Key takeaways
- Family, ~$130/year ÷ 6 people = about $21.70 per person per year, or roughly $1.81 per person per month. Still the cheapest way to get desktop Office legally for a household.
- Personal, ~$100/year = about $8.33 per month. Switching from monthly billing to annual saves roughly $20 a year on the same plan.
- Basic, ~$20/year = about $1.67 per month, but you lose the desktop apps entirely — web and mobile only.
- One-time Office Home 2024, ~$150 spread over five years of use = about $2.50 per month. No cloud storage, no new features, and it is licensed to one PC or Mac.
- Family plus a mid-tier VPN on a two-year plan ≈ $130 + $60 = about $190 a year, or roughly $2.64 per person per month for six people.
Microsoft 365 Personal and Family cost more than they used to and no longer include a VPN: Microsoft raised consumer subscription prices — in the US, annual Personal moved from roughly $70 to roughly $100 a year, and Family from roughly $100 to roughly $130 — while retiring the Privacy Protection VPN that shipped inside the Microsoft Defender app. The higher rate applies at your next renewal rather than mid-term, and the cheaper Microsoft 365 Basic tier was left roughly unchanged. If the trade no longer suits you, the realistic exits are dropping to Basic, buying Office outright, or replacing the VPN with a standalone service.
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Which Microsoft 365 plans are affected
The increase landed on the consumer subscriptions that include desktop Office apps and 1 TB of OneDrive storage per person. Per Microsoft’s announcement, the changes were applied market by market rather than as a single global switchover, so the percentage jump varies by country — in the first wave of markets the rise was as steep as roughly 30–45%. The offset Microsoft points to is the monthly AI credits added to Personal and Family, which unlock Copilot features inside Word, Excel, Outlook and the Photos app.
| Plan | Who it suits | Rough annual price (before → after) | VPN included? | What you still get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Basic | One person, web and mobile apps only | ~$20 → ~$20 (essentially unchanged) | No — never had it | 100 GB OneDrive, no desktop apps, no AI credits |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | One person, up to 5 devices | ~$70 → ~$100 | Removed | 1 TB OneDrive, desktop apps, ~60 AI credits/month |
| Microsoft 365 Family | Up to 6 people in one household | ~$100 → ~$130 | Removed | 1 TB per person (up to 6 TB), desktop apps, shared AI credits |
| Microsoft 365 Premium | One person who leans heavily on Copilot | ~$100 (roughly level with Personal) | Removed | 1 TB OneDrive, desktop apps, the highest AI allowances in the consumer line |
Business subscriptions moved too, generally by smaller single-digit percentages: Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium and Apps for Business all saw list-price adjustments on top of the existing surcharge for paying monthly instead of annually. None of the business tiers ever included the consumer VPN, so nothing was removed there — the price is simply higher.
When the new price actually hits your card
There is no single date that applies to everyone. Microsoft bills consumer subscriptions on your own anniversary, so the new rate takes effect at your first renewal after the change reached your market. Anyone who bought or renewed before the change keeps the old price until that term ends. Practically, that means two subscribers in the same country can be paying different amounts for the same plan right now.
Monthly billing subscribers felt it sooner and harder, because the monthly rate is already roughly 15–20% more expensive per year than the annual plan. If you were paying monthly, you absorbed both the increase and the monthly premium in the same bill.
What happened to the VPN feature
The VPN was branded Privacy Protection and lived in the Microsoft Defender app on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It was never a full commercial VPN: per Microsoft’s support documentation it had a monthly data allowance in the region of 50 GB, no choice of server location, and automatic connection on unsecured Wi-Fi. It was a convenience feature, not a tool for streaming or serious privacy work.
Microsoft retired it. The Defender app itself still exists for malware protection, identity monitoring and security alerts — only the VPN portion was switched off. Nothing was added to replace it, and the subscription price was not reduced to reflect its removal. If a VPN was the reason you kept a Personal or Family plan, that reason is gone.
| Replacement approach | Rough cost | What it covers | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free VPN tiers from mainstream providers | $0 | Basic tunnelling on one device | Data caps of a few hundred MB to ~10 GB per month, few locations |
| Paid standalone VPN, long-term plan | ~$3–5/month | 5–10 devices, unlimited data, server choice | Cheapest rates require a 1–2 year upfront payment |
| Paid standalone VPN, monthly | ~$10–13/month | Same as above, no commitment | Costs more per year than a Family subscription |
| Browser-level protection only | $0 | Encrypts browser traffic; HTTPS-only modes block downgrades | Does nothing for other apps, and no IP masking |
Doing the math before you renew
Run the numbers per person and per month, because the headline price hides the real cost:
- Family, ~$130/year ÷ 6 people = about $21.70 per person per year, or roughly $1.81 per person per month. Still the cheapest way to get desktop Office legally for a household.
