Microsoft introduces 365 Basic plan with 100GB of cloud storage for $2

Microsoft will introduce a 365 Basic subscription at the end of this month. This gives users, among other things, 100GB of cloud storage via OneDrive. The subscription will be available worldwide on January 30 at a cost of $2 per month or $20 per year.

With Microsoft 365 Basic, in addition to 100GB of cloud storage, users also get an ad-free version of Outlook for web and smartphones and some improved security features. That reports tech website The Verge. This includes, for example, encryption for an Outlook mailbox and malware scanning for email attachments. It also automatically checks for suspicious URLs in emails.

Currently, the cheapest Microsoft 365 subscription costs 7 euros per month. For that amount, users get 1TB of cloud storage and the desktop versions of Office software such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The latter is missing in the new subscription: Microsoft 365 Basic users only have access to the web versions and smartphone variants of those Office apps, just like with the free version of Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365 Basic will be available worldwide on January 30. Microsoft mentions a rate of $ 2 per month or $ 20 per year. The company does not mention euro prices. With other Microsoft 365 subscriptions, however, the tech giant adopts dollar prices. For example, a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription costs 7 dollars and 7 euros.