Office 2024 Editions Explained: Home vs Home & Business vs Standard vs Professional Plus

Reviewed 24 September 2026 by Jen, Technical Support Advisor at Nerdused. Prices checked on the same date.

Microsoft sells Office 2024 in four editions, and the names do not tell you much. Office Home 2024 and Office Home & Business 2024 are the retail boxes you see on Microsoft's website. Office Standard 2024 and Office Professional Plus 2024 are the volume-licence (LTSC) editions that businesses buy and that we sell as single keys. All four are one-time purchases with security updates until 9 October 2029. The differences are which apps you get, whether you can use it for work, how many PCs a key covers, and the price. This guide lays them out side by side.

Office 2024 editions at a glance

	Home 2024	Home & Business 2024	Standard 2024 (LTSC)	Professional Plus 2024 (LTSC)
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Outlook (classic desktop)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Access	No	No	No	Yes (Windows only)
Business / commercial use	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Platform	Windows or Mac	Windows or Mac	Windows	Windows
Licence type	Retail, tied to a Microsoft account	Retail, tied to a Microsoft account	Volume (MAK key)	Volume (MAK key)
Devices per key	1	1	1, 3 or 5	1, 3 or 5
Support ends	9 Oct 2029	9 Oct 2029	9 Oct 2029	9 Oct 2029
Microsoft retail price	$149.99	$249.99	Volume only	Volume only
Nerdused price	$180	$299.99	from $29.99	from $29.99

Office Home 2024

Home 2024 is the entry edition: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote on one PC or Mac. It does not include Outlook, and the licence terms exclude commercial use, so it is meant for a household or a student rather than an office. It installs through a Microsoft account and stays attached to that account, which makes reinstalling easy but means one key covers one machine only. Choose it if you write documents and spreadsheets at home and use webmail or the free Outlook app for email.

Office Home & Business 2024

Home & Business adds two things to Home: the classic desktop Outlook, and the right to use the suite for work. Everything else is identical, including the one-device limit and the Microsoft-account install. It is the edition Microsoft points sole traders and small businesses to, and it is the only 2024 edition that gives you Outlook on a Mac as a one-time purchase. At Microsoft's retail price the Outlook and commercial-use upgrade costs $100 over Home.

Office Standard 2024 (LTSC)

Standard 2024 is a volume-licence edition. The apps are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, the same set as Home & Business, but the licence works differently: you activate with a MAK product key rather than a Microsoft account, it installs on Windows only, and one key can be bought for 1, 3 or 5 PCs. Because it is licensed for business use and installs without an account, it suits offices that image several machines the same way, or anyone who would rather not sign in to use Word. Our Standard 2024 installation guide covers the download and activation step by step.

Office Professional Plus 2024 (LTSC)

Professional Plus is Standard plus Access, Microsoft's desktop database. Skype for Business is offered as an optional component during setup. If you do not need Access, Standard and Professional Plus are functionally the same suite, and at Nerdused both start at $29.99 for one PC, so the choice comes down to whether you use Access. Installation and activation are covered in the Professional Plus 2024 guide, and the Pro Plus feature breakdown goes app by app.

What no Office 2024 edition includes

• Publisher. Microsoft dropped Publisher from Office 2024 entirely. If you rely on it, Office 2021 Professional Plus is the last perpetual version that has it (supported until 13 October 2026).
• Teams. Not bundled with any perpetual edition; the free Teams app is a separate download.
• Copilot and cloud storage. The AI features and the 1 TB OneDrive allowance are Microsoft 365 subscription benefits. Perpetual Office gets none of them; you can still use a free 5 GB OneDrive account. Our lifetime licence vs Microsoft 365 comparison works through the cost difference.
• New features after release. All four editions receive security and stability updates until 9 October 2029, but no feature updates. The next perpetual release will be a separate purchase.

Retail vs LTSC: what "volume licence" means for you

The two retail editions are activated by signing in to a Microsoft account; the key is redeemed once and the licence lives in that account. The two LTSC editions are activated with a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) entered in the app or, if online activation fails, by phone. There is no account to sign in to, and the installer is Microsoft's own Office Deployment Tool, which pulls the Office files from Microsoft's servers during install. In everyday use the apps are the same. The practical differences are:

• LTSC editions are Windows only. For a Mac you need Home or Home & Business.
• LTSC keys can cover more than one PC, which is why a 3-PC Standard key at $59.99 costs less than a single retail Home licence.
• LTSC editions run on Windows 10 and 11 (including the LTSC releases) and on Windows Server 2022 and 2025. Retail editions need Windows 10 or 11, or one of the three most recent macOS versions.

Which Office 2024 edition should you buy?

If you...	Buy
Use a Mac and want Word, Excel and PowerPoint only	Office Home 2024
Use a Mac and need Outlook, or use Office for your business on a Mac	Office Home & Business 2024
Use Windows and want the cheapest genuine one-time licence	Office Professional Plus 2024 or Standard 2024, from $29.99
Need Access	Office Professional Plus 2024
Need Office on 3 or 5 office PCs	Standard 2024, 3 or 5 PCs
Need Publisher	Office Professional Plus 2021 (last version with Publisher)
Want Copilot, 1 TB OneDrive or Office on your phone	Microsoft 365 subscription

Every edition and version we sell, with today's prices, is compared side by side on our Microsoft Office collection page.

FAQs

Does Office 2024 include Outlook?

Home 2024 does not. Home & Business 2024, Standard 2024 and Professional Plus 2024 all include the classic desktop Outlook.

Is Office 2024 a one-time purchase?

Yes. Every edition is a perpetual licence: pay once, no renewal. Security updates continue until 9 October 2029; there are no feature updates.

What is the difference between Office Standard 2024 and Professional Plus 2024?

Access. Professional Plus includes it; Standard does not. The other apps are identical.

Can I install Office 2024 on more than one computer?

Retail Home and Home & Business cover one PC or Mac. The LTSC editions sold here come in 1, 3 and 5-PC versions, and the key activates on each machine.

Does Office 2024 have Copilot?

No. Copilot is part of Microsoft 365. Office 2024 has no AI features and no built-in cloud storage.

Does Office 2024 work on Windows 10?

Yes, all editions install on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Note that Windows 10 itself stopped receiving security updates on 14 October 2025, so a supported Office on an unsupported Windows is only half protected.

What about Office 2024 vs Office 2021 vs Microsoft 365?

That is a different comparison. Our Office 2021 vs 2024 vs Microsoft 365 guide covers versions; this page covers editions within 2024.