Although Microsoft Office is offered at different prices, none of them are considered cheap. In fact, it’s the exact opposite – the meager standalone versions of the office suite start at around $ 150, while subscriptions cost $ 7 per month or $ 70 per year.

Fortunately, there are ways to get it for free, although Microsoft wants to charge extra for its popular productivity apps.

None of the methods will give you a suite as robust as the professional version, but if you don’t need all of the latest features, there are ways to save a lot of money on Microsoft Office. Here we take a look at four ways to do just that.

Use the free web apps

Microsoft has been steadily increasing the number of apps you may use online totally free and now gives an excellent suite that may without problems merge with downloaded apps, with masses of capability for the common project.

It’s additionally simply smooth to signal up. Go to this webpage, and click on Sign In and log into your Microsoft account to get started. (If you don’t have a Microsoft account, click on the Sign Up For Free button and observe the on-display screen commands to make an account.) This technique lets you apply Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Calendar, and different conventional Microsoft apps. It additionally offers you get entry to extra area of interest apps, like Sway, an interactive report/presentation app; People, a complicated touch list; and OneDrive, a cloud garage provider wherein you may get entry to and shop your files.

So, if that is all right here and to be had totally free, why does the relaxation of this text exist? Because even as those apps are useful, they’re additionally confined to the handiest very fundamental functions. They don’t provide the entire capabilities that Microsoft 365 (formerly called Office 365) provides, and also you want a web connection to apply them. It’ll paintings for easy tasks, like placing collectively a easy document, however it won’t paintings for extra complex ones.

Get Office apps through your school

If you are part of an education organization (student, faculty, or staff), enter your school email address on this site and see if you can get a version of Office for free. Microsoft extends the Office 365 Education program to all students, but your school needs to be signed up first. The benefits include access to the Office apps you expect (such as Word and Excel), plus other apps, such as Microsoft Teams, Access, and Publisher.

If you just graduated, you may not be able to get Office apps for free, but you can get them at a very low cost. The alumni discount allows you to get Microsoft 365 Personal for just $1 per month for 12 months, a great deal for those starting out in their professional environments.

Try a free 30-day trial of Microsoft 365

Free trials are still a thing, and Microsoft Office apps are no exception. If you want to experience Microsoft 365 for free, you can — for a full month. Just head to the free trial page and sign up. The trial allows you to download Microsoft 365 for up to six users and across Windows, Macs, and mobile devices. Plus, you get 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage for each user to experiment with. The trial includes the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other apps.

The downside is that you only get a month of service, which obviously isn’t beneficial if you need long-term access. Another caveat is that Microsoft requires your financial account information before the download and will start automatically charging you after the month is up, which can make disentangling yourself from Microsoft 365 a little difficult (which is the point). It’s a good way to try out the full version of Microsoft 365 to see if it offers enough to be worth the price tag, but be ready to cancel if you don’t want to be charged.

Note: Some product offers can be a little tricky, like the “Try Microsoft 365 Personal for free” hook on the Microsoft Store. Be warned that this is still referring to the one-month trial version, even if it doesn’t come right out and say so. And don’t try those “free product key” websites, which tend to be pretty sketchy and rarely deliver.

Sign up for an evaluation (30 to 60 days)

Microsoft’s Evaluation Center is a program that allows you to test out certain Office apps for a limited period. The only Office Evaluation program Microsoft offers is for Office 365 ProPlus. The test session lasts 30 days. It’s essentially another way to get a free trial, but this option provides specific and full-featured software.

The 30-day limit is not ideal for a long-term solution, but it’s a great solution if you need to knock out a one-off project in Microsoft Office.

Users may also experience some flaws during their 30-day trial. Microsoft developers use this service as a test-bed to work out bugs in newer apps and features. It’s a great solution for evaluating Microsoft Office, but it doesn’t feature the level of stability and support of the paid version.

Don’t forget that you can use free Microsoft Office alternatives

If you need Office-like apps to do homework or other projects but don’t want to pay, you can find free alternatives that emulate its features with only a couple differences. You can transfer the files to the Office suite with ease. There are just a few compatibility issues you should know about.

Some people use alternatives sparingly, while some use them every day. However you use Office-like apps, it’s doable on a budget. The Office experience is affordable for many, and students may be able to get free access through their university.

No matter if you try an alternative as a free trial for one time or download it to use regularly, they will likely fulfill your specific needs.