Buying guide

Office 2024 vs Microsoft 365 — which is better?

Head-to-head comparison of Office 2024 (one-time purchase) and Microsoft 365 (subscription) — total cost of ownership, cloud storage, multi-device support and feature differences.

The short answer

Buy Office 2024 if you want to pay once and own your Office apps forever on a single PC or Mac — it's by far the cheaper option over 3+ years.

Pick Microsoft 365 if you need 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage per user, want the apps on phones and tablets, or share with up to 6 family members.

Total cost of ownership (3-year view)

Office 2024 Pro Plus is a one-time €34.90 purchase on this site. Spread across 3 years that's about €0.97/month — and you keep the apps after that for free.

Microsoft 365 Family lists at €99/year (6 users, 1 TB OneDrive each), so €297 over 3 years. Microsoft 365 Personal is €69/year, or €207 over 3 years.

If you don't need OneDrive at scale or extra devices, Office 2024 is roughly 6–10× cheaper across a typical ownership window.

· Office 2024 Pro Plus (1 PC, lifetime): €34.90 one-time.
· Microsoft 365 Personal (1 user, 1 TB OneDrive): ~€69/year.
· Microsoft 365 Family (6 users, 6 TB OneDrive): ~€99/year.

Feature differences that actually matter

Both editions ship the same core Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook apps with the same file format compatibility. The real differences sit around cloud, devices and update cadence.

· Cloud storage: Microsoft 365 includes 1 TB OneDrive per user. Office 2024 includes only the free 5 GB tier.
· Devices: Microsoft 365 installs on unlimited PCs, Macs, tablets and phones (5 signed in at once). Office 2024 is licensed to one PC or Mac.
· Updates: Microsoft 365 receives new features continuously. Office 2024 only gets security and bug fixes — feature set is frozen at release.
· AI features: Microsoft 365 includes Copilot Chat and access to paid Copilot upgrades. Office 2024 has no Copilot integration.
· Mobile editing: Microsoft 365 unlocks full editing in the mobile apps. Office 2024 mobile apps are read-only without a subscription.

Pick Office 2024 if…

You work primarily on one PC or Mac, store files locally or in another cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud), and want to stop paying after a single purchase.

You're a small business outfitting 5 or 10 workstations — the 5-PC Pro Plus pack works out to around €14 per seat with no recurring cost.

Pick Microsoft 365 if…

You're a family of 3–6 sharing files, photos and calendars across phones, tablets and laptops — 6 TB of pooled OneDrive is the headline value.

You want Copilot, continuous new features, and edit access in the mobile apps.

You travel between multiple devices and don't want to think about per-machine licensing.

Verdict

For most single-PC users, Office 2024 Pro Plus is the better deal in 2026 — €34.90 once, lifetime ownership, every core feature.

Pick Microsoft 365 only if cloud storage, mobile editing or multi-user sharing genuinely change how you work. Otherwise the subscription costs many times more for features you won't use.