6 Best Alternatives to Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is one of the productivity beast software. But still, it gets a bit expensive for home or business users. You know the cost is pretty expensive.

Microsoft Office has been the perfect compact system that everybody would use. But nowadays after the excessive price range, many of us have started to look for other options.

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In other words, if you are looking for best alternatives to Microsoft Office then you have come to the right place. You know there are some great alternatives to Microsoft office that only a handful knows.

And today, I’ll be giving you the best alternatives to Microsoft Office. The choices will allow you the freedom to create and edit along with even being compatible with the files of Microsoft Office suite.

Though, there are only a handful of programs that are worth your time and your money. And the list ranges from office clones to cloud collaboration. Now enough with the chit chat, let’s see what better solution you could have to Microsoft Office.

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Cheap but Powerful MS Office alternatives

1. WPS Office

This alternative comes with the Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheet all like Microsoft Office. They all kind of copy the office suite. But there is an extra suite for PDF conversions where you can import and export files in a friendly manner.

All the files created by this program will be compatible with Microsoft Office and vice versa. Along with Windows, it is also compatible with Android and MacOS. So, you don’t have to worry about the compatibility.

This Office suite can be the best alternative if you are used to Word tools and want to keep using the same features but on an alternative. If you don’t want to learn or go through any tutorials for the alternative and this is the right one for you.

Even the templates are like Office suites templates. So, you see this alternative is just like Microsoft Office but with a different name. So, if you choose this one, it’s going to be much easier than you expect.

Nevertheless, it didn’t copy all the things from Microsoft, but it has some features of its own too! Like, organic ways to change paragraph layout with your mouse, advanced section navigation, and document tabs and much more.

WPS Office - Alternatives to Microsoft Office

Lastly, I would recommend this one for laptops and school works. But if you want to use a more professional level tool this might not be the one for you.

ProsCons
  • Has a wide collection of powerful tools
  • PDF conversion tool
  • Also, supports cloud storage for a better solution
  • Cloud storage space is insufficient
  • There is no database application
  • There are ads on some features
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2. FreeOffice

SoftMaker’s FreeOffice is the best alternative there is. It comes with the full compatibility DOC, DOX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, and PPT file formats. The developers put a lot of work into making it loss-free software. Meaning that if you transfer your files to word, there would be no data loss.

And this one makes it the best alternative to Microsoft Office. The software also has a very clean interface. You will be amazed to see it’s more like Office with the same kind of user-friendly interface. So, you won’t have any problem working on it.

Even the toolbars are of the same kind as Office. The further updates made sure it’s relatively fast and quick to respond.

Excel’s alternative called PlanMaker will give you features such as conditional formatting and pivot tables. The best thing is that you don’t have to go through tutorials to use this alternative.

It will also help to create PDF files and ePUB files, track document changes, and switch between languages and much more. Also, spell check and smart typing will make it easier for you.

Free Office - Microsoft Office Alternatives

ProsCons
  • All the programs support automatic spell check
  • Supports installation of selected programs
  • Will open files found in the other office programs
  • Works with Windows, Linux, and Android operating systems
  • Free of cost for both personal and commercial use
  • Doesn’t support the newer MS Office file format
  • You have to give your email address to download and receive the product key
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3. LibreOffice

LibreOffice gives competition to Microsoft Office. The developers made it as so that it can offer more features than Office itself. The difference is so huge that many are now going for LibreOffice instead of Office suite.

You’ll be amazed to see the new compatibility it offers compared to the office suite. It supports both MacOS and Windows for a large amount of file type.

If you want a more functional program and you think office can’t handle that then you can use LibreOffice without a fuss. It’s one of my personal favorites of all the alternatives.

The developers are always updating and creating more extensions for your use. And this allows you to use any app you want. The updates brought a feature called ribbon which allows it to cope more with Offices many features.

The recent update has made improvements of the PDF qualities including adding an RYB color wheel to help you customize. Both the Fresh and Bug Hunting modes are available for LibreOffice.

Compared to Office I would say it’s like Office but more customizable and with more features. It’s a highly customizable alternative giving you all the perfect features you need.

