For years, non-profits were able to use Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses for free, desktop Office apps and management tools like Intune included in the free offer. But now, Microsoft has announced it will phase out these free offerings.

NPOs can no longer get free Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses, and they can not renew existing free subscriptions.

All that is left for NPOs is a downgrade to Business Basic, a stripped-down package without desktop apps or important management tools, or choose to stay on the plan they have with “discounts of up to 75%”. While this sounds generous, it’s a typical bait-and-switch strategy that’s highly criticized, for instance, on Reddit:

“Oldest trick in the book, give it away free until people are hooked, then snatch it away and offer a big discount. Next year, discount reduced, then reduced a bit more until they are all paying customers at 10-20 percent off or are forced to leave. Best decide now if it’s worth it and your clients can afford it or start looking at alternatives.”

NPOs financing Microsoft’s record profits

Many non-profits have used the free Microsoft Office offer for years, and have built their organizations’ workflows around Microsoft tools. Switching now seems like an unconquerable mountain, but it’s the best way to move forward for most non-profits.

Many NPOs need to carefully account for every euro, or dollar. And while a 75% discount sounds big, it is still so much more than what these organizations had put into their budget for 2025 and beyond.

And let’s be clear: Any euro or dollar these NPOs give to a Big Tech like Microsoft, they can’t spend on making the world a better place.

Plus, there’s a risk of never-ending price increases – just like the Redditor mentioned. Today’s free turns into tomorrow’s paid subscription, today’s discount into next year’s smaller discount, and so on. It’s a slow, but continuous process, and organizations dedicated to social good are the ones being squeezed for Big Tech’s profits.

But it seems like Microsoft only cares about how to satisfy its shareholders. And for this it needs to increase its profits continuously. Meanwhile, Microsoft just published record profits: $25.8 billion net income in the last quarter alone. This makes it very hard to believe that the revenue giant Microsoft needs to claw back the free Microsoft Office offer from nonprofits to prosper.

Cost of vendor lock-in

Yet, the real issue here is the vendor lock-in, not just the price hike. By offering Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses for free for decades, Microsoft made sure NPOs would use its products – instead of alternatives like open source solutions – or should I say it out loud: Linux, which also comes with free office tools.

Microsoft cultivated a deliberate dependency on its products, and now it’s trying to monetize on it. Once an organization has trained staff, set up workflows, and invested in one ecosystem, switching becomes a nightmare. So now, even if the bills start coming, most non-profits do not have a choice. They are stuck. Google and others play the same game: start cheap or free, lock you in, then gradually increase prices. Just look at how Microsoft stopped allowing you to use your custom domain in cheaper personal subscriptions in 2023 or look at Google Workspace which had five price increases during the last ten years.

Tuta + Linux: sustainable alternative

Fortunately, you do not have to stick with Big Tech. At Tuta, we believe in building tools that are affordable, secure, transparent, and sustainable. As an independent company not owned by investors or shareholders, we at Tuta focus on one thing, and one thing only: the customer. We put the customers and their needs first. That’s why Tuta prioritizes and respects your privacy in everything we do and we are proud to focus on top-notch security (while Microsoft was asked by the U.S. government to get its security right before developing any new features).

If you combine Tuta Mail and Tuta Calendar with Linux, your non-profit gets everything you need: You achieve independence from the Big Tech ecosystem that wants to exploit you with ongoing price-hikes. At the same time you are able to use desktop tools such as LibreOffice, which is a full-featured alternative to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It runs offline and has compatibility for opening and editing MS Office files. As Linux and Tuta are open source, you can pair them with other open-source tools so that you can run secure, professional-grade IT setups without being shackled to Big Tech’s profit-driven pricing strategies.

Check these recommendations to find European alternatives to Big Tech and you’ll even achieve digital sovereignty from U.S. services.

There are no hidden catches: Tuta Mail is ad-free, tracking-free, and subscription-based from the start. You know exactly what you’re paying for, and you don’t have to worry about bait-and-switch tactics. Our prices are stable, fair, and designed to stay that way; because we’re building a privacy-first alternative, not focused on making the biggest profit, but focused on satisfying our users continuously. During the fourteen years since we launched Tuta(nota), there has been once price increase which went hand-in-hand with a large increase in storage.

Plus, we have a discount of 50% for schools and NPOs that is here to stay.

Building a better web

Non-profits deserve tools that empower them and that respect their right to privacy. With Tuta Mail and Linux, your organization is put back in control of your digital setup instead of being forced into ever-rising costs. Microsoft’s bait-and-switch tactic may keep shareholders happy, but it’s not a lasting strategy for customer satisfaction.

It’s time to stop being at the mercy of Big Tech’s pricing games. The alternative is here, it’s cheaper, it’s better, and it’s more secure. Tuta as well as Linux actually respect you and your needs instead of answering to shareholders’ greed.