How to Get Microsoft Office for Free (or Very Cheap) in 2025

Updated on May 8, 2025

5 min read

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Key Takeaways

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You can use Microsoft Office, or an alternative like Google Docs, for free in your browser.
If you want to work offline, you need to use Freecash to get Microsoft Office for free.
There are several ways to buy Microsoft Office at a discounted price, especially for veterans, educators, and government employees.

When I recently tried to get Microsoft Office for my new laptop, I was shocked by the price:

You can buy Microsoft Office for $150 as a one-time purchase.
Or, you can subscribe to Microsoft 365 for $100 a year (Office + cloud storage, and other Microsoft products like Defender, Editor, Teams, and Outlook)

I did not want to pay for a subscription to a word processor in 2025. However, I needed to do a lot of work offline and so an in-browser alternative like Google Docs wasn't an option (it might be for you, more on that later).

Here is how I was able to buy Microsoft Office for free: I used Freecash to earn $30, which took me a Sunday afternoon, and then bought the program from a third-party seller at a heavily discounted price.

But there are other ways to get Microsoft Office for free or cheaply, especially for vets, educators, and government employees.

How to get Microsoft Office for free

There are multiple ways to get Microsoft Office without spending money, either for a limited time, through your institution, or by getting the funds online.

1-Month Trial

You can access Microsoft Office 365 for free with the 1-month trial. Naturally, this suggestion will not be relevant to most of you, who will need the programs for longer than a month.

Office 365 Education

If you are in education, as a student or educator, you may be to access Office 365 Education with your school or college email (contact your IT department if you do not have access, Microsoft donate Office 365 to eligible institutions).

This version of Microsoft Office is identical to the paid version, but be warned: Your institution has full access to your data when using Office 365 Education.

Use Office.com

There is a free, official version of Office that can be used through your browser on Office.com. It lacks a lot of the functionality of the paid, downloadable version of Microsoft Office, but it provides enough for a casual user.

Earn Office with Freecash

Freecash is a platform that connects individuals with paid market research opportunities, like answering surveys, testing products, and trying new games. It's simple; Sign up (or log in with Google or Facebook), pick tasks to complete, and get paid.

The average user earns $35+ daily, with top earners making it to $5000 each month. Whenever you want to withdraw your money, you can use a direct bank transfer or PayPal.

I made $30 on Freecash in an afternoon by completing in-game tasks as a player-tester, which I then used to buy a cheap copy of Microsoft Office from a third-party seller (more on that later).

How to buy Microsoft Office for a lower price

If you are determined to buy a copy of Microsoft Office, then at the very least you should not pay full price.

Microsoft Workplace Discount Program

You might be able to subscribe to Microsoft 365 with a 30% discount using the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program.

This program is offered to veterans, government workers, and employees in companies who have spent over $250,000 in the last 12 months on Microsoft products, or who have activated at least 2,000 licenses for Microsoft products.

Third-part sellers

If you are comfortable buying software from a third party seller, you can very easily find copies of Office 365 for less than $30.

Search 'buy Office 365' and you will find countless third-party offers. On most of these sites, you buy Office 365, and they email you a code to redeem with Microsoft.

This is entirely legal and safe, and it is how I bought my version of Office after earning $30 on Freecash.

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Free alternatives to Microsoft Office

There are several great alternatives to Microsoft Office that are free and offer the same functionality. These programs will allow you to edit and create documents entirely compatible with Office.

Google Docs, Sheets & Slides

Google's suite of Office-like programs are just as good (or possibly better) than Microsoft's. With a Google account, you can access Google Docs, Sheets and Slides in your browser, and every user has 15 GB of cloud storage.

I would therefore happily recommend Google's alternatives to everyone who works online, even heavy users. However, if you want to work offline, this solution will not be feasible.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office, maintained and operated by a non-profit. You can download LibreOffice for free on Windows, Mac or Linux and enjoy near-enough the same functionality as Microsoft Office.

My only complaint is that LibreOffice looks and feels slightly dated.

LibreOffice still gets updates, but far less regularly than Office or the other alternatives.

MacOS Pages, Numbers & Keynote

If you have a Mac, you can use Apple's Office-like programs entirely for free. Pages, Numbers and Keynote come pre-installed, but can also be redownloaded from the App store.