Microsoft is offering a new consumer tier to its 365 subscription offerings which will launch worldwide on January 30th this year.
Priced at $3 per month, the Microsoft 365 Basic is designed to replace the 100GB OneDrive storage option with some extra features such as ad-free Outlook web and mobile experience, and enhanced security options. The security features include data encryption for an Outlook mailbox, suspicious link checking, and virus / malware scanning for attachments.
“We know many people are using our services today, but some of them run out of storage or want additional benefits that you don’t get with the free Microsoft 365 experience,” Gareth Oystryk, director of product marketing for Microsoft 365, told The Verge.
“We also designed this specifically with Windows users in mind.”
Existing OneDrive 100GB storage customers will be automatically upgraded to Microsoft 365 Basic.
A number of features with OneDrive advanced security will be made available later, such as Personal Vault, password-protected and expiring links, ransomware detection and recovery, and bulk file restore.
Microsoft 365 Basic will also include access to Microsoft technical support, which includes help over the phone or via online chat for both Microsoft 365 apps and Windows 11.
The main difference between the $10 Personal subscription and this new $3 Basic one (other than the amount of cloud storage) is that Microsoft 365 Basic doesn’t include access to the desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps.
Basic subscribers will have to use the web or mobile versions instead.
This subscription package comes in the midst of a wider branding change the company is trying to make where Microsoft Office will largely be referred to as Microsoft 365 going forward.
