What are the best Microsoft Office alternatives?

Question

34

Options
Considered

327

User
Recs.

Apr 14, 2019

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 32 OptionsWhy?

Best Microsoft Office alternatives	Price	Platforms	Word processing
92 LibreOffice	-	Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD	Yes
76 Google Drive	-	Windows; OSX; Linux; Android; iOS	Yes
74 ONLYOFFICE	-	Web-based, Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android	Yes
-- LaTeX	-	Windows; Linux, Mac	Yes
-- WPS Office	-	Windows; Linux; IOS; Android	Yes

See Full List

31 Other Options Considered

Google Drive

Top Pro

Real-time file sharing & collaborative editing

Google account holders and non-holders can be set to access and/or collaborate on files/folders in real-time. Additionally, you can find files you've shared not only by filename but by person you've shared the files with. See More

Top Con

Not a lot of advanced functionality compared to alternatives

It doesn't support mail merge, premade templates, and so on as these are shortcoming of being built on web. See More

CheerfulPamola's Experience

I recommend this, because it has all the tools necessary to do your things See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Linux; Android; iOS

Top Pro

All your files are automatically synced between every device you use

No matter the device you use - whether it be a different computer, a tablet, or a phone - Google Drive has the ability to sync automatically between many different operating systems, ensuring you have access to your documents anywhere you want. See More

Top Con

No Linux desktop app

Google Drive on Linux is accessible only via web. See More

GenuineChronos's Experience

If you have simple needs that don't require too much of the program, this is great. I can go to any computer or device and access all the files I need See More

Top Pro

No installation required

Top Con

Can’t password protect publicly shared folders

Top Pro

Password protection not necessary

When sharing, simply use the targeted person's e-mail to share a folder with, and that person will be granted access. Alternatively, you can choose to share by using a link, which you can publish for all to access. See More

Top Con

Your data (files, document, images...) is probably not stored in the country of your choice

There is no way to know and even less to choose where your data is stored, and where it is backed up. So it is possible that all your information is accessible to the NSA, even if you are not a US citizen. See More

Top Pro

Simple

Google Drive offers only basic functionality for each of its office components and as such is easy to use. See More

Top Pro

15GB of free storage

This space is shared across Drive, Gmail & Picasa. See More

Top Pro

Can translate text from within a document

Top Pro

Revision control

By clicking Ctrl + Alt + G in Windows or Command + Alt + Shift + G is OS X you can access previous version of the file. See More

Top Pro

Mobile apps are fast/great

Top Pro

Save files to drive directly from Gmail

Drive lets you save any file from your email. See More

Top Pro

File sharing & collaborative editing

Google account holders and non-holders can be set to access and/or collaborate on files/folders in real-time. Additionally, you can find files you've shared not only by filename but by person you've shared the files with. See More

Top Pro

Extended functionality via apps

Third party Drive applications running in Chrome can add functionality such as image/video editing, project management, flowchart creation, etc. See More

Top Pro

Can be downloaded for offline use

Top Pro

Integrates with other Google services

For example, you can use search to search through both Drive and Gmail. See More

Top Pro

Cheap

$1.99 per 100GB, for up to 16TB. See More

See All

ONLYOFFICE

Top Pro

High MS Office compatibility

Specs

Platforms:Web-based, Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android

Top Pro

Free and open source

Top Pro

Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac

Top Pro

Support for add-ons (plugins)

Top Pro

Collaboration capabilities

Top Pro

Integration with Nextcloud

Easy integration with Nextcloud for collaborative work. See More

Top Pro

Available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, and Android

ONLYOFFICE offers desktop applications for Linux, Windows, and MacOS that can be connected to the web-based solution for document sharing and collaboration. See More

Top Pro

Has a portable version

ONLYOFFICE portable works on almost every Linux distribution. See More

Top Pro

Can be used as a web app

ONLYOFFICE offers a web-based office suite that can be deployed on your own server using various deployment options, including Docker script and virtual machines with the software pre-installed. See More

Top Pro

Advanced work with math equations

See All

LaTeX

Top Pro

Lets you focus on the content

LaTeX handles the design so you can focus on the content See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

LaTeX is not what you'd consider easy to use, and while there's plenty of documentation out there, much of it is rather opaque unless you're a seasoned TeXnician. See More

