Finding cheap Office

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Not a day goes by that I don’t see one of these offers.  Get Office for cheap.  No subscription. Folks, I know this is really hard to hear — but there
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Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

Total of 22 users thanked author for this post. Here are last 20 listed.

arbrich, TechTango, WCHS, Great Lake Bunyip, mledman, LH, Steve S., Charlie, Toa Of Justice, Cybertooth, PL1, fk5353, 280park, ve2mrx, opti1, lmacri, Kathy Stevens, dataman1701, Drcard:)), RetiredGeek

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Libre Office = Cheap [free] Office

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Thank you Susan for saying what we all feel about subscriptions, copilot, Outlook (New) and so on. There are no creative marketing people at MS, just drug pushers.

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wavy, Cybertooth

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Susan, this sentence in your post caught my eye:

I also don’t suggest Windows 10 (or 11) LTSC — it’s not available to the masses.

I’ve seen folks around the Web (including at least one here at AskWoody) write that they use LTSC. But my understanding of it is that this kind of license costs an arm and a leg and requires jumping through multiple hoops. So I’ve always wondered: how the heck do they get an LTSC edition on their computers?

 

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Ebay and other less than ideal and legal means.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Cybertooth

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I recently downloaded and installed the Win10 32-bit LTSC on an (much) older laptop that I was upgrading from Win8.1 because I read about it here and wanted to see what the fuss was all about. The process was identical to installing any “normal” version of Windows: download the iso, make installation media (I made a USB using Rufus), and install.

And, like any other version of Windows you can run it as a trial/non-activated version with some features locked or non-functional and semi-regular pop-up nagging messages reminding you to activate. I knew going in that there was no easy legal or even legal-ish way to activate it so after playing around for a few days I installed and activated Win10 Pro 32-bit.

I will say that most of the crapware seemed to be happily absent, which was nice. I didn’t really notice other major differences, but then again I’m only getting around to upgrading from Win7 and Win8.1 to Win10 on my computers in 2025, so I’m not exactly experienced with the OS.

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And unless you are a volume license customer, you aren’t legal.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Exactly. I tried it out for a few days with no intention of using it permanently, either legally (which I can’t do) or illegally.

 

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Susan, you shouldn’t say “you aren’t legal”. No one is illegal, only their behavior or action is. You should have said “you’re software isn’t legal”.

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Susan

Your post “Finding cheap Office” triggered my curiosity and I did a quick internet search of U.S, software vendors who sell Microsoft Office. The following is a summary of the results.

Microsoft Office Home 2024

• B&H                      $149.99
• BestBuy                $149.99
• HP                         $134.99
• Newegg                 $149.99
• Micro Center        $149.99
• Walmart                 $159.99
• Target                      $149.99
• Staples                     $149.99
• Office Max              $149.99
• Costco                      $149.99
• Dell Technologies $149.99

Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024

• B&H                  $249.99
• BestBuy             $249.99
• HP                      $249.99
• Newegg              $249.99
• Micro Center     $249.99
• Walmart             $268.16
• Target                     N/A
• Staples                   $249.99
• Office Max             $235.99
• Costco                         N/A
• Dell Technologies  $249.99

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For what it’s worth, Microsoft itself is the price leader for Office Home 2024 at $129.99.  https://www.microsoft.com/en-bs/microsoft-365/p/office-home-2024/cfq7ttc0pqvj

 

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Kathy Stevens

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Cybertooth wrote:

Susan, this sentence in your post caught my eye:

I also don’t suggest Windows 10 (or 11) LTSC — it’s not available to the masses.

I’ve seen folks around the Web (including at least one here at AskWoody) write that they use LTSC. But my understanding of it is that this kind of license costs an arm and a leg and requires jumping through multiple hoops. So I’ve always wondered: how the heck do they get an LTSC edition on their computers?

 

One site for gamers on the web offers a Windows 10 2021 LTSC license for 20 computers for about $15.  (This is likely the exact the kind of license that Susan has written about.)

