The Microsoft Office 365 family plan is a great deal. It includes licenses for multiple installations and users, a lot of included OneDrive storage, and an unlock of the mobile Office apps on Android and iOS. ..

There are a number of great free alternatives to Microsoft Office that you can use if you don’t want to spend a single penny. Check out our YouTube video for more information on some of the best options.

iWork (macOS & iOS)

The best free alternative to Microsoft Office is the iWork suite. Since 2017, Apple has made its alternative competitor to Microsoft Office completely free for all Apple users on macOS and iOS.

The three main parts of the iWork suite are Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. If you can’t immediately figure it out, these are the Word, Powerpoint, and Excel alternatives on offer. What’s missing here is an Apple version of MS Access, but the vast majority of users have no real use for a database application.

Apple, on the other hand, has focused on making their software intuitive and easy to use from the get-go. This approach has paid off in spades, as Apple’s software is widely considered to be some of the best out there. Plus, there’s a wealth of resources available online if you need help getting started. ..

The main difference between iWork and Word is that iWork is easier to use and produces professional-looking documents.

Who Should Use iWork?

Apple’s iWork suite of applications is available for free on all Apple devices, so it makes sense to give it a try before shelling out any cash. After all, it’s already available on your hardware for free. If you need more than what iWork offers, you can always buy Office from the App Store.

Apple’s software is popular among creatives because it is refined and beautiful.

Google Suite (Browser-Based)

The Google Suite is a suite of cloud-based productivity apps that are available to everyone who has a Gmail account. It includes Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other neat applications.

Google Drive is a storage service that lets you store and access documents from your computer. You can have up to 15GB of storage space for free. You can also use Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other presentation apps to store and share documents.

Google’s suite of search tools is versatile and powerful, making it the perfect choice for any online search needs. There are also mobile apps for both Android and iOS, as well as an offline mode for desktop users.

Google’s apps are limited in what they can do. However, we’ve been using Google suite apps for years and the offering has grown by leaps and bounds. In many ways, an app like Docs is better because it is streamlined.

Who Should Use The Google Suite?

There are a few formatting options available when writing for the web, but if you’re looking to do the sort of writing that will be formatted elsewhere (by a web designer or publisher) then it’s a fantastic choice.

Google Drive is a great way to write for a living. It has flexible and secure tools, as well as amazing collaboration features that the Office Live service does not have. ..

Google Docs allows you to produce documents with a large number of people at the same time, making it more efficient than traditional round-robin style of passing a document around for comment and additional writing.

LibreOffice (macOS, Windows & Linux)

LibreOffice is a free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office. This means that the source code is open for anyone to modify, which gives coders the opportunity to create their own custom productivity suites. ..

This software is free to use, but there is a community of people who are constantly updating and upgrading it.

LibreOffice is a free and open office suite that feels quite a lot like the classic MS Office experience. It doesn’t have the shiny modern user interface or extensive online integration, but it’s a solid suite with the option for full portability. Which is to say, you can keep it on a flash drive and run it on any computer, without having to do a traditional installation.

Who Should Use LibreOffice?

LibreOffice is a great choice for anyone who wants a modern, functional office suite. It’s easy to use and has all the features you need. ..

LibreOffice is a great alternative to Microsoft Office, which is available in both open-source and proprietary formats. Linux users and anyone who likes to support open-source will find that LibreOffice is a great choice for their needs. ..

The best option for students who don’t have a lot of money or internet access is the Google Chromebook. It’s free and doesn’t rely on any internet services to provide its functionality.

WPS Office (Windows, Android & Linux)

WPS Office is a free productivity suite that was formerly known as KSOffice or KOffice in the West. The first version of this suite was released all the way back in 1988, and the modern version of this software looks quite a bit like the modern Microsoft Office suite, so if you already like Office you’ll feel more or less at home here. ..

We’re looking at the free version of the suite here. This is not open-source software and Kingsoft does sell this software with additional features. The free tier includes Writer, Presentation and Spreadsheets. We don’t need to explain what each of these are meant to do.

The Office suite is excellent, with modern MS Office formats supported as well as a long list of legacy formats. Having a WPS account also lets you sync documents across your devices and platforms. However, the suite has one major flaw: its support for iWork is limited. Other productivity suites such as LibreOffice offer better support for iWork, making it an attractive option for those who need to work with multiple applications.

The free version of the WPS has some limitations. There is no access to premade templates and other assets from the WPS online resource. There are adverts that support the free version as well. The free version can’t edit PDF documents and other nice-to-have features such as OCR are missing. However, all the core functionality is there. ..

Who Should Use WPS Office?

LibreOffice is a great office suite, but it can be a bit of a pain to keep up with the latest updates. WPS provides an easy-to-use experience that’s visually appealing.

The all-in-one interface design of the new Firefox browser blends the feel of a multi-tab browser with an office suite. If you don’t like the all-in-one style, you can switch to a more traditional format, but it makes it great for working on a single-screen laptop and is therefore a good choice for students or writers. ..

Dropbox Paper (Browser-Based)

Dropbox is a great cloud-based storage solution that has become popular for sharing files between people who work together. It’s got a fantastic platform integration on various devices, and is a popular way to store files.

Google Drive and other cloud storage services offer a way to work together in real time. Dropbox Paper is a new product that makes it easy to keep your work in one place and share it with others. ..

Google Docs is a basic cloud-based word processing service that integrates well with your Dropbox drive and is well designed for collaboration. ..

Who Should Use Dropbox Paper?

Dropbox Paper is not really an alternative to Microsoft Office, but if you and your coworkers are already storing your documents in Dropbox, then this is the path of least resistance to working together on the base text, perhaps leaving advanced formatting for an intern to complete.

Dropbox has really put a lot of thought into making it easy for people to work together in Paper, letting you assign tasks and set due dates. There’s some of that in services such as Google Docs, but if you’re already invested in Dropbox’s cloud storage, this is a nice bonus. ..

Graphite Docs (Decentralized Blockchain Software)

Graphite Docs is a new office suite that is doing something new and interesting, so it should be mentioned as an option for Microsoft Office alternatives. ..

Google Docs is a simple online word processor that is special because it works under the hood in a way that makes collaboration features very powerful. ..

But there are also some benefits to using Google Docs. For one, it makes it easy to share your work with others. You can easily email or post a document on social media, for example. And if you need to keep track of changes made to a document, Google has a great feature called “G Suite Sync.”

To protect company data, it’s important to encrypt all sensitive and confidential documents.

Graphite Docs is a decentralized application that uses the same core technology as Bitcoin (i.e. the blockchain) to provide online cloud services. The actual computing power is provided by the many peer computers that maintain that blockchain.

Google Sheets is a free online spreadsheet application that offers many of the benefits of Google Docs, but without any of the privacy concerns. ..

Who Should Use Graphite Docs?

Graphite Docs is a new and experimental technology that is well worth looking into if you need a high level of security and privacy. ..

Getting The Job Done

Microsoft Office is a great product and, for the price, provides a lot of value. ..

The reason the Microsoft Office alternatives are so competitive is because they’re all vying for a share of the market. Every one of the office alternatives listed above is great in their own right, and may well be a better fit for you than the biggest player in the productivity market.

Since they are all free, you have no reason not to give them a try.