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Office 365 Home Premium vs. Office 2013: Which Makes More Sense for You?

With Office 2013, you can choose between Office 365 subscriptions or standalone Office suites
Jan. 29, 2013 Paul Thurrott

As I wrote in my Office 365 Home Premium review, Microsoft’s new consumer-oriented cloud service is a tremendous value for families and others with multiple PCs and devices. But individuals may be able to save money, or get the exact Office 2013 products and services they want, by purchasing a standalone Office suite instead. Here’s a comparison of what’s available, so you can make the right decision.

Office 365 Home Premium

License: Subscription
Cost: $99.99 per household per year
Installs: 5 PCs/devices

Office 365 Home Premium comes with five licenses to Office Professional 2013, which includes the core Office applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote—as well as Outlook, Access, and Publisher. It also includes Office on Demand, 20 GB of additional SkyDrive storage, 60 minutes of Skype world minutes per month, and perpetual upgrades for the life of the subscription. The cost is $99.99 per year in the US, with per-household licensing. Again, check out my Office 365 Home Premium review for the details.

Office 365 Small Business Premium

License: Subscription
Cost: $149.99 per user per year
Installs: 5 PCs/devices

Despite the naming similarity, Office 365 Small Business Premium has some important differences with Office 365 Home Premium, from both technological and licensing perspectives. It comes with five licenses to Office Professional Plus 2013, which includes the core Office applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote—as well as Outlook, Access, Publisher, Lync, and InfoPath. It also includes Office on Demand, shared calendars and a 25 GB inbox in Exchange Online, 10 GB plus 500 MB per user in SharePoint Online, public-facing and intranet web site capabilities with custom domains, and perpetual upgrades for the life of the subscription. (If it’s not clear, where Office 365 Home Premium utilizes SkyDrive, Office 365 Small Business utilizes traditional, business oriented Office 365 cloud services.) The cost is $149.99 per year per user in the US: This entry is aimed at businesses with multiple users. So those 5 PC/device licenses are per-user, not per household.

Office Home & Student 2013

License: Perpetual
Cost: $139.99
Installs: 1 PC/device

Office Home & Student 2013 is a traditional version of the Office suite which provides only the core Office applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote—and, new to this version, can only be installed on one PC. (Previous versions allowed for three installs.) It retails for $139.99 and comes with a perpetual license, meaning you buy it once and use it as long as you want.

Office Home & Business 2013

License: Perpetual
Cost: $219.99
Installs: 1 PC/device

Office Home & Business 2013 is also a traditional version of the Office suite which provides the core Office applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote—as well as Microsoft Outlook. It too can only be installed on one PC and retails for $219.99, so that copy of Outlook adds $80 to the price. Like Home & Student, Home & Business comes with a perpetual license.

Office Professional 2013

License: Perpetual
Cost: $399.99
Installs: 1 PC/device

Office Professional 2013 is analogous to the version of Office you get with Office 365 Home Premium. But it is a traditional version of the Office suite, and comes with the core Office applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote—plus Outlook, Access, and Publisher. It can only be installed on one PC and retails for $399.99, with a perpetual license.

Discuss this Article 41

ian.aldrighetti
on Jan 29, 2013

Any word on a subscription for a Student version? I remember seeing Mary Jo posting an article that it would be $3.99 a month. I haven't seen anyone mention it yet, or does this version usually take longer to come out?

pthurrott
on Jan 29, 2013

Yes, that was in my news article:

http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/paul-thurrotts-wininfo/microsoft-lau...

An Office 365 University offering aimed at college students should prove particularly compelling. This is a four-year subscription that costs only $79.99. That works out to just $1.67 per month over the lifetime of the subscription.

ian.aldrighetti
on Jan 29, 2013

Thanks. That's really cheap, cheaper than I thought it would be. Especially since it is for four years. I'll definitely be getting that soon.

qhendricks
on Jan 29, 2013

How does one go about getting the student pricing? I've got an .edu email, and I'm wondering if that's all they check. Unless, unfortunately, the student email has to be the same as the windows live email.

grking
on Jan 29, 2013

when you check out, you will be given several options for verifying your student/faculty status. One is your edu address, which you will log into, and then it kicks you back to checkout.

