All Microsoft Office Versions Explained: From 2016 to 2024 and Microsoft 365

Microsoft Office versions run from the first Office for Windows in 1990 to Office 2024, with Microsoft 365 alongside as a subscription. In 2026 they come down to two live choices. Office 2024 is the current one-time purchase. Microsoft 365 is the subscription that always runs the newest build.

• Office 2024: pay once, Home or Home & Business.
• Microsoft 365: the subscription, always the newest build.
• Office 2021 and the two before it: legacy, still open your files.
• Office LTSC 2024: the volume line for organizations.

The three releases before 2024 are legacy now. They still open your files.

Paying once, or paying every year, forever. That’s the choice, and the 90 percent answer. The trade-offs get messier up close, and they depend on what you do in the apps every day.

The full list in order, with internal numbers, sits further down. Above it: what each release added, the editions, the Mac line and which one we’d buy.

Office 2024 and what changed

Office 2024 came out on October 1, 2024 for Windows and Mac. Among the versions on sale right now, it’s the one we’d reach for as a perpetual license.

It runs on Windows 11 and on Windows 10, and on the three most recent macOS releases.

The thing nobody talks about with the jump from 2021 isn’t a feature at all. It’s speed.

Microsoft says Excel performs better with several workbooks open, and that’s where you’d feel it first. Big financial models with dozens of cross-referenced tabs are where slow recalculation hurts most, so that’s where to look.

On 2024 that kind of recalculation should feel much quicker. PowerPoint starts quicker too.

Coming from 2019 or 2016, you’ll notice the difference within the first hour.

Beyond speed, these are the features that matter most.

Copilot isn’t part of Office 2024. None of the chat, agents or document-aware answers come with the perpetual suite.

Those live on the Microsoft 365 side. For most people writing documents and building spreadsheets, that’s no loss at all.

Two editions exist for home and small business.

The commercial right matters if you invoice clients with files you made in Word or Excel.

There’s no upgrade discount when the next version arrives. With the perpetual model you buy again only when you decide to.

For a side-by-side with the previous release, the Office 2021 vs 2024 comparison covers what changed app by app.

Microsoft 365 and how it differs

Microsoft 365 works as a subscription. You pay monthly or yearly and always run the newest build.

Cloud storage and Copilot features are included in the consumer plans.

One-time versions freeze the feature set on the day of release. They keep working without payments.

A fun fact: Microsoft renamed Office 365 to Microsoft 365 for consumers in April 2020.

The model runs the opposite way to a perpetual license. Whatever build is newest, that’s what you run. A big feature just arrives, with no reinstall.

Here’s what the subscription gives you that Office 2024 doesn’t.

One heads-up rarely makes the comparison charts. If a subscription lapses, the desktop apps drop into reduced functionality mode.

An expired card or a forgotten renewal is enough. Files still open, but you can’t edit or create them.

If you ever let a subscription run out, we’d export anything important first.

Microsoft has also raised subscription prices more than once in recent years, folding Copilot into plans that used to be simpler.

A one-time license never changes price after you buy it.

Microsoft Office versions compared: what changed in each

The biggest jumps came in Excel.

Copilot is absent from every perpetual version. It exists only in Microsoft 365.

Our honest read: from 2016 or 2019, the jump is well worth it.

XLOOKUP alone saves real time once you stop wrestling with VLOOKUP nested inside IFERROR.

Between 2021 and 2024 the gap is smaller. It’s mostly speed, the new Excel functions and a few PowerPoint additions.

What you gain from each jump

What stays the same in every version

• The file formats. A .docx, .xlsx or .pptx file opens in all of them.
• The ribbon, in place since Office 2007.
• The internal version number 16.0, shared by every release from Office 2016 on.
• The way documents move between Windows and Mac, with no conversion.

The catch sits in the formulas. A workbook built on the newest functions shows errors in an older Excel that lacks them.

System requirements for Microsoft Office versions

Almost any computer from the last several years clears the bar easily.

Hardware is rarely the gotcha. The operating system is.

If you’re still on Windows 10, we’d consider doing both upgrades together. It saves headaches later.

Editions: Home, Home & Business or Professional Plus

This is where buyers get confused. The year tells you which release you’re buying. The edition decides which apps come in the box.

Those are two separate dimensions.

A few things are worth knowing about editions.

