Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued) vs. Microsoft Visio

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Score 8.6 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 2016 is no longer available for sale from Microsoft, and support is at an end since 2020.N/A
Microsoft Visio
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft offers Visio, a diagramming tool for building flowcharts, diagrams (e.g. network diagrams), org charts and floor plans, available online as a subscription and also in enterprise level packages (e.g. Visio Professional).
$5
per month per user
Pricing
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)Microsoft Visio
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Visio Plan 1
$5.00
per month per user
Visio Plan 2
$15.00
per month per user
Visio Standard 2024
$309.99
one-time fee On-premises diagramming solution, licensed for one PC
Visio Professional 2024
$579.99
one-time fee On-premises diagramming solution, licensed for one PC
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)Microsoft Visio
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)Microsoft Visio
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
I've used WordPerfect and Office over the years. WordPerfect has a lot of nice features, but recently Office has incorporated most of them. The main reason why my company went with Office is due to the file format. Office files are more widely accepted as the standard and …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Office 2010 is no longer supported, so this was no longer an option, we had to upgrade. Also the Office 2010 has several limits that restricted us. Office 2019 does not support updates over WSUS, so it does create an extra administrative cost compared to Office 2016. Their …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Microsoft Office 2016 is an industry-standard and it is easier to use.
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
We have always used Microsoft Office products, beginning with the older versions, but we did try a brief evaluation of OpenOffice from Apache. Even though that open source software is free, it's got certain limitations and a different functionality that was missing from …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
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.
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
OpenOffice has been the only product that is capable so certain tasks, but doesn't compare to vast capabilities of Office. Haven't found a suitable replacement, Microsoft Office is the prime software for getting work done.
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
For certain situations there is a benefit to the "standalone" package of Office 2106, vs. a subscription-based product like Office 365. Especially in the case where there are shared computers, or computers that are used as a kiosk, Microsoft Office 2016 would be one of the few …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
LibreOffice is a free software suite that fills some holes left in Microsoft Office, e.g., a "Draw" program that allows for easy creation of charts & diagrams. LibreOffice will save files in Microsoft formats, but sometimes the formatting is off when opened in Microsoft's suite;…
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
We did not evaluate other products. The company already had an enterprise license with Microsoft for the Office Suite, and we were able to get a license and installation of our product by using our company email address. The other option was using free tools, which I know from …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
We switched from Outlook to Canary Mail for Mac about two months ago and our experiences have been quite positive. The one big feature we enjoy that wasn't an option on Microsoft Office 2016 is read receipt email tracking. This feature allows us to know when a client has read …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Microsoft Office is more powerful than all its competitors. It is also perhaps most expensive. However its feature set is vast: much higher than other similar products. The other benefit is that it is very popular in the industry. It is used by many of our clients as well.
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Microsoft Office 2016 is more robust and feature-packed that Google's suite of software. However, I find that Drive and Google's online software suite is easier to use for collaborative projects and quick notes.

On specific software within the different suites, Microsoft …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
We selected Microsoft Office 2016 due to its ease of use. It is also compatible with our client, Microsoft Operating systems. The common user interface across all the applications in Microsoft Office 2016 makes it easy (and familiar) to perform everyday tasks. It is also very …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
The Microsoft Office Suite not only offers much more tools and resources if comparing the main apps like Word/Docs, Excel/Sheets, Powerpoint/Slides, but it also can give you more power and options when taking notes through OneNote (against Keep), communication is easy through …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
MS Office 2016 offers far more features than its alternatives. The ability to write complex scripts using VBA in MS Excel and MS Access can increase work productivity manyfold. Other MS Office 2016 like products don't offer such features.

MS Office 2016 offers cloud storage in …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Microsoft Office 2016 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) does not match up to a live, collaborative platform such as Google documents, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
While OpenOffice is nice for a free word processing application, Office 2016 has more features and is more user-friendly to use and update. We have an educational license that can be used with an online portal as well, whereas Open Office is free but is limited in what we can …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Microsoft Office has more flexibility and functionality than OpenOffice. OpenOffice isn't able to translate documents from other programs as easily and has more limitations in keystroke options for editing documents. OpenOffice is free, which can be a factor for some companies, …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
We haven't paid for similar programs, but we use Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides as an alternative and probably use Google more. We still chose though to use Microsoft Office 2016 as it is a program that is familiar, and Google Suite doesn't have all the same advanced …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Microsoft Office has all the features of software like G Suite or Apple's slate of word-editing software. It takes all the positives about these two platforms and then has even more features than either of them to make office work ridiculously easy. G Suite requires an …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
While the other products are fine in and of themselves (particularly LibreOffice) they lack the polish, cohesion, and ubiquitous nature of Microsoft Office, specifically the appearance of Office 2016. Each Office application makes common tasks far easier for the common user …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
I've been using the various incarnations of Microsoft Office for about 20 years now (maybe longer) -- prior to that, we used WordPerfect and WordPerfect Graphics. We probably used Lotus 123 for our spreadsheet software, but can't remember if that was just at home or what we …
Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
The key differences between Microsoft Office and LibreOffice are the user interface and the quality of the services. The ribbon UI in Microsoft office makes it easier to navigate through the features.
