Microsoft Office vs ThinkFree - Comparing Productivity Suites

In this comprehensive comparison, we'll pit two heavyweight contenders against each other: Microsoft Office and ThinkFree. Both these productivity suites offer a wide range of applications, promising to boost your efficiency and streamline your tasks.

By the end of this article, you'll have a clear understanding of which productivity suite aligns best with your unique requirements. So, whether you're a student, a professional, or someone who simply wants to enhance their productivity, let's dive into the world of Microsoft Office and ThinkFree to find the perfect match for you.

Table of Contents

1. What is Office 365?
2. What is Thinkfree?
3. How Much Does Office 365 Cost?
4. Microsoft Office 2021: One-Time Purchase Options
5. How Much Does Thinkfree Cost?
6. Overview of Office 365 Features
7. Overview of Thinkfree Features
8. FAQs
9. Final Thoughts

What is Office 365?

Office 365 is a comprehensive suite of office productivity and collaboration applications created by Microsoft. It aims to simplify work processes and enhance teamwork. 

With Office 365, subscribers benefit from regular updates, ensuring access to the latest tools and features for both online and desktop versions of the apps. This constant improvement guarantees that tasks can be executed seamlessly.

The suite is accessible on all devices used by members of organizations, promoting productivity whether they are working from the office or remotely. Office 365's cloud-based nature enables users to work on documents and projects from anywhere, making it convenient for professionals on the go.

Key features and benefits of Office 365:

1. Full-Featured Suite: Office 365 offers a comprehensive range of applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and more. These applications cater to various business needs, facilitating efficient document creation, data analysis, and communication.
   
   
   
2. Collaboration Tools: Office 365 emphasizes collaboration, providing features like real-time co-authoring, file sharing, and online meetings through Microsoft Teams. These tools enhance teamwork and enable seamless communication among team members.
3. Regular Updates: As part of the subscription, users receive continuous updates, ensuring access to the latest features and security enhancements. This allows organizations to stay current with technology advancements and maintain productivity.
4. Cross-Platform Accessibility: Office 365 works on multiple devices, including PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones. The consistent user experience across platforms allows users to switch between devices without compromising functionality.
   
   
   
5. Cloud Storage: OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service, is integrated with Office 365. It allows users to store and access their files securely from anywhere, promoting flexibility and ease of access.

What is Thinkfree?

Thinkfree is an office productivity suite designed for collaboration and efficiency, catering to organizations, professionals, and enterprises. It offers a comprehensive set of desktop applications, including word processing, spreadsheet calculation, and graphic presentation tools, empowering users to unleash their creativity and productivity.

Key features and components of Thinkfree:

1. Desktop Applications: Thinkfree provides a rich set of desktop applications that enable users to perform various tasks such as document editing, spreadsheet analysis, and presentation creation. These applications offer a consistent and professional-grade experience.
2. Mobile Office Solution: Thinkfree extends its desktop application features to mobile devices, allowing users to create, edit, and save documents on the go. This enhances mobility and improves productivity by enabling users to work from anywhere, at any time.
3. Browser-Based Editing: The suite includes a browser-based editing tool, facilitating document and presentation creation and management directly from any web-connected browser. This online editor enhances collaboration among users.
   
   
   
4. Server Solution: Thinkfree's server solution enables the conversion of documents to different file formats and provides mobile views of documents while ensuring security and protection.
5. Subscription-Based Service: Thinkfree offers a subscription-based service that allows users to integrate its productivity tools with cloud-based services, ensuring easy access and availability of office solutions for customers.

How Much Does Office 365 Cost?

Office 365 offers various pricing plans to cater to different user needs, making it a flexible and affordable choice for individuals and businesses. Here is an overview of Office 365's pricing options:

1. Free Trial: Office 365 provides a free trial period, allowing users to explore its features before committing to a subscription.
   
   
   
2. Office 365 Business: Priced at $9.90 per user per month, this plan offers essential office productivity tools for small and medium-sized businesses.
3. Office 365 Business Premium: At $15.00 per user per month, this plan includes advanced features like business email, cloud storage, and collaboration tools, suitable for growing businesses.
4. Office 365 Business Essentials: Priced at $6.00 per user per month, this plan offers web-based productivity tools and cloud storage for businesses that primarily need online access to Office applications.
   
