Microsoft has made Windows 10 more costly for consumers in the usa, and now the company will the same thing for the Office 2019 productivity suite too.

As the cost of the Home & Student form of Office 2019 has remained unchanged at $149.99, consumers have to pay 9 % more for the Home & Business version when compared with how much they spent on Office 2016.

This particular version now costs $249.99, up from $229.99, according to a study from CW.

The most expensive version continues to be Office 2019 Professional, and this is even the release that suffered the largest price increase of 10 percent. Consumers now have to pay $439.99 for Office 2019 Pro, up from $399.99 for Office 2016 Pro.

"Pushing consumers to Office 365?"

While Microsoft hasn't explained why exactly it increases Office prices, the move was really announced earlier this year, which is believed to be an effort to push more consumers towards Office 365.

When compared with Office 2019, Office 365 includes like a subscription-based service and it is updated regularly with new features. Office 2019, however, wouldn't have any other new features, and updates would only be targeted at fixing bugs and addressing security vulnerabilities.

Earlier this month, it had been discovered that Microsoft increased Windows 10 prices in the usa, with the Home version now being sold for $139.99, up from $119.99. On the other hand, the Pro version is still available for $199.99 much like before.

There's an opportunity that with the cost increase, Microsoft also really wants to steer consumers to the Pro version of the OS that comes with several extra benefits.

It remains seen the way the price hikes is going to be received by potential buyers, but for now, both Windows and Office are getting more expensive for everyone