Microsoft Office: Which version should I buy?

There are now so many different versions of Microsoft Office that choosing between them is tricky. Here, we not only reveal how to work out which version of Microsoft Office is best for you, but also whether you should buy it at all.

Should you buy Microsoft Office?

Many people shouldn’t buy Microsoft Office, and for a number of reasons. First, there’s LibreOffice. This is free to download and will never cost you a penny. It also looks remarkably similar to Office from a few years ago, so you may find you prefer it.

Second, Google Docs is also free for personal use, and includes a strong set of word processing, spreadsheet and database tools. If you use Google Chrome, you can also download documents to work on offline. Plus, it’s much easier to share Google Docs documents than it is with Microsoft Office.

Third, you can use Microsoft Office Online for free. This will look 100% familiar and only needs you to sign in with your Microsoft account (or create one). The drawback, as the name suggests, is that you can only use it online: if you want downloadable apps, you’ll need to buy Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Office 365 vs Office Home & Student 2019: what’s the difference?

Head to Microsoft’s Office website and you’ll be heavily pushed to subscribe to Office 365. You pay a fee every month (or every year, which is cheaper) that entitles you to download a number of Office apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Office 365 bundles in subscriptions to Skype (up to 60 minutes of calls to mobile and landlines) and 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. And if you buy for a PC, the deal includes Access database and Publisher layout software.

As it’s a subscription, though, the moment you stop paying, you also lose access to all the software and services. All your documents remain intact, though.

Alternatively, you can buy Office Home & Student 2019 for £120, which is a one-time purchase. Note the software only works if you’re running Windows 10 or macOS Sierra or later, and includes the full version of Word, Excel and PowerPoint – no Skype minutes, no extra OneDrive storage, no additional apps. Except that Windows users also receive a copy of OneNote.

Which version of Office 365 is right for you?

For home use, there are two versions of Office 365 on sale. Office 365 Personal costs £60 per year or £6 per month, and only works for one user. You can use it on up to five devices, though, including Windows systems, Macs, tablets and phones.

If you want to share your Office 365 subscription, then Office 365 Home is the better choice. This allows up to five other people to share your subscription (so six users in total), but don’t worry about inadvertently sharing documents – they will each have their own login and won’t see your personal files.

It costs £80 if you choose the annual payment option and £8 per month if you pay monthly (so £96 in total over a year).

As such, any household that contains two or more people who would take advantage of Office 365’s products and services should choose Office 365 Home.

Additional explainers you might be interested in

• What is Microsoft 365?
• What is Microsoft 365 Copilot? Guide by a Microsoft MVP
• What is Google Workspace?