If you mean instead of a ‘subscription’ to Office 365, then yes, with the legal caveat that Bill Flewelling mentions. It is called a perpetual license. The difference between that and the subscription version is that the perpetual license version. Office 365 is a winner for those who frequently update their version of Office or need to install Office on a large number of computers without breaking the bank. However, Office 2016 may be more cost-effective in the long run for organizations that will be holding onto the same version of Office for many years to come.
- Can You Buy Word Outright
- Microsoft Office 365 Products
- Office 365 Buy Outright
- Should I Buy Office 365
Microsoft Office is the staple software of modern home computing. Got a PC? Then you need to buy Microsoft Office to get Word, Excel and PowerPoint, right?
That used to be the case.
Nowadays, millions of people have ditched Office for the free Google suite of Docs, Sheets and Slides and embraced cloud computing. But for some, the comfort and familiarity of Microsoft’s productivity software is too much to give up and besides, Microsoft offers cloud storage too.
It used to be simple: buy a computer, then buy a CD-ROM loaded with Office. An easy, one-off payment and the software was yours forever (or until your PC gave up). If you want to, you can still do it this way via a one-time download (RIP CD-ROMs).
But Office 365 is the way Microsoft wants you to buy into Office – as a monthly or annual subscription payment that embraces the convenience of cloud storage and services across your multiple devices.
Here, we take a look at what Office 365 gives you and if it’s worth investing in over buying Office outright.
What devices does Microsoft Office 365 work on?
Office 365 is compatible with any modern PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android phone or Android tablet (check exact requirements here).
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How much is Microsoft Office 365 in Australia?
There are two tiers of the Office 365 subscription: Home or Personal. There’s not much of a price difference between the two but go for Personal if you only need Office for yourself. For a little more, Home lets you share the benefits with up to six people so is ideal for families.
The annual costs saves you money compared to paying monthly, but the monthly subscription is more flexible as you can cancel at any time.
Microsoft Office 365 Home costs AU$129 per year, or AU$13 per month.
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Microsoft Office 365 Personal costs AU$99 per year, or AU$10 per month.
You can try Office for one month as a free trial but it requires your payment details, and will charge you for an annual subscription at the end of the trial unless you cancel.
What does Microsoft Office 365 include?
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Both Home and Personal include the full suite of Office apps and services. The only difference is that Home gives access to six people, while Personal is just for one.
Microsoft Office 365 Home includes:
- Office for up to 6 people across all their devices
- Apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Outlook
- Publisher (PC only)
- Access (PC only)
- OneDrive with 1TB storage for 6 people
- Photoshop latest version cs7. Skype
- OneNote
- Technical support
Microsoft Office 365 Personal includes:
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- Office for one 1 person across all their devices
- Apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Outlook
- Publisher (PC only)
- Access (PC only)
- OneDrive with 1TB storage for 1 person
- Skype
- OneNote
- Technical support
Either one is a great deal as it offers every Office service and unlimited sign-ins across devices, so you can use Office on your computer, tablet and phone and any other device you might have (for example more than one computer or on your personal and work phone).
You just download the apps you want from the app store on your PC, Mac, phone or tablet and then sign in with your Microsoft account details.
As well as access to everything and a generous 1TB of cloud storage, Office 365 is great because it will automatically update all of the software to the latest version. So when Microsoft improves Word, you’ll get the update over the internet.
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![365 365](https://www.bluecompute.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/office365.png)
That perk goes for every service on Office 365.
It’s worth noting that if you stop paying for Office 365, you can no longer access any of the services. You have to keep paying to keep access to the apps and your existing files.
Office 365 suggests you save those files in the cloud using OneDrive, but it is possible to save files directly to your devices instead if you prefer, which is an easier way of having access to your saved files if you plan to only pay for Office for a short amount of time.
![Office Office](https://wifihifi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/techsubs-Office_365.jpg)
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Can you buy Microsoft Office outright?
If you don’t like the idea of a monthly subscription and would prefer to pay once for Office and have it forever like the good old days then you can still do that with Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 (current version at the time of writing).
Office 365 does not have a year in its branding it as it is constantly updated. Buying Office Home & Student 2019 as a one-off purchase means you will forever have that edition of Office, and you won’t receive software updates to add new features or upgrade to the next year’s version. It does however receive security updates.
Office Home & Student costs AU$199 as a one-off payment and includes:
- 1 person for only 1 PC or 1 Mac
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- OneNote
Unfortunately, that’s it - buying Office outright does not get you popular apps like Outlook for email or OneNote. It also doesn’t get you OneDrive cloud storage, and you can’t use the apps on your phone or tablet - you must download Office to one PC or Mac and forever use it there.
Get drive app. It is quite restrictive, and we only recommend Office Home & Student’s one-off payment if you want the basic Word, Excel and PowerPoint set up on one computer and if you save files locally to the computer or a hard drive.