• Access has always been Windows only.
• No 2024 suite includes Publisher. Microsoft isn’t replacing it, so plan around it if your workflow depends on it.
• Teams isn’t bundled with Office 2024 suites either. It comes as a separate free or business download.
• The 2019 and 2021 releases used the names Home & Student and Professional. Their Professional editions included Publisher and Access.

For the choice between the two consumer editions, see the Office 2024 Home vs Home & Business comparison. It walks through what the extra edition adds.

Need a key? Our Office Home & Business 2024 for PC or Mac comes as a genuine license. We email it instantly after payment.

Office LTSC 2024 for organizations

This is the volume-licensed version of Office 2024 for organizations. LTSC stands for Long-Term Servicing Channel.

Same core apps, different plumbing.

LTSC is built for air-gapped systems, regulated industries and shared machines such as Remote Desktop servers. Nobody there wants features appearing unannounced.

Admins usually deploy it with the Office Deployment Tool and not a consumer installer.

What LTSC leaves out shows up most in Word. The retail 2021 Word got its collaboration features in an update after release. The LTSC build of 2021? No co-authoring, no visual refresh.

LTSC 2024 skips modern comments, the Viewing and Reviewing modes and the one-click delete of resolved comments. Want it feature by feature? Our Word versions comparison has the table.

When LTSC makes more sense

It fits when one person or team puts Office on many machines and needs identical, predictable builds.

Home & Business 2024 fits when each user sets up their own copy and signs in with a personal Microsoft account.

A ten-person office with no IT department often sits closer to the second case.

Ask three questions.

• Do you deploy centrally, with scripts or images?
• Do some PCs never touch the internet?
• Do you need Access?

A yes to any of them points to Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024.

With three noes, the retail editions are less work to set up. They’re also easier to move to another computer later.

For dozens or hundreds of seats, LTSC is probably what you want. A home user or freelancer usually doesn’t need it.

Microsoft Office versions on Mac and Windows

Office for Mac comes in the same main versions as on Windows. It uses the same file formats, so documents move between platforms without conversion.

The lineup is close to what Windows gets. The apps run natively on Apple silicon and feel quicker than they did in the Intel era.

You can send .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files back and forth without any weirdness.

We’d keep Microsoft AutoUpdate running so your copy stays current. The Microsoft update guide shows how.

Microsoft Office versions for Mac, in order

The Mac line follows the Windows years since 2016. Same names, same file formats, a different installer. Here’s the order, newest first.

Version numbers don’t help much on a Mac either. Every recent release shows a 16.x number under About Word. Microsoft lists every build in its update history for Office for Mac. Builds 16.78 and later need macOS Monterey or newer to install.

The name that settles it sits under Word, then About Word, or on the license screen. Looking for keys? We keep a page per release:

• Office 2024 for Mac, the current one
• Office 2021 for Mac
• Office 2019 for Mac
• Office 2016 for Mac, the oldest we carry

The history of Microsoft Office versions since 2007

The modern line starts with Office 2007, which introduced the ribbon and the .docx format.

Microsoft 365 has run in parallel since 2011, first under the name Office 365.

The gaps between releases settled at roughly three years.

Want the earlier years too? The complete list further down goes back to the first Office box in 1990.

How to upgrade from an older version to Office 2024

Your documents, templates and Outlook data files stay where they are. Only the program files change.

1. Back up first. Copy your Documents folder and custom templates. For Outlook, copy the .pst or .ost data files and your signatures.
2. Uninstall the old version. Open Settings, Apps, Installed apps, find the old Microsoft Office entry and choose Uninstall. Restart afterwards.
3. Redeem the key. Go to microsoft.com/setup and sign in with the Microsoft account you want the license tied to. Then enter the 25-character product key.
4. Install. On account.microsoft.com/services, select Office 2024 and click Install.
5. Activate and check. Open Word and accept the license agreement. File, Account should show “Product Activated” with the 2024 product name.

Organizations using Office LTSC 2024 deploy with the Office Deployment Tool.

Upgrading usually takes less time than people expect. The download is the slow part.

Old add-ins are the main thing to test afterwards. A few vendors certify each Office release separately.

Open your most important workbooks and templates once before you delete any backups.

Which one to buy in 2026

For most people in 2026, we’d buy Office 2024. One payment, no subscription.

Microsoft 365 makes sense only if you truly need several devices, 1 TB of cloud storage, family sharing or Copilot.

No “it depends on your needs” cop-out here. That line helps nobody.

Still running one of the legacy releases? They run fine day to day.

