Microsoft Outlook Review
Email, calendar, and contacts bundled into Microsoft 365, with Copilot AI built in
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Looking for a Microsoft Outlook alternative? See our ranked comparison.→What is Microsoft Outlook?
Outlook is Microsoft's email and calendar app. It is not sold on its own for most people or teams. It comes as part of Microsoft 365: a free Outlook.com account gets you a webmail inbox and calendar with 15 GB of storage, and a paid Microsoft 365 plan adds a custom email domain, more storage, the desktop apps, and Copilot AI features for drafting and summarizing mail.
For a small team, Outlook usually means Microsoft 365 Business Basic or Business Standard, which bundle Exchange-hosted email under your own domain with Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. For an individual, it usually means Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, which pairs Outlook with desktop Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Microsoft Outlook screenshots
Who it's for
- ✓ Small businesses that already plan to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams and want one bill for all of it
- ✓ Individuals who want a free webmail inbox with a well-known interface and don't mind ads
Who should look elsewhere
- ✗ Privacy-focused users who don't want their mail processed by Microsoft's AI features or stored under US data rules
- ✗ Teams that only need email and don't want to pay for Office apps and storage they won't use
Pros
- + One subscription covers email, calendar, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams, so there's no separate email bill for teams already on Microsoft 365
- + Copilot can draft, summarize, and reply to email directly inside Outlook, no separate AI tool needed
- + Familiar interface most people have already used at a past job or school
- + Free Outlook.com tier gives 15 GB of mail storage with no time limit
Cons
- – Microsoft raised Business Basic and Business Standard prices 12-17% in July 2026, the sharpest jump since 2022, and the cheapest per-seat rate requires an annual commitment
- – You cannot buy Outlook alone at the advertised low prices; a real business email address needs at least the Business Basic seat
- – New Outlook for Windows sends the username and password for any third-party (non-Microsoft) email account you add to it through Microsoft's own servers, a concern for privacy-sensitive users
- – Setting up encrypted or signed email (S/MIME) is more fiddly than in mail apps built around privacy from the start
Microsoft Outlook pricing
What you pay for
Outlook itself has no separate price. You pay for a Microsoft 365 plan, and Outlook comes bundled with mail, calendar, and (on paid tiers) Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. A free Outlook.com inbox exists with 15 GB of storage, but a custom business email address, more storage, and Copilot all require a paid Microsoft 365 seat. Prices are published, not quote-only, though the cheapest seat rates require an annual commitment.
At about $5.4/month to start, it sits mid-pack on price in Email Providers.
| Plan | Price | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook.com (free) | Free | Outlook email and calendar on web, desktop, and mobile · 15 GB mailbox storage · 5 GB OneDrive storage · Ads shown in the mail app |
| Microsoft 365 Basic | $1.99/mo | 100 GB cloud storage · Ad-free Outlook.com inbox · No desktop Office apps |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | $9.99/mo | 1 TB storage · Desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook with Copilot · 1 person, up to 5 devices |
| Business Basic (no Teams) | $5.4/seat/mo | Custom domain business email · 1 TB OneDrive per user · Web and mobile Office apps · Annual commitment required for this rate |
| Business Basic | $7/seat/mo | Everything in Business Basic (no Teams) · Teams chat and calling included |
| Business Standard | $14/seat/mo | Desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook · Secure AI chat built in · Annual commitment required for this rate |
| Business Standard with Copilot | $23.5/seat/mo | Everything in Business Standard · Work-grounded Copilot built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams |
Business seat prices are the annual-commitment monthly rate; paying month to month costs more. On July 1, 2026, Microsoft raised most Business and Enterprise list prices, the biggest increase since 2022: Business Basic rose 16.7% to $7/user/month and plain Business Standard (without Copilot bundled) rose 12% to $14/user/month. Business Standard with Copilot is a separate, pricier bundle at $23.50/user/month that was not part of that July change. Consumer plans (Basic, Personal, Family, Premium) are billed monthly or yearly with a small discount for paying yearly.
Pricing verified July 16, 2026 · source
How Microsoft Outlook's pricing compares
Microsoft Outlook next to its closest alternatives on entry price, billing, and whether pricing is public.
| Tool | Starting price | Billing | Free option | Pricing disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Outlook | $5.4/seat/mo | tiered | Yes | Public |
| Gmail | $7/seat/mo | freemium (personal) / per-seat (Google Workspace for business) | Yes | Partly public |
| Proton Mail | EUR 3.99/seat/mo | tiered | Yes | Public |
| Fastmail | $3/seat/mo | per-seat | Trial (30 days, no credit card required) | Public |
| Zoho Mail | $1/seat/mo | per-seat | Yes | Partly public |
| Tuta | EUR 3/mo | tiered | Yes | Public |
| HEY | $99/yr | flat | Trial (30 days on HEY for You, no credit card required) | Public |
Is Microsoft Outlook still actively developed?
Last significant update: June 2026. New Outlook for Windows added Quick Parts, letting you save and reuse blocks of content when composing email, alongside earlier June updates that put Copilot writing coaching directly in Copilot Chat.
Top Microsoft Outlook alternatives
Microsoft Outlook FAQ
Is Outlook free?+
Yes, Outlook.com gives you a free inbox with 15 GB of mail storage and 5 GB of OneDrive storage, with ads. A custom domain, more storage, and Copilot require a paid Microsoft 365 plan.
What's the cheapest way to get business email in Outlook?+
Microsoft 365 Business Basic without Teams costs $5.40 per user per month with an annual commitment. Adding Teams brings it to $7 per user per month.
Are Microsoft 365 prices going up?+
Yes. Microsoft raised most Business and Enterprise plan prices on July 1, 2026, its biggest increase since 2022. Business Basic went up 16.7% to $7/user/month, and plain Business Standard went up 12% to $14/user/month.