{"id":18251,"date":"2011-07-07T15:57:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-07T13:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=18251"},"modified":"2025-07-02T01:59:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T08:59:05","slug":"free-microsoft-word-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/free-microsoft-word-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Microsoft Word Alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s no doubt that Microsoft Word<\/a><\/strong> is the best word processing<\/strong> program around. Like most luxury products, however, it comes with a hefty price tag. Even if you decide to get a Microsoft Word trial, you can’t download the program individually – you must download the whole Microsoft Office<\/a><\/strong> suite, and it’s a monster. Even once you manage to get the beast installed on your machine, you’ll only be able to use it for 60 days before you need to pay up nearly $400<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

So, what’s to be done? Luckily, there are a bunch of great free Microsoft Word alternatives<\/strong>, each of them perfect for a different purpose. Keep reading, and we’ll show you how to get all of the functionality without the tyranny of Word!<\/p>\n

Just need to read a Word document?<\/h3>\n

If you just need to read a Word document, but not change or modify it in any way, then you have things really easy. Just download Microsoft Office Word Viewer<\/a><\/strong>, an official Microsoft product that does exactly what it promises – it lets you open and read Word documents<\/strong>, even if you don’t have the program installed!
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Complete Office replacement<\/h3>\n

OpenOffice.org<\/a><\/strong> is one of the first Office replacements that pops into peoples’ minds. There’s a good reason for this – it’s probably the most complete on offer. Of course, the Word alternative – Writer<\/strong> – is one of its major components. Although not quite as user-friendly, it’s the closest to Microsoft Word<\/strong> and the other apps that make up Office. It’s also available for Mac<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Don’t like OpenOffice?<\/h3>\n

If you’ve tried OpenOffice but weren’t impressed, check out LibreOffice<\/a><\/strong>. The Word alternative here, Text Document<\/strong>, is highly versatile and, as an added attraction, looks like older versions of Word<\/strong>, which is perfect for nostalgic types who have never been able to love the ribbon interface! Also available for Mac<\/a><\/strong>.
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Freedom from the desktop<\/h3>\n

If you’re happy about working online, then you’d be mad to miss Google Docs Document<\/strong> feature. The Google Docs<\/a><\/strong> suite – available as long as you have a Google account – is absolutely perfect for basic documents<\/strong>, and you’ll be able to format, print and save to your desktop with the greatest of ease. It’s also compatible with Microsoft Word, so even if you create a document online, someone opening it in a desktop app will have no problems at all.<\/p>\n

Diehard Word fans<\/h3>\n

If you’ve tried the others, but still miss the familiar, flexible landscape of Microsoft Word, then you have to check out the Word<\/strong> app that comes as part of Windows Live Office<\/a><\/strong>. OK, so you’ll need a Windows Live account to use it, but once you’re in, it’s like a pared-down version of the Office classic<\/strong>. It saves to .DOCX and has exactly the same layout of the desktop app, so you’ll feel at home almost immediately.<\/p>\n

Is there another app that you use instead of Microsoft Word? If we’ve missed it, let us know in the comments below and we’ll review it as soon as possible!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s no doubt that Microsoft Word is the best word processing program around. Like most luxury products, however, it comes with a hefty price tag. Even if you decide to get a Microsoft Word trial, you can’t download the program individually – you must download the whole Microsoft Office suite, and it’s a monster. Even … Continue reading “Free Microsoft Word Alternatives”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[2518,2441],"tags":[3221],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-18251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guides","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionmicrosoft-word"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18251","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\/2022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334190,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18251\/revisions\/334190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18251"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=18251"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=18251"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=18251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}