Beat Microsoft’s Office price rise
Microsoft 365 subscribers are about to see a huge hike in fees just for the privilege of using of Copilot. Jonathan Parkyn explains how to beat this rise, and pay only for features you want
If you use Microsoft 365 – the company’s subscription-based way of paying for Office apps and additional OneDrive storage – you may have received an email telling you that the cost of your subscription is set to rise. Some of you may already be paying more, because the price rise comes into effect automatically on your first billing date after 16 January 2025, if your account is set to renew automatically.
It’s a hefty price increase, too. Microsoft 365 Personal subscribers will see their fees jump from £5.99 to £8.49 per month, or from £59.99 to £84.99 if they pay yearly. Microsoft 365 Family subscribers will now pay £10.49 per month (up from £7.99) or £104.99 (up from £79.99) per year. To put it another way, 365 Personal subscribers are looking at a staggering 42-per-cent increase, while 365 Family subscribers will be paying 31-per-cent more.
Check whether you’re affected
If you haven’t noticed an email from Microsoft, sign into your Microsoft account at https://account.microsoft.com, then click Subscriptions on the left to see if you’ll be paying more. If you see Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family listed, click it to see whether Auto-renew is enabled and how much your next payment will be.