Microsoft Office for Small Business: Licensing Guide 2026

Microsoft Office for small business comes in two licensing models: a per-user Microsoft 365 subscription, or a one-time Office 2024 licence assigned to each PC. After Microsoft's July 2026 price rise, the right choice depends on how many staff you have, whether you need hosted email and Teams, and how long you keep your computers.

Subscription prices are Microsoft's US list prices with Teams, as shown on Microsoft's plan pages at the time of writing (November 2026). Local prices and taxes differ by country.

What is the best Microsoft Office licence for a small business?

For most small businesses the best licence is the one that matches how staff actually work: Microsoft 365 Business Standard if you need hosted email, Teams and cloud storage in one bill, or a one-time Office 2024 licence per PC if your email already lives elsewhere and you mainly need Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on fixed desks.

Start with three questions. Do you need Microsoft to host your company email? Do staff work on several devices each? Do you keep PCs for five years or more? A "yes" to the first two points towards a subscription; a "yes" to the third makes a perpetual licence attractive.

Many firms land on a hybrid, which we cover further down. The important thing is to buy deliberately rather than renewing whatever was set up years ago.

How much did Microsoft 365 business plans go up in July 2026?

Microsoft raised commercial Microsoft 365 list prices on 1 July 2026. In the US, Business Basic moved from $6.00 to $7.00 per user per month and Business Standard from $12.50 to $14.00, while Business Premium stayed at $22.00, all on annual billing. Customers on an existing annual term usually keep their old price until renewal.

Microsoft announced the change in its December 2025 pricing update, linking it to new Copilot Chat, security and management features. Prices apply globally with local market adjustments, so UK, EU and other regional prices moved too.

Monthly billing costs more again: Microsoft lists Business Standard at $16.80 per user per month on a monthly commitment. If you want the full plan-by-plan breakdown, our guide to the Microsoft 365 price increase in 2026 covers every tier.

Can a small business use a one-time Office 2024 licence?

Yes. A small business can run Office 2024 on a one-time licence, provided it buys an edition whose terms permit business use and assigns one licence to each PC that runs it. There is no monthly fee, no per-user renewal and no dependency on a subscription staying paid for the apps to keep working.

The trade-off is scope. Office 2024 gives you desktop apps, not services: no hosted Exchange mailbox, no Teams licence, no 1 TB of OneDrive per user and no new features after release. Outlook 2024 connects happily to the mailbox you already have, whether that is Exchange Online, Google Workspace or your web host's IMAP.

Cause and effect: because a perpetual licence is tied to a device rather than a person, it suits fixed workstations, such as reception, accounts and warehouse PCs, far better than staff who move between a laptop, a tablet and a home computer.

Which Office 2024 edition is licensed for business use?

Office Home & Business 2024 is the retail edition Microsoft sells for commercial use, with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote for one PC or Mac. Office 2024 Professional Plus adds Access for Windows, while Office Home 2024 is aimed at personal and household use and omits Outlook.

• Office Home 2024: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Intended for home use, so not the right choice for a business.
• Office Home & Business 2024: adds Outlook and runs on Windows or Mac. A sensible default for a Mac-using office.
• Office 2024 Professional Plus: Windows only, adds Access. Suits teams that maintain Access databases or want the full suite on each PC.

Our comparison of Office 2024 Home & Business vs Professional Plus goes through the app-by-app differences. If your staff use Windows PCs and you want the complete desktop suite, Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows is the most complete one-time option; see the current price on the product page.

When does a Microsoft 365 business subscription make more sense?

A Microsoft 365 business subscription makes more sense when you need company email hosting, Teams meetings, shared OneDrive and SharePoint storage, or the right to install the apps on several devices per person. It also suits businesses that hire and leave staff often, because licences move between users in minutes from the admin centre.

Business Standard's own plan page lists installs on up to five PCs or Macs, five tablets and five phones per user, which no perpetual licence matches. Business Premium adds Intune device management and Defender protection, which matters if you handle client data or need to wipe a lost laptop remotely.

There is also a support argument. Subscription apps are updated continuously and never reach an end-of-support date while the subscription is paid, whereas each perpetual release has a fixed retirement date.

Is Office 2024 cheaper than Microsoft 365 for a small team?

Over a typical five-year PC life, a one-time Office 2024 licence usually costs less per desk than Business Standard, because the subscription is paid every year while the perpetual licence is paid once. The gap narrows if you need Microsoft-hosted email anyway, because you would then pay for at least Business Basic on top.

