What are the best office suites for UNIX-like systems?

Question

LinuxProductivityOffice SuiteUnixWordWord ProcessorsUnix-likespreadsheets

What are the best office suites for UNIX-like systems?

14

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Considered

1.7K

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Jan 26, 2024

Last
Updated

12 Options Considered

Best office suites for UNIX-like systems	Price	Platforms	Word processing
71 LibreOffice	Free	Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD	Yes
57 Google Drive	-	Windows; OSX; Linux; Android; iOS	-
53 ONLYOFFICE	-	Web-based (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android-clients)	Yes
52 WPS Office‎	Free	Windows; Linux; IOS; Android	Yes
52 Office 365	-	Webapp; iOS; Android	Yes

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score 437 · Answer 1

LibreOffice

Top Pro

Comprehensive suite of applications

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

Top Con

Not fully compatible to MSOffice

It's not fully compatible with MSOffice and often breaks documents. See More

SharpEochaidMacEirc's Experience

Best ever See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD

Top Pro

Free and open source

LibreOffice is available for free with code available here. It's licensed under LGPL v3 with new contributions dual-licensed under MPL. See More

Top Con

LibreOffice Base requires Java

If you need to use Base, it requires Java. See More

Elias Van Ootegem's Experience

I'm not a frequent office suite user, but when I do I always go for LibreOffice. The reasons are: it's available on all platforms, it supports a huge variety of formats, and is by far the most likely FOSS to offer non-linux/FOSS users an actual alternative to proprietary software. To me, LibreOffice is a great opportunity to show sceptical people that FOSS can actually produce high-quality software. To ensure it has the greatest chances of succeeding, We should try to end fragmenting the landscape by developing too many rivalling suites. There's nothing wrong with having a standard. It's FOSS, so we can always fork and take over should things go wrong. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

All major operating systems are supported, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux (Arch, Fedora, Mandriva, Debian, Ubuntu, Suse). See More

Top Con

Needs a lot of system resources

It's a large office package that needs a lot of drive space and system memory. See More

IngeniousBarnumbirr's Experience

I HAVE USED LIBRE OFFICE IN LINUX PLATFORM. I CHOSE THIS PLATFORM TO TEACH WORD, PRESENTATION AND SPREADSHEET APPLICATIONS FOR MY STUDENTS. I PREFER THIS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MS OFFICE TOOLS. See More

Top Pro

Multilingual

It is available in more than 110 languages. See More

Top Con

Documentation is out of date

Good luck turning off autocorrect, because the place where the documentation says that option is doesn't exist. See More

CoolNingirama's Experience

A slight learning curve from MicrosoftOffice, but very smooth and easy afterward. See More

Top Pro

High compatibility with MS Office

Possible to use in corporations. See More

Top Con

No good video editing for presentations

TrustingYurlungur's Experience

Shockingly bad. Just truly awful. Makes me think that Microsoft can't be that bad at software. See More

Top Pro

Font embedding support

Font embedding ensures that the document will display correctly whether or not the target machine has that specific font installed. See More

Top Con

Track Changes needs to be improved

Collaborating on a single document is difficult. Track Changes makes the document hard to read as both edited and deleted text is displayed, it's not possible to print comments, tracked differences between document versions are sub-optimal and there's no system for accepting/rejecting changes. See More

Piring Terbang's Experience

always getting update from the developer. all cobs are slowly decreased See More

Top Pro

Portable version

LibreOffice offers a version of the suite that does not require installation. It can be kept on a thumb stick to ensure that you have an office suite on whichever machine you choose to use. See More

Top Con

Poor stability

Consistently crashes while editing. Absolutely unreliable. See More

What do you mean's Experience

The best alternative to the MS word even on Windows. See More

Top Pro

The de-facto standard

Being able to tell new people that the FOSS community has an actual default office suite matters. It shows that, despite the bewildering number of options, there can be a clear winner. See More

