{"id":148172,"date":"2019-10-14T15:51:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T15:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=148172"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:29:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:29:34","slug":"microsoft-office-free-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/microsoft-office-free-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Office for free? Try these great alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Free<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever used your PC to do anything even remotely productive, chances are you\u2019ve used Microsoft Office. The Microsoft productivity suite has always been the most popular suite of programs built to help you write documents, draw up spreadsheets, prepare presentations, and more. Microsoft Office is an institution.<\/p>\n

As with most other established institutions, however, the Microsoft\u00a0Office suite comes with a hefty price tag. The reliability that you get from an established productivity suite comes at a premium. If you balk at the idea of paying out for your productivity programs, then you\u2019ll be glad to know that it doesn\u2019t have to be that way. Let\u2019s go through some of the best alternatives to Microsoft Office that you can use for free.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Microsoft\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Microsoft Office<\/span>\r\n Download Microsoft Office Now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Microsoft Office alternatives for free<\/h2>\n

Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s own productivity suite, linked to Google Drive, hasn\u2019t been around as long as the Microsoft offering. It has, however, quickly gained a strong reputation for reliability and ease of use across multiple devices. Docs is a cloud-based suite of apps that uses the powers of modern web browsers to do all the heavy lifting. Although the programs are all online-first pieces of software they can all be made available for offline use too, so that you don\u2019t have to worry about being connected to the internet before you start work.<\/p>\n

You do need an account but once you have a Google account, which will give you access to Gmail and Google Drive’s cloud storage you\u2019ll also then be free to use the Google Docs suite as you wish. Although many IT departments still rely heavily on the likes of Microsoft\u00a0Word and Excel, Google Docs and Google Sheets offer amazing real-time collaborative capabilities making them perfect for team-based projects. This means Google Docs is the best free alternative to Microsoft Office for teams and IT managers should look into the enterprise level G Suite offering of the service.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Google\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Google Docs<\/span>\r\n download free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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SoftMaker Free Office<\/h3>\n
\"Free
Image via: SoftMaker<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Free Office is the original free alternative to MS\u00a0Office. The program has been around since 1987 and not only looks very similar to the Microsoft productivity suite, thanks to a recent update, it is also fully compatible with all Microsoft\u00a0office files like DOCX and XLSX as well as many other file formats.<\/p>\n

As the name suggests, Free Office is completely free to use, although you will have to register an account with the developer SoftMaker before you\u2019ll receive your download link. It is available across multiple operating systems for Windows, Mac, and Linux users.<\/p>\n

We recommend Free Office as the best free\u00a0Microsoft Office alternative for anybody who is already used to Microsoft Office but no longer wants to pay for it.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"SoftMaker\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n SoftMaker FreeOffice<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Microsoft\u00a0Office Online<\/h3>\n

\"Office<\/p>\n

Another great option for former Microsoft Office users looking to take the strain off their wallets is Microsoft\u2019s new online versions of the major Office programs. All are free to use. Microsoft\u00a0Office Online gives access to cloud-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and more. Although not as fully featured as the apps associated with an Office 365 subscription, this is still a great online office suite. It should be more than enough for most casual users who simply want a way to edit documents.<\/p>\n

Office Online can be used across multiple operating systems using different web browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. It can run with files stored locally on your PC as well as those stored on your Microsoft OneDrive. You will, however, need a Microsoft account before you can use Office Online.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Office\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Office Online<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Libre Office<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Libre Office has been around in its current form since 2010 when it split from Free Office and has never failed to impress. Stemming from The Document Foundation, Libre Office is free and\u00a0open-source\u00a0software meaning it is worked on by a global community of collaborating developers.<\/p>\n

With Libre Office, you\u2019ll find comparable programs to Microsoft\u00a0Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and more. You\u2019ll also be able to run Libre Office on Microsoft Windows devices as well as Apple devices running Mac OS. Libre Office works on Linux machines too. There is also a Libre Office app for viewing your PDF files on Android devices and a plethora of add-ons to play around with too.<\/p>\n

The only real downside associated with Libre Office is regarding compatibility with Libre files often experiencing formatting irregularities when viewed and edited in other programs.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"LibreOffice\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n LibreOffice<\/span>\r\n Download LibreOffice<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Open Office<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Open Office by The Apache Software Foundation is another Microsoft Office alternative you can get for free that has a long history behind it. Open Office first appeared over 20 years ago and ever since, Apache has been updating, tweaking, and refining it. It is a great free\u00a0office\u00a0suite, offers strong alternatives to all of the core Microsoft Office programs, and can be installed on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.<\/p>\n

Apache\u00a0Open Office is similar to Libre Office in that it is open-source\u00a0software, but it also shares Libre Office\u2019s compatibility issues. Both use the open-source Open Document Format, which means you\u2019ll be able to open versions of your Open Office\u00a0documents on other programs but you might experience a few inconsistencies with the fonts and formatting.<\/p>\n

\r\n
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\r\n \"Apache\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Apache OpenOffice<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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OfficeSuite<\/h3>\n

\"OfficeSuite<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve owned an Amazon Kindle Fire or a Toshiba, Sony, or Alcatel device you might already be familiar with OfficeSuite by MobiSystems. All those devices come with OfficeSuite pre-installed. If you\u2019ve never owned one of those devices before, and you\u2019re looking for a free alternative to Microsoft Office or free word\u00a0processing capabilities, it might be worth your time familiarizing yourself with what OfficeSuite has to offer.<\/p>\n

OfficeSuite comes in a number of payment tiers with the basic offering being the free version, which gives access to a number of features. These include the ability to view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents as well as being able to view PDF\u00a0files. Admittedly, this is a very basic offering indeed, but it does meet the needs of many users and it’ll also give access to sharing platforms like Dropbox and iCloud. The main issue, however, is that basic users will be pushed heavily into taking out a paid subscription that will allow them to use OfficeSuite across their desktop, tablet, and smartphone.<\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n
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\r\n \"OfficeSuite\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n OfficeSuite<\/span>\r\n Download now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Final recommendations<\/h5>\n

We\u2019ve been through quite a few free\u00a0Microsoft Office alternatives for you to consider. As we\u2019ve already pointed out we think that using Google\u2019s online programs, like the word\u00a0processor Docs and spreadsheet builder Sheets, offers the best experience for teams.<\/p>\n

For anybody already used to the Microsoft Office layout, we\u2019d recommend Free Office as developer SoftMaker has worked hard to make the experience as similar to that offered by Microsoft Office as is possible.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re new to the game, however, and you\u2019re looking for your first productivity suite, we\u2019d recommend Libre Office. You can install it on your device for free and as well as offering reliable alternatives to the Microsoft Office programs, it also offers added apps like Math and Draw.<\/p>\n

Other programs worth considering are WPS Office<\/a> and Apple’s iWork<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don’t need to pay premium prices to gain access to the premium features you expect from Microsoft Office. These are the best free alternatives to Microsoft Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":148177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[3150],"tags":[2319,1358,1072,1060,1406,1036],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-148172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionmicrosoft-office-2007","tag-free","tag-microsoft","tag-microsoft-office","tag-office-365","tag-productivity"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325456,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148172\/revisions\/325456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148172"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=148172"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=148172"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=148172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}