These cost $150 and do not require any kind of subscription. I should mention that Microsoft also has stand-alone versions of Office for Windows and Mac known as Home and Student 2021. The good part about paying for the subscription is that it can be shared across family members and devices.

But the subscription costs can be out of reach for many with prices ranging between $70 and $100 per year. Paying for a Microsoft 365 subscription is the most popular and convenient means to access the office suite. We will delve into all those conditions in a moment. The catch here is that the free access to Microsoft Word, Excel, and the rest comes with some caveats. Yeah, they are free but there is always a catch. The good news is that you can now access part of the Microsoft 365 suite for free, that is Microsoft Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Office 365 is what was rebranded to Microsoft 365. You still had to pay a subscription fee to access the suite.

Fast forward to mid-2011 when Office 365 was launched and the case was the same. For the most part, you had to purchase Microsoft Office separately from Microsoft Windows, and that has not changed.

For close to three decades, Microsoft’s Office suite has been the go-to productivity tool for professionals, students, and even amateurs at home.

How to download free word and excel