Guides and tips

You are hesitating between Office 2021 and Office 2024 and want to know what you really gain by paying for the newer version. Let’s say it right away: in terms of features, the difference is modest. Both suites are based on the same technical foundation, produce the same files, and work offline without a subscription. The difference that really matters is not a feature but a support end date.

Applications included in each edition

Before comparing version years, you need to compare the editions. The word “Office” covers several combinations of applications, and this is often where the real choice lies.

The table below covers the Professional Plus editions, the only ones whose exact contents Microsoft publishes.

The only application that really disappears is Publisher. If you need it, only the 2021 generation provides it, and we will see below why this is not a good long-term choice. For everything else, you get the same set of applications from one version year to the next: this explains why the Office 2021 Professional Plus license for 3 PCs remains perfectly suitable for standard office use.

A word about Teams, since the question keeps coming up. For Office 2024, Microsoft is explicit: the application is not preinstalled and must be downloaded separately. For Office 2021, the documentation is contradictory; the overview page still lists Teams among the applications in the Professional Plus edition, while elsewhere stating that the suite no longer includes the Teams client, without dating the change. The safest approach is therefore not to count on it being included in the package, and to install it separately in both cases.

If you never use a database, the Standard edition is sufficient and saves you from installing Access. In practice, it uses the same core applications without Access: the Office 2024 Standard license for 3 PCs includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. One caveat, however: Microsoft only publishes the contents of the Professional Plus editions in black and white. If a specific application is essential to you, check the product page before ordering rather than relying on a general rule.

A point that often comes up: Visio and Project are not included in any Office edition, neither in 2021 nor in 2024. They are sold separately, with their own version year. If your work depends on them, budget for a Visio or Project license in addition to your Office suite.

The actual new features in Office 2024

Office 2024 invents almost nothing. It packages, in a one-time purchase, the features that appeared on the subscription side between 2021 and 2024. It's a catch-up, not a revolution. And that catch-up varies greatly by application.

Excel: this is where the improvement is clear

Excel is the only application where the difference is noticeable day to day.

• Fourteen new text and array functions. They can split a string, stack multiple ranges, resize or extract columns without relying on long formulas. In French Excel, they include FRACTIONNER.TEXTE (TEXTSPLIT in English), TEXTE.AVANT, TEXTE.APRES, and ASSEMB.V.
• LAMBDA. You can create your own reusable function instead of copying the same formula into ten workbooks.
• The IMAGE function. An image is placed inside the cell itself rather than floating above the grid. It therefore follows sorting and filtering.
• Dynamic charts. A chart linked to a PivotTable updates when the number of rows changes, without having to redefine the range manually.
• Default blocking of XLL add-ins downloaded from the Internet, to limit a known attack vector.

Word: very little

Word 2024 adds automatic reopening of documents after an unexpected shutdown, support for the OpenDocument 1.4 format, and the suite's new visual theme. Honestly, that's not much. If you use Office only to write letters and reports, don't count on Word to justify the switch.

PowerPoint: useful if you record your presentations

PowerPoint 2024 lets you overlay a live camera feed on a slide, record a presentation or an individual slide with voice and video, add captions to an inserted video, and zoom in up to 400% during a slideshow. For training or recorded content, it's a real advantage. For an in-person meeting, it won't change anything.

Across the entire suite

An Accessibility ribbon brings the most common issue fixes together in one place, and the interface uses a revised color palette. Once again, this is about convenience.

One point to clarify right away: don't expect an artificial intelligence assistant in either Office 2021 or Office 2024. For the Professional Plus and Standard editions, Microsoft explicitly states that these versions have access to neither cloud-connected features, real-time co-authoring, nor AI-powered automation. Copilot is not included. If that's what you're looking for, you need to consider subscription plans, not versions purchased outright.

Removed or relocated features

A version upgrade also removes some features. Check this list before making the switch.

• Publisher is no longer included with Office 2024. Microsoft removed it because the software itself is no longer supported after October 2026. In practice, if you buy Office 2021 for Publisher, you are buying a reprieve that ends at the same time, not a solution.
• “Publish to Power BI” is removed from Excel 2024. The feature has moved to the Power BI service, which now imports workbooks from OneDrive or SharePoint. Workbooks that have already been uploaded remain downloadable.
• ActiveX controls are disabled by default in Office 2024. This is the change most likely to break something. An old business workbook with ActiveX forms may no longer behave as it did before. The setting can be re-enabled, but you need to know this before migrating.
• Teams is not preinstalled. It must be downloaded separately.

System requirements

In terms of hardware, both versions require exactly the same specifications: a 1.1 GHz dual-core processor, 4 GB of RAM, 4 GB of disk space on Windows, and a 1280 x 768 display. Both are available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, with the 64-bit version recommended from 4 GB of memory and required for 4K display. In other words, if your PC can run Office 2021, it can run Office 2024.

