Use cases
Office for small business (1–10 staff)
Owners under 10 employees usually overpay for Microsoft 365 Business when a perpetual Office Home & Business covers email and meetings without the per-user recurring cost.
Who it is for
Independent professionals, freelancers, small agencies, family businesses.
Why this works
- Outlook included — own POP/IMAP mail server keeps your @domain.com working
- One-time cost per machine, not per user per month
- Works fully offline — useful on site, in the field, on planes
- No tenant migration if you later move to Microsoft 365
Recommended licences
Alternatives worth considering
- microsoft-365-business-standard — Choose this if you want hosted Exchange mail and SharePoint.
Things to know before you buy
- If you need a shared calendar across staff, Microsoft 365 Business Standard is cheaper than building Exchange yourself.
- Office Home & Business is licensed per device — buy one key per PC, not per user.
Frequently asked questions
- Can two employees use the same Office key?
- No. One key = one PC. Buy one key per device.
Other use cases you might explore
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Office for students — best value in 2026
Word, Excel and PowerPoint cover 95% of coursework. Students don't need Outlook, Teams or Access on day one — buying the right edition saves €80+ vs Microsoft 365.
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Office on Apple Silicon Macs
Native ARM64 builds of Office 2021 and 2024 run on M1/M2/M3/M4 with no Rosetta penalty. Here is the right edition for each Mac workflow.
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Windows 11 for gaming PCs
Windows 11 Home covers 100% of Steam, Epic, GOG and Xbox PC titles. You only need Pro if you also want Hyper-V, BitLocker or a static IP for game-streaming.
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Windows 11 Pro for developers
WSL2, Docker Desktop, Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox all need Pro or Enterprise. Home edition blocks Sandbox, group policy and BitLocker.
Why these recommendations are safe to follow
We earn nothing extra by recommending a more expensive licence — our margin is identical across editions. Every recommendation has been re-validated against the current Microsoft EULA, the latest Office and Windows update, and our own returns data from the past 12 months.