Otherwise, Microsoft is clearly pushing a superior version of Office with Office 365. While it might take a while to get your head round an annual payment for software, the advantages are clear to see. Think of it as the Netflix of home computing.
You get the latest version of every app regularly updated, generous cloud storage, an email client, sign-in across all your devices for up to six people and technical support. That’s a pretty good deal.
If you’re comfortable with cloud storage and need Office on more than your computer then Office 365 is worth the spend - it’s more the getting used to paying a subscription for something that used to be a one off purchase that is the barrier rather than the value of the software itself.
This article was originally published on the 19th of December 2019.
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You can buy the current version of Microsoft Office is available in at least four different ways. Which you do depends on who you are, and how many PCs you use.
You can either buy the software outright for one PC and use it forever, getting security updates but not program upgrades, or you can buy a subscription for a year that will work on upto 5 PCs and get both security updates and program upgrades.
- Buying the software outright means you want to buy Microsoft Office 2013.
- Buying the software on subscription means you want to buy Microsoft Office 365.
Microsoft Office 2013
If you buy Office 2013, you get a licence to use the program on one PC forever. When you replace your PC, you keep the software and can use it on the new PC, but you can’t use it on two PCs at the same time (and no, you can’t alternate between two PCs either).
How much it costs depends who you are.
- If you’re a home user, you can get Microsoft Office 2013 Home and Student (it doesn’t matter if you’re a student or not) – it costs about £95 inc VAT and will work on one PC forever. You’ll get Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote (but not Outlook or Access)
- If you’re using the software commercially, or if you want Outlook, you need Microsoft Office 2013 Home and Business – it costs £160-180 inc VAT and will work on one PC forever. You’ll get Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and OneNote (but not Access)
- In the unlikely event that you need Access as well, you need Microsoft Office 2013 Professional which is the same as the Home and Business version, but includes Access as well for £320.
No matter which licence of Office 2013 you buy, you’ll keep Office 2013 forever: when Microsoft release the next version of Office, you won’t get an upgrade. You’ll only get security and stability updates for Office 2013.
Microsoft Office 365
If you buy Office 365, you get a licence to use the programs on 1 to 5 PCs for a year. If you’re buying Office 365 to use at home, the five PCs need to belong to your household. If you’re buying Office 365 for a business, the five PCs should belong to the same employee (ie you need three lots of Office 365 licences if you have three staff – not one licence between (upto) five staff).
Either the home or the business Office 365 licences are bought in year chunks: you can buy them from Microsoft directly, or from PC manufacturers like Novatech, or from mailorder places like Amazon. However you buy it, there is no CD – you download it. If you buy from Novatech you might get a card with a licence key on it, but if you buy from Amazon you just get a licence key in an email.
- If you’re a home user with only one PC, you can get Office 365 Personal which is valid for one PC for one year. It gives you Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook and Access for about £50 from Amazon (it’s more expensive from Microsoft directly)
- If you’re a home user, you can get Office 365 Home which is valid for upto five PCs for a year. It gives you Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook and Access for about £65 per year from Amazon (it’s £79 from Microsoft)
- If you’re a business user, you should get Office 365 Small Business. It’s the same as Office 365 Home but includes “hosted Exchange” (ie, email with your own domain name hosted by Microsoft) for abour £135 per year.
No matter which version of Office 365 you buy, the idea is that you always have the latest version of Office. Right now (page last updated March 2015) that means you’d get the Office 2013 software, but when Office 2015 or Office 2016 is released, you would automagically get updated to the latest version: your subscription is to “the newest version of Office”, not just “Office 2013”. That’s the key difference between buying outright (keeping v2013 forever) and subscribing (getting updates all the time).
Renewals
There is nothing to renew with Office 2013 because once you’ve bought a licence, it is yours to keep forever. Office 365 must be renewed each year. Microsoft prefer that you renew it with them – you can do if you like, they’ll store your credit card number and bill you each year – but it’s £79.99 with Microsoft for the Office 365 Home licence that most people use.
Can You Buy Word Outright
Microsoft Office 365 Products
Instead of paying £79.99 to Microsoft, you can instead buy another year’s service for about £65 from Amazon. You’ll end up with exactly the same thing – a year’s extra service added onto your existing licence, you just give £15 less to Amazon than you do Microsoft.
If you buy the licence from Amazon, you’ll go through their checkout from this £65 page and then at the end of the process you’ll get a licence key and a link to follow – nothing will arrive in the post. When you click the link, you’ll be taken to Microsoft’s site where you’ll log in and the year’s service from Amazon will be credited to your Microsoft Office 365 account.
Office 365 Buy Outright
Think of it as like buying a topup for a prepay mobile phone: you don’t give the £10 to the mobile network, but a newsagent – but you get the £10 value from the network – buying an Office 365 renewal is just the same
Archived older Office versions
Should I Buy Office 365
You can’t buy Microsoft Office 2010 or Office 2007 anymore, but the pages about the older versions are still available: