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Is Microsoft Office 2019 too expensive? Do you hate paying for a monthly subscription for Office 365? Is it too confusing or too difficult to get either of them working properly with Microsoft office alternatives?
The good news is you don’t have to stick with Microsoft office alternatives. Some of the top alternatives to Microsoft office today can give you a similar experience for free. Others take away some of the unused features to make it more lightweight for your system. Which alternatives to Microsoft office should you consider?
Top 5 Microsoft Office Alternatives
1. Google Apps/G Suite
You can’t mention the top alternatives to Microsoft office without mentioning Google Docs. It’s the most prevalent nowadays and free to use.
You get a nice, neat office UI that makes Docs, Sheets, and Slides easy for beginners to use. You won’t get some of the more advanced tools offered by MS Office or LibreOffice, like a dedicated database tool.
A Lightweight Office System that Works Fast
It also features a wide range of compatibility for other files, including iWork documents. You’ll find Google Docs available on PC, Mac, iOS devices, and Android devices. This makes it a great Microsoft office alternatives for Mac users.
Given that it works directly from the cloud, you can also use Google Apps for easy collaboration. Do you have a spreadsheet that needs editing? Someone online can do it in real-time and change the technological innovations.
It’s from Google so you instantly get Google Drive integration. If you need to work offline, you can make that an option for specific files too.
That said, Google’s offering isn’t perfect.
For one thing, it uses web fonts built into the system instead of the fonts on your PC or phone. This can cause a bit of a formatting issue when opening ODF or .docx files directly on Google Docs.
2. LibreOffice
Looking for a powerful and open-source alternatives to Microsoft office? You can’t go wrong with LibreOffice. It’s a cross-platform, open-source tool that comes with almost all the features you’ll find on Microsoft Office. It also features full compatibility with Microsoft Office files too.
Easy to Use Office Alternatives
There are six apps under LibreOffice but the ones you’ll use the most are Writer, Calc, and Impress.
Natively, it doesn’t feature cloud synchronization but that’s easy to fix by uploading/downloading files on a platform like Google Drive. Since it’s open-source, you may find plugins that make cloud integration quicker and easier. With the right add-ons, this could be the closest you’ll get to Microsoft Office for Mac.
3. WPS Office
Unlike some of the options on this list, WPS Office isn’t entirely free. You can avail of the free tier and then the premium tier, which comes with more features. With the free tier, you already get access to their Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presenter apps, as well as a PDF to Word converter tool.
Light Use of Microsoft Office Alternatives
If you need a great alternatives to Microsoft office for Mac, WPS Office offers compatibility with Mac and iOS devices and file types. Mac users, iOS users, and PC users also get 1 GB free cloud storage too. Unfortunately, this isn’t available yet for Android users.
Why pay for the premium tier? For $29.99 a year, you get cross-platform use across 9 different devices. You’ll also get rid of ads, which do appear from time to time when using the free version.
The UI is also amazing. At first glance, you might mistake WPS Office as Microsoft Office 2013 or 2017. They weren’t subtle with copying what worked for Microsoft.
4. Apple iWork
Back when iWork first launched, iWork was the only Office alternative for Mac. However, it couldn’t open MS Office files and the initial UI was minimalist at best, empty at its worst.
Best Microsoft Office Alternative for Mac
Fortunately, iWork is now a great alternative. It sits neatly in the Apple environment and it’s quite lightweight too. This comes at a cost — iWork removes some of the obscure features most people don’t use in MS Office or don’t even know exist.
Updates to iWork allow you to open and edit MS Office documents but not on desktop. Yes, this only works for iOS users but not those on Mac. You’ll have to run the files on iCloud first.
Another good point is that iWork won’t cost you a penny. It’s free, clean, and easy to use. If you’re on a Mac or iOS device, this should be one of your top alternatives to MS Office.
5. OpenOffice
We also need to mention the OpenOffice alternative. This is nowhere near as diverse or as powerful as Microsoft Office but it at least gives you the basics.
Like LibreOffice, this tool primarily uses the Open Document Format or ODF. It can’t save .docx files or any file type under the XML format but you can open them and save them as new file types, such as a traditional .doc file.
An Open-source Office Software
The best thing about OpenOffice is that it’s an open-source tool. This means the community can always work to improve it. You can always report bugs to get patched out or features people can add.
Visually, the OpenOffice UI resembles the setup used for Microsoft Office 2003. Microsoft started changing their UI with Office 2007 and on wards, which might make OpenOffice feel a bit outdated and cluttered to users today.
While free, the one main issue is that OpenOffice doesn’t come with native cloud storage capabilities. You can save the files and then upload them to your preferred cloud storage, such as Google Drive, but you can’t automatically save files to it while working on a document or spreadsheet.
Try These Top Alternatives to Microsoft Office Now!
If you can’t afford or can’t run MS Office, you should try out these top alternatives now! Each one offers something new and different. Others reduce features to keep the apps quick and lightweight while others focus on emulating everything MS Office offers. You may read more to know about top ways to technological rethink about the next step of this generation.
But why stop here? If you want to discover more amazing tools and apps, feel free to read our Technology articles today. You might find the desktop or Mac software you need!
