Apple iWork vs. Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apple iWork
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Apple's iWork is an office productivity suite that includes the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (respectively) word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tool.N/A
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Office 2016 is the familiar suite of Office products including applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for use on a single PC or Mac. The Office 2016 package is a one-time purchase. The applications are not automatically updated; to get the latest version, you must purchase Office again when the new version becomes available. The 2016 is no longer available for sale, and support is planned to end in 2020.N/A
Pricing
Apple iWorkMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apple iWorkMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apple iWorkMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Apple iWorkMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Small Businesses
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.8 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Apple iWorkMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(1 ratings)
7.3
(64 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(45 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apple iWorkMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
Apple
iWork is suited for those in the Apple ecosystem. It is specially recommended for those who are already familiar with Apple apps. If cross-platform interoperability is needed, I use iWork + Google products. Usually I build the docs in iWork and present using Google products on the PC, when no Mac or iPad is available.
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Microsoft
I'd recommend [Microsoft] Office2016 for any business that has more than a couple of users, as the software is very scalable from just a small business to a large enterprise corporation. I don't know of any case where it might not be appropriate, as even home users and students use the software suite as well.
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Pros
Apple
  • Presentations with animations and links to other docs or web pages
  • Worksheets & charts
  • Documents & e-books
  • Training materials
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Microsoft
  • Data manipulation. Excel takes the raw data we receive and allows us to digest it in ways that are useful to our business processes.
  • Communication. Outlook serves as our primary means of communication and setting up appointments.
  • Documentation. Word is the default standard when it comes to using a word processor and we are no different in this regard. Nearly every user has to use the application on a regular basis in order to accomplish their work.
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Cons
Apple
  • iWork could use same pencil tools available in Apple Notes
  • Add capabilities similar to Apple Notes to edit or markup PDFs
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Microsoft
  • Office 2016 professional edition can be priced for a single user license, it would be nice to see a drop in the pricing.
  • Office 2016 home edition is a better price but does not include outlook 2016, so it is not a good fit for the workplace environments.
  • Office 2016 can run slowly on older systems, so you need to make sure you have a machine that is 4 years old or less for it to run smoothly.
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Likelihood to Renew
Apple
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
We believe that office 2016 offers the best value when it comes to features included out of the box. The software is used in its entirety by our organization and is easily supported by our staff of IT technicians. Users find this software to be easy to learn and easy to use with minimal learning curve.
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Usability
Apple
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It's fairly easy to use, but the automatic formatting or capturing of formatting when pasting is wonky - especially when there are outlines or other bullets/numbered lists. Fixing and sizing up tables can be annoying, and there are sometimes formatting issues that we just absolutely cannot fix for some reason
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Support Rating
Apple
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I am an MS feedback hub participant and they certainly don't pay enough attention to several bugs several people raise it in the portal. For the enterprise, it seems to me based on my prior experience that yes, they have a dedicated team to support operations. For mid to small companies or single users, it has been a struggle. So, you are pretty much with MS Blogs and others.
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Alternatives Considered
Apple
iWork is fairly complete and does a great job on the usual tasks related to creating presentation, worksheets and documents. Its major drawback is the lack of interoperability in non-Apple systems. For Apple users (iPhone, iPad and Mac) it is the recommended solution for the tasks above. Apple has been improving the product over the years and should continue to do so.
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Microsoft
We use Microsoft Office 2016 because at the time it was the best tool for us, but now with full attention to cloud products, we may be thinking of migrating our solution to a cloud service.
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Return on Investment
Apple
  • Since it is a free product, it saved me money in comparable products
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Microsoft
  • Microsoft Office 2016 saves me a lot of time daily. I have functions and macros set up that calculate and show me a lot of things just from a couple of my inputs. This would take full days sometimes if not for that.
  • Apart from time, it saves me money, I manage data in Excel, I don't have to buy software specifically for that.
  • Sooner or later my company will have to switch to new edition, which will hurt revenues because of a subscription model.
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ScreenShots