Microsoft Project Professional 2024 Perpetual License

Product and entitlements

Licence terms

Lifecycle — and why not to buy the 2021 version

Note that Microsoft publishes a different requirements set for the Office LTSC 2024 suites (a 1.1 GHz processor and a wider list of Windows Server versions). We quote the figures from the page for this product rather than mixing the two.

This listing is a one-time purchase of one licence for one PC.

What else we carry

Every figure on this page comes from one of the Microsoft pages below.

• Microsoft — Project Professional 2024 product page
• Microsoft — Project plans and pricing, with Microsoft's own edition comparison
• Microsoft Learn — deployment guide for Project
• Microsoft Learn — Project 2024 (LTSC) lifecycle
• Microsoft Learn — Project 2021 (LTSC) lifecycle
• Microsoft Learn — Office LTSC 2024 overview (support term and no Extended Support)
• Microsoft Support — what's the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office 2024
• Microsoft Support — system requirements for Office suites (enterprise)

What is the difference between Standard and Professional?

Microsoft publishes Professional as adding comprehensive resource management, timesheets, Microsoft Teams presence, and connectivity to Project Server Subscription Edition, over and above the scheduling, costing and views in Standard. If you are a single planner building schedules, Standard is likely enough. If you are allocating people across a portfolio, or syncing to a server, Professional is the edition.

Is there a Mac version?

No. Microsoft publishes Project as available for PCs only. There is no Mac edition, perpetual or subscription.

Does it include a web version or any cloud service?

No. This is the desktop application. Microsoft publishes cloud services as not included with a one-time purchase, and publishes that the Project Online Desktop client requires an active Planner and Project Plan 3 subscription.

Should I buy this or Project Plan 3?

Buy this if you want to own a fixed version outright with no recurring cost and no need for the cloud service. Buy the subscription if you want ongoing feature updates or the web and server capabilities — Microsoft's own guidance is that customers wanting continuing feature updates for desktop Project should consider Planner and Project Plan 3 or Plan 5. We sell both; ask and we will price both.

You also list Project 2021 — should I save money and buy that?

We would advise against it. Microsoft publishes Project 2021 as reaching end of support on 13 October 2026. The 2024 edition runs to October 2029 — three more years of security updates for the difference in price.

Is this a subscription? Will it expire?

No, it is a one-time purchase. There is no annual renewal and the software does not stop working on a renewal date, because there is no renewal date. What it does have is an end-of-support date: Microsoft publishes end of support for the 2024 release as 9 October 2029, with no Extended Support after it. Two renderings of that date exist in Microsoft's own material and we print both rather than pick one: Microsoft's Office 2024 and Office LTSC 2024 FAQ words it "October 9, 2029", while Microsoft's lifecycle database renders the same end date as 10 October 2029, the same moment expressed in a different timezone. Either way it is the second week of October 2029. After that the software keeps running but Microsoft stops issuing security updates for it.

Is it a "lifetime licence"?

Microsoft does not use the word "lifetime" for these products and neither do we. Microsoft's own wording is "one-time purchase", and it publishes a dated end of support. The software does not stop working on that date, but Microsoft stops issuing security updates for it, which for most businesses is the date that actually matters.

Does it come with a warranty?

This is a software licence, not hardware. It carries no hardware warranty, no return-to-base service and no replacement entitlement, because there is no hardware to replace. What it carries is the licence itself, Microsoft's support for the product while it remains in support, and our own local support in Singapore.

Should I buy this or a Microsoft 365 subscription instead?

They are genuinely different products and the honest answer depends on what you need. A one-time purchase gets you the desktop applications on the device, frozen at the 2024 feature set, with no ongoing cost. Microsoft 365 gets you continuously updated applications plus the cloud services — mailbox, cloud storage, Teams — for a recurring fee. Microsoft's own comparison states that the one-time purchase "does not include any of the services that come with a Microsoft 365 subscription" and that "Security updates are included, but you won't get any new features. Upgrades to major releases aren't included." If nobody in your organisation will notice a frozen feature set and you want to stop paying, buy this. If you need the mailbox, the storage and the collaboration, buy the subscription. Ask us and we will price both honestly.

What is this page based on?

Every statement on this page is drawn from the Microsoft product, deployment and lifecycle pages linked in the Official Microsoft Documentation section above. What Microsoft publishes for this product: it is a one-time purchase licensed for one PC, Windows only, released 18 September 2024, receiving security updates but no new features, with no upgrade rights to a future major release, and out of support on 9 October 2029 with no Extended Support. Where Microsoft's own pages differ — its product page describes Professional's server connectivity as syncing with "Project Online and Project Server" while its plans page says "Project Server Subscription Edition" — this page prints both readings rather than choosing silently between them. Where Microsoft publishes no figure, this page says so rather than estimating.