



When Office 2016 was first released in late 2015, the perpetual version and the Office 365 version had the same features. Office 365/Microsoft 365 subscribers pay ongoing fees to use the software, while buyers of the perpetual version pay a one-time fee and own it forever. Before we get into those new features, though, let’s look at how Microsoft has differentiated its subscription and non-subscription versions of Office.įor years now, Microsoft has been pushing the subscription version of its office suite - known as Office 365 or Microsoft 365, depending on the license - over the non-subscription version, which it calls the “perpetual” version of Office. The enterprise and consumer Office 2021 versions have a similar set of new features. Two weeks after releasing Office LTSC 2021, the new non-subscription version of its office suite for enterprises, Microsoft has released Office 2021 for consumers, students, and small businesses.
