With Office 2024, you won't need Microsoft 365 subscription to access Word, Excel, & more

Microsoft has just launched Office 2024, a standalone one-time purchase for Windows’ popular productivity apps so you won’t need to pay for a Microsoft 365 subscription to access them.

Available on Mac and Windows devices at $149.99 for the Home edition and $249.99 for the Home and Business edition, Office 2024 includes the updated versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook. Office LTSC 2024 is also now available for Mac and Windows, designed for non-cloud environments.

Besides performance improvements, a lot of new features are also in the pipeline: we’re getting search capabilities in Outlook, which lets you find more relevant results for messages, attachments, contacts, and calendar entries.

There are also new data analysis functions in Excel, which lets you use dynamic arrays in charts and easily reference text and images within your worksheets. And, you can also easily embed live camera feeds into your PowerPoint presentations and have a better inking experience for note-taking and drawing.

You can purchase Office 2024, and it’s been available starting October 1 as long as you’re on the latest macOS version, or Windows 10/11. The difference between the Home and Home & Business editions is that the latter includes Outlook and the rights to use the apps for commercial purposes, while the Home edition does not.

Microsoft has also launched the AI-friendly Windows 11 24H2 version, coming to both Copilot+ PCs and non-Copilot. Besides the refreshed look of Copilot, we’re also getting features like Copilot Voices, which lets you speak with the AI chatbot (like ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode), and Copilot Vision.