Top Con

Poor desktop integration

Since it is written in Java it does not integrate nicely with the operation systems theme, icons or dialogs. See More

echopy's Experience

Good and free platform +easy 2 use See More

Top Pro

LibreOffice can take from OpenOffice, but not the other way around

Due to licensing each office suite uses, only a one-way transfer of code is possible, offering more long-term potential for LibreOffice over OpenOffice. See More

Top Con

Ugly interface

Ungly interface compared to others office solutions, like WPS office. See More

UnbiasedManannanMacLir's Experience

the best See More

Top Pro

The most user-friendly option

To attract new people to FOSS, having an office suite that is as user-friendly as LibreOffice is a must. See More

Top Con

Won't work with themes

It does not work with custom themes due to all the different wrappers involved. See More

Phillip Smith's Experience

Simply the best Linux office suite See More

Top Pro

Encryption support

LibreOffice allows encrypting and password-locking files. See More

Top Con

Ribbon is experimental

DaringThetis's Experience

A bit rough, but Free. I donate yearly. Can open more historical MS-Office files than MS-Office can! See More

Top Pro

Presentations can have 3D models embeded within them

Impress supports 3D models in gITF format. See More

Top Con

No Quickstart

Quickstart was removed from the Linux application. Now every time you open a file it will take at least 2,5 seconds to open. See More

DiplomaticMimir's Experience

no fully compatible with ms office See More

Top Pro

Lots of extensions and dictionaries

Has many extensions that can add additional features to LibreOffice. See More

Top Con

Does not run as stable as OnlyOffice

It runs fine until it crashes. Users have experienced multiple crashes when using the cursor to select text in the writer, running in Kubuntu 18.04. See More

Ahmad Raza's Experience

Its a good and complete suite. I use it for my office work. But issues are that its does not provide a cool user experience, interface is pretty ugly, lacks features provided by MS Office but still top choice at UNIX/LINUX land. See More

Top Pro

Ribbon design

Since 5.3, LibreOffice offers a Ribbon design view (similar to Microsoft Office) (check here). See More

Top Con

Restricted license

LibreOffice uses a more restrictive license than OpenOffice, which makes it almost impossible to backport features to OpenOffice. See More

Ajay Kumar Rawani's Experience

Awesome ! See More

Top Pro

Multiple themes

Many icon themes available to customise the look and get consistent look with the OS. See More

Top Con

Not a very well non-English languages spell check support

Evgenia Gurtowenko's Experience

fine See More

Top Pro

Continued development and maintenance

Top Con

No ability to access online brokerage accounts for trading

No ability to access trading and brokerage accounts via Calc to conduct automatic buying/selling like you can in MS Excel. See More

ExceptionalAtaguchu's Experience

Best formula editing of the bunch; not sure why it is marked as no formula editing. I used LO to do all my university physics assignments with full formula breakdowns. See More

Top Pro

Good Zotero integration

LibreOffice works very well with Zotero. The integration of the Zotero plugin in LibreOffice is a breeze, citing while writing and generating the bibliography is just a click. Also good since you need to coop in an (MS) world: Libreoffice and Zotero cooperate very well to make sure your refs survive a "Save as" from one file format to another (e.g. docx to odt or the other way around). Basic (open and free!) tools is your in the market for this... See More

Top Con

Many user annoyances and malfunctions which lead to loss of work and time, often not intuitive

CheerfulZirnitra's Experience

always trouble See More

Top Con

Master slide management in Impress not up to mark

As of version 6, the master slide management is not as good as PowerPoint in Windows. See More

DecorousBarnumbirr's Experience

Not recommended for professional usage. LibreOffice has subpar stability (crashes frequently with documents >20 pages on my modern computer) and a GUI that looks like straight out of the 90s. Once I tried Softmaker, there was no going back. See More

Top Con

Steady update

RealisticDeaTacita's Experience

I've been using Linux Mint with the LibreOffice for 10 years and have been well pleased. See More

PrinceKael's Experience

The ultimate office suite. Even if I'm not on Linux I'd still use it. It's fully open-source, in active development and full of features. See More

EnchantingLadon's Experience

great and powerful office suite works perfect with any kind of office document See More

CapableMacCecht's Experience

very good See More

MagicalOxomoco's Experience

Keeps consistently crashing while editing documents, specifically while copying rows from a spreadsheet into a table of a text document in Writer. Paste results into tables are erratic. See More

ElatedHebat's Experience

not ms office compatable See More

FunnyMapulon's Experience

Very often it is intolerably slow See More

AdventurousNuliajuk's Experience

Constant development, strong sense of ownership and responsibility (European philosophy of users' relationship with software), great support in linux distributions, and ported to very successfully to Windows (not sure about Mac as I do not use). See More

AwareTjilbruke's Experience

Install was simple. Interface is horrific. See More

MagicalGenann's Experience

it,s a complicade5t app See More

ThriftyHunHunahpu's Experience

That old look, it won't appeal to many. See More

DevotedEmesh's Experience

Libreoffice is a bit buggy, I experienced that with Calc- the spreadsheet program of libre; it showed corrupted data while opening (.csv) while it was opening perfect in google sheets. See More

AdventurousVali's Experience

Rather laggy. Poor compatibility with other office suites. See More

DetailedGwydion's Experience

Just a terrible application it can not even read MS Office templates. See More

FascinatingPeklenc's Experience

Excellent. I can make fillable pdf forms in Writer. I can edit pdfs in Draw. That's huge for changing flyers or brochures photos and print. See More

LivelyUlanji's Experience

Pure BS See More

BrilliantYeomra's Experience

Nearest available alternative to office. The maximum compatibility you can ever get as of now. See More

See All

score 72 · Answer 2

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

Cloud based

Not every wants to depend on the mercy of the cloud provider. See More

PrinceKael's Experience

Convenient yet requires blind trust in Google. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Linux; Android; iOS

Versioning:Yes

Cloud Storage:Yes

Free storage size:15 GB

See All Specs

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 Con

Data privacy not guaranteed

Data privacy is widely known as one of Google's weaknesses. Data shared through Google is most likely matched up with the user's profile inside other Alphabet inc. subsidiaries, and, due to the business model, used commercially. See More

Top Pro

15GB of free storage

This space is shared across Drive, Gmail & Picasa, but Google Docs documents, Google Slides presentations, Google Sheets spreadsheets, Google Drawings and Google Forms do not count for this. See More

Top Con

Illegal / Bad data protection

It is illegal in some countries for company usage due data protection laws. 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 Con

No Linux desktop app

Google as of yet has a client for Linux, leaving many who use the service forced to use third party apps or the webpage. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with other Google services

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

Top Con

All data belongs to Google unless you purchase pro accounts

According to their EULA. See More

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 Con

Terms and Conditions allow Google to own anything on Google Drive

They can create derivative works, they can perform it, they can modify it, and they can publish it at will. There are many other specific rights they take over your product. Read the Terms carefully and compare with ANY others. See More

Top Pro

Cheap

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

Top Con

Not a lot of advanced functionality compared to alternatives

Missing features in Google Docs are: Automatic numbering of chapters Image caption 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 Con

Can’t password protect publicly shared folders

Top Pro

Built-in office suite

Includes tools for writing, presentations and spreadsheets. See More

Top Con

Very unreliable

Desktop client constantly crashes. See More

Top Pro

Mobile integration

You can work from any device, especially mobile. See More

Top Con

Doesn't have good integration with ODF or MS-format files

Top Pro

Cloud based

Google Drive is cloud-based, meaning there's no installation required and all your files are automatically synced between every device you use. See More

Top Con

No available equation editors for presentations

A way to add or edit equations in Slides is consistently a top requested feature, but little or no attention has been given to it by Google. See More

Top Pro

Can translate text from within a document

Top Con

Not available in China

Top Pro

Indexes images

You can search images by object, place, or face when they've been added to your google photos collection. Google Assistant also helps you find screenshots that could be archived, images that aren't in the correct orientation and pictures that would work well as animations or albums. See More

Top Con

No universal Windows app

Top Pro

Save files to drive directly from Gmail

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

Top Con

Document-Checking has gone Woke

Google's obsessed with controlling so-called "personal pronoun" usage and seeing to it the document remains "gender-neutral". See More

