Microsoft Is Testing An Immediate 45% Price Increase For The Microsoft 365 Office Suite.

It's just that in 2025, Redmond residents will spend $80 billion on data centers for AI.

From Overclockers.

Microsoft has notified Microsoft 365 users in six countries in the Asia-Pacific region that they will be significantly increasing their renewal prices. Australian users, faced with rising costs of living, reacted particularly strongly to this news. Online, many have accused Microsoft of price gouging, pointing out that a number of the AI ​​features offered in M365 are available for free from other providers.

The price increases affected Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The cost of an annual Microsoft 365 Family subscription in Australia, for example, will increase from 139 to 179 Australian dollars (from 85.5 to 110 US dollars) – an increase of almost 29%. The price of the M365 Personal will jump from AU$109 to AU$159 (US$67 to 98), an increase of almost 46%. The Microsoft Australia website lists the new prices at AU$159 and AU$179 for Personal and Family subscriptions respectively.

Microsoft attributes the price increases to increased Microsoft 365 functionality over the past 12 years, including improved protection with Microsoft Defender, creative tools such as Clipchamp, numerous enhancements to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, and new features such as Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Designer. The company says users can choose a version of Microsoft 365 without Copilot, thereby avoiding the price increase. However, in practice this option is difficult to find: it only appears when you cancel your subscription. A search for the “classic” version of M365 that the Microsoft representative mentioned also turned up no results.

While Microsoft hasn't confirmed whether the price increase will be in other regions or whether it will affect volume licenses, the company said the goal of the changes is to “listen, learn and improve.” The choice of six countries in the Asia-Pacific region to test customer response is not accidental: these countries are characterized by high levels of prosperity and widespread adoption of the latest technologies. Perhaps the negative response will force Microsoft to reconsider its pricing policy. After all, someone will have to pay for the $80 billion Microsoft plans to spend on data centers in 2025, most of which will be used for AI.