Looking for Microsoft Office alternatives or competitors? You’re in the right place.
Microsoft Office is a longtime leader in office productivity software for professionals and individuals. But today, thanks to technology, several Microsoft Office alternatives provide the same features, compatibility, and improved functionality.
Also, part of why people look for Microsoft Office alternatives may be because of the cost that can be a bit out of reach, especially if you're running a small business.
The free Microsoft Office alternatives can also be just as good, if not somewhat better, than some paid versions.
In this guide, we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best Microsoft Office alternatives and competitors, including Google Workspace, iWork, OpenOffice, WPS Office, LibreOffice, and more.
Content Outline
- What is Microsoft Office
- 11 Microsoft Office Alternatives
- Summary: Best Microsoft Office Alternatives
- TrulyOffice
- Google Workspace
- iWork (Apple Office Suite)
- OpenOffice (Apache OpenOffice)
- LibreOffice
- WPS Office
- OfficeSuite
- OnlyOffice
- Word Perfect
- Free Office
- Zoho Office (Zoho Workplace)
- Polaris Office
- How to choose the best Productivity Software
- Conclusion
What is Microsoft Office?
Microsoft Office is a suite of productivity applications developed by Microsoft.
It includes various programs used in various professional and personal settings to create, edit, manage, and share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, emails, and more.
Microsoft Office is widely regarded as the world's most popular and widely used office productivity suite.
Microsoft Office suite includes popular Office applications, such as
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft OneNote
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Project
- Microsoft OneDrive
- Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft Visio
- Microsoft SharePoint
- And more
The applications in Microsoft Office are designed to be used on various platforms, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The application works on Windows PC, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phones and other platforms.
The software is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, with a familiar user interface that is consistent across all applications.
There have been various Microsoft Office versions, which include but are not limited to
- Microsoft Office 2013
- Microsoft Office 2016
- Microsoft Office 2019
- Microsoft Office 2021
- Microsoft Office 365
- Microsoft Office for Mac
We have a great comparison of Office 2019 vs. Microsoft 365 to help you know which one to buy and a complete review of Office 365.
Users can get Microsoft Office in different editions such as personal, home, business, education (Student), and professional versions. The popular editions are:
- Microsoft Office Home and Student
- Microsoft Office Home and Business
- Microsoft Office Education
- Microsoft Office Professional
- Microsoft Office for Mac
Microsoft Office is set to be continued as Microsoft now focuses on Microsoft 365, a cloud-based platform that offers the same features and applications as Microsoft Office.
Summary: Best Microsoft Office Alternatives
Here are the best Microsoft Office alternative productivity suits by category:
→ Truly Office: Best full suite of office software that integrates into your life so seamlessly you’ll actually be productive.
→ Google Workspace: Best Overall Microsoft Office Alternative
→ iWork/Apple Office Suite: Best Microsoft Office Alternative for Mac
→ Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice: Best open-source office suite
→ WPS Office: Best Online Microsoft Office Alternative
→ OfficeSuite: Best Competing Features
→ OnlyOffice: OnlyOffice: Smart MS Office alternative for light documentation
→ Word Perfect: Best Microsoft Office alternative for legal professionals
→ FreeOffice: Best free alternative to Microsoft Office
→ Zoho Workplace: Best for Text File Sharing
→ Polaris Office: Best Ease-of-Use
Top 12 Best Microsoft Office Alternatives and Competitors
The following are our top 10 best Microsoft Office alternatives:
#1 Truly Office
Truly Office is a comprehensive software suite that seamlessly integrates into users' lives, promoting productivity and collaboration. It offers fully customizable packages tailored to meet various business needs.
The suite is accessible across multiple devices and operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, ensuring users can easily work from anywhere.
Key features of Truly Office include:
- Device Compatibility: Works on PC, tablets, and mobile devices, enabling users to access their documents anytime and anywhere.
- Cross-Platform Support: Available on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, providing a consistent experience across different devices.
- Truly Office Drive: A cloud storage solution to conveniently store and access documents.
- Web Access: Users can view and edit data directly from a web browser without installing Microsoft Office separately.
- Truly Office Tools: Offers PDF image conversion, compression, password setting/removal, merging, and dividing functions without collecting personal information or documents.
- Word Processing: Provides advanced editing tools for efficient document creation.
- Spreadsheets: Comes with built-in formulas and charts for effective data management.
- Presentations: Offers customizable templates and animations for creating impressive slides.
- Email Inbox: Features inbox management and an integrated calendar for seamless email and scheduling.
