Retail, OEM and Volume Licences: Why Key Prices Differ
The same version of Windows or Office can sell for anywhere between a few dollars and a few hundred. The software is identical — what differs is the licence attached to it. Here is what those differences actually mean.
The three licence types
Retail is the licence sold in a box or as a download from Microsoft. It belongs to you rather than to a machine: you can uninstall it from one PC and activate it on another. It is the most flexible type, and the most expensive.
OEM licences are supplied to computer manufacturers to be installed on new machines. They are tied to the first computer they activate on — specifically to its motherboard. Replace the motherboard and the licence does not follow. In exchange, they cost substantially less.
Volume licences are issued to organisations that buy in quantity. A MAK volume key carries a set number of activations. Per activation, they are the cheapest of the three.
Why prices vary so much
- Volume. An organisation licensing thousands of seats pays far less per seat than a single retail buyer.
- Regional pricing. Microsoft prices software differently by market, and those differences are large.
- Unused stock. Licences bought and never deployed — hardware orders that shrank, projects that were cancelled, companies that downsized — end up on the secondary market.
- Activation method. Licences that activate by telephone rather than online cost less because they take more effort to set up. See our phone activation guide.
What this means in practice
Once activated, the software is the same software. There is no reduced version of Windows Pro or a cut-down Word. What changes are these three things:
- Whether you can move it. Retail transfers between machines; OEM does not. If you rebuild PCs often, that matters. If you are activating one machine and keeping it, it does not.
- How you activate. Online for most keys, by telephone for some.
- How many machines it covers. One, unless stated otherwise.
Security updates are not affected. Windows and Office receive updates according to the product's support lifecycle, regardless of which licence type activated them.
The practical question is not which licence type is "better" — it is whether you will ever need to move the licence to different hardware. For a single machine you intend to keep, the cheaper licence does the same job.
What to check before you buy
- The exact edition. Pro and Home are different products, as are Office Professional Plus and Office Standard. A key only activates the edition it was issued for.
- The version year. Office 2021 keys do not activate Office 2024.
- The activation method. Products marked Phone Activation need the extra step described in our guide.
- What happens if the key does not activate. Any seller worth buying from will tell you before you pay.
How we handle it
Every product page states the edition and the version, and products that use telephone activation say so in their name — those are the details that decide whether a key will work for you.
If a key does not activate, contact us with your order number and the error code. Faulty keys are replaced. If we cannot supply a working replacement within 48 hours, you are entitled to a refund under our terms. A key that has not been revealed yet can also be refunded within 14 days of purchase — so if you are unsure you picked the right edition, ask us before you click View key.
Not sure which edition you need? See Windows 11 Home vs Pro and Office 2021 vs Microsoft 365.
