Best Microsoft Office deals: Get Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for free

Bruce Brown
·3 min read
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Computer user touching on Microsoft word icon to open the program.
Microsoft

Even though Google Docs and Google Sheets are free, Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 remain the golden standard in the fight between Microsoft vs Google on the most widely used office software. Unfortunately, this market dominance means that both Microsoft Office and 365 can still be quite expensive, and even though you can certainly get a free trial of Microsoft Word, if you want the full version and the rest of the suite, you’ll need to pay. Luckily, there are quite a few good deals you can take advantage of that don’t require you to spend the high prices that you would if you bought directly from Microsoft. To that end, we’ve gone around and collected the best deals we could find below.

Best Microsoft Office deals

Microsoft Office is a pay once, receive once service. You don’t have to pay recurring monthly fees to use it, but the software also never updates. For what it’s worth, the Microsoft Office packages are labelled “2021”, so they’re all fairly recent but also ripe for a good deal. With the exception of AI integrations, not much has really changed in the past couple of years when it comes to your basic document creation and these programs should continue to be effective for years to come. Depending on what package you get, you’ll get access to different apps, based on the needs of the target audience. For example, Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 keeps it lean and cool and with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint being the only apps included.

Here are our favorite deals for the classic Microsoft Office experience:

Best Microsoft 365 membership deals

Microsoft 365 is the Software As A Service (SAAS) model office suite. While it stays constantly updated, you do have to continually pay for it on a monthly or annual basis. Luckily, there are still some good deals out there to help you avoid paying a ton. These are mostly accessed by paying for annually instead of monthly. Microsoft 365 Business deals are also available, though you’ll need to be a Lenovo Pro member to access the deals. Don’t worry, however, as joining Lenovo Pro is free.

These are your best opportunities to get Microsoft 365 at a bargain rate:

What’s the difference between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office?

To keep things simple, the primary difference between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office is that the former is a subscription service and the latter is a one time purchase. It does go beyond that, though, as Microsoft 365 has consistent updates while Microsoft Office is a static product. Microsoft 365 also has the advantage of being able to be used on an unlimited number of devices and has access to integrated cloud services, whereas Microsoft Office is locked to a single computer and that computer’s storage options. Though, if you have access to independent cloud storage, you can store your Microsoft Office files there.