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The comparison that matters is not about features. It is about jurisdiction.
Microsoft Office, now sold as Microsoft 365, against Office.eu, the European-hosted suite launched in 2026. Compared plainly, by a team that operates both.
Microsoft Office no longer exists as a product you buy once. It is sold as Microsoft 365: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook alongside Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive, on subscription, in Microsoft's cloud. Office.eu launched in early 2026 as a deliberate alternative. It covers documents, spreadsheets, presentations, email, calendars, file storage and video meetings, is built on open-source software, and is European-owned, running on infrastructure hosted and managed entirely within the EU.
For most firms, comparing the two on features misses the point. Both will write a letter, build a spreadsheet and run a video call, and Office.eu works in the same .docx, .xlsx and .pptx formats your clients send you. The difference that matters to a regulated firm is jurisdiction: who owns the platform, which laws govern it, and where client data actually sits. Microsoft is a US company, and data held in its cloud can fall within reach of US law. Office.eu is European-owned and governed by EU law and GDPR. For a firm that answers to the FCA, the ICO or a client mandate about where data lives, that is the comparison worth making.
Side by side
| Microsoft 365 | Office.eu | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Microsoft's subscription suite, the successor to the boxed Microsoft Office licences | A European-owned cloud office suite, launched in early 2026, built on open-source software |
| Applications | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive | Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, email, calendars, file storage, video meetings |
| How you work | Installed desktop applications plus web and mobile | Through the browser, as a cloud workspace |
| File formats | Native .docx, .xlsx and .pptx | Works in the same Microsoft formats |
| Ownership and governing law | Microsoft Corporation, a US company; data in its cloud can fall within reach of US law | European-owned, governed by EU law and GDPR |
| Where data lives | Microsoft's global cloud, with UK and EU datacentre regions available | Infrastructure hosted and managed entirely within the EU |
| Track record | Decades of development; integrates with almost everything a firm already uses | A young platform with a capable core and a smaller ecosystem |
| Best fit | Most UK wealth management and accountancy firms | Firms whose data residency obligations or client mandates require European jurisdiction |
When Microsoft 365 is the right answer
- Your regulators and clients are satisfied by UK and EU datacentre regions and a properly configured tenant, documented and evidenced
- Your team depends on the installed desktop applications, or on tools and integrations that only exist in the Microsoft ecosystem
- The real problem is governance rather than geography: most tenants we assess need bringing under control, not replacing
When Office.eu earns its place
- A data residency obligation or client mandate requires client data held under European ownership and jurisdiction, not just in a European datacentre owned by a US company
- Leadership wants the office suite governed by EU law and GDPR by design, rather than by configuration choices that have to be maintained and evidenced
- The firm can work in a browser-delivered suite, and the assessment confirms the integrations it relies on are covered
We are a Microsoft Solutions Partner and we operate both platforms, so the recommendation is driven by your obligations, not by what we can sell. The assessment looks at your data residency obligations, your regulators' expectations and how your team actually works, and it closes with a written recommendation before anything moves. Read how we deliver each platform on the Microsoft 365 and Office.eu service pages, or ask us to assess your position.
faq
Questions leadership teams ask when comparing the two
Yes. Office.eu works in the standard Microsoft formats, including .docx, .xlsx and .pptx, with real-time collaborative editing, so documents continue to move between your firm and its clients without conversion. Heavily built spreadsheets and templates should still be checked before a move, which is one of the things our assessment covers before any recommendation is made.
No. Microsoft 365 can be run in a way that satisfies UK GDPR, with UK and EU datacentre regions and a documented configuration, and that is how we run it for most of the firms we manage. The question some firms face is narrower than GDPR: a data residency obligation or client mandate that requires data held under European ownership and jurisdiction, not just in a European datacentre owned by a US company. Those are the firms Office.eu exists for.
It is a young platform. It launched in early 2026 and its third-party ecosystem is smaller than Microsoft's, while the core suite covers documents, spreadsheets, presentations, email, calendars, file storage and video meetings. Whether that is enough depends on what your firm actually uses, which is why our assessment documents how your team works before we recommend anything. Where a dependency only exists in the Microsoft ecosystem, we say so plainly.
Whichever your obligations point to, and we put that in writing before anything moves. We are a Microsoft Solutions Partner and we operate both platforms, so the recommendation is driven by your obligations, not by what we can sell. Most assessments end with a recommendation to stay on Microsoft 365 and bring the tenant under control. Where a firm has a clear data residency reason, we recommend Office.eu and deliver the migration in documented stages with a rollback point at each one.