William E.'s Experience

I have used TeX since I was in college a decade ago. I write probably 90% of my correspondence in it including letters, novels, short stories, and anything else that needs high-quality typesetting. I've used it on every major OS and that has been the biggest draw aside from its output quality. The learning curve is steep but rewarding especially if you work with large documents (I love maintaining my novels' manuscripts in LaTeX). By using XeLaTeX, you can write in any Unicode script and with any TrueType or OpenType font. I hold LaTeX in very high regard especially with the AUCTeX editing environment that runs in GNU Emacs. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux, Mac

Top Pro

High-quality typesetting by default

There's a reason that scholarly journals often require the use of LaTeX for articles printed in their pages, and it's because the quality of the output is that good. Universities often require, or at least encourage, the use of LaTeX for graduate theses and dissertations for this same reason. See More

Top Con

Single-threaded design

LaTeX is single-threaded by design, since it must necessarily work sequentially to produce each page as it is laid out by the typesetting engine. This makes it dependent on the power of just one individual core in your multi-core computer setup and so migrating to a machine with more cores won't necessarily make your LaTeX documents build faster. See More

Sebastian Wilke's Experience

LaTeX generates great looking documents for me since 14 years. I can focus on the content and LaTeX does almost everything right without having to micromanage typography. The learning curve is steep but even my little sister has done it. If LaTeX-code is too complicated, LaTeX can serve as a backend for simpler languages like Markdown. See More

Top Pro

Free open source software

Licensed under the LaTeX Project Public License See More

Top Con

Not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor

LaTeX uses the paradigm what-you-see-is-what-you-mean instead. See More

Top Pro

Editor-independent

You can edit LaTeX sources in any text editor. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Works on every major OS and gives exactly the same quality output everywhere you go. LaTeX on macOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, and even Mac OS 9 has exactly the same output for a given set of sources. See More

Top Pro

Effortless math input

The whole reason that TeX -- and, by extension, LaTeX -- exists is to give people an easy way (well, for some value of "easy") to produce high-quality documents with properly laid out mathematical expressions and text in them. As long as you know the language (or have a reference sheet handy), you can include mathematical expressions in your document with little to no extra effort needed on your part. See More

See All

WPS Office

Top Pro

Excellent Microsoft Office compatibility

Top Con

Lacks ODF support

WPS Office does not support importing or exporting OpenDocument Format, the default file format of LibreOffice and OpenOffice. See More

SharpGibil's Experience

Great support, some printing problems with Microsoft Fonts under Linux See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux; IOS; Android

Top Pro

Multilingual

WPS Office is available in more than 40 languages. See More

Top Con

Has ads

Ads appear as popups and in the introduction page. See More

Top Pro

Encryption support

WPS allows you to encrypt and password-lock files. See More

Top Con

No unicode support

Top Pro

Ribbon-like UI

WPS is the only Linux office suit to offer a Ribbon-like UI for better ease of use. Although, if you wish to keep using a classic drop-down menu style UI, you can. See More

Top Con

Default font styles are not pretty

Top Pro

Free version

WPS comes in three flavors: Free, Standard ($49.95) and Professional ($69.95). See More

Top Con

Installing can be a hassle

A .deb file is offered, but missing fonts can be a problem. See More

Top Pro

Pdf viewer

Has support to view pdf files. See More

Top Con

Not open source

The source code isn't available for studying and tinkering with. See More

Top Pro

Integrated backups

WPS will automatically save your document over time to prevent data loss. See More

Top Con

No support for MP4 files

To use a MP4 video file you have to convert it to a supported format as WMV. See More

Top Pro

Tabbed interface

Instead of open up a new instance of the program for each document, WPS opens each document as a separate tab, allowing for easy switching between them. See More

Top Con

Only the basic office tools

WPS has software for word-processing, spreadsheets and presentations. No tools for database management, note-taking, graphics, etc. See More

Top Pro

Good free version

See All

Apache OpenOffice

Top Pro

Full compatibility with Microsoft

Fully compatible with Microsoft formats - from the oldest to the latest. See More

Top Con

Dead project

The project looks dead. They can't close even serious security vulnerabilities. You might want to use Libreoffice instead. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux; Android; WP

Top Pro

Free and open source

Licensed under Apache License. See More

Top Con

Some big files (XLS) are hardly loaded or failing in error

Top Pro

Comprehensive suite of applications

Apache OpenOffice includes applications for word-processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and database management. See More

Top Con

Documentation is lacking

OpenOffice documentation is incomplete and language is highly technical. See More

Top Pro

Multilingual

OpenOffice is available in 170+ languages. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

OpenOffice is available on Windows, Mac OS, and *nix systems. See More

See All

SoftMaker Office

Top Pro

EPUB export included

You can create high-quality e-books in EPUB format easily. See More

Top Con

Free version can't handle .docx Word documents.