Truly Office emphasizes increased productivity and efficiency with advanced editing and collaboration tools. It positions itself as a cost-effective alternative to Microsoft Office and other software, allowing users to work on documents across different formats on a single PC with a registered license key.
With its user-friendly interface and the ability to access files from any location, Truly Office aims to enhance the overall office experience for businesses and individuals.
#2. Google Workspace: Best Overall Microsoft Office Alternative
Founded in 2006, Google Workspace (Formerly G-Suit) enables teams of all sizes to connect, create and collaborate. It ranks as the first Microsoft Office alternative.
Its key features include Collaboration, cloud-based storage, real-time editing, and sharing capabilities.
It includes a comprehensive suite of productivity and collaboration tools for all the ways that we work. Included applications are:
- Gmail - Meet - Chat -Calendar - Drive - Docs - Sheets - Slides - Forms - Sites
- Keep - Apps Script - Cloud Search - And many more.
Google Workstation works great on Windows, Mac, Linux, and any other computer platforms with any modern web browser. This makes it an excellent tool for collaboration features, providing seamless real-time editing and sharing capabilities, making it an ideal choice for teams and remote work.
For non-business (personal or individual) users, you can do everything with a free Google account. For businesses, Google Workspace starts at $6 per user per month.
#3. iWork (Apple Office Suite): Best Microsoft Office Alternative for Mac
Founded in 2005, iWork is Apple's version of Microsoft Office.
iWork is built into macOS, but Windows users can also install it on PCs. Apple also offers a web-based version compatible with the latest Safari, Chrome, and Microsoft Edge versions that integrate fully with iCloud.
Called Apple Office Suite, iWork can be an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office for macOS users or other Apple users who prioritize compatibility and user-friendliness.
The integration with Apple devices, intuitive interface, and rich media capabilities also make iWork a good alternative for Mac and iOS users who prefer rich media.
iWork consists of the following key features:
- Pages (word processor)
- Numbers (spreadsheet)
- Keynote (presentation software)
- iCloud
Read here: How to open .Pages File Format in Windows and Microsoft Word.
It seamlessly integrates with Apple devices, offering a smooth user experience.
While it’s not as popular as the Microsoft and Google suites, Apple Office Suite is a great choice for occasional use and solo needs. All your work is stored in iCloud, where you can retrieve it anytime.
Read here: Microsoft Office vs. iWork: Which is the Best Office Suite?
#4. OpenOffice (Apache OpenOffice): Best open-source office software suite
Founded in 2000, Apache OpenOffice is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.
Apache OpenOffice features six personal productivity applications:
- Word processor (and its web-authoring component)
- Spreadsheet creation
- Presentation graphics
- Drawing
- Equation editor
- Database
OpenOffice is a completely free and open-source office suite that offers a range of applications, including Writer, Calc, Impress, and more. It supports Microsoft Office formats, making it easy to collaborate and share files with Office users while providing a familiar interface.
It is compatible with Windows, Linux and macOS, with more communities joining, including ports for FreeBSD and OS/2. OpenOffice is localized, supporting over 110 languages worldwide.
Apache OpenOffice is a great choice for people or businesses on a small budget and comfortable with using open-source office software.
#5. LibreOffice: Open-source office software suite
Founded in 2010, LibreOffice is the power-packed free, libre and open-source personal productivity suite for Windows, Macintosh and GNU/Linux.
LibreOffice is the successor to OpenOffice.org (commonly known as OpenOffice).
The Key Features of LibreOffice are:
- Writer
- Calc
- Impress
LibreOffice offers amazing compatibility with Microsoft Office formats, an easy-to-use interface, and extensive customization options. This makes it highly adaptable to individual preferences.
Its clean interface and feature-rich tools help unleash creativity and enhance productivity.
While it doesn’t get blowout reviews, LibreOffice has a very strong and dedicated user base who rave about the Writer, Calc, and Impress applications. It has a flexible interface that resembles Office but lacks integrated cloud storage or collaboration tools.
#6. WPS Office: Best Online Microsoft Office Alternative
Founded in 2016 by Kingsoft developers, WPS Office is an office suite that allows users to read, create & share office documents, presentations & spreadsheets. It's available for Windows, Linux-based PCs, Android, and iOS. The suite is available in various languages, including English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish and Russian.
WPS Office is a great choice if you need Office Suite software for basic office work. It supports various file formats and is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. It offers a free and a premium tier.