A quick way to model it: multiply the per-user monthly price by 12 and by the number of years you keep a PC, then compare that with one licence per device. At the new $14.00 US list price, Business Standard is $168 per user per year before tax.

What we commonly see: small offices of five to fifteen people with stable desks and email hosted elsewhere often save the most by moving to perpetual licences, while fully remote teams rarely do. Our five-year cost comparison of Office 2024 and Microsoft 365 runs the numbers in detail.

Can you mix Office 2024 and Microsoft 365 in the same business?

Yes, and it is often the most cost-effective setup. A common pattern is Microsoft 365 Business Basic for every employee, which provides the mailbox, Teams and OneDrive, combined with a perpetual Office 2024 licence on each PC for the full desktop apps. Staff get one sign-in for email and files and full Word and Excel locally.

The mix needs a little discipline. Keep one Office version per PC, since Office 2024 and the Microsoft 365 desktop apps should not be installed side by side, and record which licence covers which machine.

Advanced nuance: Outlook 2024 signs in to an Exchange Online mailbox supplied by Business Basic without a problem, but features that depend on Microsoft 365 Apps licensing, such as some Copilot integrations, do not appear in the perpetual desktop apps.

How long will Office 2024 be supported?

Office 2024 is supported until 9 October 2029 under Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle Policy, and the volume-licensed Office LTSC 2024 has the same end date. That gives a business buying today roughly three years of security updates, after which the apps keep working but no longer receive fixes.

Microsoft's Office 2024 lifecycle page lists the dates. Office 2021 retired on 13 October 2026, so any business still on Office 2021 or older is now running unsupported software; our guide to Office 2021 end of support covers the upgrade options.

Three years is shorter than many owners expect from a "buy once" licence, so build the 2029 date into your next hardware refresh plan.

How do you stay compliant when buying Office licences for staff?

Stay compliant by buying one licence per device for perpetual Office, or one per user for Microsoft 365, choosing an edition whose terms allow business use, and keeping proof of purchase with a record of which machine or person each licence covers. Microsoft can ask for this evidence, and a simple spreadsheet makes an audit painless.

1. List every PC and every staff member who needs Office.
2. Decide per role whether a subscription or a perpetual licence fits.
3. Buy keys from a seller that issues invoices and explains the licence type.
4. Record the key, invoice number and device name in your asset register.
5. Recheck the list at each hardware refresh and when staff join or leave.

Microsoft's Office LTSC 2024 overview explains how volume-licensed editions are deployed, and our explainer on OEM, retail and volume licences covers the transfer rules for each type. For ten or more seats, a business quote request keeps every invoice in one place.

Frequently asked questions

Does Microsoft 365 Business Basic include desktop Office apps?

No. Business Basic includes the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint plus Exchange email, Teams and OneDrive, but not the installable desktop apps. To get desktop Office you need Apps for business, Business Standard or Business Premium, or a separately purchased perpetual licence such as Office 2024 installed on each PC.

Can I use Office Home 2024 in my business?

Office Home 2024 is sold for personal and household use, so it is not the edition to choose for business work. Microsoft positions Office Home & Business 2024 as the retail edition with business use rights and Outlook included. For Windows offices that also need Access, Professional Plus covers both requirements on a single licence.

How many users can a Microsoft 365 business plan have?

Microsoft's business plans are designed for organisations with up to 300 users per plan, a limit Microsoft states on its Business Premium documentation. Larger organisations, or those needing more seats on a single plan, move to the enterprise tiers such as Microsoft 365 E3, which carry higher per-user prices and different licensing terms.

Will my Office 2024 licence stop working when support ends?

No. After 9 October 2029 Office 2024 keeps opening and editing files, but Microsoft stops releasing security updates and fixes. Running it on internet-connected PCs then carries growing risk, especially in Outlook, which handles untrusted email attachments every day. Plan to replace or upgrade the licence before that date.

Can I move an Office 2024 licence to a new PC?

It depends on the licence type. Retail licences linked to a Microsoft account can usually be moved by uninstalling Office from the old PC and installing it on the new one, while OEM-style licences stay with the original device. Check the licence type stated on your invoice before replacing hardware or reassigning a machine.

Related guides

• Office 2024 vs Office 2021: what's new and should you upgrade?
• Office LTSC Standard vs Professional Plus
• Office 2024 Professional Plus: download, install and activate
• Is it legal to buy cheap Windows and Office keys?

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