The popular Microsoft Office suite is part of Microsoft 365 and comes at a high price, thankfully there are many free alternatives with similar features drew place Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
in this top 9, we'll count down the best Microsoft office alternatives giving you a brief description to help you find the best one for you.
9. Free Office
Starting our countdown at number 9 with the folks at Softmaker is Free Office. first released in 1994, it's a less-featured version of their commercial office suite with most of the key features most people need.
its compatibility with popular Microsoft Office formats is very good, with only a few occasional minor glitches here and there depending on whether you prefer the latest Microsoft Office-like ribbon-style at the top of the classic menus and toolbars in the interface.
Users can be easily changed to the one that best suits your needs and has also been optimized with support for touchscreens with larger icons and increased spacing.
Text makers their free alternative to Microsoft word, Plan maker is a substitute for excel, and similar to PowerPoint they call their presentations. Free Office is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
8. OnlyOffice
Quickly gaining in popularity is OnlyOffice. although they have corporate editions which can be quite expensive, their free desktop edition is open source with the source code available on Github.
like most in this article, OnlyOffice has strong compatibility with Microsoft Office formats but has some minor issues with images.
its tab-based interface allows you to work on multiple files within the same window. if working with others on the same project is important to you, the collaboration feature allows you to co-edit, comment, review, and interact using live chat.
They also support third-party plugins that allow you to install plugins to enhance their functionality.
OnlyOffice is available for both windows and mac os and you can also install it on the various distros of Linux with some having it already pre-installed. simply named document spreadsheet and presentation.
if you'd prefer to use OnlyOffice in your favorite web browser without having to install any software they also have an online version called OnlyOffice Personal.
7.WPS Office
I was called for being a clone of Microsoft Office. WPS has a user interface that looks the same as Microsoft Office, with the absolute best compatibility of any office suite in this article.
At this time there are more than 100 000 templates for you to choose from some of which are free and others only available if you upgrade to their premium product.
There's a couple of downsides to WPS keeping it out of our top two spots, first of all, it's ad-supported, and second, it's developed by a Chinese software developer which raises privacy concerns and ethical issues for many people but if you don't mind the ads and have no problems using closed sourced Chinese software it's available for download on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Its very similar alternatives to Word, Excel and PowerPoint are called Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentation, along with an integrated PDF viewer.
6. Apache Open Office
Apache Open Office is a free and open-source office suite that has been around for decades in recent years, development has been slow, but it's still a good program for those who want to try it, it's available in dozens of languages for Windows, Linux, and Mac.
5. Calligra
Calligra is another free and open-source office suite. while resources are lacking, some may appreciate the integrated project management and mind-mapping tools. it is currently available for Linux with preliminary support for windows and mac os only.
4. Zoho Docs Office
Games and popularity The Zoho docs office suite contains the usual Microsoft office counterparts with built-in collaboration features. is online only and can be used in any web browser.
3. Microsoft Office Online
An alternative to the paid version of Microsoft Office is Microsoft Office Online, which is free to use in your favorite desktop browser with apps for iOS and Android but lacks some of the premium features found in paid Microsoft products.
2. Google Office Suite
in the runner-up spot is the free online office suite from google which includes word, excel, and PowerPoint alternatives they call docs, sheets, and slides.
with all three of their Microsoft Office counterparts, they have excellent compatibility and can be easily converted to google's file formats and vice versa.
To make things easier you'll find a good variety of pre-made templates for resumes, letters used for work, and a whole lot more. to help increase your productivity, you'll also find useful add-ons for each product in your office suite to improve functionality.
You use it for free and if you don't mind being the product, all you need is a Google account. it can be accessed from any computer in your favorite browser and has excellent cross-platform support with mobile apps for iOS and Android.
1. Libre Office
In the top spot coming in at number 1 Libre Office is still the best free alternative to Microsoft office.
This full-featured office suite is free and open-source software, which means you have no financial cost to use it and it is not the product with your data being used, collected, or sold to other companies for financial gain.
6 programs are included with Libre Office writer, Calc and impress other alternatives to word, excel, and PowerPoint.
The draw is for vector graphics and flowcharts, The Basis used for databases, and math is for formula editing.
its compatibility with Microsoft office has improved a little over the years and, for even more features, extensions can be installed and it has a wide variety of templates. Libre Office is available for windows, mac, and Linux.
If you have more Microsoft Office alternatives, please share with us.
