If you prefer not to be tied to a subscription, you can also buy Office separately. The current standalone version dates back to 2019. On October 5, it will be replaced by Office 2021, a date that corresponds to the arrival of Windows 11. However, that is not a requirement to run Office 2021, you can also just do that on Windows 10.
The main advantage of Office subscription (called Microsoft 365) is that all programs that fall under it are always up-to-date. New functions are regularly released and you get 1 TB of cloud storage in OneDrive as a gift, where you can store your documents and/or other files.
Both do not apply to the version of Office that you purchase once. Yet this Office version is sufficient for many people, because not everyone uses all the in-depth options of Microsoft’s office suite. You can use it for the basic tasks without having to pay monthly for it.
What does Office 2021 cost?
A potential drawback is the entry price. You can already take out a Microsoft 365 subscription for 7 euros per month. This while the loose Office (Office for Home and Self-employed 2019) currently costs 299 euros. You will probably pay the same for Office 2021 soon. Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote can be installed on one PC. The license is therefore not unlimited.
New in Office 2021
Of course, Office 2021 brings improvements, which have already been made available to Microsoft 365 subscribers in the past two years. Examples include a dark mode and support for ODF 1.3 files. Here you will find an overview of features that are new in Office 2021. However, features that rely on artificial intelligence, such as text predictions, will not work.
