Microsoft Office is probably the best productivity suite which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other tools. It packs a lot of features, but it’s also a paid tool, and not all people can afford MS Office. For those who cannot shell out that much money, there are a lot of alternatives, which does the basic functionalities of Word processing or excel sheets and are also free to use. Here is a list of the best free Microsoft Office alternatives.
In this post, we will list out the best offline and online free alternatives to Microsoft Office.
Offline Alternatives (Desktop Apps):
1. OpenOffice.org:
OpenOffice needs no introduction, it is one of the popular free word processing software. OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. OpenOffice’s latest version is 4 and it incorporates an array of new features and enhancements to all its core components. You can download the latest version from here. OpenOffice also supports a variety of extensions.
Related Reading: How to Get Microsoft Office for Free
2. AbiWord:
AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft Word. It is suitable for a wide variety of word processing tasks. It supports Microsoft Word documents, OpenOffice documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages, etc.
3. WPS Office:
WPS Office is another suite of Office tools that is available across multiple platforms including Windows, Android, and iOS. Its office suite consisting of Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheets, plus PDF tools to fulfill all of your document needs. The interface of the app is also quite good and offers features similar to Microsoft Office.
4. Free Office:
Free Office also offers support for Microsoft Office files and is supported on Windows and Linux. FreeOffice 2016 opens Word document in DOC and DOCX formats, XLS and XLSX format Excel worksheets, and PowerPoint presentations in PPT and PPTX formats loss-free. It offers a good set of features for document editing and you can download it from here.
5. Libre Office:Â
LibreOffice is a powerful office suite and packs a clean interface and feature-rich tools that help you unleash your creativity and enhance your productivity. LibreOffice is compatible with a wide range of document formats such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher. You can download it from here.
6. Jarte:
Jarte is a word processor that handles Microsoft Word 95, 97, 2000 documents, rich text format (RTF) documents, and plain text (ASCII) documents. It boasts of a good user interface which is easy to use as well. Jarte also has a plus version which has more features and a paid version.
7. Calligra:
Calligra is an office suite of Windows and Linux. It contains applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, databases, vector graphics, and also digital painting. The suite includes multiple apps including Words, Sheets, Karbon, Gemini, and Plan. You can download it from here.
Online Alternatives:
The above list is for desktop apps, now if you are looking for online alternatives, here are the best ones available.
1. Office Online:
Office Online is Microsoft’s own online tool which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and more. It comes with all the basic editing options and you can sync your notes across multiple PCs and these documents are available from any location. You can sign up for Office Online here.
2. Google Docs:
Google Docs need no introduction and it is one of the best online suites of application which offers documents, excel sheets and also presentation tool. You just need to sign in to your Google Account and start using them. Google also allows multiple user collaboration and you can access all your files online.
3. Zoho
Zoho offers online applications to manage your documents and excel files. There is a free plan available which offers 5GB of cloud storage and you can write and edit documents online with our built-in Zoho Office editors. You can sign up for Zoho from here.
Or, if you want to go even more lightweight:
1. Pathetic Writer (Linux)
2. Ted (Linux
3. KPad (Windows, part of Floppy Office)
Nice list Nirmal , i have tried open office and easy office , will try out the others also .
used abiword once and believe simplicity is one of its strengths. openoffice screwed my Word tables, if they can improve on that, I will be more willing to convert my (proprietary) MS Office.
I tried open office, its pretty good.
Also, IBM lotus seems to be good too. I’ll definitely give it a try.
You seem to be going after list posts!
I’ve tried #1 and #2. While #2 is recommended for anyone with just simple wordprocessing needs, I’d say go for OOo – its more powerful, and though not yet as good as MS Office, its getting there.
And I’ve heard great things about NeoOffice, so Macsters should probably try that 😉
Guess the best would be staroffice…
http://indyankk.blogspot.com/2007/09/get-sun-microsystems-staroffice-for.html
Good list nirmal, Open office and Abiword are good ones.
Back when I was using windows, there was a 602 Office suit – that was my favorite.
Though there alternatives but Microsoft office still rulez.
Haven’t tried Ultrapad yet. I’ve tried Abiword and Open Office and those were great. I think I’ll try Ultrapad too
602 Software has a great alternative system too.
From my experience, OpenOfice & AbiWord blow chunks on the Mac platform. Bean is, imho, the best free word processor for Macs
@Jake,
Thanks for the add.
@Sumesh,
List posts are the best ones for traffic and also useful for readers.
@Binny,
Never heard about 602 Office suit, will try it.
@Jennifer,
Thanks for the link.
Mike,
I do not use Mac currently, so I cannot check out Bean, thanks for the info.
I remember that I’ve done this kind of post before 😆
Anyway, you’ve got some new programs in the list….its good to see more and more companies releasing something for the users to stay away from expensive MS OFFICE SUITE!
@Mayank,
I didnt know that you have done is similar one before. Yea, its good to see some open source and freeware for MS office replacement. 😀
Nice list nirmal
very good post buddy!, open office is the best of all free word processors according to me, what do you say guys?
Nirmal, good list. I had recently written a post also on how many open source alternatives there are to Office. Thanks!
very good post buddy.. here is one coool free software you missed
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/PagePlus/wordCompare.asp
@Nicolas,
Thanks for that information.
Gonna try StarOffice sooner âž¡ http://www.download.com/StarOffice/3000-2064_4-10731878.html – I really mean a TRY. 🙂
Microsoft Office is one of the few software suites that one can work with efficiently, you should try alternatives for OTHER programs which .. well, suck.
You forgot to mention the ThinkFree suite, google it up, they have a free version.
NeoOffice is a great alternative to Microsoft Office on the Mac platfrom. It has almost the same features, but is completely free. However, I think that Google Docs is going to be the main rival of Microsoft Office in the future. It’s all going to be in the “cloud”. Personally I still prefer to use Microsoft Word, it just feels the best, it offers the best user experience plus great set of features.
Where is SSuite Office? The have a whole range of free office suites that will fit anyone’s needs. They even have an online office suite that runs directly in your web browser, no Cloud or Login necessary! { https://www.ssuiteoffice.com/SSuiteWebOffice.htm }
Other than missing an obvious high caliber participant, nice list of free software. 🙂