Productivity · head to head
Microsoft 365 vs Reflect
Microsoft 365
Productivity
Subscription bundle of the Office applications with mail, storage, meetings and organisational identity
- From
- $7/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Microsoft 365 business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.; Reflect no free tier or free plan option
- They diverge on capability: Microsoft 365 covers Office applications, Reflect covers Bidirectional links.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Microsoft 365 and Reflect actually diverge.
| Attribute | Microsoft 365 | Reflect |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $7/month | $10/month |
| Pricing model | subscription | Unknown |
| Platforms | Web | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS |
| Founded | Unknown | 2020 |
Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Microsoft 365
- Office applications
- Hosted services
- Teams
- Microsoft Entra ID
- OneDrive storage
- Device management and endpoint protection
- Purview compliance
- Copilot
Only in Reflect
- Bidirectional links
- End-to-end encryption
- AI assistant
- Instant sync
- Daily notes
- Chrome extension
- Calendar sync
- Kindle highlights
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Microsoft 365
- Any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill.not Reflect
- A company standardising on single sign-on, where Entra ID becomes the account other services authenticate against.not Reflect
- Regulated work that needs retention, legal hold and eDiscovery across mail and documents, provided the tier that includes them is actually bought.not Reflect
- A household that needs installed Office applications on several machines rather than browser-only editing.not Reflect
Reflect
- Productivitynot Microsoft 365
- Collaborationnot Microsoft 365
- Task managementnot Microsoft 365
- Organizationnot Microsoft 365
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Microsoft 365
- Business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
- The compliance capabilities most organisations eventually need, including retention, data loss prevention, advanced eDiscovery and insider risk, sit at the top tier or in add-ons, so the real cost surfaces after an audit or a customer questionnaire rather than at purchase.
- Annual term subscriptions commit you for the year and month-to-month terms cost measurably more per seat, so the flexibility to reduce seats during a quiet period is bought at a permanently higher rate.
- Entra ID becomes the identity for everything else the organisation uses, which is the hardest kind of lock-in to put a number on, because leaving means re-federating every connected application rather than simply replacing a word processor.
- The licensing model is complicated enough that most organisations are either over-licensed or quietly non-compliant, and reconciling it usually requires a partner or a specialist, which is a recurring cost that never appears in the advertised per-user figure.
Reflect
- No free tier or free plan option
- Losing your password means permanent data loss with no recovery option
- Shared notes are not end-to-end encrypted despite platform marketing encryption
- AI features send your content to OpenAI servers (30-day retention)
- Mobile apps have limited offline functionality compared to desktop
Pricing, plan by plan
Microsoft 365
$7/month- Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7/month
- Email and calendar with 50 GB mailbox
- Web and mobile versions of Office apps
- Microsoft Teams included
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard$14/month
- Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
- Email and Teams
- 1 TB cloud storage per user
- Microsoft 365 E5$60/month
- Comprehensive security and compliance
- All productivity apps
- Advanced analytics
Reflect
$10/monthNo published plan breakdown. See the Reflect review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Microsoft 365 if
- You need office applications.
- You also want hosted services.
Choose Reflect if
- You need bidirectional links.
- You work on Web, macOS, Windows, iOS.
- You also want end-to-end encryption.
Questions people ask
- Is Microsoft 365 or Reflect better?
- Neither clearly leads. Microsoft 365 starts at $7/month and Reflect at $10/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Microsoft 365 or Reflect?
- Microsoft 365 starts at $7/month and Reflect at $10/month.
- Does Microsoft 365 or Reflect run on more platforms?
- Microsoft 365 runs on Web. Reflect runs on Web, macOS, Windows, iOS.
- What is Microsoft 365 best used for?
- Microsoft 365 is most often used for any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill., a company standardising on single sign-on, where entra id becomes the account other services authenticate against., regulated work that needs retention, legal hold and ediscovery across mail and documents, provided the tier that includes them is actually bought., a household that needs installed office applications on several machines rather than browser-only editing.. Of those, any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill. and a company standardising on single sign-on, where entra id becomes the account other services authenticate against. are not what Reflect is typically brought in for.
