Microsoft Office 365 is a package that comes with all of the Microsoft Office products and some new features that are added with every update. Office 365 updates frequently solving bugs and glitches. Office 365 is available in many flexible packages for home and business use. Students can use an education version of the Office applications for free. But the school or institution needs to have registered their organisation to Microsoft. To learn more about the education program by Microsoft click here. The Office 365 package comes with applications like Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access for even the cheapest package.
The Microsoft page for Office365 is tricky. As it does not easily tell the conventional user about the stuff. But we will explain all of the features that you may need or not in this article.
The Best Budget Option, Office 365 vs G suite?
In terms of spec by spec comparison, The Office 365 package outranks the G suite from google. Although G suite also comes with similar features, the most economic package is a bit measly compared to the minimal Office 365 package.
The G suite basic package starts from 5$ while the Office 365 basic package starts at 5$ too. The G suite offers only 30GB of cloud storage. While the Office 365 package offers 1TB of storage per user. To make matters even worse, The G suite 30GB limit also includes the email cloud storage. The Office basic plan is a clear winner here. Because there is also no backup options for the basic G suite package. For user comparison, here are the apps that both of the services provide that are equivalent to each other.
- Word > Google Docs
- Excel > Google Sheets
- Powerpoint > Google Slides
- Outlook Online > Gmail
- One Note Online > Google Keep
- Sharepoint > Google Sites
- Skype for Web > Google Hangouts
Most entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies use both the G suite and Office 365. Although Office 365 is more popular. Every company is different to one another. So, In the end, you must decide what is ten correct choice for your company. The latter chapters in this article will discuss on the several nuances of the G suite vs Office 365 debate.
Contents
A Comprehensive Guide to Office 365 packages.
Office 365 comes in two types of packages. Home and Business. The features for the Home package are simple and straightforward. But there are some several tricky parts when it comes down to the Business Package.
The Home Packages, The Best Deal?
The features for the Home package as shown in the Microsoft website are below. The Cheapest package for the home category starts at 7$ per month or for even cheaper, 6$, if you pay annually(70$).
If you are a single user looking to get into the Office 365 program, the Home and Student 2016 package may be the option for you. Although it comes with minimal features, for students and basic users, these applications should suffice. Keeping in mind that this package is only available for Windows users.
Office 365 HomeOffice 365 PersonalOffice Home &Student2016
The Office 365 Home package is designed for multiple users under a single household. This Package is best for working students who share an apartment or a dorm. This package may also be useful to families with teenage or older children. The features for both the Home and Personal packages are the same. Except for that the Home package can be used by 5 users at the most. Coming at 10$ a month with monthly payments and at almost 8$ with annual payments. The Home package is the best option in the Home category.
If you are a single user looking to get the Personal package, it might be wise to search for some other people to share the Home package with. Otherwise you can opt for the Personal package. Although it is fairly more expensive. If 5 people shared the Home package, the cost would have been 2$ a month. That is a banger price for all of these features. Now we will be moving on to the Business packages of Office 365.
The Business Packages
Businesses, small or large utilize Office 365 features the most. So choosing the right plan for your business is integral. There are three packages in the Business category. The most suitable packages for online business are the Office 365 Business Premium and Office 365 Business Essentials. If your company only needs the offline versions of the Office 365 applications, the Office 365 Business package is the option. For small offices the intranet and custom emails may not be required. So, you can get the Business package. The prices shown below are for annual commitments. If you were to pay monthly, the prices will be slightly higher. You can take a look at the pricing and brief info on their features below.
The premium Package is the best option all round. It provides both online and offline features of Office 365. For a company that is seeking to utilize all of the Office 365 features, the Premium package is the option.
Below is another comparative table of features that are available in the Office 365 Business packages. This will help you have a clear idea on what your company might and will need.
FeaturesOffice 365 BusinessOffice 365 Business Office 365 Business Premium Essentials
Summarizing the Business packages. The Office 365 Business package is the package suitable for offline usage. The Essential package has everything that the Business only package lacks. It provides the usage of online features but not the offline applications like Word, Powerpoint, etc. Finally the Premium package has complete features of Office 365 including everything that is on both the Business only Package and the Essential package.
The Essential package comes into play when a company needs custom email and online storage but they might use the offline applications from Office 365’s adversary, G suite. The latter chapters in this article will discuss about the remaining Office 365 package options.
The Education Packages
Microsoft provides free services to the online versions of Office 365 products to schools. Although the free pack has minimal features, packages known as Office 365 A3 and Office 365 A5 can be bought for premium features at a low cost. The free package is called Office A1. The Education packages come with two prices for each of them. The cost per user for students and Faculty is different. You can see a brief info of the features you get with the picture below. Microsoft teams is a fantastic applications allowing for group chat and effective communication.
To go to the Microsoft website to compare features, click here.
The A3 and A5categories are similar. The main differences are,
- The A5 package provides internet security.
- A5 has VOIP service and Audio Conferencing.
The A5 package also comes with applications like MyAnalytics and Power BI Pro. Besides these features, the rest is the same for both packages. You should take this package if your institution is large and needs cyber security. Both of these packages provide offline applications like Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, etc.
The A1 Package is pretty inviting for the features it has for free. You can sign up your institution for this package for free by clicking here. This package provides free online usage of Office 365 applications like Word, Outlook, etc. This also provides unlimited personal cloud space and 50GB mail space.
For small schools and institutions the A1 package is suitable. For institutions requiring offline apps and some further features. The A3 package is the best deal. It provides premium facilities at a low cost. For large institutions the A5 package is a must because of the cyber security and VOIP service. The Teams application is also useful for this task but having a dedicated VOIP is way better.
Further Info
This is the final available package for Office 365. For more articles about Tech follow our website on social media like twitter, Facebook. If there are any questions regarding Office 365, please comment below to let us help you solve your issues. For more information about these topics, click here to go to the official Microsoft Office 365 page.
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