Microsoft Visio
Chose Microsoft Visio
Most other drawing tools were vendor specific and did not cover anything more than their specific products. Saving and exporting for use with other programs were also a challenge or non existent. Trying to find products that covered physical as well as logical were hard to find …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is easier to use compared to the other one
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is a desktop app, while the ones mentioned are browser native apps, starting from here both work differently. Microsoft Visio is a great app for any company whether small, medium or large since there are so many use cases for it, and you can provide individual …
Chose Microsoft Visio
SmartDraw was a program that I used at a prior company before we migrated to Visio. It was not nearly as intuitive to use, and even though it is advertised to be able to offer easy import and export to Visio, when I would export it to a Visio file format and share it with a …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio stacks up against other tools, because it is a professional tool with standard icons and a nice template library for all my needs. The tool provides many diagrams for many engineering purposes, from simple flow charts to more complex diagrams. The usage of …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is familiar, drawings look better, easier to integrate with office
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is somewhat more rigid that the other tools I mentioned, which can definitely be a good thing. Also the cross functional swim diagram in Microsoft Visio is more advanced.
Chose Microsoft Visio
Visio works offline and is the only way to send an editable copy to an external stakeholder. However, I find myself using an Online tool much more frequently due to the ease of use and ability to collaborate, including live drafting and co-creation during meetings. Overall, …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio defaults to more professional looking diagrams and has a simpler UX/UI, however it lacks hugely on the collaboration and engineering design templates side of things.
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is easier to use than MindManager from the user experience. Whilst MindManager is lightweight and supports the browser which make it great with sharing diagrams, its display with information is not always intuitive especially when it becomes too nested. For …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Cost benefit is significant with Microsoft Visio vs Miro, as it is included in the MS 365 Suite. While it has less capability overall than Miro, for flowcharts specifically it is great.
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is a much more improved software. Its technological features are very advanced compared to the ones from other softwares. It makes it easy to create work of quality, to analyze and visualize any process or data and generate ideas of any kind. It is the easiest …
Chose Microsoft Visio
We still use Sketchup for certain things - especially where the library of existing elements and drawings can be more easily grabbed and manipulated for our needs. Vectorworks is used by some of our main clients, and for theatrical lighting it’s the best out there. We also have …
Chose Microsoft Visio
I have personally never used or evaluated other programs similar to Microsoft Visio. I started using it following an indication from a colleague who told me that our University distributes it free of charge to its users. Since I first used it (more or less three years ago), I …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Publisher is more generic and while it is able to do what we need, Microsoft Visio allows us to do the same thing using less time and higher accuracy with features like custom icon sets, ease of linking and maintaining links to denote work flows as well as scaling up without …
Chose Microsoft Visio
I feel like they all can play an important role in your organization's success but for those who are comfortable with the Microsoft suite of tools, I would choose Visio.
Chose Microsoft Visio
Other paid services have rather better aesthetics and template/graphic support compared to Visio. However, Visio is a clear winner being a part of the Microsoft family and the positives it brings along such as collaboration, service, etc.
Chose Microsoft Visio
MS visio has the advantange of having variety stencils across all the OEM, I create the visual reprenstation of exact network design
Chose Microsoft Visio
Visio is easier to use however a smart draw is a wonderful tool with some unique libraries. Visio, however, is a little easier to license, install and manage.
Chose Microsoft Visio
Chose it for the ease of use, the professionalism of the exported visuals, and the quick and easy learning curve. I personally use Adobe Illustrator for some of the more complex graphics needed, as I've been using that platform for years; but training contractors and clients …
Chose Microsoft Visio
We have used Lucid charts in the past, Lucid chart does the job well. Microsoft Visio has more templates and seamless integration with MS word and excel. Both of the software does the diagram and charting pretty well but Visio is costly in comparison to Lucid charts. If you …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is very user-friendly and has many options for the created to use in order to get to their final product. The tool helps to get complex ideas into a visual design, therefore making it easier for other team members to understand the message you are trying to …
Chose Microsoft Visio
Even though it’s a more expensive solution, Vizio is built for the enterprise. Therefore, it integrates perfectly with our existing Microsoft stack, and quite frankly, because it’s such a more mature product, it provides exactly the functionality we need and expect.