- What can Microsoft 365 do that Reflect cannot?
- Microsoft 365 covers Office applications, Hosted services, Teams, Microsoft Entra ID. Reflect covers Bidirectional links, End-to-end encryption, AI assistant, Instant sync.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Microsoft 365: What is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office?
Office was a one-off licence for a specific version. Microsoft 365 is a subscription covering the applications and the hosted services together, and when payment stops the applications drop to a reduced state rather than continuing as they were.
Reflect: Is there a free tier?
No. Reflect offers only a 14-day free trial before requiring $10/month (billed annually). There is no free plan.
SourceMicrosoft 365: Is Teams included?
Not automatically for newer customers. Microsoft unbundled Teams and now sells it alongside the suite, so check what a given quotation actually covers.
Reflect: Does Reflect work offline?
Yes, editing and note-taking work offline on desktop. Mobile apps have offline limitations compared to the desktop experience.
SourceMicrosoft 365: What happens to our files if we stop paying?
The documents remain yours and can be downloaded, but access to hosted mailboxes and sites ends after a retention window, so leaving requires a planned export rather than a cancellation.
Reflect: How secure is my data?
Reflect uses end-to-end encryption with XChaCha20-Poly1305. An independent audit by Doyensec found no vulnerabilities. However, audio for transcription and text sent to AI features are processed by OpenAI servers (retained 30 days per OpenAI policy).
SourceMicrosoft 365: Is Copilot part of the subscription?
No. It is a per-user add-on on top of the base licence, generally with its own term commitment, and it is priced per seat regardless of how much any individual uses it.
Reflect: Can I export my notes?
Yes. Reflect allows export of your notes, though the primary export method involves using their web and iOS apps with standard export capabilities.
SourceRelated pages
More on Microsoft 365
Other head to heads
- Microsoft 365 vs LibreOffice
- Microsoft 365 vs Todoist
- Microsoft 365 vs Things 3
- Microsoft 365 vs OmniFocus 3
- Microsoft 365 vs Brain.fm
- Microsoft 365 vs WPS Office
- Microsoft 365 vs Spark Mail
- Microsoft 365 vs Canary Mail
- Microsoft 365 vs Fastmail
- Microsoft 365 vs HEY
- Microsoft 365 vs Alfred
- Microsoft 365 vs AnyList
- Microsoft 365 vs Bluedot
- Microsoft 365 vs BoldSign
- Microsoft 365 vs Capacities
- Microsoft 365 vs Circleback
- Microsoft 365 vs Day One
- Microsoft 365 vs DeskTime
- Microsoft 365 vs Tana
- Microsoft 365 vs Memtime
- Microsoft 365 vs Bear Notes
- Microsoft 365 vs Bear
- Microsoft 365 vs Foxit PDF Editor
- Microsoft 365 vs TickTick
- Microsoft 365 vs Akiflow
- Microsoft 365 vs Any.do
- Microsoft 365 vs Forest
- Microsoft 365 vs Hubstaff
- Microsoft 365 vs Mealime
- Reflect vs LibreOffice
- Reflect vs Todoist
- Reflect vs Things 3
- Reflect vs OmniFocus 3
- Reflect vs Brain.fm
- Reflect vs WPS Office
- Reflect vs Spark Mail
- Reflect vs Canary Mail
- Reflect vs Fastmail
- Reflect vs HEY
- Reflect vs Alfred
- Reflect vs AnyList
- Reflect vs Bluedot
- Reflect vs BoldSign
- Reflect vs Capacities
- Reflect vs Circleback
- Reflect vs Day One
- Reflect vs DeskTime
- Reflect vs Tana
- Reflect vs Memtime
- Reflect vs Bear Notes
- Reflect vs Bear
- Reflect vs Foxit PDF Editor
- Reflect vs TickTick
- Reflect vs Akiflow
- Reflect vs Any.do
- Reflect vs Forest
- Reflect vs Hubstaff
- Reflect vs Mealime