Microsoft has confirmed the prices for Office 2021 to consumers and announced some ‘extras’ which aren’t really anything new and, in one case, self-serving for Microsoft.
Office 2021 prices
Office 2021 is the new perpetual license, single payment or non-subscription version of Microsoft Office. The replacement for Office 2019.
It has fixed features compared to the ever-changing Office 365, which is a distinct advantage in many customers opinion.
Office Home and Student 2021
Retails for US$149.99 with Word 2021 , Excel 2021 and PowerPoint 2021
OneNote desktop and Microsoft Teams (both available free from Microsoft) are also included.
NO Outlook.
Licensed for personal / home use only.
Single computer only, but transferable if purchased retail. Separate products for Windows or Mac.
Office Home and Business 2021
Home and Business 2021 bundle is the same as Home and Student, adding Outlook and the right to use for business.
Sells for US$249.99 with Word 2021 , Excel 2021 and PowerPoint 2021. Plus Outlook for PC and Mac.
OneNote desktop and Microsoft Teams (both available free from Microsoft) are also included.
Licensed for business purposes in addition to personal/home use.
Single computer only, but transferable if purchased retail. Separate products for Windows or Mac.
Personal vs Business use
In practice, there’s no way Microsoft can enforce the personal vs business use rule. They’ve had that and similar licence wording for a long time but we’re not aware of any individual or even small business being caught or in any way punished.
To put it another way, Microsoft police aren’t going to knock on your door (real or virtual) to check how you use Office.
Publisher and Access MIA?
The pricing announcement made no mention of either Publisher 2021 nor Access 2021 which exist as Windows apps only (not for Mac).
Extras – what extras?
Microsoft pricing announcement led with some ‘news’ about Office 2021 that wasn’t really news at all.
Online collaboration
Office 2021 will be able to collaborate on documents alongside Office 365 and Office 2019.
That’s what everyone expected, and it would have been outrageous for Microsoft to have blocked Office 2021 from what’s become a core part of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
What’s next? They’ll announce that Bold, Italic and Underline will be included Office 2021? … gimme a break.
Maybe it’s been mentioned because Office LTSC 2021 does not have co-authoring support?
Teams forced into Office 2021
Microsoft also boasted that Office 2021 releases will include Teams for Windows or Mac.
Oh such generosity …
This is the same Teams software that’s already available for free download and comes with Windows 11. Teams that Redmond has been pushing relentlessly for the last 18 months and more. Now Microsoft is kindly installing it automatically for Office 2021 customers with no option to refuse.
All about Office 2021 for Windows & Mac
New and better features in Office 2021 and Office LTSC
New Features in Excel 2021
New Features in Outlook 2021
New Features in PowerPoint 2021
The good and bad in Office LTSC
