That’s a one-time payment for a perpetual licence covering Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access and OneNote — supported until October 2029, with five years of Excel innovation you’re currently missing. Microsoft 365 costs more than that inside two years.
What “end of support” actually means for Office 2019
Microsoft confirmed it plainly: extended support for Office 2019 ended on 14 October 2025. Unlike Windows 10, there is no Extended Security Updates programme for Office. When the date passed, that was it — no further patches, no exceptions.
The application still works. Your documents still open. But every vulnerability discovered in Word, Excel, Outlook or any other Office component from that date onwards goes unpatched permanently. Microsoft isn’t fixing it. That’s not a theoretical risk.
Outlook is the biggest concern. It’s the most common entry point for phishing, malicious attachments, and macro-based attacks. Microsoft issues Outlook security patches regularly — your copy stopped receiving them in October 2025. If your business uses Outlook for client communication or supplier emails, this is an active exposure, not a background consideration.
Your files also continue to work perfectly well. Upgrading to Office 2024 doesn’t touch existing documents — everything opens, edits, and saves as normal. The only thing that changes is you stop running unsupported software on machines that matter.
The Excel feature gap is larger than you think
Five years of development sit between Office 2019 and Office 2024. For most applications — Word, Outlook, PowerPoint — the differences are refinements. For Excel, they’re substantive.
What Excel 2019 doesn’t have
XLOOKUP and dynamic arrays both arrived with Office 2021. Microsoft confirms explicitly that XLOOKUP is not available in Excel 2019. If you’ve ever opened a spreadsheet from a colleague and seen #NAME? errors where formulas should be, this is why. Their version uses functions yours doesn’t recognise.
Office 2024 adds another 14 text and array functions on top of what 2021 introduced — TEXTSPLIT, VSTACK, HSTACK, TOROW, TOCOL and nine more. Dynamic charts that update automatically when underlying array data changes. An IMAGE function for pulling web images directly into cells. None of it is available in 2019.
| Feature | Office 2019 | Office 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| XLOOKUP | ✗ Not available | ✓ |
| Dynamic arrays (FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, SEQUENCE…) | ✗ Not available | ✓ |
| LET / LAMBDA functions | ✗ Not available | ✓ |
| 14 new text/array functions (TEXTSPLIT, VSTACK, HSTACK…) | ✗ Not available | ✓ |
| Dynamic charts (auto-update with array data) | ✗ Not available | ✓ |
| IMAGE function | ✗ Not available | ✓ |
| XLL add-in security blocking | ✗ | ✓ |
| PowerPoint Cameo (live camera in slides) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Outlook improved search & scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| Security patches | ✗ Ended Oct 2025 | ✓ Until Oct 2029 |
If your Excel use is opening basic spreadsheets and typing numbers, the feature gap is irrelevant to you. If you collaborate with people who use newer versions, share workbooks with clients, or do anything beyond simple data entry, you’ll have hit this problem already without necessarily knowing the cause.
The five-year cost comparison
The argument for staying on 2019 is usually financial — it’s paid for, it still opens. But that framing ignores what you’re comparing it against. Office 2024 Professional Plus costs — as a one-time purchase. Microsoft 365 Personal costs approximately £60 per year.
By year two, Microsoft 365 has cost more than a perpetual Office 2024 licence. By year five, it’s cost roughly four times more — and it stops working the moment you cancel. The perpetual licence has no ongoing cost and no cancellation risk. For a small business treating software as a capital expense, this comparison is straightforward.
If your workflow depends on Microsoft Publisher, Office 2024 doesn’t include it — Publisher was removed from all 2024 editions. Office Professional Plus 2021 (£69) is the only current perpetual licence that still includes Publisher, though its support also ends in October 2026. See the Publisher alternatives guide for what to move to when that date arrives.
Which edition of Office 2024 to buy
There are two relevant perpetual options for most small business buyers. The full comparison is in the Office Home & Business vs Professional guide, but the decision is usually quick.
Office Professional Plus 2024 — —
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, OneNote
- Activates via Office Deployment Tool — no Microsoft account required to run
- Supported until October 2029
- Best value if you need Access or prefer account-free activation
Office Home & Business 2024 — —
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote
- Activates via setup.office.com — straightforward Microsoft account flow
- No Access included
- Right choice if setup simplicity matters more than Access
Pro Plus is the better value. It costs less than Home & Business, includes more applications, and the activation process — while slightly more involved — takes under ten minutes. If you don’t already know you need Access, you still might want it eventually. Not sure? The Office Licence Advisor walks through it in two minutes.
Common questions
No. Office 2019 continues to run after October 2025. Microsoft doesn’t remotely disable it or require you to upgrade. What stops is security patches — so vulnerabilities discovered after that date won’t be fixed. The application still opens, saves, and prints normally. The risk is security exposure, not functionality loss.
Yes, completely. Office 2024 opens all .docx, .xlsx, .pptx and other Office formats without conversion. Your existing files, templates, macros and customisations carry over. The only adjustment is re-pinning applications to your taskbar after installation.
Pro Plus is a volume-licensed edition sold through specialist resellers rather than Microsoft’s consumer storefront, which keeps the price lower. It includes more applications (notably Access) and is the same core software — the difference is the activation method and distribution channel, not the quality of the product. For a full breakdown, see the Office H&B vs Professional comparison.
The 2021-to-2024 gap is smaller than 2019-to-2024. Office 2021 already has XLOOKUP and dynamic arrays. The additional features in 2024 — 14 new Excel functions, dynamic charts, IMAGE function, improved security defaults — are real improvements but not the same step change. If you’re on 2021 and it’s working well, the case is less urgent. See the full 2021 vs 2024 comparison for the detailed breakdown.
No. Publisher was removed from all Office 2024 editions. It last appeared in Office Professional Plus 2021 (£69), which remains available. However, Publisher in Microsoft 365 has a hard retirement date of October 2026, after which it stops working entirely. If Publisher is part of your workflow, read the Publisher alternatives guide before buying anything.
Yes. Office 2024 is fully compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11. You don’t need to upgrade your operating system first. If you’re still on Windows 10, your Office installation will work normally — though bear in mind Windows 10 itself reached end of support in October 2025, which creates a separate security question for your machine.
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.
