Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is the subscription version of the Office applications — Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook — renewed annually, always kept at the current version, and installable across several devices including Windows, Mac, iPad and phones.

Two plans cover most people.

Personal is for one individual, across their own devices, with cloud storage included.

Family covers up to six people, each with their own separate account, their own files and their own storage allocation. That last point is why it is far better value than several Personal subscriptions for a household — nobody shares a login or a drive.

The subscription also includes the cloud storage that makes documents available on any device and keeps version history, which is the practical difference most people notice day to day.

The alternative is a perpetual Office licence: a one-off purchase tied to one device, with no feature updates and no cloud storage. That works out cheaper over several years if you use the applications rarely on a single machine. If you would use it across devices or in a household, the subscription wins.

See also software.