Microsoft Office 2016 (codenamed Office 16) is a version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, succeeding both Office 2013 and Office for Mac 2011, and preceding Office 2019 for both platforms. It was released on macOS on July 9, 2015 and on Microsoft Windows on September 22, 2015 for Office 365 subscribers. Price - If you are comparing 365 to the Office Professional then spending $100 VS $400 (or even $219 for Office Home/Business) is tempting. What really adds to the temptation of 365 is that you can install it on 5 machines as opposed to one machine on the other platforms.
For the first time Microsoft is tempting Office users that for decades they've bought as a standalone program. It's not a foreign proposition. We pay annual subscription fees for our anti-virus software. Last April, for renting Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver. Now Microsoft has hopped on the rental bandwagon and hopes you will start forking over a yearly subscription fee. For Microsoft that beats someone buying Office 2010 and never coughing up more money for a newer version.
It's all about creating an annuity. So, should you buy or should you rent? For individuals, there is no one answer.
Let's take a closer look at your options and consider the pros and cons. But first a run-down of what your Office options are. Click to zoom Originally designed for businesses, Office 365 allows you to always have the latest version of Office for a yearly subscription fee of $100. You can still buy a boxed version of Office 2013 at your local computer shop with prices starting at $140 for Office 2013 Home and Student. But Microsoft is pushing the $100 per year option for Office 365.
RELATED: With Office 365 Home and Business you get access to most apps from the Office suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher. Office 2013 Home and Student, by comparison offers you just Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for $140. To get the boxed version of Outlook 2013 you need to fork over another $80 for Office 2013 Home and Business. For those with multiple PCs The Office 365 subscription gets harder to resist the more PCs you have. For those with two PCs, Office 365 will cost you $50 per PC, compared to paying $280 for the traditional desktop licenses needed for two PCs.
When you get to $20 per PC (per year) for five PCs, compared to $700 to install Office Home and Student on five PCs, the subscription model becomes a no-brainer. Five PC installations for $100 a year is a pretty good deal. On top of that, you also get a few freebies including 60 minutes of international Skype calling per month and an extra 20GB of SkyDrive storage. If you purchase Office 2013, you only get a single installation for $140. You also get an extra 5GB of SkyDrive storage.
You want Web access to Office via Office on Demand As if installing Office on five PCs wasn’t enough, with Office 365 you can use a neat new feature called Office on Demand that quickly downloads a virtualized version of select Office apps to a PC that isn’t yours. This can be a friend’s PC, a computer at an Internet cafe, or a public PC terminal. Office on Demand lets you run several Office apps including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, and Publisher. Once you’re done with the Office program it stops working and doesn’t count against your Office installs. The downside to Office on Demand is that it only works for Windows PCs.
You can’t use Office on Demand on a Mac, Linux box, Chromebook, or a mobile device. Most of these devices can use Microsoft’s Office Web apps in a pinch, Mobile devices aren’t supported, but in a pinch there’s a users running the mobile version of Chrome. When my colleague Yardena Arar tried out the Office on Demand feature she noticed a few snags when it came to usability. For one, she noted a slight delay in saving documents. Unfortunately the wow-factor of accessing Office on Demand is diminished when you learn it has to be a on a Windows PC. Office 2013 was tweaked to work better with touchscreens, but unfortunately only the Windows 8 variety. That means our Android and iPads will have to sit on the sidelines until Microsoft allows access to Office on Demand from those devices.
For new feature junkies and security minded Subscription software means you will always be able to update to the latest and greatest version of Office. As with previous versions of Office, you’ll get the latest security patches, an important feature considering Microsoft in December warned that hackers are turning their attention to. Beyond security updates, however, you’ll also get new features that come out.
And if a brand new version of Office is introduced in another three years, you’ll get to upgrade as part of your subscription. I just use Word and Excel on my desktop Here is some simple math for those who are not Office power users with one PC. For one PC, Office 365 is $100 per year. For one PC, Office Home and Student is $140. You can use Office Home and Student for as many years as you like. You'll do fine with a boxed version of Office 2013.
If you're still on the rental fence Like any subscription product, your ability to use the service is tied to your yearly subscription fee. If you stop paying, your Office software goes away. You’ll still have all your documents on SkyDrive or your local hard drive, of course, but you won’t be able to use the editing features in Office once your subscription runs out.
If you prefer to own your software or don’t think you’ll be willing to maintain an Office 365 subscription long term, then the boxed version of Office 2013 might be for you. The downside is when Microsoft moves to the next version of Office in a few years, you won’t have the latest and greatest version like Office 365 users will. For cross platform mobile warriors looking for a mobile Office solution Along with your new Office 365 subscription, Microsoft would really like it if you used Windows Phone for accessing Office on a mobile device. But the reality is most of us are using either an iPhone or an Android device for our smartphone and tablet needs. That means when it comes to editing Office documents on these platforms you have to find an alternative to Office. That’s not such a huge deal on iOS since Apple’s iWork package is available, and there are alternatives on Android as well.
