Microsoft has unveiled a new Microsoft 365 Basic plan that will replace the current OneDrive subscription, which increases cloud storage to 100 GB. The new subscription will cost only $1.99, so it will fit between the free plan and the $6.99 Microsoft 365 Personal subscription.
Microsoft 365 Basic launches January 30th, offering subscribers 100GB of OneDrive cloud storage, disabling ads in Outlook web and mobile clients, and advanced security features including inbox encryption, suspicious link checking, and attachment scanning for viruses and malware. OneDrive Standalone 100GB subscribers will be automatically upgraded to Microsoft 365 Basic at no price increase.
Thus, the main difference between the Basic plan and the Personal plan is that Microsoft 365 Basic does not provide access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications, which means that subscribers will have to use the web version or mobile applications.
In addition, Office will be rebranded as Microsoft 365 at the end of January on both mobile devices and Windows. This change was already reported last year. At the same time, the Microsoft Office brand will still exist in certain contexts.
Microsoft representatives also said that at the moment the company has no plans to increase the cost of Microsoft 365 subscriptions, but this may happen in the future.