Top Pro

15GB free

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

See All

score 165 · Answer 3

ONLYOFFICE

Top Con

Spreadsheet can be very memory demanding

Larger spreadsheets can be very slow to load on computers with limited memory. See More

Top Pro

Free and Open Source

ONLYOFFICE is distributed under AGPL v.3 license with the source code available on GitHub. See More

RealisticBamapana's Experience

A little different to most other office packages and takes a bit of getting used to, but well worth the effort. Fully MS Office compatible in my experience. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web-based (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android-clients)

Top Con

Poor presentation tool functionality

Top Pro

Compatibility with MS Office formats

Highly compatible with .docx, .xlsx, .pptx as well as with .odf. See More

CromulentGugalanna's Experience

It is lighter than LibreOffice and WPS, no clutter at all. Simply opens a Document created in MS Office 2016 and it shows the way it should show. That's realy compatible! Differently from WPS and LibreOffice, wich claim the same. I reached OnlyOffice, after extensive use of LibreOffice and OnlyOffice. See More

Top Con

Performance tanks when having many custom fonts

Top Pro

Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac

Mark Rabideau's Experience

Wayland incompatible... in my SwayWM setup See More

Top Con

Web app

Even the deskop version uses the Chromium Embedded Framework to display a webpage. See More

Top Pro

Has a portable version

ONLYOFFICE portable works on almost every Linux distribution. See More

MagicalCottyto's Experience

Stable and looks really nice and structured in comparison to libreoffice See More

Top Con

Poor security

Like all web apps security is not one of its strengths. See More

Top Pro

Looks good and structured

CompassionateVanapagan's Experience

A pretty editor while being open source. Easy to navigate. See More

Top Con

Extremely unstable

It freezes and crashes too often. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

ONLYOFFICE is distributed under AGPL v.3 license with the source code available on GitHub. See More

IncredibleMushdamma's Experience

cant use persian word and arabic See More

Top Con

Severe HiDPI issues

If you have a screen >1080p, it will most likely fail to scale properly, like extensive discussed on GitHub. See More

Top Pro

High MS Office compatibility

Highly compatible with .docx, .xlsx, .pptx as well as with .odf. See More

CheerfulZirnitra's Experience

best compatibiity with ms office See More

Top Con

Might be incompatible with the EU data protection law

It depends if the server stands in the EU or not. See More

Top Pro

Best compatibility compared to LibreOffice and WPS office

DecorousBarnumbirr's Experience

Really not a bad office, but lacks a lot of features (the spreadsheet-editor is barley usable with normal Excel-files, basic things like conditional formatting are simply not available). The HiDPI-problem made me go back to Softmaker, which offers far more features. See More

Top Con

Heavyweight

It consumes too much hardware resources, which makes no sense considering its features. See More

Top Pro

Good for high-resolution screens with high DPI

It scales automatically to system settings (tested on Manjaro KDE). See More

OrganizedApollo's Experience

Best compatibility compared to LibreOffice and WPS office See More

Top Con

Doesn't support Bangla fonts

Bangla fonts are broken no matter whichever font you choose. See More

Top Pro

Documents in tabs

Open new documents in tabs. The tabs can be dragged to open in a window. See More

PopularCleta's Experience

Really good, works fine with any kind of format. On top of that, it has desktop and online editor with are absolutely identical in terms of GUI and features. See More

Top Con

Wrong architecture

Not available as a desktop application in 32 bit in Linux. 64 bit only. That might be fine for your brand new machine you've set up with 64 bit but not for older machines that typically run Linux. 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

ThriftyHermes's Experience

Install with flatpak . Use it . So simple and easy . Also shows the recent files at opening . Best alternative for ms office i found. See More

Top Pro

Available as a desktop application

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

AffableNidaba's Experience

slow loading See More

Top Pro

Advanced work with math equations

Top Pro

Integration with Nextcloud

Easy integration with Nextcloud for collaborative work. See More

Top Pro

Collaboration capabilities

Top Pro

Support for add-ons (plugins)

