Office 365.
The cost of Microsoft Office 365 VS 2021
Another deciding factor will come down to the price. If you buy Microsoft Office, you get a few options to choose from.
You could buy Microsoft Office 2021 for a one-off price of £119.99. This allows one single installation and all of the limits noted above. However, by contrast, you can get Microsoft Office 365 for just £79.99 per year – this is for the Family edition, which allows for up to six users at once. You could buy the personal subscription for the even fairer price of £59.99, allowing one user to access Microsoft Office 365. You also have monthly payment options if you prefer to manage this as a monthly subscription instead of an annual fee.
What is the best choice for you between Microsoft Office 365 VS 2021?
It all depends on value. For those who only need the key assets of Microsoft Office and only use it rarely, 2021 could be a fair investment. If you only believe you will need these apps semi-regularly, then the one-time purchase is probably the right pick.
For those who use general purpose packages daily, though, Microsoft Office 365 is, without doubt, the best value. It offers the best functions, features, and updates. You get more for your money. Unless you believe that you will not need to use Microsoft Office very often at all, it is almost always better to make an investment in Microsoft Office 365.
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