An upgrade makes sense, though, particularly on machines that handle email or files from outside.

Browse Microsoft Office licenses when you’re ready to compare editions.

Questions to settle before you buy

By type of user

What it costs next to Microsoft 365

Office 2024 costs one payment. Microsoft 365 costs the same subscription fee every year.

Marketing from both camps muddies the picture, so we run the logic properly. Prices change, so take today’s numbers from the store you buy from.

• Write down the one-time price of the Office 2024 edition you need.
• Write down the yearly price of the Microsoft 365 plan you’d otherwise choose.
• Divide the first by the second. That’s the number of years after which the subscription has cost more.
• Compare that with how long you usually keep a computer and its software. For most people it’s four to six years, often longer.

The break-even point typically falls within the first two or three years.

Run it with real figures, and the one-time purchase normally pulls ahead before the end of year three. Then it keeps widening the gap.

Subscription prices have also tended to go up over time, never down. A perpetual license costs nothing more after day one.

If you’d pay for cloud storage or AI anyway, add that to the subscription side of the ledger honestly.

Perpetual Office works perfectly well with whatever storage service you already use.

For a typical home user or small office that mainly writes, calculates and presents, we’d call the perpetual license the economical choice.

Checking which version you have

On a Mac, open the app menu and choose About Word, or About for the app you have open.

• Open any Office app.
• Click File in the top-left corner.
• Select Account in the left sidebar.
• Look under Product Information for the product name. Then click About Word for the version and build number.

The product name reads, for example, “Office Home & Business 2024” or “Microsoft 365 Apps for business”.

One thing trips people up. Every recent release shares the internal version number 16.0, from Office 2016 to Office 2024.

What tells them apart is the product name in the Account panel and the build number.

On Windows there’s a quick alternative: Settings, Apps, Installed apps. Search for “Office” or “Microsoft 365”, and the entry shows the product name. That’s handy when no app wants to open.

Common mistakes with Microsoft Office versions

• Mixing up the year and the edition. One names the release, the other the apps.
• Buying Office Home for client work. Commercial use starts at Home & Business.
• Expecting Copilot in a perpetual suite.
• Counting on Publisher in a 2024 suite.
• Buying LTSC for a single home PC.
• Reading “16.0” as the product name.
• Comparing one year of subscription with the one-time price.
• Deleting backups before testing old add-ins and templates.

The complete MS Office version list

Internal version numbers go from 7.0 for Office 95 to 16.0 for everything since 2016.

Microsoft 365, launched as Office 365 in 2011, runs alongside the numbered releases as a subscription.

Version 13.0 doesn’t exist. Microsoft skipped it, reportedly because of superstition about the number.

Buying, not researching? Jump back up to the editions table and the section on which one to buy. Those go deeper on what each one includes.

MS Office version numbers at a glance

File formats by era

Related guides

• Office 2007 product key: finding your own
• Office 2022: why there is no such version
• Office Standard vs Professional
• Office 2013 vs 2016
• Word versions compared
• Who Owns Microsoft

Terms used on this page

Typical questions about Microsoft Office versions

The year and the edition

“Office 2024” alone doesn’t say which apps you get. The edition does. The question that settles it is Outlook. Need it? Home & Business.

The freelancer on Home

Invoicing clients from a Home copy? That edition isn’t licensed for commercial work. Home & Business is the one that covers it.

The missing Publisher

Moving to a 2024 suite and counting on Publisher? No 2024 suite has it. Old .pub files need a plan before the switch, and our Publisher alternative guide lists options.

The lapsed subscription

Card expired? The subscription apps stop editing. Files still open. That’s the moment a one-time license starts to look attractive.

The office of ten

Ten people, no IT department, no central deployment, no Access? Then LTSC is overkill. Retail copies are less work for an office like that.

The “16.0” question

Version 16.0 under About doesn’t tell you the release. Every one since 2016 shows it. The product name under File, Account answers it.

The workbook from a newer Excel

A workbook built in 2024 with the new text functions shows errors when opened on Office 2019. The file is fine. The older Excel just lacks the functions.

The Windows 10 desktop

Windows 10 is fine. The 2024 suite installs and runs there. Moving to Windows 11 at the same time saves a second round later.

The Mac in a Windows office

One Mac in a Windows office? File exchange is fine, the formats are the same on both platforms. What the Mac lacks is Access and Publisher.

Microsoft Office versions and systems this page covers

Older installs on Windows 10 and 11 show the same File, Account layout.