See All

score 199 · Answer 4

WPS Office‎

Top Con

Chinese software

Might be a security problem for some end-users. See More

Top Pro

Excellent Microsoft Office compatibility

WPS has the best compatibility with MS Office files of all major office suites that support Linux. See More

Gopal Srivatsan's Experience

This has a cool UI, and is best in compatibility with MS office See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux; IOS; Android

Top Con

Proprietary software

Although some versions/programs are free to download, they're all proprietary licenses utilizing a freeware model. See More

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

Phillip Smith's Experience

Cross platform from windows, to iOS, to Linux, to Android, GUI is great looking and easy for people use, this I put on wife and kids computers. I brought the pro version to get rid of ads, worth it. See More

Top Con

No HiDPI support

Problematic with 4K screens. See More

Top Pro

Free version

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

GraciousFand's Experience

now you can sync your documents See More

Top Con

No equation editor in Linux

Equation editor for Linux has been "under development" for several years with no real additional info from the developers. Safe to say it's just not going to happen. No equation editor is a deal breaker for some, which is a shame. Otherwise this office suite performs very well. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

Available on Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. See More

DecisiveLuchtaine's Experience

I'm able to do everything at work using WPS in Linux even when my coworkers are using microsoft. It has the best compatibility and I familiar interface. See More

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

Top Pro

Pdf viewer

Has support to view pdf files. See More

DevotedZhurong's Experience

Great Software works very well and the free tier is good enough 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

Multilingual

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

TrustingThoth's Experience

Very straightforward installation and ease of use. Regular updates See More

Top Con

No hyphenaton, no help or real forum

Lack of hyphenation in Writer is a terrible mistake. Reading the few forums about it will let you know that it breaks the words without rules and without hyphens in any language. The question was stated in 2013 and still doesn't have an answer. Their help system practically doesn't exist, everything leads you to a 404 page. Maybe this issue could be easily resolved by developers with a plugin or something like that, but the Linux community doesn't show interest for the product. 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

RespectableMithra's Experience

Since i started using WPS Office, i had never looked back :) It's very good office suite on linux Environnement See More

Top Con

Ads

There are in-app ads. See More

Top Pro

Smooth integration with many different cloud services at the same time

WPS integrates with multiple cloud service's at once such as Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive and more. See More

HealthyAergia's Experience

I converted from windows to linux early this year and wanted an office suite I could pick up that I didnt need to re learn. Libra was very good but I wanted a Ms Office clone so tried WPS. Love it, its easy to pick up, easy to use, only issue Ive had is sometimes their is a little lag when typing, but I havent used it recently to see if the last update changed it. Worth a good look at. See More

Top Con

Default font styles are not pretty

Top Pro

Integrated backups

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

PhilosophicalKulullu's Experience

Great perfomance, fully compatible and free of weird graphical bugs unlike other OpenSource solutions. Although it has only the basic components of a "full" office suite, it gets the job done completely. Totally recommend. 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

Encryption support

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

ReasonableMelpomene's Experience

Very compatible, and excellent for edition of Word documents; shows modifications at the margins and not within the text, avoiding the mess, and allows to divide the screen. Both features are very useful for me when using Microsoft Word See More

Top Con

Very slow to load

I looks like there is a splash screen, but it doesn't appear until just before the full interface loads, which can be about 20 seconds. It is often slow enough to cause the user to click again and again, resulting in the app loading multiple times in succession. See More

Top Pro

It is not owned by Microsoft

Supporting linux & open source and leaving Microsoft because of their greed and instability with updates etc.. (personal preference) See More

ChattyAphroditus's Experience

Try 2019 version, It's perfect for daily writing. If you want other complex functions, I recommend libreoffice See More

Top Con

Some Ms Fonts are not available (ie Ariel)

Top Pro

View documents side by side

You can split the window allowing to view different parts of the same document, or open two documents for comparison, also imitating Microsoft Word. See More

Top Con

Dumps configuration files onto the desktop that are visible to the user

Each of the apps in the suite has a .desktop configuration file that is created at first launch and remains thereafter. Removal results in re-creation. See More