As for the operating system, contrary to what is often reported, there is no significant difference between the two releases either. For the Professional Plus and Standard editions, Microsoft documents the same list of supported operating systems: Windows 11, Windows 11 LTSC 2024, Windows 10 LTSC 2021, Windows 10 LTSC 2019, Windows Server 2025, and Windows Server 2022. There is only one difference, and it favors the older version: the 2021 generation also supports Windows Server 2019. Note that this list mentions neither Windows 10 Home nor Windows 10 Professional (for a standard computer, it is Windows 11 that is listed).

Which brings us back to the question of the operating system. Standard Windows 10 support ended on October 14, 2025. Since then, only machines running version 22H2 and enrolled in the Extended Security Updates program, ESU, continue to receive patches (a consumer program that Microsoft has extended until October 12, 2027). This is a reprieve, not a destination: if your computer is still running Windows 10, the operating system question comes before the office suite, and a Windows 11 Professional license for 3 PCs puts the machine back on a supported foundation.

On Mac, the product lines are distinct and cannot be compared directly with the Windows versions. First, allow for 10 GB of disk space, not 4 GB as on Windows. Also check your macOS version: Microsoft only supports the three most recent ones. Finally, in terms of the catalog, the Office 2021 Home and Business for Mac suite is listed by 123 Licence for a single Mac, at a different price from the Windows products mentioned above, which are listed for three computers.

The support duration of each version

This is the only point where the difference is clear-cut, and it is the one that should make the decision for you.

Important clarification: for the Professional Plus and Standard editions, Microsoft provides five years of mainstream support with no extended support period afterward. There will therefore be no extension for Office 2021 after October 2026. The consumer version of Office 2024 follows a different life-cycle policy, but Microsoft confirms the same October 9, 2029 deadline.

What happens on that date? The software does not stop. Your documents remain openable, your licenses remain valid, and Word continues to start. What stops are the security fixes. A vulnerability discovered after that deadline will no longer be patched. For software that opens files received from outside every day, this is not a theoretical detail.

The calendar therefore draws a much clearer line than Excel features: when you purchase it, the Office 2024 Professional Plus license for 3 PCs covers you for three more years than a 2021 license. The exact life cycle can still be checked on Microsoft's website, which is authoritative.

The case of files shared with other versions

The good news to start with: the formats do not change. A .docx, .xlsx, or .pptx created in Office 2024 opens in Office 2021, 2019, and 2016. The two suites even share the same major version number, 16.0, which explains why most add-ins compatible with 2021 also work in 2024.

Four practical points of friction remain, mainly affecting environments where several versions coexist.

• New Excel functions are not translated. A workbook that uses LAMBDA or one of the new array functions will open without issues in Excel 2021, but the formulas concerned will be rewritten with a technical prefix (you will see _xlfn.LAMBDA appear in the formula bar) and will return the #NAME? error. If you exchange calculation models with colleagues who remain on 2021, stick to the functions they have in common.
• The OpenDocument format moves to version 1.4. Office 2024 saves files in this version by default. Older files still open, but they are saved as version 1.4. If you work with .odt or .ods files with contacts using another suite, test before rolling it out more broadly.
• .pub files become unreadable. Without Publisher, Office 2024 won't open them at all. If you have a collection of them, export them to PDF while you still have a computer running Office 2021.
• Workbooks with ActiveX controls may behave differently, since these controls are disabled by default.

The rule of thumb in a small organization: put everyone on the same release year.

Which one to choose based on your usage

You're buying for a new computer or reinstalling. Choose Office 2024. There's no reason to start today with a version whose support ends on October 13, 2026.

You're already using Office 2021 and everything works. Nothing forces you to move immediately, but consider security as October 2026 approaches. If the computer is used professionally and receives attachments, upgrading is justified. If it's an offline family computer, the urgency is lower.

You live in Excel. This is the only profile for which Office 2024's features make a compelling case, regardless of the dates. LAMBDA and array functions genuinely change how you build a model.

You need Access. You need a Professional Plus edition. The Standard edition does not include it.

You depend on Publisher or old ActiveX macros. This is the only case where staying on 2021 is defensible, and even then, only long enough to prepare for the transition. Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026 anyway.

In summary: don't switch versions for the new features; they aren't worth it if you're not an advanced Excel user. Switch for the support window, which is measurable and closes in October 2026 for the 2021 generation.

At 123 Licence, Office 2024 Professional Plus, Office 2024 Standard, and Office 2021 Professional Plus licenses are advertised for three devices and listed at €29.99 including VAT, or less than €10 per device. The key is sent by email within a few minutes of ordering, along with an invoice showing VAT. Support is available if you encounter difficulties during installation.