- Microsoft increases price of M365 Family by 29%, M365 Personal by 46%
- The extra money is to fund your AI tools, whether you want them or not.
- Six countries have seen increases so far, with the UK and US unconfirmed.
Customers in six countries in Asia and Australasia are having to deal with significant price increases to stay connected to their Microsoft 365 online services as the company struggles to identify the right price for its artificial intelligence tools.
Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand are seeing increases of up to 46% on their bills, according to a report from The Registry., which notes that customers in all six countries received emails last week notifying them of the significant changes.
The company says that charging more will “ensure that Microsoft customers are among the first to access powerful AI features in our apps.”
Microsoft 365 prices are going up… because AI
Screenshots seen by The Registry indicate that Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions have increased from AU$139 to AU$179, and personal subscribers will pay AU$159, up from AU$109. That’s a staggering 29% increase for family members and a staggering 46% increase in personal subscriber bills.
The company’s website has since been updated to reflect pricing: AU$159 or AU$16 per month for Personal and AU$179 or AU$18 per month for Family. Prices in other countries have not yet been affected: the two tiers still cost £59.99 and £79.99 in the UK.
“These pricing changes reflect the extensive subscription benefits Microsoft has added over the past 12 years, including advanced security with Microsoft Defender, creative tools like Clipchamp, and countless improvements to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook, plus new features. . such as Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Designer,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.
It is unclear whether more countries will be subject to rising bills. TechRadar Pro has asked Microsoft to confirm, but we did not receive an immediate response.
For comparison, Google One AI Premium with 2TB of cloud storage for up to six family members costs AU$32.99 a month, even more than the AU$18 a month Microsoft wants to charge for its family plan , which includes 6TB of storage for up to six family members.
iCloud+ with 2TB of storage costs AU$14.99, or AU$44.99 for 6TB. It can be shared among up to six, but Apple Intelligence features are more limited and ships with the hardware, rather than a cloud storage subscription.
