Office 2021 vs Office 2024 Professional Plus: What Changed, Support Dates and Which to Buy

Office 2021 and Office 2024 Professional Plus are our two most popular licences, they cost almost the same, and they look nearly identical on screen. The differences are real but specific: support dates, a handful of Excel and Outlook features, the interface, and one application that disappeared. This comparison goes through each so that the choice takes a minute rather than an afternoon of forum reading.

Support dates: the deciding factor for most buyers

Microsoft supports each perpetual Office release for five years. Office 2021 was released on 5 October 2021 and reached end of support on 13 October 2026. Office 2024 was released on 1 October 2024 and is supported until 9 October 2029.

End of support means no more security updates. The software continues to install, activate and run, and for a PC that is used offline or lightly that may be acceptable. For a PC that opens email attachments and downloaded documents daily, three more years of patches is the single strongest reason to choose 2024.

What Office 2024 adds

Excel. Both versions have dynamic arrays, XLOOKUP, XMATCH, LET and the basic array functions. Office 2024 adds the functions introduced to Microsoft 365 between 2022 and 2024: TEXTSPLIT, TEXTBEFORE and TEXTAFTER, VSTACK and HSTACK, TOCOL and TOROW, CHOOSECOLS and CHOOSEROWS, WRAPROWS and WRAPCOLS, the IMAGE function, and improvements to the LAMBDA helper functions (BYROW, BYCOL, MAP, SCAN, REDUCE, MAKEARRAY). It also opens large workbooks faster and handles conditional formatting more efficiently.

Word. The modern commenting pane with threaded replies and resolve, an improved Editor, better dictation, and the ability to insert content from Microsoft Search. Reading mode and accessibility checking are improved.

PowerPoint. Cameo (placing your camera feed inside a slide), the recording studio for narrated presentations, closed captions and subtitles, and better ink-to-shape conversion.

Outlook. Classic Outlook in both; 2024 adds improved search, the meeting-scheduling improvements from 365, and better handling of large mailboxes. The new Outlook app is not part of Office 2024 Professional Plus; the classic client is the one installed.

Interface and platform. A refreshed design aligned with Windows 11, an improved dark mode, better support for high-DPI and multiple monitors, and the OpenDocument Format 1.4 support. Office 2024 is 64-bit by default.

What Office 2024 removes

Publisher. Office 2021 Professional Plus includes Publisher; Office 2024 does not, in any edition. Microsoft is retiring Publisher, with support in Microsoft 365 ending in October 2026. If you produce newsletters or flyers in Publisher and have no plan to move to Word or another tool, 2021 is the only perpetual version that still includes it.

Teams. Office 2021 Home & Business bundled Teams; Professional Plus did not. Office 2024 does not include Teams in any edition. This does not affect Professional Plus buyers.

Side-by-side

	Office 2021 Professional Plus	Office 2024 Professional Plus
Released	5 Oct 2021	1 Oct 2024
Support ends	13 Oct 2026 (ended)	9 Oct 2029
Applications	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access
Excel: dynamic arrays, XLOOKUP, LET	Yes	Yes
Excel: TEXTSPLIT, VSTACK, IMAGE, newer LAMBDA helpers	No	Yes
Word: modern comments	Partial	Yes
PowerPoint: Cameo, recording studio	No	Yes
Interface	Windows 11 style	Refreshed, improved dark mode
Windows required	Windows 10 or 11	Windows 10 or 11
Mac version of Professional Plus	No	No
Activation	Product key	Product key
GetDigiMarket price (1 PC)	$12.99	$14.99
5-PC option	Yes	One key per PC

Price

The difference is two dollars for a single PC. The 5-PC version of 2021 at $19.99 is the cheapest way to equip a small office, and remains a sensible choice for machines that will be replaced within a year or two. For a PC you intend to keep, the 2024 licence’s extra three years of support cost less than a cup of coffee.

