At one point or the other, you must have come across ‘Microsoft Office’ and ‘Microsoft 365’ or ‘Office 365’, and you wonder if they are the same or not. The truth be told, it is easy for a newbie to confuse Microsoft Office and Office 365 or Microsoft 365 (Microsoft 365 is the rebranded name for Office 365). So, this post clarifies your confusion and enlightens you on the differences between both and the features of each.

Microsoft Office is the standard office suite you’ve used for years and can include the desktop app versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, and Publisher depending on the edition you get.

Office Home & Student has Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Office Home & Business adds Outlook. Office Professional adds Publisher and Access. All are available for Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac operating systems, and it’s a one-time purchase, meaning you just purchase the product key once and for all without any monthly or yearly subscription fee.

Office 365, now known as Microsoft 365, is a subscription service that can provide access to any of the desktop and web-based Office applications and other services like OneDrive cloud storage, Teams, SharePoint, Intune, Exchange, and built-in security services.

Differences Between MS Office and MS 365

Is Office 365 as good as Office?

In some cases, Office 365 or Microsoft 365 is much better than Microsoft Office. Let’s assume that you want to get Word, Excel, etc., without worrying about any updates or paying money every month or year. In such situations, Microsoft Office is better than Microsoft 365. However, if you need all the updates, the newer version of Office apps, OneDrive storage, etc., there is no other substitute for Microsoft 365.