The whole process for me took about 2 min.

BibaButzemann
on Jan 29, 2013

Is it possible to run an Office 365 University (or any other) subscription, which can be installed on up to 2 PCs, with 2 different Microsoft accounts?
I would like to share the subscription with a fellow Student.
I couldn't find out about that up to now.

chomers
on Jan 29, 2013

The student version is $79.99 for 2 PCs/Macs plus select mobile devices. But it looks like it's a 4 year subscription.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/pd/productID.259180100...

dpete
on Jan 29, 2013

I just was offered Office 2013 from an Email from MS. This is because I work for a company that uses office. The price was $10. I downloaded the full version but haven't installed it yet. I had been using 2010 under the same program. Full version for $10. How does this version that I downloaded fit with the on line versus purchased 2013? Also, it said that this was only good as long as I was employed by this company. What happens if I leave the company? Does MS somehow disable the copy on my computer?

ECM2
on Jan 29, 2013

My wife and I have been Office 365 P1 subscribers for over a year now. We also purchased additional Skydrive space for $100/user/year. Currently, we have the Office 2013 Preview installed in all of our computers. Do we automatically qualify for a free upgrade to Office 2013? If not, can you suggest the most cost-effective way of getting Office 2013 on our desktops, laptops, and tablets? Each of us have 4-5 devices running Win8pro. We also have 2 children (students) each running 2-3 Win8pro devices with Office 2013 Preview installed. Both of them are not Office 365 subscribers. Microsoft is known for creating products/services that are very confusing/ambiguous ... and they are doing it again! Your advice on this matter is definitely going to be very therapeutic for me and for many other vertiginous fans.

pthurrott
on Jan 29, 2013

Yes. Existing Office 365 subscribers will get Office 2013 at the end of February.

IamRubber
on Jan 29, 2013

Another P1 subscriber here. Just want to verify this. So I pay $6/month which equals $72 / year. I will be grandfathered in automatically to the $150 / year program but still keep my original rate? Sounds pretty good.

Mr Bond
on Feb 27, 2013

> Existing Office 365 subscribers will get Office 2013 at the end of February

This doesn't seem to be correct. The two of us here have been P1 subscribers since the launch of the service but it appears we won't get the desktop versions of Office 2013 unless we upgrade to Office 365 Small Business Premium (which costs two and a half times as much: 10.10 GBP instead of 3.90).

ECM2
on Jan 29, 2013

My wife and I have been Office 365 P1 subscribers for over a year now. We also purchased additional Skydrive space for $100/user/year. Currently, we have the Office 2013 Preview installed in all of our computers. Do we automatically qualify for a free upgrade to Office 2013? If not, can you suggest the most cost-effective way of getting Office 2013 on our desktops, laptops, and tablets? Each of us have 4-5 devices running Win8pro. We also have 2 children (students) each running 2-3 Win8pro devices with Office 2013 Preview installed. Both of them are not Office 365 subscribers. Microsoft is known for creating products/services that are very confusing/ambiguous ... and they are doing it again! Your advice on this matter is definitely going to be very therapeutic for me and for many other vertiginous fans.

J-Dub
on Jan 29, 2013

So if you quit paying the annual fee, does office stop working all together or do just the upgrades stop?

pthurrott
on Jan 29, 2013

It goes into reduced functionality mode: Reading but no editing.

Yuxie
on Jan 29, 2013

And this is why I'm back to pirating Office...

Forrest
on Jan 29, 2013

I'm going to have to agree with Yuxie, They are over selling just like AT&T dose with data. If I only need office for 2 devices why can't I get 365 for just two PCs and pay 2/5th($39) of the $99 fee. They sell standard install office for 1 PC, why not sell 365 that way?

cconrad
on Feb 10, 2013

In my opinion $99 is a pretty good price even if you only install it on 1 or 2 PC's. Remember that the subscription also includes Skype minutes and extra Skydrive storage. Google Apps runs $50/user/year and there you don't even get native Windows or Mac apps.

thundr35
on Jan 29, 2013

Does this mean the trimmed down outlook.com version is going to go away? I never opted in to try the office365 trial so I wouldn't miss much.

pthurrott
on Jan 29, 2013

No. Outlook.com is not related to Office 365/Office 2013.