Top Pro

Clean edition when sharing your document

Text modifications can be verified at the margins, not mixed with the text, imitating Microsoft Word. On the other side, LibreOffice/OpenOffice don't have this very useful feature. See More

Top Con

There are better Office alternatives for Linux

In my testing of office suites for Linux, WPS Office was not as comprehensive as LibreOffice, and the resemblance to Microsoft 365 applications was better in OnlyOffice Desktop Editors. Moreover, Linux users can also access the online applications of Microsoft 365 via Google Chrome or other web browsers. See More

Top Pro

Change pdf documents to word

Top Pro

Available on snapcraft and flathub too

See All

score 52 · Answer 5

Office 365

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 Con

Proprietary

Uses proprietary software. See More

BenNevis's Experience

Recent integration with Linux is useful See More

Specs

Platforms:Webapp; iOS; Android

Top Pro

Excellent integration and compatibility with MS Office desktop applications

Top Con

Dependant on having an Internet connection

Top Pro

Allows for real-time collaboration

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

Top Con

Cloud dependent

Does not edit local files, they have to be synced first. See More

Top Pro

Speech to text dictation

Linux never got it together See More

Top Con

Unusable for business in the EU

Cloud applications are mostly incompatible with the EU general data protection regulation. See More

Top Pro

No installation required

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 Con

Expensive

$35/user/mo. See More

See All

score 37 · Answer 6

Calligra

Top Con

Bloated

Very bloated as it requires way too many dependencies to install. This is especially prominent in non-KDE desktops which may require over 100 dependencies to install. See More

Top Pro

Huge list of efficient and capable office components

Calligra consists of 9 tools. In addition to word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation software, it includes tools for project management, sketching/painting, database management, vector graphics, diagramming and brainstorming. See More

PrinceKael's Experience

Not terrible but subpar compared to LibreOffice. Requires way too many dependencies and lacking some features due to slow development. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Linux

Top Con

Subpar compatibility

Microsoft office proprietary formats are not always accurately rendered See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

Top Con

Slow development

Development is slower and less active than competition. See More

Top Pro

Unified design language

Top Pro

Calligra offers cutting edge applications for artists to work on 2D drawings and illustrations

Calligra includes Krita, a sketching and painting application, and Karbon, a vector drawing application. Both offer end-to-end solutions. Krita is also available as a standalone program. See More

Top Pro

Made for KDE

Designed in Qt for KDE plasma (but will also work in other DEs), hence the appearance is consistent with it. See More

See All

score 107 · Answer 7

SoftMaker Office/FreeOffice

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

Top Con

The regular paid version is not free for students as it is for teachers

For students to use it, there needs to be a free student license for the regular (with . docx support) version. See More

ImmaculateKresnik's Experience

There have been no issues switching back and forth between their word processor and Word. Even very long texts with a complicated ToC and an extensive Works Cited page have not been an issue. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; macOS, Linux, Android

Top Pro

Multi-platform

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

Top Con

Proprietary software

Although some versions/programs are free to download, they're all proprietary licenses utilizing a freeware model. See More

FerventPatecatl's Experience

I have purchased and used two different releases of SoftMaker Office. The office suite is fine for basic functionality and compatibility, but it does not include the macro language that Excel uses. The macro language is very important and is sorely missed once you discover its absence from the suite. For example, if you work with QuickBooks Pro and want to send a report to Excel, don't even bother trying. It simple doesn't work; it can't. When I addressed the issue with the support team at SoftMaker the omission was begrudgingly admitted with no indication that it would ever be added to the suite. See More

Top Pro

Low on dependencies

On Linux it avoids the common widget toolkits which makes it really lightweight compared to other office suites. See More

Top Con

Free version needs registration

The free version needs to be registered with a valid email adress. See More

GloriousTriton's Experience

I have been using SoftMaker since my Wince days. What I like most about it is that I can use an android tablet, Linux box, and if I wanted to a windows pc and get my work done. the software is professional and I can tab my work, unlike LibreOffice which cannot. I can use templates from all the major office software. I tend to use Microsoft and libre office templates. See More

