• Free Alternatives To Microsoft Office
• Free Office Suite

After using it, you will agree that it is the best free alternative to Microsoft Office. FreeOffice is a complete Office suite with a word processor, a spreadsheet. Free office suite, open source, and compatible with.doc,.docx,.xls,.xlsx,.ppt,.pptx files. LibreOffice 6: 'The best office suite gets even better' – ZDNet.

Microsoft Office once had an unquestioned stranglehold on the world of productivity suites and programs. However, the forced subscription for the latest version and high-price of the 2016 alternative have given rise to a retinue of options that fall outside Microsoft’s banner. The best alternatives to Microsoft Office allow users the freedom to create and edit — many are even compatible with files made in Word, Excel, and other Microsoft’s programs. If you’re loyal to Microsoft’s product, it’s worth trying out the Office web-based applications, which emulate a lot of the primary features of Office right in your browser for free.

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Outside of that, there are capable alternatives available for both Windows and MacOS, whether you’re looking for a quick means to spell check the copy on your resume or string together complex formulas prior to an important business presentation. Below are a few of our favorites.

At a glance

FreeOffice

The best Office alternative

The latest version of SoftMaker’s FreeOffice — released in 2016 — comes with full compatibility for DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, and PPT file formats, with a lot of work going into making them “loss free.” This means you won’t find any unexpected surprises when transferring your files into Word, which makes the software perfect for those who want a free alternative to Word but still need to work regularly with Word software.

FreeOffice is also easy on the eyes and should be very familiar to Word users. The toolbars and document-creation options are similar to those in the Office suite, and the latest software updates further ensure the program is quick and relatively void of loading times. Even PlanMaker, the suite’s Excel alternative, offers features such as conditional formatting and pivot tables, which past Excel users will be able to jump into without the need of a tutorial.

FreeOffice is also an excellent choice for carrying out professional projects. Not only does it provide compatibility with password-protected files, but it can also help you create PDF files or ePUB files, track document changes, and switch between languages on the fly. More common features — i.e., spellcheck and smart typing — also wait in the wings, ensuring you’re not missing anything Office-related.

Google’s G Suite/Google Apps

The best web-based option

Google’s online suite should need no introduction. The cloud-based software remains ideal if you need to work with others on a project — particularly if everyone is familiar with Google Drive, where files can be stored and shared. The current iteration of Docs supports PDFs, DOC files, and even iWork files, so you need not worry about information being lost. It also integrates with most of Google’s other services, including Gmail, Calendar, and Google Plus. There’s also the G Suite productivity solution for businesses, which is a strong competitor to Microsoft’s Office offerings in many enterprises.

The interface is classic Google — minimalist and oft-confusing. Certain tools or abilities may be hidden deep in menus or not made available for unknown reasons, which can make the software difficult to pick up without any previous experience. Still, if you’re used to Chrome or Chrome OS, then you know what to expect and shouldn’t have much problem navigating the menus.

Plus, the ability to work on documents, edit work, and discuss changes with others who are also working on the same file — all in the same window — is incredibly useful and implemented well across different file types. For some, this is a reason to choose Google’s offering over Microsoft’s — paid or otherwise. This is a great choice for those with limited storage (like Chromebook users), or for those who need to edit at a distance.

LibreOffice

The best full-featured option

The creators of LibreOffice took a look at Microsoft Office and said, “Let’s make sure we can do everything Office can’t.” By now, the differences are so numerous that someone has created a useful (and lengthy) graph that showcases the extra compatibility that LibreOffice offers compared to Microsoft’s suite. This includes support for a vast number of document formats in both MacOS and Windows. If you’re using more distinctive software and are worried that Office won’t be able to handle your industry-specific formats, then LibreOffice is more than happy to step in.

The open-source community behind LibreOffice remains active, and continues to create extensions that allow you to equip your apps with any features you may need. Recent updates include improvements to interactive forms within documents, new presentation templates, and a cloud-based version of the suite for remote use. And given both “Fresh” and Nightly beta modes are currently available, you’re also guaranteed to see regular improvements with LibreOffice.

Ultimately, if you like Office but are looking for a highly-customizable alternative that can expand on the tools Microsoft provides while offering solid compatibility, LibreOffice is for you. Of course, learning and building LibreOffice into the software you want may take a little work, so give yourself plenty of time to learn what’s at your disposal.

