Microsoft Word vs Zoho Writer

Microsoft Word

• People who want a full desktop word processor on Windows or Mac
• Households: Microsoft 365 Family covers 1 to 6 people
• Occasional writers who only need the free browser version
• Buyers who prefer a one-time purchase to a subscription

Zoho Writer

• Individuals who want a free word processor on every device
• Businesses generating contracts, letters and forms from CRM data
• Teams already using Zoho WorkDrive or Zoho Workplace

Microsoft Word

• The Windows and Mac apps need a Microsoft 365 subscription or a one-time Office purchase; only the web version is free.
• Copilot requires a paid subscription, has usage limits, and on shared plans works for the subscription owner only.
• On phones and tablets, advanced formatting and track changes need a Microsoft 365 subscription.
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($7.00 per user / month paid yearly, or $5.40 without Teams) includes only the web and mobile versions of Word.

Zoho Writer

• There is no standalone paid Writer plan; the pricing page sends businesses to a Zoho WorkDrive subscription for the paid edition.
• Document automation is metered: 200 free credits a month per organization (1,000 on the paid edition), then $0.05 a credit, falling to $0.01 at high volume.
• WorkDrive plans start at 3 users; buying 1 or 2 seats means contacting Zoho's sales team.
• Zia's grammar, spelling and style checks cover English, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

Microsoft Word

Copilot in Word

Drafts, rewrites and summarizes documents and answers questions about them. It needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, and usage limits apply.

Editor

A built-in checker for spelling, grammar and writing style. The free web version includes basic spelling and grammar checks.

Real-time co-authoring

Share a document with anyone, including people without an account, and edit it together, with track changes and version history. Shared files are stored in OneDrive.

Templates

Thousands of customizable templates are available at no charge, and the free web version includes a basic set of templates, fonts and icons.

Dictate

Speech-to-text for writing by voice, plus transcription of audio files into a document. Dictation and voice commands are part of the free web version.

Immersive Reader and Accessibility Checker

Immersive Reader gives a pared-back reading view, and the Accessibility Checker recommends fixes to formatting, color contrast and word choice.

Zoho Writer

Real-time collaboration and review

Documents are shared with set permissions and edited together in real time, with tracked changes to accept or reject, comments with @mentions and document versions.

Zia writing assistant

Zia generates, rewrites, shortens and summarizes text, checks grammar and spelling in English, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, and translates into more than 70 languages.

Document automation

Merge, fillable and sign templates generate personalized documents, PDFs and web forms from business data, with a visual flow builder. Generating documents uses credits.

Word and Google Docs compatibility

Writer imports, edits and saves DOCX and Google Docs files along with RTF, ODT, TXT, HTML and PDF. Imports are limited to 50 MB for DOCX and 10 MB for other formats.

Offline mode and apps

Desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux have a full offline mode, and there are iOS and Android apps. Changes made offline sync when you are back online.

Plagiarism check and publishing

An in-document plagiarism checker reports the degree of overlap with links to matching sources, and documents can be published to WordPress, Medium or Blogger from Writer.

Microsoft Word

• Free$0

  Word for the web for 1 person, with real-time collaboration, basic spelling and grammar, basic templates, dictation and 5 GB of storage.

• Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99

  per month, or $99.99 per year

  1 person signed in on up to 5 devices, 1 TB of cloud storage, and the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps with Copilot.

• Microsoft 365 Apps for business$10.00

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for up to 300 employees, with 1 TB of cloud storage per user.

• Microsoft 365 Family$12.99

  per month, or $129.99 per year

  Everything in Personal for 1 to 6 people, each with 1 TB of storage. AI features are for the subscription owner only.

• Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99

  per month, or $199.99 per year

  Everything in Family, plus extensive Copilot usage and agentic AI features such as advanced research and analytics.

• Office Home 2024$179.99

  one-time purchase for 1 PC or Mac

  Classic 2024 desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, with no upgrade path to later releases.

Zoho Writer

• Free$0

  The full word processor on web, desktop and mobile, with unlimited documents and 200 free automation credits a month per organization.

• WorkDrive Starter$2.50

  per user / month, billed annually ($3 monthly); min. 3 users

  Zoho WorkDrive with the Zoho Office Suite, including Writer, 1 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users and 1,000 free automation credits a month.

• Workplace Standard$3

  per user / month, billed annually ($4 billed monthly)

  Zoho Workplace: Writer, Sheet and Show alongside Mail with 30 GB per user, WorkDrive, Cliq and Meeting.

• WorkDrive Team$4.50

  per user / month, billed annually ($6 monthly); min. 3 users

  3 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users, a 50 GB upload limit per file and data recovery for up to 120 days.

• Workplace Professional$6

  per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly)

  100 GB of mail storage per user, 1 TB of team file storage for 3 to 10 users and the Connect intranet.

• WorkDrive Business$9

  per user / month, billed annually ($11 monthly); min. 3 users

  5 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users, custom workflows, data loss prevention policies and an admin audit trail.

Microsoft Word

• Annual discount

  Save up to 17% by paying yearly

  Microsoft 365 Personal is $99.99 a year against $9.99 a month, Family $129.99 against $12.99 and Premium $199.99 against $19.99.

• Education

  Students save 50% on Microsoft 365 Personal

  Verified college and university students pay $4.99 a month for Microsoft 365 Personal. Student status has to be re-verified each year to keep the price.

• Education

  Office 365 A1 free for eligible schools

  Educators and students with an eligible school email address get Office 365 A1 at no cost, which includes the web versions of Word and the other core apps.

• Lifetime license

  Office Home 2024 one-time purchase

  $179.99 buys the classic 2024 desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for 1 PC or Mac, with no subscription.

Zoho Writer

• Annual discount

  Lower WorkDrive rates with annual billing

  WorkDrive Starter is $2.50 per user a month billed annually against $3 billed monthly. Team is $4.50 against $6 and Business $9 against $11.

• Annual discount

  Lower Workplace rates with annual billing

  Workplace Standard is $3 per user a month billed annually against $4 billed monthly, and Workplace Professional is $6 against $7.