Top Pro

Configurable user interface

Includes the possibility to use Ribbons or classical Menus. See More

Top Con

Installs a lot of crap and does not clean up

On Linux it installs over 40 MB of templates, images and other crap people will never need. De-install does not clean up usr/share/freeoffice. See More

GenuineGleti's Experience

nice easy user GUI can be used on android, windows and linux/GNU See More

Top Pro

EU based company

Follows the the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU. See More

Top Con

Breaks icon themes

On Linux it breaks all icon themes by modifying them. See More

FunnyRindr's Experience

Opens all the columns of large files and has the best MS formatting compatibility. See More

Top Pro

Has a free version

A free version, called SoftMaker FreeOffice, is available. FreeOffice is a stripped down version of SoftMaker Office, with less features, templates and interface polish, but it still is feature-packed and with the same excellent import and export filters that enable opening/saving Microsoft Office formats faithfully. See More

Top Con

No VBA support

As Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is proprietary software used in MS Office. See More

CredibleSreng's Experience

This software is a piece of shit! See More

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 Con

It's not Microsoft Office and it never will be

Use SoftMaker Office only if you want basic MS Office-like features. Once you delve deeper into the software the omissions become glaringly obvious. See More

GregariousWerethekau's Experience

Wonderful! See More

Top Pro

Documentation

Even the FreeOffice version includes a Handbook in PDF. See More

DelightfulEnlil's Experience

Best inter See More

Top Pro

EPUB export included

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

KindheartedBunjil's Experience

I have been using SoftMaker office since 2012. Each release is stronger than the last and the compatibility with MS Office is excellent. I am not crazy about the subscription model they introduced. See More

Top Pro

Integration of Zotero

Especially important for academic use: SM Office has a great working connector to Zotero for the direct insertion of citations. See More

DecorousBarnumbirr's Experience

Of all I tried, Softmaker has by far the best compatibility, stability and the greatest set of features (excluding LibreOffice, but that cannot provide the first two points). Wrote my Master-thesis in it, without any problems whatsoever. See More

Top Pro

Free for teachers

The regular paid version is free for teachers. See More

PrinceKael's Experience

Proprietary software using a freeware model that delivers an office suite that pales in comparison to various open-source alternatives. See More

Top Pro

Great amount of advanced features

Compared to alternatives like OnlyOffice and WPS, really important advanced features especially for compatibility with Excel. See More

See All

score 48 · Answer 8

Open365

Top Con

No longer exists

No longer exists. See More

Top Pro

OpenSource

Top Con

Unusable for business in the EU

Cloud applications are mostly incompatible with the EU general data protection regulation. See More

Top Con

Too new / green to use

Work has just started on this. Needs development. Not a true replacement suite yet. See More

See All

score 59 · Answer 9

Apache OpenOffice

Top Pro

Free and open source

Licensed under Apache License. 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

stalliondrift's Experience

When I used to use Windows, Microsoft's Office was my favorite. In Linux, OpenOffice makes me feel like I'm still using MS Office, only with cooler fonts. :) See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux; Android; WP

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

IndependentSopdu's Experience

the project looks dead. they cant close even serious security vulnerables. You'd better use Libreoffice instead. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

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

Top Con

No copyleft

It's good for developers but bad for openoffice for example: libreoffice relicensed it under GPL now libreoffice can integrate all changes made to openoffice but openoffice is unable to integrate improvements from libreoffice. See More

DevotedKarpos's Experience

Use LibreOffice instead, this project is known abandoned. See More

Top Pro

Multilingual

OpenOffice is available in 170+ languages. See More

IntelligentAnat's Experience

IMO OpenOffice is stable, smaller and better looking than Libreoffice. Even without the features that Libre has, Apache OpenOffice still offers a multitude of features. I also like its help component which is available offline, user guides in pdf files can be also found online. See More

Top Pro

No CopyLeft

Unlike LibreOffice, its Grandfather OpenOffice is real open software for anyome. See More

Top Pro

Full compatibility with Microsoft

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

Top Pro

Quickstart

It has quickstart on Linux, a feature that makes opening a file blazing fast. See More

