And Office 2016 share a lot of similarities, but deciding between the two involves a lot of factors. Office 365 is a subscription-based service that currently uses Office 2016 apps, but when the next version of Office is released, users get that as part of their subscriptions.

Office 2016 is a buy-once app suite that brings you the Office 2016 apps as they are, without any updates to future generations of the software. If you want to upgrade to the latest version of Office without paying for a subscription, you have to pay full price for the new version — there's no discounted upgrade option. Here we break down the major differences between the two products to help you decide which is better for home and personal use. Office 365 is a subscription-based service, as noted. If you choose to pay on a yearly basis, you essentially get a discount that works out to two free months per year.

If your version of Microsoft Office came with your PC, you can download or order a backup version.

If you choose to pay on a monthly basis you'll pay a bit more by the end of the year, but you'll also have the ability to back out of your subscription at the end of any month. The monthly subscription plan is therefore better for students who only need Office for a few months out of the year, and a yearly subscription is great for anyone working from home. Students and teachers enrolled or working at certain schools might even be eligible for a free subscription to Office 365 Education. If you're a university student, there's also the option of buying a four-year subscription to Office 365 University. This costs for an entire four years of access, but only if you meet the requirements (you're enrolled in university). Office 2016 is a classic, buy-once deal. This is better for those of you who want to purchase an item once and have it forever.

If you only want Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, Office Home & Student 2016 is worth look a look. An Office 365 subscription ensures you'll always have the latest version of Office. But you can pay more once and own Office 2016 forever. Keep in mind, though, that Office 2016 only receives security and bug updates and does not get any of the major new features coming in the future. If you buy an Office 365 subscription today and keep it going until, say, 2020, you'll basically have Office 2020. If you buy Office 2016 today and keep it until 2020, you'll still have the same old Office 2016 without any new features. If you want the full suite of Office apps, you have to go with either Office 365 or Office Professional 2016.

How to download wordpress.org for the first time on mac. As you can see in the, buying an Office Professional 2016 plan, which has the same apps as Office 365 but doesn't have the same cloud storage or multiple device functionality, will set you back about $400. For the same apps, 1TB of storage, and the ability to install the apps on a PC, a tablet, and a phone, you only pay about $70 for a year with Office 365 Personal. Bottom line: If you can't be bothered with subscriptions, and you want to buy one version of Office and stick with it for several years without receiving anything other than security and bug updates, go with Office 2016.

However, if you want to always have the latest version of Office apps with all the latest features, and you don't mind paying a subscription fee, Office 365 is your go-to option. The added bonus of serious student discounts to Office 365 makes it a pretty attractive package for anyone headed back to school. Multiple devices. One of the greatest aspects of Office 365 is the ability to use it on multiple devices.

If you have a household of people who all use different OSes and devices, you have to go with Office 365 Home. You can install Office on up to five PCs or Macs, five tablets, and five phones. Office 365 Personal limits you to one install on each kind of device, but you can still have it on one PC or Mac, tablet, and phone at once.