Office and Microsoft 365 will soon cost more, and it's all Copilot AI's fault

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The price increase is due to the addition of Copilot into various Microsoft 365 apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.

Microsoft 365 app on Windows 11 with shortcuts to create documents in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other Microsoft 365 applictions.
Many Microsoft 365 applications, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel will feature versions of Copilot to assist with content creation. The addition of Copilot features to Microsoft 365 has driven up the cost of Personal and Family plans. (Image credit: Future)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans will soon be more expensive in several regions.
  • The price increase is due to the addition of Copilot into various Microsoft 365 apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.
  • The addition of Microsoft Designer to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions is also a factor in the price increase.

Copilot is on the way to Microsoft 365, and so is Microsoft Designer. Those additions will bring new features to Microsoft's productivity suite, but they will also drive up the cost of the now-ubiquitous Microsoft 365. Those with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriptions who are in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, or Thailand will soon receive new AI capabilities in Microsoft 365 apps and have to pay more for the privilege. It's not confirmed that these changes will take place in other countries.

Microsoft's Copilots were already available in several Office apps, but they were limited to Copilot Pro subscribers. Microsoft improved those Copilots over the last nine months, and it is now ready to ship them to more consumers. Here's what the tech giant listed as on the way to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers:

  • Copilot in Word transforms your writing and reading experience by generating outlines or full drafts, suggesting rewrites to better capture your ideas, summarizing long texts into digestible pieces, and even creating unique images to complement your documents. 
  • Copilot in Excel helps you analyze your data to provide actionable insights and graphs, and generates formulas based on your requirements. 
  • Copilot in PowerPoint enhances your storytelling by generating full outlines with visuals, text, and speaker notes, and allows you to create custom images to make your presentations more engaging. 
  • Copilot in Outlook makes managing emails a breeze by drafting emails based on your intent, providing tips to improve tone and clarity, and summarizing email threads to help you catch up quickly. 
  • Copilot in OneNote takes your notetaking to the next level by helping you organize information, create lists, draft plans, generate ideas, and offers insights into past notes. 

Microsoft Designer is now part of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family as well, and it works within apps such as Word and PowerPoint. Those who have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription will receive credits each month that can be used across various Copilots.

While these features will be useful for some people, I suspect quite a few folks will focus more on the price increase to Microsoft 365. The change will likely worry many, as it shows that everyday users will end up paying for Microsoft's quest to dominate the AI space. This isn't paying more for Copilot Pro, which will remain available for those who need unlimited AI usage, this is Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family seeing a price increase because of AI.

Is the price of Microsoft 365 going up?

Yes. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions will soon cost more. At minimum, that's the case in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand, but it appears possible the increase will appear across the board as Copilot (and Designer) are integrated with Microsoft 365. Microsoft noted some pricing details in its news post:

"To reflect the value we’ve added over the past decade and enable us to deliver new innovations for years to come, we’re increasing the prices of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family. The price increase will apply to existing subscribers upon their next renewal. The price increases vary in each market—visit our website for exact local pricing. For Microsoft 365 Family subscribers, Copilot will be available to the subscription owner and cannot be shared with others."

When will the price of Microsoft 365 go up?

Even if you're a market seeing a price increase, you have a bit of time before the change will affect you. Current subscribers will remain at their current rate until their next renewal. At that time, the price will jump up to whatever the new cost is the respective region.

"I hate AI. Can't I just use Microsoft 365 without AI and pay less?"

Somewhat surprisingly, the answer to this question appears to be yes. I'm sure Microsoft would be quick to tell you that the best Microsoft 365 experience for users would be one featuring AI, but that will not be the only option. A Microsoft 365 Classic option will be available, according to ZDNet, and it will cost a similar price to what you pay right now for Microsoft 365.

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Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He's covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean's journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_. 

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ad47uk
    A Microsoft 365 Classic option will be available, according to ZDNet, and it will cost a similar price to what you pay right now for Microsoft 365.
    Similar price? so the price will still increase, if all the features is needed , then it is a good deal, but with free office suites out there that will suit the majority of people, paying for Microsoft 365 is costly over the year.

    If I needed Office, I would buy it outright, fed up with subscriptions needed for this and needed for that.
    Using a Mac for most things these days, i find pages and numbers does everything i need, but then I am just a home user, if i did not have a Mac, I would be using LibreOffice.

    The one they don't have is desktop publishing, but then MS Office don't have that these days. I use Affinity publisher, but there are a couple of free ones around
    Reply
  • Ron-F
    The problem with service's subscriptions is that you became dependent of the service provider. As such, I always recommend researching potential alternatives. Microsoft's Office 365 and GamePass currently provide excellent value for money, but I remain ready to switch providers if their terms or pricing become less favorable.
    Reply
  • Laura Knotek
    I really don't have any use for the bundled Microsoft 365 these days. 1TB OneDrive storage is all I really need. If that is available standalone at a lower price, then I might drop the full Microsoft 365 subscription.
    Reply
  • naddy69
    There is no way I am paying a yearly subscription for Office. I paid around $50 combined for both Office 2021 for Windows and Office 2021 for Mac about 2 years ago.

    I also have no need for "AI" anything. That companies "need to show profits from AI soon or it's going to go away" is not my problem.
    Reply
  • Lurking_Lurker_Lurks
    I feel like tiers isn't that complex of a concept. Basic, AI, and they could even do one with Copilot Pro. The US isn't being affected (for now), but honestly the $70 I pay per year for one license is already insane compared to when my family used to buy a permanent license of the most recent version on sale in stores.

    This AI push is getting increasingly worrisome. They're trying to sell an idea that something is useful and force if on users rather than offer customers something that's actually useful and let them come as they want. Business 101 is you sell solutions not products. AI is doing well as a buzz word, but I don't think they've actually managed to do anywith it that interests or pulls in general users. Everyone's desperate for the next "iPhone moment" and it's true tech has really flatlined. Things aren't improving as much as they used to and if tech companies want to see more growth they do need to find a new use case or concept entirely that resonates with people... I'm just not sure AI is that (or really large scale generative language models). Or at the very least nothing they're doing with it is resonating so far. It kinda is with businesses that want to hire less people (but how much does that increase tech sales when people are out of jobs) and really really sus people wanting indecent pictures of celebrities.
    Reply
  • Jack Pipsam
    I've been paying for the Office (yes I will keep calling it Office) sub for pretty much a decade now. I'm very much in the camp of, I hate AI and don't want anything to do with CoPilot. Any option to rip it out of Microsoft programs is something I would desire.

    I'm glad they're going to be offering the classic option as I'd swap to that, although it sounds like that's going to increase in price as well, which isn't very good considering that Microsoft should be pretty happy that I actually am paying to use Office and not just installing LibreOffice or something (like I have done on my Ubuntu laptop, and you know what, it's perfectly fine).
    Reply