WPS Office

The best Microsoft Word clone

WPS’s Office alternative comes with Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheet, all of which mimic programs in Microsoft’s iconic suite. All files you create with these apps will be fully compatible with their Microsoft counterparts, and there’s an extra suite of PDF conversion tools in the event you need to export or import in a more ready-friendly format. Plus, the suite is available for free on both Android and iOS devices.

WPS is ideal if you’re used to a specific interface in Word programs and want to mimic the experience as closely as possible. No time to learn new tools? No worries. Even the template options are based on Microsoft’s traditional templates, which makes it easy to find your favorite way to start and fill out a document. Plus, the interface more closely resembles newer versions of Microsoft Office than many of our other picks, so jumping in immediately may be even easier than you expect.

WPS isn’t content to copy Microsoft in all things, however. The software touts a few useful tools of its own, including organic ways to change paragraph layout with your mouse, advanced section navigation, and document tabs that allow you to quickly manage multiple documents. This makes WPS Office a great choice for laptops and/or schoolwork.

iWork

The best Mac option

Apple’s iWork wasn’t originally designed for compatibility with Office Docs, but over time, the developers decided to add more functionality. You can import Microsoft files and edit them in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote as needed, which is a huge advantage that makes iWork the perfect Office alternative for those working on a Mac. These days, even Windows PC users can use iWork if they don’t mind doing so via iCloud (Apple currently doesn’t offer compatible desktop versions).

Of course, accessibility is more determined by your familiarity with iWork than anything else. These apps may be able to produce similar documents in the end, but they don’t really resemble Microsoft office when it comes to the interface. Tools are located in different places and tend to be a little more obscured than their Microsoft counterparts, so if this is your first time using these apps, you can expect a steep learning curve before things become simple.

Also, keep in mind that iWork is made to function alongside iCloud. If you currently use the cloud backup solution then that will make it much easier to share documents over the cloud and store them off-site if necessary. If your whole team is on board, this can be extremely useful, but as with the aforementioned Google Docs and G Suite, everyone needs to be on the same page. If you’re a mobile user, you also want to note that the iWork suite is broken into three separate apps, each of which needs to be downloaded individually.

Though Microsoft Office is the 800-pound gorilla of productivity software, it's not the best choice for every home or business user. Some people find that the cost, which runs from $70 a year for a single-user home license to $8.25 per employee per month for a small business, is too high. Others just want a better collaboration and cloud experience or stronger desktop publishing features than Office offers.

Whatever your reason for ditching Office, you have several strong choices. All of these office suites are capable of reading and writing to Microsoft Office file formats, though some are more compatible than others.

To help you choose, we've evaluated the top five Microsoft Office alternatives, ranging from Google's low-cost, web-based apps to the attractive freemium WPS Office and Corel's pricey but powerful WordPerfect Office.

Best Overall: Google Apps

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Price: Free / $5 per user per month

Google's Apps for Work Suite is our favorite Office alternative, because it offers real-time collaboration and syncing capabilities that beat Microsoft at its own game. If you're working on documents with other people, you'll love being able to edit the same documents at the same time and watching their words appear as soon as they hit the keys, a capability Microsoft only offers to some Word 2016 subscribers.

As long as you are online when editing documents, your changes are saved to the cloud constantly and a complete revision history is available at all times, meaning that you should never lose your work.

Compatibility: Google Apps does a good job importing DOCX and PPTX files and converting those into documents inside Apps. Complex Word and PowerPoint files will need to be checked and perhaps tweaked, but the majority of your files should make the jump fairly easily.

Spreadsheet files are a different story. Google's Sheets app is behind Excel and competitors in the features and functions race. Be prepared to recreate any spreadsheets that use much more than arithmetic functions.

Familiarity: Apps offers a clean, functional interface stripped of the bloat that infects so many other programs and their menus. That means little or nothing will be familiar when word processing, making presentations or creating spreadsheets. Those already using Gmail (and there are millions of you) may have a slight advantage. But the Apps tend to be more minimalist than Gmail.

Intangibles: Google's Apps are free for individuals, and $5 or $10 per month per user for your company. You'll live in your browser, a different feeling than a typical office suite. And though you can cache them for offline editing, your files will be out there on Google's servers, rather than in your computer or your data center, which can take some getting used to.

