Go to Microsoft’s website and search for ‘buy Office.’ What you get is Microsoft 365. $99.99 a year. The permanent license option exists but it’s buried. When you find it, it’s $249.99. Microsoft doesn’t make it easy to buy once and walk away. That’s not an accident.
Here’s the thing though. You don’t have to buy from Microsoft.
Entrepreneur magazine ran the numbers and put it plainly: ‘Microsoft 365 cost $99.99 per year, every year, and there’s no guarantee the price won’t go up. Microsoft Office 2024 comes with many of the same core tools for virtually the same price, but you only pay it once.’
At $99.99 a year, you’ve handed Microsoft $500 by year five. $1,000 by year ten. For Word and Excel. Which have worked the same way since roughly 2007.
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What Microsoft 365 Actually Gives You
The subscription gets you Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, 1TB OneDrive storage, Copilot AI features, and updates across multiple devices. That sounds like a lot. And if you’re collaborating in real time with a large team, living inside SharePoint, or actually using the cloud features every day, the subscription probably makes sense for you.
For everyone else, it doesn’t. Most people open Word to write something, Excel to sort something, and PowerPoint maybe twice a year. The cloud extras look good on paper and sit unused in practice.
Worth flagging: Microsoft has a price increase coming in July 2026 for existing subscribers. If you’re on the fence, that calendar date matters.
The Permanent License Option
A one-time license gets you Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. It installs locally. Works offline. Activates the same way a Microsoft direct purchase would, through their own servers with a standard license key.
What you don’t get: OneDrive storage, Copilot, and version updates past what you buy.
A 2026 breakdown from Windows Forum puts it clearly: ‘If you want the lowest-friction route to a familiar desktop suite and you do not care about cloud extras, Office 2024 is the cleaner buy.’
The Office 2024 perpetual license has Microsoft support through October 2029. Five years is more than enough for most people to get full value.
Where StackSocial Fits
Microsoft charges $249.99 for the same permanent license. StackSocial lists it for $29 to $99 depending on the version and when you buy. Right now the 2021 version for Mac or PC is sitting around $29 to $49.
Same software. Same key. Same activation. Cheaper because StackSocial negotiates volume pricing and passes it on.
Is it legitimate? Yes. StackSocial is an authorised reseller. These are genuine Microsoft licenses. Not grey market, not cracked, not sourced from suspicious bulk key sellers. The key activates through Microsoft directly.
The Office deals move fast and pricing changes. What’s listed at $29 this week might be $49 next week. If you want to check the current price: StackSocial Office deals.
The Honest Take
If you need Teams, Copilot, or real-time collaboration across a large team, keep the subscription. It earns its cost.
If you’re a freelancer, student, or small business owner who mostly just needs the apps to work, you’ve probably been overpaying for years. One year of Microsoft 365 already costs more than a permanent license through StackSocial. Everything after year one is money you’re paying for nothing new.
That’s not a judgment. It’s just math.