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Cybertooth

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Susan,

What’s your position on “unused software” resellers like “Mr Key Shop” based in the UK❓

https://mrkeyshop.com/en/content/4-about-us

Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
Groups A, B & ABS

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My spidey sense is not liking that either.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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If I’m not mistaken, after you purchase an activation key 🔑, they direct you to official Microsoft download servers to get MS official software … in fact, you could even use heidoc.net to get to the official MS software download links to help assure yourself you’re getting legitimate “untouched” software …

I must confess 🙏 I used this route a while back to activate 2 very old “experimental” Windows 10 laptops that I upgraded from windows 7 & 8.1 after MS had turned off their Windows 10 activation servers when upgrading from 7 or 8.1 to 10 … the keys I received were “OEM” but activated perfectly without any issue using the Windows 10 PRO 22H2 ISO’s I had downloaded directly from MS years earlier … and this was all done in the good old USA 🇺🇸 not in the UK 🇬🇧 or some other EU country …

So, am I an illegal pirate 🏴‍☠️ breaking US law or MS’s licensing agreement ❓ … are these 2 very old “Win XP era” Windows 10 laptops going to turn into unactivated non-genuine zombie systems ❓ … they haven’t yet 🤔 … MS hasn’t “deactivated” these keys and I’m still receiving & successfully installing monthly Win 10 updates (at least until 10/14/25 🤞) …

In any event … is the software legit – I believe so … are the keys legit – I believe so … is it legal & ethical – I think so but 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️ … just my 2¢

Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
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The judgements they use to justify selling second hand software licenses were all made in the EU or Europe. The UK is no longer a member of the EU so it could be argued that the judgements do not apply there.

Either way, you are relying on the software owner not enforcing license restrictions they have put in place.

cheers, Paul

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True, I grant you that MS could start enforcing their license restrictions concerning software keys sold through key resellers like Mr. Key Shop …

But apparently they haven’t yet done so in over 18 years as in the case of Mr. Key Shop …

But yes … there is risk … as there is in most things we buy these days …

Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
Groups A, B & ABS

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For me there is a cheaper Office with Microsoft license options.

Microsoft 365 personal subscription @ $100/yr.
Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 (with Outlook) $250.

Difference is
365 allows up to 5 devices and 2024 only one
365 has 1TB cloud storage
365 has free email account
365 has CoPilot

I don’t need these extras that 365 has.
MS Office 2024 has support fort 5 years
Cost over 5 years:
365 = $500 Office 2024 = $250.

For me MS Office Home & Business 2024 is a cheaper Office.

HTH, Dana:))

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shadonoz

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Microsoft Quietly Launched a Free Ad-Supported Office App, and No One Noticed

In Short

Microsoft has quietly introduced a free ad-supported Office that brings access to desktop Word, Excel, and PowerPoint without any subscription.

There are some caveats, though, especially a persistent ad banner that appears in Office apps and a 15-second video ad that plays every few hours.

Besides that, most of the advanced MS Office features are locked, and you can only save files on OneDrive…

..the free version of desktop MS Office is only available on Windows…

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shadonoz

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I’ve successfully purchased, downloaded, and activated two copies of Office 2019 and two copies of Office 2021 from Stack Social. I have no financial interest in Stack Social. They sell you an activation code, you download from Microsoft, and it works. Stack Social promotes through various websites, giving a commission to the site owner. Here is an example.

Is there something shady about Stack Social? I’m not seeing it.

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WUBRINY wrote:

Is there something shady about Stack Social? I’m not seeing it.

EDIT WARNING:
I went to the link you posted for Stack Social and looked around. Did not fill out any data or provide any info. Less than one minute after leaving the site I got an e-mail asking if I’m still interested in the deal. I never gave them My email address, but they somehow got it from my visit to their site. I don’t trust any company extract my private info without asking.

Cheap price because of the little time left for those versions to be supported.

Office 2019 – has support until Oct 2025 (7 months)
$30 for 7 months = $4.28/month

Office 2021 – has support until Oct 2026 (19 months)
$55 for 19 months – $2.89/month

Office 2024 – has support until Oct 2029 (55 months)
$250 for 55 months – $4.54/ month

The Office 2021 appears to be the best deal; however, in 19 months when support for it ends how much will the cost increase? Would it have been cheaper in the long run to get Office 2024 at a set price with no possible price increase for 55 months? That is the reral question for what is the best deal.

HTH, Dana:))

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Drcard:)) wrote:

I never gave them My email address, but they somehow got it from my visit to their site.

Somewhat OT, but that sort of thing has happened to me before and I’ve always wondered how a website manages to get our email address when we haven’t given it to them.

 

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