Office License Without a Subscription

Office 2024 or Office 2021?

Office 2024 is the current generation, supported by Microsoft until October 2029. Office 2021 reaches end of support on 13 October 2026; it remains useful for Publisher, which is gone from 2024, or to keep an office on one version.

For a new purchase we recommend an Office license for 2024: it gets security fixes for longer and brings the latest Excel and Outlook improvements.

PC or Mac: which edition?

Office 2024 Professional Plus and Office 2021 Professional Plus install on Windows only and include Access. Office Home & Business 2024 runs on a PC or a Mac, includes Outlook and allows commercial use.

Which apps are included?

Every edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Outlook is in Professional Plus and Home & Business. Access, Microsoft’s database, is only in the Professional Plus editions for Windows. Publisher is no longer offered from the 2024 generation.

Start from your use: invoices and business email on a Mac — Home & Business; Access databases on a PC — Professional Plus.

Installation and activation

Before installing, remove other Office versions, including the trial preinstalled on many laptops. The installer comes from Microsoft’s servers and the key is activated in Word under File › Account. Allow 10 to 20 minutes depending on your connection.

Account-based editions are redeemed at setup.office.com, so you can reinstall Office from your account after changing computer.

One-time purchase or Microsoft 365?

A one-time version suits you if you use a single computer and want no subscription. If you work on several devices, need 1 TB of cloud storage or want to share with your family, Microsoft 365 is the better fit. Our guide Office 2024 vs Microsoft 365 compares both.