Best Desktop Office Alternative: WPS Office 2016

Rating: 4 stars
Price: Free or $45 / year

WPS Office 2016 bills itself as the 'World's most advanced free office suite for Windows PC.' Even better, it runs on Macs, Linux and tablets as well. And it looks so much like Office at times you'll forget what you're using. Even better, the suite offers a few helpful features you won't find in Microsoft Office, including tabbed documents, the ability to change the color and style of the UI and a pleasant 'Eye Protection Mode,' which turns the background green to go easier on your peepers.

Compatibility: WPS doesn't just import Office files; it reads and writes the ones you have without a problem. We only noticed the smallest issues when using WPS on Office files, none of which took more than a moment to resolve.

Familiarity: The Ribbon menu looks better in many ways than the one you see in Microsoft Office. You'll think Office got a refresh. If you don't like the Ribbon, WPS takes but a single click to switch the interface back to the static menus so beloved by some they still clutch tightly to Office 2003.

Intangibles: WPS has a free version, which makes you view ads if you use some of its more advanced features such as Mail Merge or PDF exporting. To avoid the ads, you'll need to spend $45 per year per user, or $80 for a lifetime license. Those prices are far under Microsoft's, but that's still some bucks. Maybe getting free versions for all your mobile devices will help ease the pain.

Most Powerful: WordPerfect Office X8

Rating: 4 stars
Price: $195

Your gray hairs tingle at the mention of WordPerfect, right? Once the undisputed leader in word processing, multiple corporate mistakes slid this program slowly out of sight. But WordPerfect has forged a path apart from Microsoft Office by focusing on the legal market, and added some nice features that Office has yet to produce.

Compatibility: Do not buy WordPerfect if Office file format compatibility is important. Buy WordPerfect because you need a workhorse that doesn't care it looks different and acts different than the market leader. If your files stay inside your company, WordPerfect can improve your office suite production in several ways.

Familiarity: Not much, since it makes no effort to feel or act like Microsoft Office. And there have been so many improvements that users from the past who loved WordPerfect won't recognize it.

Intangibles: Unapologetically different, but powerful and complete. In several ways, Office lags behind WordPerfect. In market share, WordPerfect is in the same scrum as LibreOffice and OpenOffice. Unlike the free Open Source Software options, WordPerfect is just as expensive as Office, but it might be a bit better.

LibreOffice 5

Rating: 3.5 stars
Price: Free

This OpenOffice sibling, split by a corporate divorce, may be gaining in popularity, but it's a close race. Not much separates the two. Updates come faster, it's a bit more colorful, and most Linux distributions now include LibreOffice in place of OpenOffice.

Compatibility: LibreOffice may be very slightly better able to handle some Office documents that OpenOffice struggles to embrace. This isn't a big problem: basic and moderately involved documents will be no problem, either, and LibreOffice may handle a small percentage of complicated Office files slightly better.

Familiarity: The look of Office 2003 lives on with a makeover. Menus are where you expect and do what you expect. All the nostalgic goodies described with OpenOffice are here, a bit more colorfully.

Intangibles: The other major Free and Open Source Software headliner, LibreOffice, seems just a bit more polished than OpenOffice. And there is at least one big feature added: Remote Files. This makes it easier to store and retrieve files on remote services like Google Drive and SharePoint servers. Not a huge deal, but handy for SharePoint users and a few others.

Cool other feature? Auto-word completion in LibreOffice can really save some typing time once you get used to it. This handy feature, along with the Remote Files capability, should persuade you to check out LibreOffice before OpenOffice.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2

Rating: 3.5 stars
Price: Free

One of the two major free and fully featured Office alternatives, OpenOffice 4.1 looks like Microsoft just forgot to upgrade after Office 2003. No Ribbon interface, no collaboration beyond comments and track changes, and few compatibility issues.

Compatibility: OpenOffice will read and write Office files just as they are. Not quite as compatible as WPS Office, OpenOffice does a good job on the majority of Office files. Only the most complex will cause problems.

Free Alternatives To Microsoft Office

Familiarity: The interface is totally compatible with Office 2003 – if you liked that menu structure, you'll love OpenOffice. All the keystroke shortcuts you remember will work. Features are where you expect to find them.

Free Office Suite

Intangibles: Free and Open Source Software means just that: free. Linux versions of OpenOffice make it easy for Linux and Windows PC users to coexist in the same office working on the same files. That can be a nice situation. But LibreOffice, its software sibling, looks fresher and has a couple of small advantages.