With all the re-branding going on at Microsoft, it seems that the same web-mail interface is being used for the free email accounts and the paid 365 subscriptions. Now a days they are showing the words “Microsoft 365” and that can be very confusing.
It’s like we have two totally different products and yet they are branding them all with the same exact name. So the Microsoft email services at the free level, that used to be called MSN Mail or HotMail or Live.com email, now look nearly identical to the Microsoft 365 (formerly named Office 365) paid subscription services. In this article we’ll show you how to recognize either the free email or the paid service and know what you have.
Why is it getting so hard to tell the difference between free and paid Microsoft?
It seems that Microsoft has their eyes set on creating a setting where they can encourage you to upgrade to “premium”, and sell the Home and Family versions of Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365.)
In that effort, Microsoft seems to be downplaying the fact that the free service is still branded differently as “Outlook.com”. Maybe they feel that if they blur the lines between the free and paid products and make them look more and more the same - it will be easier to get people to convert to being paying customers of their 365 email and app platform.
Note: An extra factor that can complicate things is that you can start a free “Microsoft account” with an outside email address hosted somewhere else. You may even be able to login to a Microsoft web site with your email address they do not host. But it is important to have an understanding of which Microsoft products you have, to make it easier for you to login to Microsoft and other third-party services easily and efficiently and without any odd errors you may bet if you use the wrong login path or button or url.
Isn’t the difference between Microsoft’s free outlook.com and paid 365 obvious?
Easy answer these days: No!
For starters, one extra reason, when you sign up for a Microsoft account with an email address that is not actually hosted by Microsoft, they may have given you the choice to add a free @outlook.com or @hotmail.com address to also use and you may have elected not to do so or not to use the free addres much. And many people forget about that extra free address, and just jeep using their outside address with Microsoft. As time goes by, some forget that Microsoft is not actually their email host.
How can I tell the difference between no-cost complimentary and paid 365?
Since the web-mail interface looks nearly identical for all Microsoft 365 services, it’s understandable for many of us to loose track of understanding what we really have. So the easiest way to tell is to go login and then look at the URL (address in your web browser) to see if it shows live.com or if it shows office.com.
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live.com is the free service
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office.com is the paid service