Compatibility and coexistence

Both versions open the same file formats and exchange documents freely. On a single PC you cannot run both at once through Click-to-Run; choose one. Standalone apps follow the generation rule: Visio and Project 2021 or 2024 install alongside either Office 2021 or 2024, but Visio or Project 2016 and 2019 cannot. Our standalone apps guide has the full table.

Installing either version

The process is identical: uninstall any existing Office or trial, download from the official link in your delivery email (it matches the version you bought), install, open Word, File, Account, Change Product Key, enter the key. Keys are version-specific, so a 2021 key needs the 2021 installer. See the Office installation guide and, for a refused key, keys reported as used or blocked.

Recommendation

• Any PC you will keep for years: Office 2024 Professional Plus.
• You need Publisher: Office 2021 Professional Plus.
• A secondary or short-life PC, or five machines on a budget: Office 2021 Professional Plus for 5 PCs.
• You need security-only updates on a managed PC: Office 2024 Standard LTSC rather than either.
• You want Copilot or several devices per person: Microsoft 365; see Office 2024 vs Microsoft 365.

Both are covered by the 180-day money-back guarantee and delivered by email within seconds.

What stayed the same

It is worth being clear about how much did not change, because it explains why the two versions look alike. The ribbon, the file formats, the Outlook data files, the Access database engine, OneNote, the macro and VBA environment, add-in support, co-authoring through OneDrive, and the Click-to-Run installer are identical in behaviour. A document, workbook, presentation or database created in one opens unchanged in the other. Templates, custom dictionaries, Quick Access Toolbar settings and signatures migrate automatically if you install 2024 over a removed 2021. Users who move from one to the other rarely notice anything beyond the refreshed colours and the new functions in Excel’s formula autocomplete.

A note on Office 2019 and 2016

Customers sometimes ask whether to save a few more dollars with Office 2019 Professional Plus or Office 2016 Professional Plus. Both reached end of support on 14 October 2025, both lack XLOOKUP and dynamic arrays in Excel, and both are a generation behind in interface. They remain the cheapest full suites for an old PC that will not see the internet, and 2016 is the last version that runs on Windows 7. For anything else, the extra dollar or two for 2021 or 2024 is the better spend. The full list of versions is in our Microsoft Office category.

Making the switch from 2021 to 2024 on a working PC

Back up nothing in particular; documents live outside Office. Export Outlook signatures if you have many (they are in the Signatures folder under AppData, Roaming, Microsoft). Uninstall Office 2021 from Settings, Apps, restart, run the Office 2024 installer from your delivery email, enter the key, and open Outlook, which picks up the existing profile and data files. Twenty to thirty minutes, most of it the download.

Outlook in each version

Both Professional Plus editions install classic Outlook, the full desktop client with PST and OST files, rules, add-ins and offline mode. Office 2024 does not force the new Outlook app, and classic Outlook remains supported in Office 2024 through the end of the product’s support in October 2029. Office 2021’s classic Outlook still works after its end of support, but Microsoft’s connection changes for Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 mailboxes, which arrive periodically, are tested against supported versions only, so an older client can lose the ability to connect to a modern mailbox before the software itself stops working. For anyone whose email runs through Outlook all day, this is a second reason to prefer 2024.

Where the two look different on screen

The 2024 release follows the Windows 11 design: rounded corners on dialogs, a lighter ribbon, refreshed icons, and a dark mode that extends to the document canvas in Word. The 2021 release has the earlier Windows 11-style refresh but a flatter palette. Neither changes where anything is; the ribbon tabs, the File menu and the Options dialogs are in the same places, so training and muscle memory carry over without adjustment.

Delivery and activation

Both licences arrive by email within seconds, with the official download link for the matching version and the activation steps. Both activate with a product key under File, Account; neither requires a Microsoft account. If a key is refused, the product key didn’t work guide covers the causes, and the 180-day money-back guarantee covers the rare case of a key that cannot be activated at all.

Frequently asked questions