Note: They may have changed this in 2018, but in 2016 the free version only supported their native format (big deal) and .doc which almost no one uses anymore. See More

EarnestWeneg's Experience

My experience has been great with the word processor Text Maker and the Presentation program. I have not used the speadsheet much. The word processor can handle complicated formatting from Word and not mess it up. This is important to me as I use Linux as my main OS and do a lot of academic proofreading. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Linux

Top Pro

Free technical support

If you face any issues, you can always use the technical support by developer SoftMaker, it's free. See More

Top Pro

Multi-platform

Works on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. See More

Top Pro

Great interoperability with Microsoft Office

SoftMaker office can open doc(x), xls(x), and ppt(x) files without messing up formatting. See More

See All

OfficeSuite

Add Video or Image

AbiWord

Top Con

Word alternative only

Not a complete office suite, you may require additional software. See More

SSuite Office Software

Top Pro

Convenient to use

Small downloads with full featured office applications. Also included is a file transfer app for local networks. Makes using your computer so much more fun. See More

Georgia Olson's Experience

I still think this office suite is the best. It is not reliant on Java or any other third-party software, like the other open source alternatives, that will leave your computer system with a security vulnerability that will allow hackers to take control of it. I use it everyday in my home and office environment. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows All; Online Office; PWA

Top Pro

Absolutely free office software without any catch

Very small software downloads. Does not need Java or DotNet to run. Is completely compatible with all versions of Windows 95 up to 10. Runs on any operating system, macOS, Linux, and Windows. See More

ReverentRaijin's Experience

I installed their software. It was just amazing. Ssuite Omega HD on my normal Dell laptop. I saw the word and the excel. Both were amazing! See More

Top Pro

Nice website that is clean and modern with fast downloads

Crisp graphics with modern menu layout and easy use. They also have an online office suite that is also capable of offline operation. Full spectrum of software including instant LAN video phones, full network collaboration suites etc. There are no trial versions, no recurring subscription fees, no registration is necessary. The software also contains no third-party add-ons, toolbars, installers, or software distributions. See More

SSuite Free Office Software's Experience

Excellent and fantastic! Even if I have to say so myself. ;) See More

Top Pro

Does not consume any computer resources.

The only Green energy software available. See More

Top Pro

Very friendly and fast support provided.

See All

Evince

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LyX

Add Video or Image

Scribus

Platforms:Linux, Windows, MacOS, BSD, Unix

License:Opensource

Documents To Go

Add Video or Image

Zoho Docs

Top Pro

Allows for real-time collaboration

Multiple people can work on the same document at the same time. See More

Top Con

Can get expensive quickly

Zoho Docs has 2 paid plans - $5/user/month and $8/user/month that add additional functionality and increase the storage limit. Compared to standalone purchases, the subscription fees can quickly rack up, especially since they are on a per user basis. See More

Specs

Top Pro

No installation required

While Zoho Docs offers native applications for desktop and mobile, you can choose to use the webapp which doesn't require you to download anything and can be accessed from anywhere where there's an Internet connection and a modern web browser. See More

Top Pro

Reasonable MS Office compatibility

See All

Office 365

Top Con

Has only a fraction of Microsoft Office functionality

Office 365 is not a complete replacement for Microsoft Office. The most advanced functionality still can only be found on the desktop. See More

Top Pro

Allows for real-time collaboration

Multiple people can work on the same document at the same time. See More

Specs

Platforms:Webapp; iOS; Android

Top Con

Dependant on having an Internet connection

Top Pro

Easy to transition from MS Office

Office 365 is laid out the same way with a similar ribbon interface that will be instantly comfortable to long-time Microsoft Office users. See More

Top Pro

No installation required

Office 365 is an online program, and as such there is no need to download anything. This is especially useful for computers which have limited storage, such as tablets or low end computers. See More

Top Pro

Excellent integration and compatibility with MS Office desktop applications

See All

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