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Microsoft 365 Basic may have everything you require to launch your start-up

Microsoft 365 has revealed intentions to provide its software users with more, at no additional cost, in a market where subscriptions are either increasing in price or moving to more costly tiers.

The firm offers a “OneDrive Standalone 100GB” plan, which is more storage space than the free 5GB plan. The monthly fee is$1.99/£1.99, however you only get a small amount of cloud storage space and access to Microsoft 365 (previously Office365) online.

This plan will become active and renamed as Microsoft 365 Basic on January 30, 2023, however the firm has promised more features for later this year in a bid to lure people away from its free plan.

Basic Microsoft Office 365

New high-end security functions like decrypting encrypted files and locking down connections to other sites will be a part of this.

In addition, Outlook will be made more secure and ad-free, and customers will have access to technical help now reserved for Microsoft’s more costly plans.

Microsoft corporate vice president Liat Ben-Zur discusses the decision to maintain the same pricing in a blog post (opens in new tab).

Since Microsoft began providing consumer-facing Office subscriptions a decade ago, the cost for the Personal and Family plans has stayed the same while certain features have been updated. However, Microsoft 365’s director of product marketing Gareth Oystryk told The Verge (opens in new tab) that future pricing changes can’t be ruled out.

Beginning in February, all sorts of accounts will have access to a streamlined storage breakdown, detailing how much space is dedicated to applications like OneDrive and Outlook.

This month, the Office app for Microsoft, iOS, and Android will officially transition into the Microsoft 365 app, completing a year-long process.