Microsoft Office 2021: Prices, Variants & Features

The Microsoft Office 2021 software suite replaces its predecessor, Office 2019. There are a few new features that one or the other has been waiting for. xiaomist introduces you to the different versions of the software and gives you the prices of Office 2021.

The good thing in advance: It will still be possible to buy a fixed offline version for installation on one or more computers without having to take out a subscription for Office 365. The package comes in two different versions, which initially start with relatively high prices, but will soon be offered cheaper.

Microsoft 365 (Office 365) of course contains a few additional features that are related to the Internet:

MS Office 2021: Prices and features of the versions

In principle, there are two versions of Microsoft Office 2021 :

Microsoft Office 2021 Home & Student Microsoft Office 2021 Home & Business

As the respective addition already describes, they are intended for two different areas of application. While the Home & Student version is aimed at private customers , the Home & Business version is clearly intended for commercial use .

This is reflected on the one hand in the price and on the other hand in the equipment. Even though the differences are not so great that they justify a price difference of around 150 euros.

Prices and differences between the versions Version / Price Equipment Microsoft Office 2021 Home & Student Price: 149.00 euros Word Excel PowerPoint OneNote Teams Microsoft Office 2021 Home & Business Price: 299.00 euros Word Excel PowerPoint OneNote Teams Outlook

The main difference in the equipment is therefore whether Outlook is included or not. However, many software manufacturers can be paid the right to use their programs in the business area. One should not see this as an increase in the price of commercial use, but rather as a special offer for private individuals.

Is it worth buying MS Office 2021?

Most reports mention "co-authoring" as a major innovation. This feature comes from Office 365 and with the single license it now enables several people to work on one document at the same time. However, this has to be saved on OneDrive. However, this option is aimed at a group of people who should better license the "online office" anyway. For the vast majority of private users, it shouldn't play a role.

Most of the "improvements" or innovations are very "special". For example, there are new functions in Excel, such as XMATCH and XLOOKUP, or six new functions for arrays. Someone will be very happy about it, while for the others it is one of the 95 percent of the possibilities that they will never need.

This not only applies to almost all other innovations, but actually to Microsoft Office as a whole. It is simply a huge package that covers all areas of application in which it could ever be needed.

But what most users of the Office suite really need is compatibility: they want to be able to open any file that is sent to them by other MS Office users and they want to create files that anyone can use. This is why the Office 2021 alternatives, such as LibreOffice or SoftMaker Office 2021, mainly struggle with the problem of compatibility, instead of "inventing" innovations themselves. You are constantly running after MS Office to ensure that a new Excel file works just as well there as in the original.

So if you don't just want to be a follower in a race, but also need security, you should update to the new version Office 2021. The "street price" will certainly adjust shortly and special offers will make what is still the best office package affordable for everyone.

In spite of all the price problems, one should perhaps not forget that MS Office once cost over 1,000 marks in the private version. So the prices have definitely dropped significantly.