You can get Microsoft Office desktop programs either by buying a one-time license for the on-premises “ Office Home & Student”, “ Office Home & Business“, “ Office Standard“, “ Office Professional” or “ Office Professional Plus“, or by subscribing to a monthly or annual plan of Microsoft 365 that has the desktop versions of the Office apps you want, in addition to many more apps & services that are not included in the regular one-time permanent license. It also may contain -depending on the edition- Publisher, Access, Visio and Project (for PCs only). The on-premises Microsoft Office Suite contains Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

So, what products / programs are included in the Microsoft Office suite? what are the different types / options by which you can get them? and how do the included apps differ between Office Online, MS Office on-premises, and the different Microsoft 365 subscription plans? Microsoft Office is the most used suite of computer programs of all time, it has a new major release every 3 years or so, and it includes a slew of applications that you can obtain through a one-time purchase deal (like you used to in previous versions), or through a monthly or yearly subscription (the recommended new way by Microsoft).

Microsoft office suite programs