Office for 5 PCs: Equip Five Computers the Right Way

Office for 5 PCs: what is possible and what is not

Before you buy Office for 5 PCs, one point decides your whole budget: a standard Office license covers one computer. Equipping five machines therefore means either a subscription designed for several devices, or five licenses, activated computer by computer, which our multi-PC options group in a single order.

A 12-month Office 365 subscription for 5 devices covers PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones signed in with the same account, with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook always in their latest version. Five perpetual licenses, by contrast, are installed once and for all on five separate computers, with no shared account and no annual deadline.

Which option for five computers?

Here are the four options on this page. The prices shown are starting prices: on each product page, you choose how many computers you want to cover, and the total is updated before checkout.

Our reading in October 2026: for a fleet of five computers meant to last, Office 2024 Professional Plus is the only perpetual generation still supported for several years (until 9 October 2029), and it can also be ordered for several PCs. Office 2021, 2019 and 2016 remain defensible on secondary or offline machines, provided you accept the absence of security fixes. These prices are possible because of the market for pre-owned software, governed in the EU by the UsedSoft ruling of the Court of Justice (case C-128/11).

5-device subscription or five lifetime licenses?

The subscription has the edge if…

• your devices change often: laptops replaced, devices lent, a tablet or a smartphone added to the count;
• you want the same, latest version everywhere, without managing five licenses;
• the five devices are used by one main person, which is how a 5-device subscription is meant to be used.

Five lifetime licenses win if…

• each computer has its own user, in a household or a small organization, and nobody wants to depend on a shared account;
• some machines work without a permanent connection, in a workshop or on the road;
• you refuse any deadline: a perpetual license never switches to read-only mode and lasts as long as the computer.

Compare the totals over the number of years you plan to keep your computers: a subscription is paid every year, a perpetual license only once. Lifetime licenses are bought for independence and peace of mind as much as for savings. Nothing prevents you from mixing either: three lifetime licenses on the fixed computers and a subscription for the mobile devices.

Compatibility: check your five computers before ordering

• System: Office 2019, 2021 and 2024 require Windows 10 or Windows 11; a computer still running Windows 8.1 must be upgraded first. Office 2016 also runs on older systems, from Windows 7 SP1.
• Hardware: plan for 4 GB of RAM, 4 GB of disk space and a 1280 × 768 screen on each of the five computers.
• Mac: perpetual Windows and Mac versions are two separate licenses; only the subscription covers both systems.
• Network: one online activation per computer is enough; afterwards, perpetual suites work offline with no periodic check.

Not sure about one of your configurations? Tell us the system and Office version of each computer before ordering: our support team answers by email 7 days a week, within 2 hours on average, and helps you split your order, even if your five computers do not all run the same system.

One order for the whole team

A multi-PC order keeps things simple for a small office, an association or a family: one payment by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Bancontact, one invoice showing VAT, and all licenses delivered by email, usually within minutes. Each license benefits from lifetime replacement of a defective key, and you can install the computers one after the other at your own pace, following the same instructions on each machine. For larger fleets or a complete software kit for a small company, see our guides to licenses for multiple PCs and Office for business.