Microsoft is continuously pushing for people to switch over to Office 365, which works on a subscription service model, and leave behind their typical Office programs behind, which work on a one-time purchase model. However, Office 2013 launched at a similar time and has access to a lot of similar features. So which one is the best investment?
Quick answer, if Office 2013 covers all your needs, and you plan on using it for 4-5 years, then over time it’ll be cheaper than Office 365. If you want any of the extra features, and will be making good use of them, then Office 365 will be your best bet.
We’ll break it down and go more in-depth, but there’s good news. Either program can use Cirrus Insight to integrate with Salesforce right from your inbox, so that’s at least one thing you don’t have to worry about.
Price
First issue is price. Office 365 has several tiers depending on type of use and size of business. Here’s a big list to look over, but I’m going to focus on the Office 365 Business plans.
- You can get the Office 365 Business Essentials for as low as $5.00 per user/per month when you sign up for a year for a total of $60 each year.
- A normal Business version for $8.25 per user/per month when signed up for a year for a total cost of $99.
- The Business Premium version costs $12.50 per user/per month when you sign up for year for a total of $150 per year.
Office Professional 2013 has a one-time cost of $399.99. So based purely on cost if you use Office 2013 for more than two and a half years you’ll start to save money compared to the Office 365 Premium, but you’ll have to use it for over 4 years to be better than the normal Office 356 Business, and over six and half years for it to be more cost effective than the Office 365 Business Essentials.
Apps
- The Office 365 Business Essentials only comes with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. If that’s all you need, then that’s likely your best bet.
- Business 365 (normal and premium) and Professional 2013 come with full installations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and OneNote. Professional 2013 also comes with Access.
Accessibility
When you get Office Professional 2013, you’ll get a disc or download that’ll put the program on one computer.
If you get Office 365 Business Essentials you’ll just be able to access the apps online, so as long as you have internet you’re good. If you go for Office 365 Business/Premium then you’ll get to install all the applications on up to 5 PCs or Macs (so they can be used offline, but will need to check in once a month) and up to 5 tablets and 5 phones.
This appears to be no contest. Office 365 Business and Premium versions give far more accessibility, but if you only use the one computer for work, and wouldn’t ever use the other computers/devices then you’re not gaining anything.
Online Storage and Support
Here’s another area where Microsoft is clearly favoring Office 365. Both programs come with access to OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service, but Office 2013 packages come with only 15 GB compared to 1TB (1,000 GB) with all Office 365 packages.
Office 365 also receives continuous technical support via chat or phone whereas Office 2013 support is focused just on getting through installation.
There’s also other perks depending on which version of Office 365 you get, but those vary widely by whichever package you pick.
Conclusion
Like I said at the beginning, Office 365 is designed to be the more appealing option, but depending on how many of the perks you actually need Office 2013 could save you money in the long-term, especially if you use it for more than 4 years.