Microsoft has yet to announce versions of Office for Android and iOS, but there are persistent rumors saying mobile versions of Office are in the works. It’s not clear, however, if Microsoft would release Office for iOS and Android, or just for Apple’s platform.
Office 365 is a novel way to use Office and some of the free perks, including those Skype minutes, are a nice addition. But paying for Office every year might take some getting used to for anyone tied to the traditional desktop software model.
Choosing an Office 365 license is a critical step before migrating to the cloud. With multiple options for small, medium and enterprise businesses, navigating the differences can get overwhelming.
This Office 365 license comparison will reveal the options available within Business and Enterprise options available to help you make the correct choice for your organization. Looking for information on or? Price Comparison for Office 365 Business Plans and Enterprise Licenses When comparing Office 365 licenses, price is one of the first questions decision-makers ask. Here are the prices of each Office 365 Business and Enterprise license. 1 Year Agreement ($/user/month) 1 Month Agreement ($/user/month) Office 365 Business Essentials $5.00 $6.00 Office 365 Business Plan $8.25 $10.00 Office 365 Business Premium $12.50 $15.00 Office Enterprise E1 $8.00 Annual Commitment Only Office Enterprise E3 $20.00 Annual Commitment Only Office Enterprise E5 $35.00 Annual Commitment Only Office Enterprise Pro Plus $12.00 Annual Commitment Only The base price per user for Office 365 Business and Enterprise Plans ranges from $5 to $30, and this cost can quickly add up for larger organizations.
On the other hand, if you rely on certain functionalities like Rights Management or cloud PBX, bundling these services into your license can actually save your organization money. To better weigh the costs to your organization, let’s compare the features of the Office 365 Business and Enterprise plans. How Office 365 Enterprise and Business Plans Differ Both the Office 365 Business plans and Enterprise plans are available for organizations with fewer than 300 employees. Because larger companies are, you might be contemplating whether to go with a Business or Enterprise option. Here are some major features you gain with Office 365 Enterprise plans:. Skype for Business Cloud (now ) PBX and PSTN conferencing (PSTN calling is available as an add-on in E3 and E5).
Advanced Information Protection. Advanced Threat Protection. Active Directory integration. Power BI. Delve Analytics. Litigation Hold. Unlimited archive and mail storage.
Enterprise app management Enterprise plans are only available when purchased as a one-year commitment. However, Business plans are available month to month (for a slightly higher per-user price) and in yearly subscriptions. Here’s a breakdown of all Office 365 Business plans so you can better understand how they differ. Office 365 Business Plans Office 365 Business plans were created for small businesses with fewer than 300 employees that might not need all the bells and whistles Office 365 offers. Here’s what’s included in each Office 365 Business plan for small companies.
Office 365 Business Essentials Looking to get basic Office 365 functionality? Office 365 Business Essentials offers business email with 50 GB mailbox storage, custom email domain and web versions of essential Office 365 applications like Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Here’s what you need to know about the Business Essentials license.
What You'll Get Email with 50 GB mailbox Custom email domain addresses Web versions of Office 2016 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint 1 TB of OneDrive storage SharePoint (company-wide intranet and team sites to connect people to content, expertise and processes.) Skype for Business: Unlimited HD video conferencing for up to 250 people. Microsoft Teams chat-based workspace Microsoft Planner to manage tasks and teamwork Yammer to collaborate across departments and locations FastTrack deployment support (when purchasing 50+ seats) 24/7 phone and web support Office 365 Business Next is the Office 365 Business plan. Here are the price and specs for this license option. What You'll Get Desktop versions of Office 2016 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote Office Online: Web versions of the Office 2016 applications Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint OneDrive and 1 TB of OneDrive storage FastTrack deployment support (for purchases of 50+ seats) 24/7 phone and web support Office 365 Business Premium The most expensive Business plan is Office 365 Business Premium. This license costs more than the Enterprise E1 option, so comparing the features is essential to choosing the right option. Next, we take a look at the Office 365 Enterprise plans. As mentioned above, these are only available on a one-year commitment basis.
Office 365 Enterprise Plans Office 365 Business plans are great for companies just starting out or that only require limited functionality. For organizations with 300+ users or those looking for a more robust solution, Office 365 Enterprise plans are available. With Enterprise plans, you can choose from Office 365 E5, E3 or E1 licenses. Office 365 Enterprise E1 E1 is the cheapest Enterprise plan (and actually costs less than the Business Premium license). Here’s what you get with the E1 license. What You'll Get Email 50 GB mailbox (only accessible from Outlook online) Skype for Business web conferencing, IM, online meetings and presence OneDrive for Business Yammer SharePoint Video Sharing Web versions of Office 2016 applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File sharing and 1 TB OneDrive storage HD video conferencing Team sites eDiscovery search Data Governance manual classifications and manual policies for retention and deletion Here’s how Office 365 Enterprise E1 differs from Business Premium:.
