Which One is Better: Office 365 vs Office 2016 – The Differences!

Office 365 vs Office 2016

Ashish Ratan Singh | Modified: March 6, 2017 | General, Office 365 | 4 Minutes Reading

Office 365 vs Office 2016: The Overview

In this blog, we will be discussing the difference between Office 365 and Office 2016. We will explore the similarities & compare the features of the two. By the end of this post, we will try to conclude which is better Office 365 or Office 2016!

Nowadays both the cloud, as well as desktop-based applications are important in IT field. The cloud-based applications are less expensive, easy to utilize and update, and simpler to manage. The best thing about such apps is that, they can be accessed from anywhere and at anytime. Whereas the desktop based application includes network bandwidth, local storage media, processors, and other such hardware requirements. As already mentioned above, this blog is aimed at differentiating between the Microsoft Office application, which runs on desktop (Office 2016) and the application optimized for cloud (Office 365).

Introduction

MS Office 365 provides cloud-hosted services ( like Exchange Online, AD, SharePoint Online, etc) and other applications like Microsoft Outlook Web Access / Outlook on the Web, Word Online, etc. It is a subscription service (on-demand service) that is provided to the users via the cloud. The advantage of utilizing Office 365 is that it can be accessed anywhere on any device via an Internet connection.
However, MS Office 2016 is the latest edition of Office productivity suite which is included in the Office 365 suite. In other words, it is a desktop-based application that is provided by Office 365 to its subscribers. It offers various features to the users such as OneNote Notebook that is easy for them, as they can share data with unlimited users. It also offers a better edition of history, new chart types in Excel, smart attachments, simplified sharing of documents, etc. It has a new feature, Delve. It gives access to everything that you have created, collaborated, or shared in Office 2016.
In the following section, we will discuss Office 365 vs Office 2016; it will help to have a better understanding about both.

Office 365 vs Office 2016: The Differences

Many users have the misconception that Office 365 and Office 2016 are same. So to clarify all the concepts, let’s compare Office 365 and Office 2016 & see which is better among the two. The following table shows the differences between these two apps by Microsoft.

Features Office 2016 Office 365
Supports Office based applications Get applications such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Apps will not be updated, when the new features are released. Get all latest edition of Office applications such as Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. It will keep updating all new features.
Features Updation Only security updates are involved, no new features are added to it. Major releases upgrades are not included. Always improve the edition of Office. User can get all the latest features and updates from Microsoft. It includes the upgrades to future edition.
Install Office on various systems It is designed for single OS, in one- time purchase, therefore copy of Office is good for either one PC or Mac. With this, user can install desktop based Office applications on more than 5 systems, it can be a combination of Mac and PCs.
Advance features on Device Get the advanced feature on phones or tablets only. When login to Office apps, user can get extra features on their devices.
Extra storage Not included. Stores data in cloud and can be accessed from anywhere and get extra features on phones and tablets.
Includes Technical Support For installing, initial technical support is included. Available all time to help with technical issues at no extra cost.
Cost One- time cost. Small monthly fees.
Nature of Application It is a standalone software. It is a subscription plan that contains the latest version of MS Office, i.e Office 2016.

 

Office 2016 is an update to venerable efficiency suite, though there are some exceptions of high-quality upgrades to Excel and Access. Whereas for business, Office 365 business has plenty to mention, most remarkable is the license for the users to set up Office software on various systems and devices and in a real-time ability to co-operate with colleagues.

Conclusion

In the above discussion on Office 365 vs Office 2016, the major differences between Office 365 and Office 2016 are discussed. According to the experts, it is preferable to use O365 as it allows the subscribers to access the data/ information from anywhere & at any time.
Many times the users face issues in figuring out which is better Office 365 or Office 2016, to help the users understand these two apps we have made the comparison between the two in the above section. Which software is better differs for every user, it depends on user’s requirements that which software they will use.