The Cheapest Ways to Get Microsoft Office for Your Mac or PC Today Techinch tech, simplified. The Cheapest Ways to Get Microsoft Office for Your Mac or PC Today Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 There's two expensive application suites that are almost considered a necessity to have on your computer: Microsoft Office, and Adobe Creative Suite. Many find ways around paying for the latter (alternate apps work, there's the cheaper apps that work for most stuff, and such), but Office is a bit trickier. Especially this year. After releasing Office 2013 for Windows and the new Office 365 subscription version of Office, traditional Office pricing has gone up. Used to, all editions of Office let one user install Office on up to two computers, which worked great if, say, you had a desktop and a laptop. Then, the Home and Student edition let you install Office on up to 3 computers in the same household, which was a great deal for families.

1. Best Buy Buy Office For Macbook

With Office 2013's release, now all editions of both Office 2013 and Office 2011 for Mac are only licensed to be installed on one computer. At least you're still allowed to if you need to, something Office 2013 oddly didn't allow at first. The Cheapest Way to Get Office Today So, if you want to purchase Office today, and not get it as part of a subscription, then here's your options: Office Web Apps I know, I know: it's not real Office, but it's close enough for basic use, and it's free. It's the best option if you really need to go cheap on Office. Check out my full review of the at Web.AppStorm, or go try them out for yourself at. You might be surprised. Real Office Ok, so you want real Office to install on your computer?

Here's the options today:. Office 356 - the subscription version of Office for Mac and PC. Office 2011 for Mac. Office 2013 for PC. Office 2010 for PC Office 365 The first option — and easily the best if you have more than two or three computers — is, Microsoft's new subscription for Office. For $9.99/month or $99.99/year, you can run Office on up to 5 computers (Macs or PCs), get 20Gb extra Skydrive storage (a $10/yr value, though even that's way cheaper than, say, extra Dropbox storage), and 60 minutes of Skype calls per month (worth around $20/yr). You'll get full Office - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, as well as Access and Publisher on a PC.

Best Buy Buy Office For Macbook

If you'd pay for Skype and extra Skydrive storage as well, and have 5 computers in your household, it works out to around $14/computer/year. Students get even cheaper: $79.99 for 4 years of Office 365 for 2 computers. That'd work out to around $10/computer/year.

If you're running a business, makes a fairly compelling choice as well if you do need Office, or even if you just need hosted email. You can get hosted Exchange email for your team starting at $4/month, and can get Office for your employees (and yes, they'll each be able to run it on up to 5 devices) for $12.50/month. You can and see what works for you. I'm actually considering giving the cheaper option a shot for my own domain's email, and have an upcoming AppStorm series about it. Oh, there's one more awesome feature in all versions of Office 365: you can run Office — full Office — from the web if you're away from your computer (though it only works on PCs).

It lets you essentially stream the full-featured app, downloading the features you need as you need them, so you can use full Office anywhere. That's pretty nifty. So, all of those are decent options if you have a lot of computers to use with Office, and if you want Microsoft's other services anyhow. The only problem is, you don't really own Office, and can't use it forever. It's a subscription. If you'd buy Office upgrades each time they come out, it likely won't work out more expensive, but you have to consider the best for you.

If you want real Office that you own, for good, then there's still options. Office 2011 for Mac Mac users don't have a new version of Office yet, but even still, the existing version of Office got slapped with the same 1 computer per copy of Office restriction.

The good thing is, there's still copies of the on Amazon, and it'll still get all of the latest updates. That'll get you Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for up to 3 Macs in the same house for $120. That's $40/Mac, and if you use it for 4 years without buying an upgrade, that'll cost $10/Mac/year. If you're using Office professionally, you can get a for just under $200, or there's a few copies of the for $299. Now, both of these prices are only for right now; as soon as those copies sell out, then Office 2011 will cost $119 per computer for Home and Student. Also, remember that Office for Mac is due for a refresh perhaps later this year, so if you can, it might make the most sense to hold off on a purchase, or go for so you'll get updates included. Office 2013 for PC If you want Office 2013, even just for one computer, you're likely best to go with.

