The best Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 deals in October 2024
Where to get Microsoft's Office software for the cheapest price
We've searched the web to bring you all of this month's best Microsoft Office deals. Even with the rise of Google Workspace and other free office software, there are still those who prefer to use Microsoft's suite of programs for work tasks. If that's you, then we're here to help you save money with a roundup of the cheapest prices for both the subscription-based Microsoft 365 and the full Microsoft Office 2021 package.
At the basic level, you can get Word, Excel and PowerPoint as part of Microsoft 365 Personal or in the Microsoft Office 2021 Home and Student/Home and Business packages. Deals on those products are the ones we're focusing on right here as they're the cheapest, most useful and most widely used.
It gets more complicated beyond that, with different subscription tiers including Family, Business and Enterprise that have more specific use cases and different programs - though these are all relatively self-explanatory. Services bundled in include Outlook, OneDrive, Defender, Teams, Editor, Clipchamp, OneNote, Access, Publisher and much more. Microsoft 365 is the ultimate productivity kitchen sink.
You could buy an Office subscription from Microsoft directly, but it's possible to get a better deal from a reliable third-party retailer. The software is on sale at various times throughout the year, too, such as the second Amazon Prime Day sale that starts in October as a kick-off to this year's Black Friday deals.
If you need a device as well, check out today's best laptop deals as many of these include a limited-time subscription for free.
Buy Microsoft 365 Personal or Family
If you're looking to buy Microsoft 365, you should know that this is a subscription-based service. The prices below are for your first year for one user to use on one PC, along with a tablet or mobile too (for the Personal one) or up to six users (on the Family bundle).
The advantages of using Microsoft 365 include having access to all the latest versions of programs in the Microsoft Office suite and having 1TB of online storage, courtesy of one of the best cloud storage providers on the market, OneDrive.
The latter is particularly useful for editing documents on the go. So you could go from writing on the laptop/desktop to making a few changes or crucial last-minute updates on your mobile or tablet.
If the online cloud storage and device switching won't be useful, we'd recommend scrolling further down this page and buying Microsoft Office Home and Student 2021 instead for a one-off fee.
Buy Microsoft 365 Business
There are four different Microsoft 365 business plans as of today. Microsoft says that it changed the name to "to be more reflective of the range of features and benefits in the subscription. Microsoft 365 includes everything you know in Office 365, including best-in-class Office apps, intelligent cloud services, and advanced security."
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic (formerly Office 365 Business Essentials)
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard (formerly Office 365 Business Premium)
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium (formerly Microsoft 365 Business)
- Microsoft 365 Apps for business (formerly Office 365 Business)
Buy Microsoft Home & Student 2021
Microsoft certainly took its time to give us a new standalone Office package as it's moved its focus to the Microsoft 365 subscription service nowadays. But if you want a modern version of Office with just a simple one-time fee, this is the way to go.
You don't get the fancier cloud-based features and multi-device support that you do with Microsoft 365, but this can work out much cheaper in the long run.
As is usually the case, the cheapest option for Office 2021 is the "Home & Student" Edition, which comes with a single-user license, allowing you to install the Office suite of apps on one device. It still comes with all the essential Office apps that are suitable for most users' needs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher, and OneNote.
You might also want to check out how to download and use Microsoft Word for free if you'd rather not hand over any cash.
For other devices, do take a look at the best MacBook deals going right now for the cheapest prices on Apple devices today. You can use Office on your tablet, too, so why not shop the best tablet deals and iPad deals available right now?
Check out our Microsoft promo codes to get the best deal on your next purchase.
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James Pickard is a Deals Editor at TechRadar. After many years of scouring the net for the cheapest games and tech for his personal use, he decided to make it his job to share all the best bargains and coupon codes with you. James also has almost a decade of experience covering some of the biggest sales events of the year at Eurogamer and VG247, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day. When not deals hunting or stacking coupon codes to get the biggest savings, James can be found on the PS5, watching a classic film noir or cheering on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.