The free tier allows users to use key alternative features to the Microsoft Office suite like:
- Writer
- Presentation
- Spreadsheets
WPS also offers a cloud storage integration PDF to Word converter, which is fast and easy to use in the premium tier. It supports bulk exportation and can also split-merge PDF files if needed.
The suite offers 1GB of free cloud storage for iOS and PC users, but this service is not yet available for Android.
WPS Office provides a user-friendly interface and excellent compatibility with Microsoft Office file formats. It's a versatile choice for both personal and professional use.
#7. OfficeSuite: Best Microsoft Office Alternative for Competing Features
Founded in 2004, OfficeSuite by MobiSystems is Microsoft Office’s best-competing alternative in terms of features and productivity.
With OfficeSuite’s key Features like Word processing, spreadsheet creation, presentation software, PDF tools, calendar, cross-platform support, and more, you can:
- Fine-tune the text formatting and layout.
- Attach that important document and finish off by including a custom signature.
- Manage all of your email accounts and enjoy having them in full view at all times.
- Keep your inbox clean and organized at all times.
- Changes made offline will automatically be synced when you go online.
- Create events, send invites and merge all your schedules across email accounts in one Calendar so you are always on top of things.
OfficeSuite is a cross-platform office suite that offers a familiar interface, supports Microsoft Office formats, and provides various productivity tools, including PDF editing capabilities.
OfficeSuite is available for Windows, Android, and iOS devices. In addition, devices made by Amazon, Toshiba, Sony and Alcatel often come with OfficeSuite pre-installed. The OfficeSuite Android app has been named among the top applications for business.
With OfficeSuite, you can synchronize between devices using your OfficeSuite account, and only one license is needed for all your devices.
Like Microsoft Office, OfficeSuite has several tiers to choose from, each with different pricing, including:
- OfficeSuite Personal
- OfficeSuite Family
- OfficeSuite Home and Business
- OfficeSuite Business
- OfficeSuite Business Extra
The 'Basic' tier is free and allows users to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The suite has full compatibility with most formats, such as ODT, RTF, CSV, DOC, and ZIP. The free tier also enables users to view PDF documents and offers cloud support via services like Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive.
#8. OnlyOffice: Smart Ms Office alternative for light documentation
Founded in 2008, OnlyOffice is an open source office suite developed by Ascensio Systems SIA.
OnlyOffice is a smart MS Office alternative for light documentation. It is an online collaborative editing suite combining text, spreadsheet and presentation editors.
Key Features
- Document editing
- Spreadsheets
- Presentations
- Real-time collaboration
- Project management
- Calendar
OnlyOffice offers a comprehensive set of productivity tools for collaboration and project management. It provides real-time co-authoring, document version control, and seamless integration with popular cloud storage services, making it a suitable choice for teams and businesses.
It is available in over 22 languages and boasts Oracle being one of their leading clients.
The completely free version, the 'Community Edition,' is most suited for small businesses and allows up to 20 connections at once. The suite is very useful for order fulfillment and documenting sales.
It supports third-party integration and also allows you to create your own Mailboxes with the 'Mail' tool.
#9. Word Perfect: Best Microsoft Office alternative for legal professionals
Founded in 1979, WordPerfect is the true alternative to Microsoft Office’s Microsoft Word.
It is an all-in-one office suite that delivers the power, productivity and compatibility today's home and business users need.
WordPerfect was most popular in the 80's where it was known for its DOS and Microsoft Windows versions. Microsoft Office soon eclipsed it upon its release.
It is an all-in-one office suite with:
- Word processor
- Spreadsheet program
- Slideshow creator.
WordPerfect’S latest version now includes improved photo-editing and management.
Like other office suites WordPerfect can save to many different formats such as DOCX, PDF and HTML. The common file extensions for WordPerfect files is WPD. It also offers ebooks publishing and macro management.
While WordPerfect is a reasonable program, many early Windows adopters may remember it fondly. It's a preferred choice for users who require precise control over their documents, such as legal professionals.
#10. FreeOffice: Best free alternative to Microsoft Office
Founded in 2010, FreeOffice by SoftMaker is the best free alternative to Microsoft Office for personal and business use. It is developed for Windows, Mac and Linux and offers a basic version for Android users.
Key Features
- Word processing
- Spreadsheet creation
- presentation software
- Free PDF
- Microsoft Office compatibility
- Intuitive user interface
- Ease of use
- Integration with FlexiPDF also by SoftMaker
Since its foundation in 1987, SoftMaker has been developing office software: word processor (TextMaker), spreadsheet (PlanMaker), presentation graphics (SoftMaker Presentations) and database software (DataMaker).
