I might be a longtime Mac user, but I still run Microsoft software on my devices. I’m a Microsoft 365 Family subscriber because I never cared enough to get better acquainted with the Office productivity alternatives from Google or Apple. But the word “family” is really the key here.
Microsoft 365 Family lets me share access with up to 6 people. It’s not just Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that we all get but also up to 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage each.
Since I renew the Microsoft 365 Family deal every year, I always look for better deals than Microsoft’s standard pricing. I’ve usually found them from third parties with relative ease until I discovered Amazon’s amazing Prime Day and Black Friday deals on Microsoft 365 Family bundles.
That’s when the huge savings started coming in. I’ve already stacked up several years of Microsoft 365 Family access, and I’ll show you how easy it is to do it.
Microsoft 365 Family pricing
Microsoft 365 Family costs $9.99/month ($119.88/year) or $99.99 if you go for the yearly option. The latter is, of course, the better deal. In what follows, I’ll show you a different way to look at pricing to better understand the Amazon Black Friday trick I’m about to show you.
I’ll calculate the cost of Microsoft 365 Family per user per month of access. Therefore, how much one of the six users would pay for access for the designated subscription period.
Let’s do it first for Microsoft’s default prices first:
- Microsoft 365 Family monthly plan ($119.88/year): $19.98/user for 12 months or $1.67/month
- Microsoft 365 Family yearly plan ($99.99/year): $16.67/user for 12 months or $1.39/month
Amazon US deals
Amazon US already has a deal for Microsoft 365 Family deal that’s available on Black Friday. You can score one year of access for $89.99, or $10 savings compared to Microsoft’s price. Let’s perform the same math as above:
- Amazon US Microsoft 365 Family yearly plan ($99.99/year): $15/user for 12 months or $1.25/month
Why am I bringing up the US version of Amazon? Well, your Amazon account works anywhere in the world where Amazon operates. You can use your login for Amazon’s various European online stores and shop for multiple goods that might ship to your door.
When it comes to software like Microsoft 365 Family, it’s a digital product. You get the codes via email, so it shouldn’t matter where you buy them from. And it turns out that Amazon Germany has better Office 365 prices than you might think.
Amazon Germany deals
Amazon Germany’s Black Friday deals for Microsoft 365 deals are so good because you can choose from various bundles that exceed the 12-month offers above. You can score Microsoft 365 Family access for 12, 15, and 27 months.
Not only that, but the 15-month plans can come with a year of McAfee or Norton antivirus for six devices. All for the price of that Microsoft 365 Family access.
I’ll apply the same math I did before and convert prices from Euro to US dollars. The following are the prices available for Black Friday 2023:
- Amazon Germany Microsoft 365 Family yearly plan ($63.27/year): $10.55/user for 12 months or $0.88/month
- Amazon Germany Microsoft 365 Family 15-month plan with one-year of McAfee or Norton antivirus ($66.54 for 15 months): $11.09/user for 12 months or $0.74/month
- Amazon Germany Microsoft 365 Family 27-month plan ($128.72 for 27 months): $21.46/user for 12 months or $0.80/month
As you can see, the 15-month deal offers you the best possible price at just $0.74/month per user. And you get a free year of antivirus with that. The 27-month deal comes in second at $0.80. It doesn’t come with free antivirus, but it might be better to counter inflation.
Things to keep in mind – and the best part
I’ve been using this deal in Europe for years, and I don’t reside in Germany. Europeans should have no problem scoring these Microsoft 365 Family deals from any Amazon store in the region. And there’s no reason to worry about installing the German version of Microsoft’s Office apps.
But, like you right now, I worried initially that the code might not work in my market. I’ve compared it with similar deals from France, Italy, and the UK (before and after Brexit), and the Amazon Germany deal was still the best choice.
I just buy the product, and Amazon will email the activation code. You’ll then use them in your Microsoft 365 account to extend your subscription. Note that for bundles that extend beyond 12 months, you might receive more than one code. In such a case, you’ll need to apply each of them to your Microsoft account. Don’t panic when the first one only gets you a 12-month extension.
If you encounter any issues, you can always take it up with Amazon customer support or Microsoft customer support.
Occasionally, you might discover similar deals for boxed versions of Microsoft 365 Family plans. In such cases, you’ll have to wait for the retail boxes containing the codes to ship to your home. You’ll want to ensure the international Amazon store you’re shopping from ships the product to your region.
I didn’t even get to the best part. You can stack up Microsoft 365 Family extensions for up to 5 years. That’s what I did recently. Rather than getting a bundle for just a year, I got a few of them. With savings between 40% and 50%, I practically get a year of free Microsoft 365 days every two years. I’m comparing the Amazon Germany deals to Microsoft’s retail price.
Make sure, however, that you calculate your extensions precisely. You don’t want to waste those codes by exceeding that 5-year limit. What you can do is buy a bundle and see if it works in your region. If it does, you can purchase more activation code bundles and then use them as the current subscription is about to end. Then, just wait for the next Prime Day, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday event to buy more.
Finally, I’ll point out that you can buy Microsoft Office 2021 as a one-time purchase, skip the subscription, and save money in the long run. Or you can go for the single Microsoft 365 subscription and score similar deals from Amazon Germany. The discounts above apply to those buyers who need Microsoft 365 Family in their lives.
