Office 2021 vs Office 365: the differences

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Office 2021 vs Office 365

Office 2021 vs Office 365: the differences

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Microsoft Office is a well-known package from Microsoft, including some of the most used applications worldwide, such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word. There are a few different versions of Office you can use. Two of them are Office 2021 and Microsoft 365. Since 2020, Office 365 was renamed to Microsoft 365. Despite the change in the name, the license remains the same. In this article, you can read more about the differences between Office 2021 vs Office 365, the available bundles, and the applications.

What packages does Microsoft Office 2021 offer?

Microsoft Office 2021 offers 5 different packages. These are:

Read more about the difference between Office 2019 and 2021

Check out the table below to see which package comes with which applications.

Table Comparison of Office 2021

What versions does Microsoft Office 365 offer?

Office 365 has more variants on offer compared to Microsoft Office 2021. These are:

  • Microsoft Office 365 Business Standard– this is the standard business Office 365 package. 365 Business Standard includes Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, Publisher, Access and Teams.
  • Microsoft Office 365 Business Basic- as the basic package of 365, the license includes Excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote and Teams.
  • Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium- 365 Business Premium offers the same applications as Business Standard with the addition of SharePoint, Exchange and Azure Protection.
  • Microsoft Office 365 Personal- aimed for 1 user, Personal includes Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook. Next to that, 365 Personal comes with 6TB of OneDrive storage space.
  • Microsoft Office 365 Family– as the standard package of Office 365. Family includes Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook. The license comes with 6TB of OneDrive storage space. It is meant to be used by 2 to 6 people.
  • Microsoft Office 365 Apps- 365 Apps gives you access to Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, Publisher and Access, next to 1 TB of OneDrive storage space.

Office 365 vs Office 2021: The differences

The most important difference is the license type. For Office 365, this is a subscription. This means, that you will have to renew your license on a monthly or yearly basis. Office 2021, as a perpetual license, is a one-time purchase. Another difference between the two is the length of the technical support. With Office 2021, this only lasts 60 days after purchase, with Office 365 the support lasts until you end your subscription. Finally, the Office 365 applications will keep receiving updates, which is not the case for Office 2021, as Microsoft’s support and updates end in October 2026.

Office 365 vs Office 2021: Which Office license should I buy?

You should acquire an Office 365 license:

  • If you always want to keep your Office applications up to date.
  • If you need constant technical support.
  • If you prefer a subscription-based license.

You should acquire an Office 2021 license:

  • If you prefer a one-time purchase over a subscription.
  • If you want to save in the long run. After a few months of using the license, the one-time purchase is cheaper than the subscription.
  • If you do not need your applications to be fully up to date.

Cheap Office 2021/365 licenses:

Are you looking for a cheap Office license? Check out Lizenso’s product range for affordable and reliable Office licences, for both Office 2021 and Office 365. If you have any questions, we are more than happy to help you.