Consider Buying Microsoft Office Before It Becomes a Subscription Service
Good news: you can still buy the standalone version of Microsoft Office (for now) instead of paying Microsoft the regular subscription money. The bad news is that you can no longer get your super-cheap one-time copy of Office through the Microsoft Home Use Program.
The Home Use Program allowed people to purchase a discounted version of Microsoft Office for use on their personal computers – assuming, of course, that Office was already offered in their workplace. The various standalone versions of Office were priced at just $ 15, although you could also purchase a discounted Office 365 Personal or Office 365 Home subscription for $ 49 and $ 70, respectively, for savings of $ 20-30.
Microsoft has now removed the standalone (non-subscription) versions of Office from the HUP program. As his FAQ says:
“Microsoft is updating its Home Use program to offer discounts on the latest and greatest products like Office 365, which is always up to date with premium Office apps on all your devices. Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home & Business 2019 are no longer available as home use offerings. ”
Microsoft hasn’t changed the discount for Office 365 Personal or Office 365 Home, but the annual subscription will cost you more than if you planned to use Microsoft Office on just one computer at home. Yes, you’ll get extra functionality in your mobile apps and 1TB of OneDrive storage to ease the pain a bit, but some people might just prefer the cheaper version of basic Microsoft Office.
While the company still offers “one-time” versions of Microsoft Office at the regular price, expect to pay from $ 150 for Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019 to a whopping $ 440 for Microsoft Office Professional 2019 . For comparison, this is 2-6 years of using Office 365 Personal with a regular price (or approximately 1.5-4.5 years of using Office 365 Home).
Microsoft hasn’t made any official announcements that it plans to get rid of these standalone versions of Microsoft Office, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the company eventually ditches them in favor of Office 365 subscriptions. (and for friends), you might want to grab a copy of the one-time version of Office the next time you see a big sale – you might not be able to once Microsoft announces Office 2022 (or the big Office 365 update in 2022).
Otherwise, there is always LibreOffice .