   
   
5. Office 365 ProPlus: At $12.00 per user per month (annual billing), this plan provides the full suite of Office applications for organizations with a focus on desktop-based productivity.
6. Office 365 Enterprise E1: Priced at $8.00 per user per month (annual billing), this plan targets larger enterprises, offering web-based Office applications and services.
7. Office 365 Enterprise E3: At $20.00 per user per month (annual billing), this plan offers comprehensive productivity and collaboration features, ideal for organizations requiring advanced security and compliance.
   
   
   
8. Office 365 Enterprise E5: Priced at $35.00 per user per month (annual billing), this top-tier plan provides advanced security, analytics, and communication tools, suitable for large enterprises with complex requirements.

Microsoft Office 2021: One-Time Purchase Options

At SoftwareKeep, Microsoft Office 2021 is available in three different versions: Home & Student, Home & Business, and Professional. Each version offers a one-time purchase license without monthly costs. Here are the key highlights of each version:

Microsoft Office 2021 Home & Student:

• Includes 2021 versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Designed for home and school use.
• Install on 1 device for one person.
• Priced at $114.99 USD (original price: $149.99 USD), saving you $35.

Microsoft Office 2021 Home & Business:

• Includes 2021 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Suitable for both commercial and home use.
  
  
  
• Install on 1 device for one person.
• Priced at $189.99 USD (original price: $279.99 USD), saving you $90.

Microsoft Office 2021 Professional:

• Includes 2021 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, and Publisher.
• Ideal for commercial and home use.
• Install on 1 device for one person.
• Priced at $264.99 USD (original price: $399.99 USD), saving you $135.

Customers can choose their preferred operating system (Windows or Mac) when purchasing any of these licenses. All versions offer classic Microsoft Office applications, ensuring users have the essential tools for their productivity needs.

How Much Does Thinkfree Cost?

Thinkfree offers various pricing plans to cater to different user needs, providing flexibility and affordability for its customers. Here are the pricing options available:

• Free Trial: Thinkfree offers a free trial, allowing users to test out its features and functionalities before committing to a subscription.
• Thinkfree Office NEO Home Edition: Priced at $49.99, this plan is suitable for individual users who need a comprehensive office productivity suite for personal use.
  
  
  
• Thinkfree Office NEO Enterprise Edition: At $79.99, this plan targets businesses and enterprises, providing advanced features to enhance team collaboration and productivity.
• Thinkfree Office NEO EE Plus Phantom PDF: Priced at $139, this plan combines the office productivity suite with Phantom PDF capabilities, offering a comprehensive solution for businesses with document management needs.
• Thinkfree Office Personal: This plan costs $19.99 per year and is designed for individuals seeking basic office productivity tools for personal use.
• Thinkfree Office Business (Group): Priced at $29.99 per year, this plan caters to businesses and groups, offering collaborative tools to streamline teamwork.
• Thinkfree Office Mobile (Personal): At $9.99 per year, this plan provides mobile access to office productivity tools for individual users on the go.
• Thinkfree Office Mobile (Business): For $14.99 per year, this plan offers mobile access to office tools with collaboration features suitable for businesses and teams.

Overview of Office 365 Features

Office 365 offers a comprehensive range of features that enhance productivity and collaboration for users across various platforms. Here is an overview of these key features:

1. Desktop & Web Apps: With Office 365, users can access a suite of desktop applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as web-based versions of these apps, providing flexibility and seamless transitions between devices.
2. Email Hosting: Office 365 includes professional email hosting with custom domain support, enabling businesses to have personalized and reliable email addresses.
3. File Sharing & Cloud Storage: OneDrive, the cloud storage service integrated with Office 365, allows users to store and share files securely, ensuring easy collaboration and access from anywhere.
   
4. Multiple Devices: Office 365 is compatible with various devices, including PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones, ensuring that users can work on their projects and documents on the device of their choice.
5. Team Communication & Collaboration: Microsoft Teams, a central hub in Office 365, facilitates real-time team communication, file sharing, and collaboration, fostering efficient teamwork and project management.
6. Schedules & Tasks Management: Office 365 offers tools like Outlook Calendar and Microsoft Planner to help users manage schedules, appointments, and tasks effectively.
   
   
   
7. Audio & Video Conferencing: With features like Microsoft Teams' audio and video conferencing capabilities, users can conduct virtual meetings, webinars, and online presentations seamlessly.
8. Integrations: Office 365 integrates with various third-party applications and services, expanding its functionality and compatibility with other tools used by businesses.

