Buy Microsoft Office Apps Individually
All three standalone apps are in stock now with instant email delivery and lifetime activation for 1 PC.
What a Standalone Licence Actually Gives You
A standalone licence is exactly one application — no bundled apps, no OneDrive bump, no access to Microsoft 365 features. What you do get is the full desktop version of that application, permanently activated on one PC, with security updates through October 2029.
The activation process is identical to the full suite. You redeem the 25-character key at setup.office.com, sign in with a Microsoft account, and download from there. There’s no stripped-down installer — it’s the same application you’d get inside Office Home 2024.
Microsoft Word 2024 Standalone
Word 2024 is the version shipped in Office Home 2024 and Office Home & Business 2024. The headline improvement over 2021 is document recovery — genuinely better crash protection, not just the same autosave routine relabelled. You also get full ODF 1.4 support, improved co-authoring with @mentions and comment resolution, and the updated Fluent Design interface consistent across the 2024 suite.
Functionally equivalent to the PC version for the vast majority of users. A small number of Windows-specific features — certain legacy field types, some VBA macro behaviour — don’t carry over, but for writing, editing, and document production the experience is the same. Requires one of the three most recent versions of macOS.
Word standalone suits writers, academics, legal professionals, and anyone whose work is document-heavy and nothing else. If there’s any chance you’ll also need Excel or PowerPoint, read the comparison section below before buying.
Microsoft Excel 2024 Standalone
Excel 2024 ships with 14 new text and array functions over the 2021 version, plus an IMAGE function that embeds images directly into cells. Dynamic arrays are more deeply integrated — formulas returning multiple values now spill automatically without requiring legacy Ctrl+Shift+Enter entry. Performance on large workbooks is noticeably improved, particularly with multiple workbooks open simultaneously. For the full breakdown of what changed, see our Excel 2024 guide.
There is no Excel 2024 standalone for Mac in the current range. Mac users who need Excel without the full suite are best served by Office Home & Business 2024 for Mac at £119, which covers Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote on a single Mac.
Excel standalone is the right call for data analysts, finance professionals, and operations managers who live in spreadsheets. If your day is entirely built around Excel and nothing else, a standalone at £54 makes complete sense.
Microsoft PowerPoint 2024 Standalone
The two headline additions in PowerPoint 2024 are Recording Studio and Cameo. Recording Studio lets you record your full presentation — narration, ink gestures, your on-screen presence — and export it directly as a video file. Useful for async client briefings, training content, and anything you need to deliver without being in the room. Cameo inserts your live camera feed onto a slide as a formattable, resizable object: you appear alongside your content rather than in a floating window. There’s also closed-caption support for embedded video and audio, and the updated Fluent Design theme that runs across the whole 2024 suite.
PowerPoint standalone is the right fit for designers, trainers, consultants, and sales professionals who live in decks. If you’re combining PowerPoint with Word or Excel, the maths below will change your mind about buying them separately.
When Standalone Stops Making Sense
This is the calculation most people skip. One standalone at £54 is clearly the right call if that one app is all you need. Two standalones cost £108. Office Professional Plus 2024 costs £79 — and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Access.
Two standalones are already £29 more expensive than the full suite. Three standalones cost £162, which is more than double. The break-even point isn’t at three apps: it’s at two.
One-time perpetual cost vs Microsoft 365 Personal cumulative subscription cost (UK, 2025 pricing). Office 2024 pricing fixed at point of purchase.
| Option | Apps included | Price | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Word 2024 standalone | Word only | £54 | PC & Mac |
| Excel 2024 standalone | Excel only | £54 | PC only |
| PowerPoint 2024 standalone | PowerPoint only | £54 | PC only |
| Any two standalones | Two apps | £108 | PC |
| All three standalones | Word + Excel + PowerPoint | £162 | PC |
| Office Professional Plus 2024 | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access | £79 | PC |
| Office Home & Business 2024 (Mac) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote | £119 | Mac |
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Microsoft sells standalone perpetual licences for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint — for PC, and Word for Mac. These are one-time purchases with no recurring fees. Activation uses the same 25-character key redeemed at setup.office.com, tied to your Microsoft account. Security updates are included through October 2029; new feature updates are not, and are reserved for Microsoft 365 subscribers.
One standalone at £54 is cheaper than any suite. Two standalones at £108 is already more expensive than Office Professional Plus 2024 at £79, which includes six applications. Three standalones costs £162. If you need more than one app, the suite wins on price — and it isn’t close.
Security updates and bug fixes are included through October 2029 for all Office 2024 standalone applications. Feature updates — new tools, interface changes, AI additions — are not included and require a Microsoft 365 subscription. For most users, a stable, fixed feature set is an advantage. The applications work fully offline once installed; an internet connection is only needed for the initial download and activation, and periodically for reactivation checks.
Yes — retail licences can be transferred to a new device. You deactivate on the old machine first, then reactivate on the new one. The licence runs on one device at a time. OEM licences cannot be moved: they are permanently locked to the first PC they activate on. All licences sold by Software Supplies are retail.
Microsoft sells standalone Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Mac. In the Software Supplies range, Word 2024 for Mac is stocked as a standalone at £54. For Excel and PowerPoint on Mac, the practical option is Office Home & Business 2024 for Mac at £119, which includes all five core applications on a single licence.
A standalone is a one-time purchase: you pay once and own that version permanently, with no ongoing charges. Microsoft 365 Personal is a subscription at £79.99 per year in the UK — that’s £400 over five years, and the price has already risen 42% since early 2025. The subscription includes newer features and multi-device access, but if you’re working on a single PC and don’t need Copilot or cloud collaboration tools, a perpetual standalone or suite licence will cost significantly less over any reasonable ownership period.
Gary Walsh is the Head of Tech Support at Software Supplies, with more than 20 years in the IT industry. Fully Microsoft-certified and experienced across the full business software stack — from Windows and Office to cloud infrastructure and device management — Gary delivers practical, no-nonsense advice that helps users and businesses get the most from their technology.