- Personal, ~$100/year = about $8.33 per month. Switching from monthly billing to annual saves roughly $20 a year on the same plan.
- Basic, ~$20/year = about $1.67 per month, but you lose the desktop apps entirely — web and mobile only.
- One-time Office Home 2024, ~$150 spread over five years of use = about $2.50 per month. No cloud storage, no new features, and it is licensed to one PC or Mac.
- Family plus a mid-tier VPN on a two-year plan ≈ $130 + $60 = about $190 a year, or roughly $2.64 per person per month for six people.
What to do, by situation
| Your situation | Move | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Household of 3–6 sharing Office | Stay on Family, switch to annual billing if you are on monthly | Per-person cost is still under $2/month, and the VPN loss rarely mattered to a whole household |
| One person who uses Word, Excel and OneDrive daily | Stay on Personal, annual billing | 1 TB of storage alone costs more than the subscription from most standalone cloud providers |
| You only open documents occasionally | Downgrade to Microsoft 365 Basic | Web apps are free anyway; you are paying ~$20/year for the 100 GB of storage |
| You refuse subscriptions on principle | Buy Office Home 2024 once, add a cheap cloud drive separately | Break-even against Personal arrives at roughly 18 months; after that it is cheaper |
| You kept the plan mainly for the VPN | Cancel or downgrade, buy a standalone VPN | You were paying ~$100/year for a feature worth ~$40/year on a two-year VPN plan |
| Small business, 1–5 seats, no desktop apps needed | Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Cheapest route to business-grade email and Teams; add Standard only if people need installed Office |
Check your renewal price in five steps
- 1. Sign in at account.microsoft.com and open Services & subscriptions. This is the only place that shows the exact amount and date your next charge will use — marketing pages show new-customer pricing.
- 2. Compare that figure against the table above. If your renewal quote is still the old price, you have a full term before the increase lands; if it already matches the new rate, you have until the charge date to act.
- 3. Switch monthly billing to annual if you are staying. It is the single largest saving available without giving anything up, worth roughly 15–20% per year.
- 4. Download your OneDrive files before cancelling anything. Storage reverts to the free 5 GB allowance, and anything above it stops syncing and becomes read-only rather than being deleted — but you will not be able to add to it until you are under the limit.
- 5. Turn off recurring billing if you are undecided. That stops the automatic charge without ending your current term, so you keep access until the period runs out and decide afterwards.
One caveat on cancelling: after a Personal or Family subscription ends, the desktop Office apps drop into reduced-functionality mode, where you can open, view and print documents but not create or edit them. That is the moment to decide whether the one-time Office purchase is worth it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Microsoft actually raise Microsoft 365 prices?
Yes. Microsoft increased list prices for Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium, and adjusted business tiers as well, rolling the changes out market by market. In the US the annual Personal plan moved from roughly $70 to roughly $100, and Family from roughly $100 to roughly $130. Microsoft 365 Basic was left essentially unchanged.
When does the higher price apply to my subscription?
At your first renewal after the change reached your market — there is no single global date. Subscribers who renewed before the change keep the old rate until that term ends. Your exact figure and renewal date are listed under Services & subscriptions in your Microsoft account.
Is the Microsoft Defender VPN gone for good?
Yes. Microsoft retired the Privacy Protection VPN in the Microsoft Defender app, and it no longer works on Windows, macOS, Android or iOS. The Defender app remains available for malware protection and identity monitoring, but it no longer tunnels your traffic.
Did Microsoft lower the price to compensate for losing the VPN?
No. Prices went up rather than down, and Microsoft’s stated justification is the monthly AI credits added to Personal and Family rather than the VPN. If the VPN was your main reason for subscribing, the value calculation has changed against you.
Can I get a refund or a discount?
Microsoft’s standard consumer policy does not include a partial refund for a removed feature, though support will sometimes issue a pro-rata refund if you cancel shortly after a charge. Turning off recurring billing stops the next payment without cutting off access you have already paid for.
What is the cheapest legitimate way to keep using Word and Excel?
For a household, Microsoft 365 Family at roughly $130 a year split six ways works out near $1.81 per person per month. For a single occasional user, a one-time Office Home 2024 licence at roughly $150 pays for itself in about 18 months compared with Personal, as long as you do not need cloud storage or ongoing feature updates.