The "flagship" product SoftMaker Office is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Google Android.
FreeOffice’s modern and intuitive interface makes it easy to use for personal and professional purposes.
#11. Zoho Office Suite (Zoho Workplace): Best for Text File Sharing for Small Teams
Zoho Office Suite is your secure, collaborative work platform beautifully integrated across systems to make you exponentially more productive.
Founded in 2005, Zoho Office Suite is a cloud or web-based online office suite containing key MS Office alternatives such as
- Word processing
- Spreadsheets
- Presentations
- Databases
- Note-taking
- Wikis
- Web conferencing
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Project management
- Invoicing
- And other applications
Why is Zoho Office Suite a good alternative?
Zoho Office, part of Zoho Workplace, offers a suite of applications for a workplace setting and what Microsoft Office offers, making it an excellent choice for teams and businesses.
It's certainly closer to a desktop MS Office package and strong enough to have attracted businesses like the BBC and Nike as regular users.
In addition, Zoho Office helps teams embrace different working styles. You can still do all your work together in the office or remotely. Collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations with your colleagues, clients or partners from across the globe.
Your documents are also automatically saved on the cloud, letting you or your team quickly access them whenever, wherever. It's also tied with our content collaboration platform WorkDrive—the unified repository of the files all your teams are working on.
#12. Polaris Office: Best ease of use Microsoft Office Alternative
Polaris Office is a free application to view, edit & share Microsoft Office-compatible documents on your mobile device or PC.
Founded in 2014, Polaris Office is developed by Intraware and available for Android, iOS, Windows and macOS. It is a popular office suite amongst businesses, including Amazon and Samsung.
Polaris Office has both cloud and desktop platforms and offers free, subscription and lifetime licenses as well as mobile versions.
While the free version is very generous, there is a business version to which you can upgrade.
Why is it a good alternative?
Polaris Office is a cloud-based productivity suite available for multiple platforms. It offers a clean and intuitive interface and a wide range of document creation, editing, and collaboration features. Polaris Office seamlessly integrates with popular cloud storage services, allowing easy access to files from anywhere.
This powerful suite allows you to edit many different file formats, including PPT, XLS, DOCX and HWP. As your account synchronizes amongst your devices, you can edit and create from wherever you are. All your data is secured by AWS (Amazon Web Services).
With the latest edition of Polaris, you can now convert and edit PDF documents. Users can also convert voice and image files to documents if needed.
The suite supports several languages, such as French, German, Korean, English and Russian.
The only real criticism of Polaris is that while the free edition offers a huge range of features, the ads can sometimes be a little distracting.
How to choose the best Office Suite Productivity Software
If you're looking to find the best alternative to Microsoft Office, here are some important factors to consider for your choice:
- Ease of Use: Look for an office suite that is both easy to use and user-friendly. This allows even those who don't consider themselves techies to quickly become comfortable with the software.
- Features: What features does Microsoft Office have that you can get in the alternative software? What features doesn’t MS Office have that you can find in the alternative software? If a software provides both, it might be your best MS alternative suit.
- Teamwork: The capability to offer collaboration features and allows teams to share work/documents with others is incredibly helpful, especially if it's cloud-based.
- File Types: To ensure that everyone in your company can open and edit documents, ensure the software you choose supports all file types you need.
- Security: In today’s digital world, security is a key feature to consider when looking into productivity suits and alternatives to Microsoft Word. To ensure your data and any important information stay safe, use only official websites to download apps.
- Cost: Microsoft Office is a popular product because of its features, ease of use, great collaboration, wonderful user interface and cost. But smaller or larger teams can find alternatives to Microsoft Office that fit within their budget.
- Compatibility with your device: Whether you use Mac, Windows, Linux or Android, it's a good idea to ensure your software is compatible with the device you are working from.
- What tools are included: Be mindful of the tools and the features you and your team need. Ensure that those options are included in the software of your choice.
- Storage: How much storage is available? Storage space, especially for cloud-based services, is a key factor in choosing alternatives to Microsoft Office. Also, make sure to note if you can increase the storage space in case the needs of your company change.
Use Microsoft Office for Productivity
While Microsoft Office remains dominant in the productivity software market, numerous alternatives cater to diverse user needs.
Whether you're looking for free options, compatibility with Microsoft Office formats, collaboration, or specific applications, you can get a viable alternative to Microsoft Office.
By exploring these options we’ve provided, you can find a suitable office suite that meets your requirements, enhances productivity, and provides a seamless user experience.
Get Microsoft Office from SoftwareKeep.
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