LibreOffice - Top Alternatives for Microsoft Office

ProsCons
  • You’ll get the full suite as office
  • Supports all Microsoft Office file formats
  • You won’t see any advertising or features hidden behind paywalls
  • The extra extensions have to be downloaded separately for use
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4. Office Online

Yes, I’m not crazy because Office Online is one of the best alternative options for Microsoft Office. Microsoft created to give Google a competition for the Google G Suite. It’s quite surprising actually as it is completely free.

So, you don’t have to worry about spending any money on this one. You’ll have access to all the Office programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote and even Outlook. Though it doesn’t include Access and Publisher, these are hardly used by anyone.

The other tools will give you all the options you had in Microsoft Office suite. So, I’ll say it’s a pretty good alternative.

Though some features are missing on the Online Suite, such as, can’t copy formatting across documents, can’t add fancy borders to Word docs, and the References ribbon is gone entirely.

But if you ask my opinion it’s a minimal price to pay for the free features you are getting. Again if you want to use it for editing pivot tables, managing databases, or execute more advanced operations, you should go for other alternatives.

Nevertheless, you will get a familiar interface that no other alternatives can provide no matter how they try.

Office Online

ProsCons
  • You don’t have to download any software for this
  • Supports all the file types as MS Office
  • You can share the files with anyone
  • Gives you an option of working together on the same file
  • Free templates
  • Saves Works Automatically
  • Familiar interface, auto spell check
  • You have to upload the files in OneDrive to use it
  • Spell checking doesn’t work in excel or PowerPoint
  • You can use up to 2GB of storage
  • You can’t save files to their original format
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5. Apache OpenOffice

This suite is one of the oldest alternatives to Microsoft Office. Apache OpenOffice is giving their services for the last 15 years. And many people use this one instead of Office suite.

It comes with six programs based on the same platform as Office suite. So, it will be an easy task for you to switch to OpenOffice anytime. You will have Writer for Word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Base for Databases, Draw for Graphics, and Math for equations and Impress for presentation.

It’s an open source software, so there will be constant updates adding to the program. It stores all the files in an international format so that you won’t have any problem creating or sharing them.

It has some major functions such as cell-dependent calculations, spelling check, and Microsoft Word support. Even though they add new features regularly, but still it has a friendly interface to work.

You don’t have to worry about seeing tutorials first to work on this. The software comes with an instructional wizard to help you get to know the interface quickly.

Apache OpenOffice - Best Microsoft Office Alternatives

ProsCons
  • Its completely free
  • Expert suite for multiple platforms
  • Sidebar available for all the standard tools
  • Bug fix with each update
  • Improved compatibility
  • Classic menu and toolbar interface
  • Not much of a significant improvement
  • Out-of-Date interface
  • Some options are not explained clearly
  • Installer glitches
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6. Google G Suite

This one is the cloud based alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s an ideal choice if you are looking to work with a team on a project. The Google drive will store and share the files you create. And it will make it accessible for all other team members.

The Suite supports a broad range of files such as PDFs, DOC files, and even iWork files. So, you won’t have to worry about the loss of any information. It also connects with other platforms such as Gmail, Calendar, and Google Plus.

The interface is not quite user-friendly like Microsoft Office, it’s rather confusing. There could be necessary tools hidden in the menus that are hard to find if you have not gone through any tutorials.

Though, if you have previous experience of using Chrome or Chrome OS, then you would have a pretty decent idea of how it’s going to be.

This program can be an excellent choice for someone who will edit from a distance or has limited storage capacities. The Suite will provide you with the ability to work on documents and write it with others too! A feature you won’t have in Microsoft Office.

Google G-Suite - Alternatives to MS Office

ProsCons
  • Low priced than Office Suite
  • Very easy to setup and administer
  • The online collaborations are quite excellent
  • Supports mobile too
  • Both programs are somewhat similar than rivals
  • Offline storage system only works on Chrome
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There could be numerous reasons for you to ditch Office. But now you will have some options to consider as alternatives. All the sites are compatible with Office files, though the compatibility varies from one app to another.

These six best alternatives to Microsoft Office will give a good range of programs to choose. Most of them are free, but one or two paid ones are incredibly cheap compared to Office.

My recommendation would be to try out FreeOffice and LibreOffice. Though in the end, the choice is entirely up to you.

2 thoughts on “6 Best Alternatives to Microsoft Office”

  1. There is no mention of either VBA, or an alternative to it.
    This is mission critical for many users and should be mentioned

    Reply

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