How to cancel Microsoft 365 and end your sub­scrip­tion

No longer have use for Microsoft 365, formerly known as Office 365? Then it might be time to cancel your sub­scrip­tion. You can cancel directly through your Microsoft customer account. If you purchased the sub­scrip­tion through a third-party provider, different can­cel­la­tion terms may apply.

What’s included with Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 bundles Microsoft’s essential Office and pro­ductiv­ity programs into one cloud-based sub­scrip­tion. Pre­vi­ously called Office 365, Microsoft 365 gives you access to popular Microsoft apps like Word, Excel, Exchange Server, Outlook, OneDrive and Power­Point via the Microsoft cloud. With access provided through the cloud, you don’t need to install apps in­di­vidu­ally.

To buy Microsoft 365, you need a Microsoft account. Here, you can choose from a range of sub­scrip­tion packages on Microsoft’s website and install the software. With a sub­scrip­tion, you get unlimited access to Microsoft desktop ap­plic­a­tions as well as via the Microsoft 365 web interface.

Depending on the package you picked, you’ll get access to a different range of functions and even full, in­stall­able versions for desktop and mobile. The Microsoft 365 pricing varies depending on whether you use the pro­ductiv­ity suite for personal purposes, Microsoft 365 Business, or for school or uni­ver­sity. One advantage of Microsoft 365 is its cloud-based usage model, which provides device- and location-in­de­pend­ent access to all essential Office services. However, this also means that your data is stored primarily on U.S. servers.

What to know before can­cel­ling

If you got your sub­scrip­tion directly from Microsoft, you can cancel via your customer account or even delete your Microsoft Office 365 account. If you have Microsoft 365 through a third-party provider, you’ll need to check their can­cel­la­tion policy before can­cel­ling. Just remember that your access to Microsoft ap­plic­a­tions and the data you store in Outlook or OneDrive will be lost when you delete your Microsoft account.

If you change your mind or want to restore an ac­ci­dent­ally deleted account, you have a period of 60 days to do so. After this grace period, all data as­so­ci­ated with the account will be ir­re­triev­ably lost. If you cancel your Microsoft 365 sub­scrip­tion, users on your sub­scrip­tion will im­me­di­ately lose editing priv­ileges and only be able to open files in the read-only mode for a limited time. For Microsoft 365 sub­scrip­tions with multiple users within an or­gan­isa­tion or business, ad­min­is­trat­ors can access sub­scrip­tion data for up to 90 days following can­cel­la­tion.

How to cancel Microsoft 365 step by step

Follow these steps to cancel your Microsoft 365 sub­scrip­tion:

How to cancel Microsoft 365 Basic, Personal and Family accounts

Step 1: Log in to the Microsoft manage sub­scrip­tion page page using your customer cre­den­tials.

Step 2: Go to Services and sub­scrip­tions and select your package. Next, select Manage and then Cancel sub­scrip­tion.

Step 3: Now follow the in­struc­tions from Microsoft to cancel your sub­scrip­tion. Can­cel­la­tions are effective im­me­di­ately—even if you’re billed on a monthly or annual basis.

How to delete your Microsoft Office 365 account

If you no longer want to use any of the Microsoft services, it’s best to delete your Microsoft account. In the Office app, sign in to your account and go to Settings > Help and support > Delete > Delete account > Close account. To move ahead with deleting your account, select Mark account for closure.

In the browser, log in to the Microsoft website, click on ‘Your Info’, and under the ‘Account Info’ tab, select ‘Close Account’. Note that there is a 60-day waiting period for account deletion after any security-related in­form­a­tion has been updated.

Is there a can­cel­la­tion period with Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 lets you cancel your package at any time re­gard­less of whether you have a monthly or annual sub­scrip­tion. This means you’re not tied to Microsoft if you decide to switch to another service. If you have an annual sub­scrip­tion, you can let it expire at the end of the billing period. Al­tern­at­ively, you can request a refund for the remaining period within 30 days of the sub­scrip­tion renewal.

If you are still within the trial period for your sub­scrip­tion, you can cancel the trial within 30 days. This will prevent your free trial from auto­mat­ic­ally con­vert­ing into a paid sub­scrip­tion. A Microsoft 365 trial typically lasts for one month.

What are the con­sequences of closing your Microsoft account?

Can­cel­ling your Microsoft 365 account means that all data and files as­so­ci­ated with your sub­scrip­tion will be deleted after 90 days at the latest. Directly following can­cel­la­tion, you won’t be able to edit or create files and documents, and your Office services will only be available in the read-only mode. However, you can still open, print and back up your files from the cloud to other media for 30 days. If you delete your account com­pletely, you will also lose access to the linked Skype service as well as Outlook features.

What Microsoft 365 al­tern­at­ives are there?

Depending on your package, Microsoft 365 offers the latest versions of well-known Office services like Word, Excel and Power­Point. In addition, there are practical teamwork and com­mu­nic­a­tion services like group chats, video con­fer­ences, Outlook and Exchange for your emails and calendar as well as up to 1 TB of storage with Microsoft OneDrive. If Microsoft 365 doesn’t seem like the right fit though, there are numerous Microsoft 365 al­tern­at­ives out there.

A direct com­par­is­on of Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 shows Google Workspace to be a strong com­pet­it­or. It includes practical office and team functions like Google Docs, Calendar and Gmail. Other col­lab­or­a­tion tools, groupware and word pro­cessing software include Open­Of­fice, Lib­reOf­fice, iWork for iCloud, Dropbox Business and the OX App Suite.