Chose Microsoft Visio
Well, I have more than 25 years of experience with all MS products since MS Windows was launched; the user interphase has changed to improve and accommodate the new feature requirements as they come along. Overall, MS Office is coming to have a single experience but separating …
Best Alternatives
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)Microsoft Visio
Small Businesses
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.0 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.0 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)Microsoft Visio
Likelihood to Recommend
7.5
(0 ratings)
8.1
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
5.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)Microsoft Visio
Likelihood to Recommend
It is quite suitable for daily work in almost any job. Although now there are more advanced tools, found online in the cloud, it is still a good option for daily work. I highly recommend it as it has always been a reliable tool. The problem would be the support since it is a tool that is discontinued.
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If I wanted to produce best-in-class deliverables, particularly for an external-facing document where presentation quality matters, I would use Visio. For an organization that wants to standardize and ensure consistent deliverables across teams, I consider Visio a strong option. However, if I need a quick illustration of a process flow or architecture, I would use another tool to avoid spending more time than necessary.
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Pros
  • Consistent functionality across the several Office components. This consistency is a great advantage for adoptions of other unused Office components. For example, if you want to publish a book that you have done with Word, you don't need to relearn new menu positions, new file-related actions, new reviewing procedures, etc.
  • Functionality extensions with Add-ins. This has always been a nameplate for Microsoft and Office keeps its tradition. I remember the renowned Bill Gates phrase when Visual Basic has been presented to him, he said: "Make it extensible". So, for example, I use Grammarly to improve my translations and there are thousands of Add-ins that you can purchase to increase your productivity.
  • Continuous improvement of online Office 365 allows for comprehensive usage from any platform, like Apple or Android tablets, Mac or Windows, cell phones and more. Every day and regular user's functions are there. And if you need extensive reviewing capabilities or programming, you can always rely on the desktop version.
  • Spelling and translate for multiple languages are now included in the online version. I should indeed rely more on the online version.
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  • Visio comes with icons that can help differentiate processes within a map. These can be used to be a legend and helps create a visually appealing flow.
  • Visio is user-friendly and allows the user to easily navigate through the different creative options that can be used.
  • Because this is a Microsoft product, Visio works well with other Microsoft products for easy translation.
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Cons
  • 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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  • For me personally I cannot highlight anything specific that has any bearing on how I use the product. Everything is very straightforward and clearly signposted including template desgins and categories. The layout is easy to navigate and as it's part of the MS Office ecosystem means there is less to learn as I'm used to a lot of the cross product functionality.
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Likelihood to Renew
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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We use Microsoft Visio to keep our diagrams updated and to that end we will need the subscription to keep using the software. Otherwise we will be left with PDF versions of the diagrams.
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Usability
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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You need to really understand what you are trying to communicate and deliver with this software package. It allows you to get as simple or as complex (depending on your intended audience) and with the capability of integrating with other Microsoft products like Word, you can deliver a very polished document on a project that would very easily address all aspects from beginning to end.
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Support Rating
Microsoft support is very good, big corporation has people for everything. You can find a lot of solutions to problems and helpful tutorials, as well as ready to be copied macros and functions made by communities around the world. Very big user base means there aren't situations that someone else didn't have already
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Overall, I feel that Microsoft's support is weak. They are now such a behemoth that their model of putting documentation online for their users to sift through is totally outgrown. Given the amount of money you pay for these licenses, Microsoft should provide easy one-on-one support for their products via email or chat. The idea of paying their rates for support incidents is ridiculous. If you have an enormous amount of time on your hands, use their support websites and you will eventually find a solution most of the time.
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Alternatives Considered
We have always used Microsoft Office products, beginning with the older versions, but we did try a brief evaluation of OpenOffice from Apache. Even though that open source software is free, it's got certain limitations and a different functionality that was missing from Office2016, so we decided not to pursue that path.
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SmartDraw was a program that I used at a prior company before we migrated to Visio. It was not nearly as intuitive to use, and even though it is advertised to be able to offer easy import and export to Visio, when I would export it to a Visio file format and share it with a colleauge, they would always tell me that something would look off with the diagram I sent them. We eventually migrated to Visio at my prior company and thankfully my current company used Visio from day 1.
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Return on Investment
  • For the user groups that use Office in our organization, they would find it difficult to work without it. Decades of development are hard to just walk away from.
  • Office products are considered standard. When sharing data, there is almost never a question of "What format would you like that file in"?
  • For the price of convenience at this time, licensing fees are priced where we don't feel that we are not getting what we paid for.
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  • It has allowed us to speed up the creation of flowcharts and organizational charts significantly.
  • Microsoft Visio has enabled us to be more effective with our customers by using diagrams to describe our businesses.
  • It allows us to organize work with our students more easily.
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ScreenShots