Look, I get it. Nobody exactly loves another monthly bill hitting their credit card. We’re all living in the age of "subscription fatigue," and Microsoft 365 is usually the first thing people look at when they want to trim the fat.
But honestly, if you're trying to figure out is Microsoft 365 a good deal, the answer isn't a simple yes or no. It depends entirely on whether you're just looking for a place to type up a grocery list or if you're actually using the mountain of "extra" stuff Microsoft packs into the box.
Most people just think of Word and Excel. If that's all you need, you're probably overpaying. But once you start looking at the cloud storage and the family sharing math, the picture changes fast.
The Math Behind the Subscription
Let’s talk money. Right now, a Microsoft 365 Personal plan usually runs you about $70 a year. If you go for the Family plan, it’s closer to $100.
Here is where people mess up the calculation: they compare that $70 a year to "free" tools like Google Docs. That’s a bad comparison. A better way to look at it is through the lens of cloud storage.
If you were to go out and buy 1TB of storage from Dropbox, you're looking at roughly $120 a year. Google Drive (Google One) charges about $100 a year for 2TB because they don't have a 1TB tier.
Microsoft gives you 1TB of OneDrive storage included in that $70 Personal plan.
Wait, what? Basically, you’re getting a full-featured office suite for "negative" $30 to $50 if you were already planning on paying for cloud storage. For a lot of us, that's the real reason to stay. It’s a storage locker that happens to come with a world-class spreadsheet app.
The "One-Time Purchase" Trap
Microsoft still sells a "perpetual" version called Office 2024. You pay once—around $150—and you own it forever.
Except "forever" has an expiration date.
Software moves fast. Microsoft usually only supports these one-time versions with security patches for about five years. After that, you're on your own. Plus, you get zero cloud storage. You get zero mobile app features (the advanced ones, anyway). And if you buy a new computer and lose your key? Good luck.
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Is Microsoft 365 a Good Deal for Families?
This is where the value proposition gets actually insane. The Family plan allows for up to six people.
Let's do some quick "back of the napkin" math. Six people sharing a $100/year plan is roughly $16.66 per person per year.
Each of those six people gets their own private 1TB of OneDrive storage.
If you have a spouse, two kids, and maybe your parents on the plan, you are effectively paying $1.38 per month per person for 1TB of storage and the full Office suite. You cannot find that kind of value anywhere else in the tech world. Period.
Honestly, even if you hate the ribbon interface in Word, the storage alone makes the Family plan one of the best bargains in software.
The 2026 Reality Check: Prices are Changing
It’s not all sunshine and cheap storage, though. Microsoft recently announced a significant pricing update set for July 1, 2026.
If you are a business user, you need to pay attention. Commercial plans like Business Basic and Business Standard are seeing hikes—Business Basic is jumping from $6 to $7, and Standard is going from $12.50 to $14.
Why? Microsoft is leaning hard into AI.
They are bundling "Copilot" (their AI assistant) features and beefing up security tools like Defender. They argue that they’re giving you more value, so they’re charging more.
Whether that’s a "good deal" depends on if your team actually uses AI to write emails or if it just sits there as an annoying sidebar they never click. For a small business with 50 employees, that extra $1.50 per user adds up to $900 a year. That’s not nothing.
What About the Alternatives?
If you're still skeptical, you've got three main exits:
- Google Workspace: Great for collaboration. It’s "cloud-native," meaning it was built for the web. But if you do heavy data lifting, Google Sheets will choke long before Excel does.
- LibreOffice: It’s free. It’s open-source. It feels like 2005. If you just need to open a .docx file once a month, this is your winner.
- Apple iWork: If you’re a Mac purist, Pages and Numbers are free and beautiful. But try sending a Numbers file to a client who uses a PC and watch the formatting explode.
The Verdict for Regular Humans
Is it worth it?
If you are a solo user who doesn't care about cloud storage and just wants to write a letter occasionally, no, it's a terrible deal. Use the free web versions of Office or stick with Google Docs.
But if you are a family of four or more, or if you need a reliable place to back up your photos and documents (OneDrive), Microsoft 365 is an unbeatable deal.
Actionable Next Steps
- Audit your storage: Check how much you're paying for iCloud, Dropbox, or Google One. If it's more than $70/year, switch to M365 and cancel the others.
- Check your "Family" count: If you have the Personal plan, see if you can split a Family plan with friends or relatives. It’s perfectly legal within their terms as long as you "manage" the group.
- Use the Web for Free: Before you buy, go to Office.com. You can use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for free in a browser. For 90% of people, this is actually enough.
- Business Owners: Review your licenses before the July 2026 price hike. If you have users who only check email, move them to the "F" (Frontline) plans or Business Basic to save some cash.