The Microsoft 365 subscriptions, which include the Microsoft Office programs like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint are now the most frequently sold productivity suites. However, the traditional one-time-purchase Microsoft Office suites offering the Office programs without a subscription are still on the market.
The current version of the non-subscription variant is the Microsoft Office 2021. The Office 2021 editions are Home & Student, Home & Business, Professional, and Professional Plus.
All of the 2021 editions include the core Microsoft Office applications – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. The Home & Student features only them, while the Home & Business edition additionally has Outlook. Besides the core apps and Outlook, the Professional edition includes Publisher and Access, while the Professional Plus additionally includes Microsoft Teams.
Furthermore, the Home & Student and Home & Business are available for both Windows PCs and Apple MacBooks and Macs, while the Pro editions are only for PCs.
To simplify, here’s a table comparing the Office 2021 editions:
| Office Programs, Platforms and Price | Office Home & Student 2021 | Office Home & Business 2021 | Office Professional 2021 | Office Professional Plus 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Excel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PowerPoint | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OneNote | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outlook | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Publisher | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Access | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Teams | No | No | No | Yes |
| Platforms | PC & Mac | PC & Mac | PC only | PC only |
| Regular Price | $149.99 | $249.99 | $439.99 | * – |
* The Office Pro Plus 2021 version is not available for purchase on the Microsoft website, so we don’t know the current regular price. But, you can find it at various stores, with prices starting at as low as $69.95 on Walmart (as of 7/19/24). Other editions are also available at discounted prices at various stores.
Besides the core apps, what all editions have in common is that they are all sold as single user licenses.
As for the comparison against the Microsoft 365 subscriptions, the main differences besides the different payment model – singe purchase vs monthly or yearly subscription, and availability of multi-user 365 licenses, is that the Office 2021 doesn’t offer a free upgrade to a new edition. In contrast, the Microsoft 365 purchase means you always get the latest version of the applications at no additional cost. Furthermore, the Office 365 includes mobile versions of the programs. And, Microsoft 365 includes additional perks like cloud data storage.