Do I need to purchase Microsoft Publisher seperately or is it part of the yearly microsoft 365 subscription

When I go to the link you pasted for standalone publisher
Buy Microsoft Publisher - Standalone Price & Software | Microsoft Store
It redirects to Microsoft 365. I don't want Microsoft 365. I just want standalone publisher. How can I purchase that for my personal laptop (which will not be enrolled in InTune) and get the employee discount?

I was given this link by a chatbot

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/publisher/CFQ7TTC0K7C3  which looks like standalone publisher, but there is no purchase button on that page

Dear Lindy Hardy，

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

We understand that you want information about Microsoft Publisher subscriptions.

Before we can get back to you in detail, we need to explain to you about purchasing Microsoft Publisher:

If you purchase Microsoft Publisher through the Microsoft website, you can purchase the component information separately or you can use the product information by purchasing a Microsoft 365Family or Personal product.

The benefits and devices you can sign up for will be different for each form of purchase:

Purchase Microsoft Publisher separately:

You will need to make a separate purchase through the Microsoft website, your purchase will be a perpetual license information after redeeming the product, and you will not be required to re-subscribe or re-purchase after that, but only applies to 1 Windows PC, and you cannot log in to multiple devices or use it on other systems.

Purchase Microsoft 365Family or Personal as part of a subscription:

Microsoft 365 products will include the Microsoft Publisher program but will require an annual or monthly subscription and will not be available for perpetual use.

Microsoft 365 Personal: You can sign in with only one account and can sign in to 5 devices.

Microsoft 365 Family: You can sign in with 6 accounts, including your own, and each account can sign in to 5 devices.

You can refer to the details in the following links for the Publisher subscription information under different purchase information:

Buy Microsoft Publisher - Standalone Price & Software | Microsoft Store

Buy Microsoft 365 Family & Personal Subscriptions, and Office 2021 - Microsoft Store

You can purchase and use the Microsoft Publisher program as you see fit, or if you need to use it on more than one device, you can try purchasing a Microsoft 365 product and using the appropriate Microsoft Publisher program.

Hope it helps.  If any update, welcome to share with us.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Best Regards,

Zenobia.Z | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Unfortunately, that is what I've read. I cannot afford nor do I want anything other than Publisher. There are sites to download "free" (LOL) versions, but they are all lies. They don't have any "forwards" to proceed to whatever site they're speaking of. I've written to Microsoft for the last 2 month and still have not received a reply. Guess this shows the type of company they turned out to be. After my experience, it will be VERY doubtful that I will ever purchase anything from them again - nor will I ever recommend any of their products. Publisher was a fantastic program but it's not worth having to pay a monthly fee. However, THANK YOU so very much for your reply!! GREATLY APPRECIATED :)

Try Run - mspub

Publisher is still in microsoft365, but seems to be hidden, not showing in list of apps, though starting and running if command line is used (remember mspub opens it for you).

The app will be withdrawn in 2026.

Same problem. Wasted a whole afternoon trying to do this and experienced several MS tech & sales staff who kept telling me it was possible.