Just last week, Microsoft finally officially released Office LTSC 2024 for commercial customers, and Office 2024 is slated to become widely available in October for consumers in general. This offers an alternative to Microsoft's preferred subscription model with Microsoft 365, where you pay a monthly fee to get constant updates for the Office apps along other perks.

In fact, even when announcing Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft made sure to remind customers that Microsoft 365 is the better option. But is it really? As nice as it is, there are good reasons to not want Microsoft 365 at all, meaning the time-locked Office 2024 license is the better option. Let's take a look at those reasons.

4 It has all the features you need

You're probably using Office for the same reasons you always have

One of the main tactics Microsoft will use to lure you into buying into Microsoft 365 is the promise of continuous feature updates, while perpetual Office releases like Office 2024 won't get any new features after launch. Sure, this is pretty cool, but let's be real: are you really yearning for new features in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint?

I feel like most people are using the Microsoft Office apps for the same reasons they always have, and those reasons likely haven't changed all that much in the past two decades. You write up a document, make a presentation, or organize and filter your data in Excel. It may not always be perfect, but Microsoft is probably not adding all the features you specifically want in a new release.

The apps included in Microsoft Office 2024 do exactly what you want them to do, and they do come with some new features compared to previous releases. For a lot of people, if not most of them, that's all you really need. The new monthly feature additions really don't really make much of a difference.

3 You're still secure

Office 2024 is still supported by Microsoft

Okay, so feature additions may be superfluous to a lot of people, but you might still be worried about security. If the Office apps aren't getting new updates, aren't they more vulnerable?

Well, no, not really, and it wouldn't make sense for it to be that way. Microsoft Office 2024 is an official release, and Microsoft is still committed to supporting it in the ways that matter. After launch, Office 2024 will get at least five years of support.

So, at least for the next five years, you'll still be getting security updates to patch any potential vulnerabilities or flaws. You don't have to worry about your security for a long time, and even after that, you probably have other protections in place to keep your data safe (or at least you should).

2 No internet required

Annoying license verifications begone

An annoying part of subscription-based apps is that the status of your subscription needs to be verified every time you want to use it, or at least on a periodic basis. As such, if you don't have an internet connection most of the time, Microsoft 365 can become unusable for you at some points. Maybe you want a specific PC to not connect to the internet for one reason or another. That shouldn't mean you can't use your Office apps.

And with Office 2024, it doesn't have to. Depending on the kind of license you get (commercial or consumer), Office 2024 requires no internet connection at all, or it only requires it for first-time activation. Once the license is activated, the programs are yours to use forever with no further frills. You can go offline for as long as you want, and your apps will still work just as well.

1 It's cheaper

Pay once, use forever

Finally, the big point in favor of getting a perpetual Office 2024 license is the cost. Sure, at first glance, Microsoft 365 seems cheaper. You pay $70 for one year, and it gets you all the apps, plus OneDrive storage and some other features in certain apps. It's cool. By comparison, Microsoft Office 2024 costs $150 for the cheapest option (assuming the cost is the same as the 2021 version), including just Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, and no other extras.

The thing is, with Office 2024, that is the only time you'll ever have to spend those $150. Once you've paid for that, you can use the apps forever. You can buy them at the start of college and use those apps for the next four years, no problem. And you can keep using them beyond that, too. If you divide that cost by the support period of five years, it's costing you just $30 a year, less than half of the cost of Microsoft 365. And again, you can use the apps beyond the end of the support period if you want to, as long as you understand the potential risks.

For the same five years, you'd be paying $350 for Microsoft 365 Personal, and you wouldn't be able to use the apps anymore if you stopped paying after that. You really start to see the benefit of a perpetual license if you care about saving money.

Perpetual Office licenses still have reasons to exist

As much as Microsoft may want you to keep using Microsoft 365 because of that sweet stream of constant revenue, the fact is not everyone needs or wants it. The "buy once, use forever" model still makes sense for a lot of people, and continuous payments can really take a toll on your finances over time. Plus, not needing an internet connection all the time is a nice bonus.

Of course, if you want things like OneDrive storage, Microsoft 365 is still the way to go, but there are also alternatives from companies like Google that are just as good if not better.