Best Microsoft Office Alternatives That You Need to Try

Microsoft Office is unquestionably the most popular office suite for both students and professionals. For obvious reasons, it offers the best compatibility for every file type and is easy to use.

Not just limited its features and usability, but the seamless integration with Windows 10 could prove to be an unmatched experience.

But, not everyone needs the “ultimate office suite” or probably do not want to spend a penny for basic tasks while using a word processor, spreadsheet, and so on. So, we compiled a list of Microsoft Office alternatives for such users.

Top Microsoft Office Alternatives

The alternatives to Microsoft Office are in no particular order of ranking. Choose what suits you the best.

1. LibreOffice (Free & Open-Source)

LibreOffice is potentially the most popular free and open-source alternative to Microsoft Office suite. You should get many essential features with LibreOffice.

The compatibility of file formats will not be a big deal for simple content. However, if you have made some heavy customizations, it may break when importing or exporting in LibreOffice. Of course, that will remain a drawback for most of the Microsoft Office alternatives, but LibreOffice should be a decent experience for the most part.

2. OpenOffice (Free & Open Source)

OpenOffice by Apache is a quite useful office suite for users with basic requirements and for the ones who rely on a uniform experience over the years without significant changes to the features.

It may not be the best bet by the modern standards but if you want something to work without breaking, OpenOffice can be a simple solution to your answer.

3. Google Docs (Free)

Unlike some others on this list, this is not a standalone app as an alternative to Office suite. If you work online and want to utilize an online office suite, Google Docs should be a great choice.

It supports importing/exporting most of the popular file formats, and you can also use it offline if you lose access to the Internet suddenly. The best thing about it is you can easily share and collaborate on your documents or spreadsheets (with Google Sheets).

4. CryptPad (Free & Open Source with Paid options)

CryptPad is yet another web-based alternative Microsoft Office. It does not offer all the features that you get with Microsoft’s Office suite – however, it focuses more on security and privacy of your documents by encrypting them without knowing the contents.

So, if you were looking for a security-oriented office suite, CryptPad can be a perfect pick.

5. SoftMaker Office (Free and Paid options)

SoftMaker is an impressive alternative which is also available for Linux. It offers a free version and paid options.

You can try out the free version to get your first impressions and then compare the features that you get with the paid edition. Compared to some others, you might notice a better user experience with compatibility with various file formats.

6. WPS Office (Free & Paid options)

WPS Office is a quite popular offering from the Chinese software developer KingSoft. The user interface is definitely a plus point for WPS Office along with all the essential features that you usually get with Microsoft Office suite.

If you are worried about the privacy policy, you may just use the program without enabling the cloud save feature.

Wrapping Up

You might find more Microsoft Office alternatives but here we try to pick only the ones that would offer the best compatibility and regular updates for improvement. Do you have a favorite that is not on this list?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Ankush Das
Categories: Computers
Tags: Microsoft, office