Your cheapest options, otherwise, are for $139.99, and for $219.99. The former gets you Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote for home use, while the latter adds Publisher and Access and is licensed for business use. Both options only are licensed for one PC, though the good thing is you can use it perpetually. If you only need the basics of Office on one PC, then Office 2013 Home and Student will likely work out cheaper over time. Otherwise, though, the subscriptions start looking really attractive price-wise. And Office 2013 is nice, with a much more streamlined UI across the whole suite, web app creation in Access, PDF editing in Word, smart data entry in Excel, and more. It's worth checking out just maybe not as a boxed version, as you would have purchased Office before.

Office 2010 or older versions But you know what? Office 2010 or 2007 is still a good option if you've got a copy around, and if you're not feeling like you've got to have the latest features, then your best value would be to stick with what you have. Office 2010 is still quite similar to 2013, and even 2007 is enough up-to-date to keep you from feeling too behind. Or, if you need to buy Office, you can still get for $169, and it'll still let you install it on 3 computers, which works out to just $56/computer.

That's a perpetual license, so you can keep using it forever, making it quite a bit cheaper right now than Office 2013 or Office 365 if that's all you need. Plus, it'll run on XP and newer, while Office 2013 and Office 365 will only run on Windows 7 and 8. There's also still copies of the pro versions of Office 2010 around on Amazon, as well as Office 2007, but none of those would really work out cheaper than their 2013 competitors right now. Though, that's still an option if you need to buy Office for XP or Vista PCs.

That's a wrap So, that's a lot to consider, but hopefully it'll help you find the best option to buy Office for your PC or Mac in 2013, or get around having to shell out for it. The Office Web Apps on really are a great option, and older versions of Office still are a great value option — especially if you already own them. But Office 2013 is a compelling release if you're on a PC, and the new Office 365 subscriptions are far more interesting than they look at first glance. I'm especially interested in their hosted Exchange/Sharepoint/Office options, and that's surprising for this Mac and web app guy that's almost left Office behind. Microsoft may have made some missteps with Windows 8 and Windows Phone, but they've also going on. @reply me on.

. Share with your entire family – for up to 6 people. For use on multiple PCs/Macs, tablets, and phones (including Windows, iOS, and Android.).

Premium versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, plus Publisher and Access for PC only. 1TB OneDrive cloud storage with advanced security per person. Collaborate on documents with others online. Tech support via chat or phone with Microsoft experts. Annual or monthly subscription. Your subscription will automatically continue. Cancel anytime.iOS and Android require separate app installation.

Office 365 is a subscription that comes with premium apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access (Publisher and Access available on PC only). The apps can be installed on multiple devices, including PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, and Android phones. Office 365 also comes with services like 1TB of OneDrive storage, 60 Skype minutes per month, and Microsoft chat and phone support. With a subscription, you get the latest versions of the apps and automatically receive updates when they happen. With Office 365 subscription plans you get the premium Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access (Publisher and Access are available on PC only).

You can install Office 365 across multiple devices, including PCs, Macs, Android™ tablets, Android phones, iPad®, and iPhone®. In addition, with Office 365 you get services like online storage with OneDrive, Skype minutes for home use, and advanced Outlook.com security. When you have an active Office 365 subscription, you always have the most up-to-date version of the Office applications. Office 2019 is a one-time purchase that includes classic applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for use on a single PC or Mac.

The applications are not automatically updated; to get the latest version, you must purchase Office again when the new version becomes available. Current Office application versions available for one-time purchase are Office 2019. Previous versions include Office 2016, Office 2011 for Mac, Office 2008 for Mac, and Office 2004 for Mac. Office 2010 and Office 2007 are compatible with Windows 8.1 and earlier.

Office as a one-time purchase does not include any of the services included in Office 365. Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest releases of Office suites and all Office 365 subscription plans. For Office 365 plans, Internet access is also needed to manage your subscription account, for example to install Office on other PCs or to change billing options. Internet access is also required to access documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the.