Mike84
on Jan 29, 2013

One thing i'm confused about it email. I use, pay for, and prefer Exchange online. Why do we need Outlook.com and Exchange Online?

Waethorn
on Jan 30, 2013

I'll field this.

Outlook.com is the consumer-centric email service that is due to replace Hotmail.com. If you're a very small business, you could go with Outlook.com or Hotmail and use SkyDrive for file sharing along with the Office Web Apps for free. Although, if you want business reliability and are willing to pay for it, you'd use Office 365. Office 365 small business plans include Exchange Online, NOT Outlook.com - even if you use the Outlook Web App from your Office 365 portal page.

Outlook.com is not compatible with Office 365 email address logins by default because Office 365 Exchange Online email accounts are not automatically a "Microsoft Account" login, which Outlook.com requires. You can use an Exchange Online email address as a Microsoft Account login though, but the passwords are not synchronized because they aren't on the same system. Microsoft recommends that you NOT use the same password for an email address that isn't part of the Microsoft Account login system too.

The one reason you might want to use an Exchange Online email address as a Microsoft Account login is to have your Windows 8 PC settings synchronized if you aren't using Active Directory Federation Services and/or aren't using a linked corporate domain for login on those PC's (unmanaged PC's). This also works for Windows RT.

Note, however, that if you do this on a Windows RT device, or a Windows 8 PC without the Office Outlook software installed, that there are some quirks. Whenever you create a Microsoft Account, a mailbox, calendar, and contacts set is created on Outlook.com for that account that is separate from your Exchange Online account. If you use the basic Mail app in Windows 8/RT, you may need to remove the option to sync mail with the Microsoft Account login (represented in Accounts as the ORANGE envelope). Check your Calendar and People settings for similar options so that you don't have duplicate accounts sync'ing and/or have objects posted to the wrong account. When you do this, everything is peachy.

alvatrus
on Jan 29, 2013

Actually, my copy of Office 2010 Home makes most sense to me, because I already have a licence for that one and it does all (and more) than I need.
I won't be upgrading anything unless there is a Metro version(like the new OneNote) coming out.

grking
on Jan 29, 2013

I just got my student/faculty subscription. Pretty sweet deal if you have an .edu email

meelahi
on Jan 29, 2013

Office 365 University, here I come.

tewill
on Jan 29, 2013

Paul - I subscribe to Exchange Online, which is a tier in the "old" Office 365. First, I don't see this listed as a tier in the "new" Office 365 for business, and second, what will my options be to get a subscription for the Office client software? Will they be restricted to additionally subscribing to Office 365 Home Premium or upgrading to the equivalent of Plan E3 in the new Office 365 for business?

dfey
on Jan 29, 2013

The Home Premium 365 would be a more winning deal at about $75 a year. Most folks would purchase the Home and Business model for $220 and keep it at least 3 years. That works out to $73/year. Effectively while you are getting more for $99/year, most folks won't use Access or Publisher and won't miss it if they don't get it.
So again, nice product, decent pitch, but they miss the mark on pricing and they'll wonder why people aren't swooping in to take the offer.

chud67bj
on Jan 30, 2013

Paul, wonder what you think of "writers" you have these headlines. "Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been causing groans of disbelief across the internet today as it announced the release of its Office 365, a cloud based office suite. The problem with the release has been pointed out several times today; the release came nearly seven years too late, and the product costs far too much." As compares this to Google Docs.

Basically he implies that Microsoft has never had any cloud solution until this day.

This is from a guy who has had "His work has been featured on the front page Google News and Google Finance."

I see this all the time.

Daniel D
on Jan 30, 2013

I think the Uni pricing is the sweet spot for Office 365 and some replies already suggest it is. Home and small business should be at the Uni pricing and no more.