Overview of Thinkfree Features

Thinkfree offers a cost-effective alternative to Microsoft Office, providing a feature-rich suite of office productivity tools suitable for both individuals and businesses. Here is an overview of Thinkfree's key features:

1. Comprehensive Office Productivity Tools: Thinkfree offers a range of applications for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, enabling users to create professional-grade content.
2. Advanced Layout Options: Users can leverage advanced layout features to design and format their documents with precision.
3. Visual Object Support: Thinkfree supports visual objects like images, charts, and shapes, allowing users to enhance the visual appeal of their documents.
4. Built-In Equation Editor: The suite includes a built-in equation editor for mathematical and scientific documents.
5. Track Changes and Comments: Users can collaborate effectively with track changes and comment features, making it easy to review and provide feedback on documents.
6. Multilingual Support: Thinkfree allows document translation into multiple languages, promoting global communication and collaboration.
7. Data Analysis and Modeling: Users can organize, reformat, and rearrange data for in-depth analysis and modeling.
8. Chart Types, Functions, and Formulas: Thinkfree provides various chart types and functions, enabling data visualization and manipulation.
9. Pivot Table: The suite offers pivot table functionality for data summarization and analysis.
10. Conditional Formatting and Sparkline: Users can apply conditional formatting to highlight data trends, and sparklines for data visualization.
11. Mobile Accessibility: Thinkfree extends its productivity tools to mobile devices through native apps for Android, iOS, Chromebooks, and Samsung Dex-enabled devices.
12. Real-Time Collaboration: Users can collaborate on documents in real-time, promoting efficient teamwork.
13. Server Solution: Thinkfree's server solution enables document conversion into different formats, document preview, content security, and search keyword extraction.
14. Centralized License Management: IT managers can easily manage Thinkfree Office subscriptions using a single license.
15. Cloud Integration: Thinkfree connects to various cloud accounts, expanding options for cloud service providers and promoting easy access to documents.

Have you Tried Truly Office?

Alternatively, if you're exploring alternatives to the traditional productivity suites like Microsoft Office and ThinkFree, consider Truly Office. Truly Office offers a comprehensive office productivity solution that combines document creation, collaboration tools, and mobile accessibility, catering to the needs of both individuals and businesses.

Whether you choose Microsoft Office, ThinkFree, or Truly Office, each option brings its unique strengths to the table, allowing you to boost efficiency and meet your productivity goals.

FAQs

Is ThinkFree considered productivity software?

Yes, ThinkFree is considered productivity software as it provides applications like word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tools.

Which software is best for office use?

Microsoft Office is widely regarded as the best productivity suite for office use due to its extensive features, compatibility, and user-friendly interface.

Which Microsoft Office is best for free?

Microsoft offers a free web-based version of Office called "Office Online" which includes simplified versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

What is the best version of Office to get?

The best version of Microsoft Office to get depends on your specific needs, but for most users, Office 365 (now known as Microsoft 365) is recommended as it provides access to the latest features and updates.

What are the 3 versions of office?

The three main versions of Microsoft Office are Office Home & Student, Office Home & Business, and Office Professional. Additionally, there's Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) which offers subscription-based access to the suite.

Final Thoughts

Both Microsoft Office and ThinkFree are powerful productivity suites that offer a range of essential tools for users. Microsoft Office is a well-established and widely-used suite, known for its robust features, compatibility, and seamless integration across devices. 

On the other hand, ThinkFree presents a cost-effective alternative with a rich set of applications and mobile accessibility. The choice between the two largely depends on individual preferences, budget, and specific needs. 

Regardless of which suite you opt for, both Microsoft Office and ThinkFree can significantly enhance productivity and streamline work processes, making them valuable assets for personal, academic, and professional use.

One more thing

If you have a second, please share this article on your socials; someone else may benefit too. 

Subscribe to our newsletter and be the first to read our future articles, reviews, and blog post right in your email inbox. We also offer deals, promotions, and updates on our products and share them via email. You won’t miss one.

Related articles 

» Microsoft Office vs Google Docs - Battle of Productivity Suites
» Microsoft Office vs Zoho Docs - Battle of Productivity Suites
» Microsoft Office vs LibreOffice - Battle of Productivity Suites