You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Office up to date and benefit from automatic upgrades. If you do not connect to the Internet at least every 31 days, your applications will go into reduced functionality mode, which means that you can view or print your documents, but cannot edit the documents or create new ones. To reactivate your Office applications, simply reconnect to the Internet.

Your Microsoft account is the combination of an email address and password that you use to sign in to services like Hotmail, OneDrive, Windows Phone, Xbox LIVE, and Outlook.com. If you use any of these services, you already have a Microsoft account that you can use, or you can create a new account. As part of signing up for a trial or purchasing Office, you will be prompted to sign in with a Microsoft account. You must be signed in with this account to install and manage your Office software, or to use some subscription benefits, including OneDrive storage and Skype minutes. Both landlines and mobile phones: Canada, China, Guam, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States. Landlines only: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Croatia, Colombia (excl.

Lex), Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia (Jakarta), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Venezuela. Windows. Windows 7: Start menu. Windows 8: Start screen and Apps view (the view under the Start screen that includes all apps installed on a PC). Windows 8.1: Apps view.If you cannot find your icons in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, go to the Start screen and type the name of the application you want to launch (for example, Word). Windows 10: Start menu.

You can also type the name of the application you want to launch (for example, Word) in Cortana. You can also pin an application shortcut to your Start screen or your desktop taskbar for convenient access. Your Microsoft account can only have one active subscription.

If you activate your Office 365 Personal or Office 365 University subscription before your Office 365 Home subscription expires, the remaining time on your Office 365 Home subscription will be converted to the Office 365 Personal or Office 365 University subscription (whichever you have chosen). However, you will immediately lose the Office 365 Home benefits of sharing Office with 5 other users, so you may choose to wait until your Office 365 Home subscription expires before activating your Office 365 Personal or Office 365 University subscription. If auto-renew is enabled for your subscription, it will renew automatically. Your auto-renew setting is shown on the after you sign in with the Microsoft account that you used to buy Office. If auto-renew is not enabled, visit to purchase an Office 365 auto-renew subscription. The additional time will be automatically added to the remaining time on your existing subscription. To renew through the retailer that you purchased Office 365 from, return to that retailer and purchase another pre-paid one-year subscription.

Follow the setup instructions included in the packaging – they are the same for setting up a new subscription. The additional year will be automatically added to the remaining time on your existing subscription. If you purchased an auto-renew subscription from Microsoft via MicrosoftStore.com or Office365.com, you have two options for cancelling:. You can cancel online by visiting the, signing in with the Microsoft account that you used to buy Office, and then turning off auto-renew. With this approach, your subscription will automatically expire when your remaining subscription time is up. To cancel immediately, contact Microsoft support and request an immediate cancellation. If you purchased an auto-renew subscription from Apple via the iTunes Store, you will need to cancel your subscription with Apple.

If you purchased an auto-renew subscription from another retailer, you may have to cancel your subscription with that retailer. You can confirm this by visiting the. I'm a fan of MS Office, and have been a user since before there was MS Office (Excel and Word back on the Mac, before the dawn of Windows). As a professional trainer, I'm disappointed that MS has made it impossible to maintain the desired version, even when it is still supported.

When I installed another MS product (on another account, even), it forced me to 'upgrade' from 2013 to 2016. There was no way to install Visio 365 without upgrading my existing Office installation. Not only does Office 2016 lack a key feature for me (recent folders for open/save), most of my clients are using 2013 and expect me to use 2013 when delivering training. Now I am forced to go find a stand-alone copy of 2013 to install, basically getting no value from my Office 365 subscription, which I had just renewed. I've been using some version of Microsoft Office since 1999 and every year that I've upgraded it has gotten a little better. The only thing that I'm not crazy about is how Publisher has changed in that when you want a graphic image you get sent to Bing images so many of the images can't be used since they're copy-written.

I'm not a big fan of the rent me for a year at $99.00 plus tax. I'd rather pay full price for an upgrade or full product since I prefer to upgrade my software every two years. Usually there isn't enough of a change in the program to warrant upgrading every year.