With E1, you can only access email via the online application. With E1, you lose desktop versions of Office applications. You must use the online versions of Outlook and other Office applications like Word or PowerPoint online. Office 365 Enterprise E3 The E3 license is one of the more popular options for digital-driven businesses. You gain email, archiving, information protection and more storage options for only $5-$7.50 more per user per month than Business Premium.
Here’s what’s included in E3. What You'll Get Everything included in the Office E1 License Office Client Apps Legal compliance and archiving needs for email: archiving, eDiscovery hold and export, mailbox hold Information protection: message encryptions, rights management, data loss prevention Azure Rights Management and document management functions: archiving, rights management, data loss prevention and document-level encryption. Email storage for in-place archive Unlimited OneDrive storage eDiscovery legal hold eDiscovery export and case management Hosted voicemail support The Office 365 Business Premium plan is most comparable to the Enterprise E3 plan in terms of base features. Unlike Business Premium, E3 includes:.
Exchange Online Archiving (EOA) and Legal Hold. Unified eDiscovery Center. Rights management, data loss prevention and encryption. Ability to add on PSTN Office 365 Enterprise E5 Building off the E1 and E3 business plans, Office 365 E5 is the highest tier Microsoft offers. With this license, you gain. What You'll Get File sharing and 1 TB OneDrive online document storage Fully installed Office on PC/Mac Office apps on tablets and phones Self-service BI in Excel Office Online: Create, view and edit rights for online versions of core Office apps for collaborating on documents Sway for Office 365 eDiscovery search On-premises Active Directory sync for single sign-on Mobile device management If any license doesn’t suit your needs, you can also add on specific features like Skype Cloud PBX. But often, the cost of upgrading is cheaper than ballooning a license with monthly add-on charges.
(Read more about add-ons.) You can also mix and match licenses depending on user needs to better control costs. Agile IT’s cloud licensing services make it easy to purchase, transfer and manage your licenses. As your cloud solutions provider, Agile IT handles all billing and subscriptions for your Office 365 products. You continue paying Microsoft the monthly license fee, and we take care of the rest. Still have questions about which Office 365 license is right for your organization?. Understanding Microsoft Licenses. Microsoft’s site is a little confusing so I wanted to ask here: We want something like E1 but with Office applications.
1) I read that OBP only supports up to 300 users. Is this correct or incorrect?
2) Does OBP support archiving online as well as manual retention / deletion policies like E1. In addition, if Office Business Premium supports archiving, does outlook provided in OBP offer in-place archiving in Outlook program itself? 3) Are there any online services included with E1 that are not available with Office Business Premium? 4) We’re here trying to figure out if it’s worth paying $12.50 vs $20 of E3.
Not all users would need E3 but would like to at least have the features of E1 but with office desktop applications and with the online services of E1. I am going by this article here so you can see what I am confused. Hi Aaron, Thanks for reaching out. To answer your questions: 1.
That is correct:. The maximum users are listed in the more information settings. The version of Outlook provided in Business Premium is the same as the one in E3/E5, so application features are the same. If you’re looking for something along the lines of Online Archiving and In-Place hold at the Exchange server level, Online Archiving is not available with Business Premium without an add-on license. In-Place holds in Exchange Online are being retired and transitioned to the new Security and Compliance Center retention settings. E1 and Business Premium are feature mirrored essentially. E1 is obviously missing the local Office install as well as not having a maximum user limit.
It is possible to mix and match licenses within Office 365. Something like 300 users on E3 and 150 on E1.
We’ve handled migrations and licensing for customers who do this fairly often. Just keep in mind that if you have any type of compliance requirements, at minimum you should be looking at E3.
Things like Data Loss Prevention (DLP), eDiscovery, and litigation hold aren’t available in E1 or Business Premium. Additionally, not all accounts may need all of the Office 365 applications. If you have users who only need email with Online Archiving for example, there is the Exchange Online Plan 2 license. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks again! Hi Manikandan, Thanks for reaching out.
I’m glad you enjoyed the article. When assigning a license in Office 365, you can choose to not license certain features. In the link, you’ll see there are on/off switches for each of the services. Alternatively, you could look into obtaining and deploying some of the additional features available for data protection in Office 365; like Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Azure Information Protection. Hope that helps!
Please let me know if you have any other questions. I have a E3 license, and at some point I get a message that says I am getting out of storage while using the online version. WHat does this mean? How can I see what storage space is used up and how can I increase the storage. I dont seem to see anything under subscription. By the way, I am not using the full features of 365 as I have my 4 email accounts setup as connected accounts and using it for about 3 years now, My office 365 one-drive is pretty empty and I dont use other BI features or lync etc.
Please assist. I Have a customer going on Maternity leave and she needs to have Excel on the Server so when she logs into the server via RDP to do some work she has Excel to work on accounting generated Business report spreadsheets. What is the Cheapest legal way of putting just Excel on a Server 2012 R2 Server for one user to have access to? I have tried installing Office 2016 and it tells me it needs a Volume licence. There must be a cheap easy way of achieving this.
I have suggested Open Source or Google Sheets but she is not comfortable in that environment. Any suggestion would be more than welcome.