Microsoft 365 users warned over prices being quietly raised - how to beat extra charge
Microsoft has quietly increased its subscription prices, with user on annual and pay-monthly subscriptions being hit with an extra charge. But Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert website has shared a clever trick to avoid paying the new higher price.
The personal finance guru's website team has warned Microsoft 365 subscribers who are paying for Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint and Word to check if they have auto-renewal turned on. If you do have the automatic subscription renewal setting switched on, your price is set to rise by up to £30 a year, because Microsoft is adding AI software to the package.
The Money Saving Expert website explains that those with Microsoft 365's (formerly Office 365) 'Personal' and 'Family' plans have seen prices rise by 42 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, from January 16. New subscribers also paid these increased prices from that date.
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A personal Microsoft 365 account (with only one user) previously cost £5.99 a month or £59.99 a year. However, this has risen to £8.49 a month or £84.99 a year- an increase of £2.50 a month (£30 over a year) or £25 a year.
For family subscriptions of up to six users, Microsoft's previous price was £7.99 a month or £79.99 a year. This has increased by the same amount as the single user subscription, to £10.49 a month or £104.99 a year.
But how can you avoid paying this increase for Microsoft's services? The Money Saving Expert website says: "The increase is automatic if your plan is set to auto-renew. To check this, log in to your Microsoft account, go to 'Subscriptions' and select 'Manage'. If you see an option to 'Cancel', this means auto-renewal IS on.
"If you don't see an option to cancel, but instead see a link that says 'Turn on recurring billing', then auto-renewal is NOT on. You won't be charged the new prices unless you turn auto-renew on or restart your subscription."
The tech company's prices have increased to cover the cost of AI features being auto-added to their services. These new features powered by artificial intelligence include the Copilot app that can assist with various tasks, such as writing in Word, and graphic design tool Microsoft Designer, which can help you to create images in PowerPoint.
Although changing your settings by switching off 'auto-renewal' may help you avoid the extra charges for a while, there's another, more sure-fire way of avoiding the price hike. The Money Saving Expert site continues to explain that you can beat the price increases by switching your plan to 'Classic'.
It says: "This will revert your subscription to what it was before Copilot and Designer were added, but at the old price. So you'll still have access to Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint and Word, plus 1TB of cloud storage with a Personal plan or 6TB with a Family subscription."
Microsoft says the option to switch to a Classic plan will be offered for the next year. To make the switch:
Sign in to your Microsoft account.
Go to 'Subscriptions' and select 'Manage'.
Select 'Cancel subscription'. This will give you the option to choose a monthly or annual Classic Personal or Classic Family plan.
"If your plan doesn't switch over automatically, it will do so on your next billing date.
"If you've already been charged the new price for Microsoft 365 and you downgrade your plan, you can request a partial refund by contacting Microsoft's support team."