See All

score 30 · Answer 10

Abiword + Gnumeric + Dia (formerly GNOME Office)

Top Pro

Lightweight

Both AbiWord & Gnumeric are designed with low resource consumption in mind. As such they are great applications for older computers. See More

Top Con

Almost abandoned

Very few updates and bug fixes. See More

Top Pro

Great import/export features

Top Con

Default format is only readable with Gnumeric

Gnumeric is able to read/write a lot of file formats including ODS, XLS, XLSX, but it's default .gnumeric format is only readable with Gnumeric. See More

Top Pro

Free and open-source

Top Con

AbiWord has a dated aesthetic

The interface hasn't had a facelift since it's inception in 1998. See More

Top Pro

Straight forward

'Old' style menu structure is lovely to support users. See More

Top Con

File interchangability

You may like it or not, but this is an O365 dominated world. And at some time you will need to send somebody the result of your work digitally. Then not being able to share a compatible file format is a pain. Even if your application is great and light (which it is). See More

Top Pro

Multilingual

Over 30 languages are supported. See More

Top Pro

Collaborative editing

Abiword is able to edit online collaborative documents. See More

See All

score 2 · Answer 11

OnlyOffice Desktop

score 19 · Answer 12

Zoho Docs

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

Top Pro

Allows for real-time collaboration

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

Specs

Top Con

Proprietary Software

Zoho Docs is proprietary software. See More

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

Comprehensive, business-oriented suite of applications

Zoho contains both free and paid versions of tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, customer relationship management, project management, invoicing. See More

Top Pro

Zoho Office Suite has matured

Zoho Office Suite has evolved a lot over 12 years of its existence and has become a strong player. See More

Top Pro

Reasonable MS Office compatibility

Top Pro

Page numbers in table of contents

See All

score 5 · Answer 13

What are the best office suites for UNIX-like systems?

12 Options Considered

LibreOffice

My Recommendation for LibreOffice

My Recommendation for LibreOffice

Comprehensive suite of applications

Not fully compatible to MSOffice

Free and open source

LibreOffice Base requires Java

Cross-platform

Needs a lot of system resources

Multilingual

Documentation is out of date

High compatibility with MS Office

No good video editing for presentations

Font embedding support

Track Changes needs to be improved

Portable version

Poor stability

The de-facto standard

Poor desktop integration

LibreOffice can take from OpenOffice, but not the other way around

Ugly interface

The most user-friendly option

Won't work with themes

Encryption support

Ribbon is experimental

Presentations can have 3D models embeded within them

No Quickstart

Lots of extensions and dictionaries

Does not run as stable as OnlyOffice

Ribbon design

Restricted license

Multiple themes

Not a very well non-English languages spell check support

Continued development and maintenance

No ability to access online brokerage accounts for trading

Good Zotero integration

Many user annoyances and malfunctions which lead to loss of work and time, often not intuitive

Master slide management in Impress not up to mark

Steady update

Google Drive

My Recommendation for Google Drive

My Recommendation for Google Drive

Real-time file sharing & collaborative editing

Cloud based

Simple

Data privacy not guaranteed

15GB of free storage

Illegal / Bad data protection

Extended functionality via apps

No Linux desktop app

Integrates with other Google services

All data belongs to Google unless you purchase pro accounts

Revision control

Terms and Conditions allow Google to own anything on Google Drive

Cheap

Not a lot of advanced functionality compared to alternatives

File sharing & collaborative editing

Can’t password protect publicly shared folders

Built-in office suite

Very unreliable

Mobile integration

Doesn't have good integration with ODF or MS-format files

Cloud based

No available equation editors for presentations

Can translate text from within a document

Not available in China

Indexes images

No universal Windows app

Save files to drive directly from Gmail

Document-Checking has gone Woke

15GB free

ONLYOFFICE

My Recommendation for ONLYOFFICE

My Recommendation for ONLYOFFICE

Spreadsheet can be very memory demanding

Free and Open Source

Poor presentation tool functionality

Compatibility with MS Office formats