Software17.01.2025

Massive Microsoft price hikes in South Africa

Microsoft 365’s prices are increasing by as much as 46% in South Africa.

The local adjustments are part of global price hikes for the popular productivity suite, including its first increase in the US in 12 years.

Microsoft 365 — previously known as Office 365 — includes widely-used applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

In a blog post on Thursday, 16 January 2025, the software giant explained its Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans were getting hikes due to the addition of its Copilot AI software and Designer app in “most” markets.

Microsoft has updated South African pricing on its website and the new descriptions of the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans confirm that Copilot and Designer will be available locally.

Both the monthly and annual subscriptions of the Microsoft 365 Personal plan for individual users are increasing by 45.9%.

The new monthly price will be R159, up from R109, while the annual option will cost R1,599 instead of R1,099.

That makes the new prices of Microsoft 365 Personal more expensive than the old prices of Microsoft 365 Family.

The latter’s price hikes in South Africa work out to a hefty 45.9%.

The monthly Family subscription is now priced at R199, compared to R139 previously, while the annual plan is increasing from R1,399 to R1,999.

The price of the entry-level Microsoft 365 Basic — which includes 100GB of OneDrive storage and web-based versions of the productivity apps — remains R39 per month or R399 per year.

The last time Microsoft adjusted pricing for its productivity suite in South Africa was in July 2023.

South African customers have also shared e-mails from Microsoft revealing that existing users will start paying the new prices on their first billing dates from 18 March 2025.

Microsoft said that customers who wished to change their subscription or turn off recurring billing must do so on their account page at least two days before their next billing date.

A MyBroadband reader also confirmed that the prices had been hiked at some physical retailers.

The significant Microsoft 365 price hikes come after the software giant also jacked up fees for its popular Game Pass subscription service in mid-2024.

Among the changes, the top-end Game Pass Ultimate plan’s monthly price increased by 54.2%, while Game Pass Core’s annual plan became 66.8% more expensive.

The table below shows the new and old prices of Microsoft 365 plans in South Africa.

Microsoft 365 BasicMicrosoft 365 PersonalMicrosoft 365 Family
Old monthly priceR39R109R139
New monthly priceR39R159R199
Old annual priceR399R1,099R1,399
New annual priceR399R1,599R1,999
Change
(monthly and annual)
No change45.9%43.2%

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