Otherwise I think many won't even bother with any of these versions of Office. What they have now will be considered good enough or the boss can buy it, if its that important to have the latest.

munozrick
on Jan 30, 2013

Hi Paul, Will Office 365 Small Business still work with Skydrive? I realize that O3SB comes with Office 365 storage, but I still use Skydrive heavily - and I'm unable to find clear statements that indicates O365 Small Business *will* work with Skydrive.

pthurrott
on Jan 30, 2013

Yes it will. You can even change the default save to the one you prefer. And have multiple instances of each.

Waethorn
on Jan 30, 2013

Here's a reality check on the pricing that nobody seems to be covering:

Office Home & Student 2010 MLK/ESD for only 1 PC:
$129CAD MSRP

Office Home & Student 2010 Retail DVD for 3 PC's:
$159CAD MSRP

Office Home & Student 2013 MLK/ESD for 1 PC:
$139CAD MSRP

Office Home & Student 2013 Retail DVD for 3 PC's:
No option

Office 365 Home Premium for 5 PC's/devices:
$99/yr CAD (over 3 year period before next major version = $300)

And yes, I heard from distribution that there will be no 3-PC retail versions available. In fact, there are no products on DVD anymore. Office is available as a download only, or you have to order the DVD's separately (for an extra cost). So when you consider that the 1 PC version of Home & Student 2013 costs $139, you're going to be paying almost the same amount of money as the previous 3-PC version if you order a disc, but you can still only run it on 1 computer.

So if you only want Word and Excel, but for 2-3 PC's, you're going to be paying a LOT MORE for it - at least $140 more than the previous version, either for a second single PC version, or for the subscription.

pthurrott
on Jan 30, 2013

To be fair, I wrote about this in my review.

PDSBGreg
on Jan 30, 2013

I just signed up for the Office 365 Home Premium trial free month. It's set to renew at the monthly rate of $10. Is there a way to change it so that it will renew at the yearly rate of $99?

jhester
on Jan 30, 2013

Just as an FYI, if you work for a large company, and only need one copy of Office for your personal use, you may be able to buy Office 2013 for $9.95 through the Home Use Program. This is how I obtained both Office 2007 and Office 2010. It's a great deal if your employer participates.

ron
on Jan 31, 2013

One point you missed in the article. The local install is not really perpetual, like the 2010 and earlier licenses which allow you to transfer to new devices. The 2013 local install is only good for the life of the device.

If your computer dies 5 minutes after you install 2013, MS expects you to buy a new license. Really!

dpete
on Feb 1, 2013

I just was offered Office 2013 from an Email from MS. This is because I work for a company that uses office. The price was $10. I downloaded the full version but haven't installed it yet. I had been using 2010 under the same program. Full version for $10. How does this version that I downloaded fit with the on line versus purchased 2013? Also, it said that this was only good as long as I was employed by this company. What happens if I leave the company? Does MS somehow disable the copy on my computer?

mtbound811
on Feb 1, 2013

As an MS Cloud Partner, I do not see the ability to offer any of these products to prospective customers, even as trials. Does Microsoft plan on allowing partners to offer these programs and if so, when?

timbot09
on Feb 2, 2013

Hey Paul I was wondering with office for students if I could verify with my .edu email address but still connect it to my live.com address.

I use my live address for Skype, Xbox, desktop login, and my Lumia 920. I would like the 60 mins of Skype calls and the extra 20 GB to be associated with my live account is this possible?

pdalton
on Feb 4, 2013

Husband/wife home-based business.

Ignoring the "non-commercial use" restriction in Home Premium (admittedly, a serious obstacle), what functional considerations might justify paying $300/year for these 2 users to have the Small Business version vs. $100/yr for those same 2 users to have the Home Premium version?

cconrad
on Feb 10, 2013

To be honest I don't think there are any functional considerations, although if you ever plan on including more people in your company, you might want to get used to the Small Business version and its (Exchange/SharePoint/Lync) Online tools now rather than later. But since you are making money from using Office, wouldn't you rather pay for the non-restricted license?

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