Microsoft Office Alternatives – Best free productivity apps

Ans-World-Free-Office-Alternatives

When we think about writing something or doing some math, no other name will come up in mind other than Microsoft office. This market-dominant powerful office suite initially released on 19 November 1990. However, From long 30-year journey Microsoft office emerged as no 1 in productivity which supports home user to professionals in many ways. Undoubtedly we can say it is outstanding and feature-rich. Then why most of looking for alternatives to Microsoft office. I’ll explain why.

We know its powerful at the same time its expensive. Majority of average users doesn’t need much wider functionality as they offer. Then why we need to spend extra money on something we don’t use ?. Furthermore some other can’t afford its pricing. Pirated version also not a good option, virus and malware are addon packages on pirated versions.
We are writing this article to help you out those who are searching for an updated list of free Ms office alternatives. Similarly, our article on “Top 3 open source free email client in 2020” help you to choose the best alternative to outlook also.

Top 5 free MS office Alternatives

Libre Office suite 

LibreOffice is a powerful and free truly Microsoft alternative office suite, a fork of OpenOffice. Design base you won’t confused because its identical to ms office in majority aspects. As the name suggests it is a bundled package which you will get a 

  • Writer – word processor
  • Calc – spreadsheet
  • Impress – presentations
  • Draw – diagrams
  • Base – database
  • Math – formula editor
  • Charts
LibreOffice-Free-Microsoft-Alternatives
Libre office 7.0 Pre-release version

ODF (Open Document ) is the default file extension but we can export the file as Docx and is perfectly fine when to open on MS office. Most of Linux distributions installed Libre office as their default office suites. It enables you to expand the functionality even further with extensions available from their LibreOffice Extension Center. I am writing this article on Libre office 7.0, a pre-release version which set to release in the coming weeks. 

Pros
+Free of cost, No trial no Ads.
+Opensource.
+Offline install with less package size comparing to MS office.

Cons
-Outdated user interface
-Lack of technical support

Apache Open Office 

Apache-Open-Office-microsoft-alternatives

Apache OpenOffice (AOO) is an open-source office productivity software suite identical to LibreOffice released under the Apache 2.0 License Originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Furthermore, Its a package consists of a word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics and database. You can download it and use completely free of charge for any purpose. Apache OpenOffice is a mature, reliable, product developed over 20 years ago and most government offices, educational institutions and non-profit organizations used as a default productivity suite. 

Pros
+ Complete free and open source
+ Multi-Language support
+ Easy to use

Cons
– Less advanced features
– The update schedule is awkward. 

Free Office

Softmakers Freeoffice, unquestionably we can say it is a best free alternative to Microsoft Office in Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.  

Soft-maker-free-office

With Freeoffice, you will get a word processor, a spreadsheet application and a presentation program – all compatible with Microsoft Office. Unlike others, it uses Microsoft formats DOCX, XLSX and PPTX as its default file formats to skip the annoying import, export and formatting issues. The integration with Thunderbird is also an added advantage. Besides, FreeOffice offers a clean UI You can work with either modern ribbons or classic menus and toolbars. 

Pros
+ Automatic spell check
+ Free for personal and commercial use.

Cons
-Email registration is needed to use.
-Proprietary licensing

WPS Office 

WPS-Officetools

A property licensed office suite made by Chinese software developer Kingsoft. WPS Office available in both free and pro versions but the free version offer a Writer, Presentation and Spreadsheets, which are alternatives to the Microsoft Office suite. Its allow you to store your files into the secure cloud with a 200 MB upload limit and 1 GB of free space, alongside accessible web apps and user-friendly PDF tools. Besides, the bundled PDF editor is a handy feature which you can edit, convert, sign even compress the pdf document.Wps supports 8 Languages in desktop, and 46 Languages for Android.

Pros
+Powerfull features
+Simple and intuitive UI
+Great language support
+Offline Installation

Cons
-Some features are only available on the paid version.

Google Sheets

Google-sheets

With Google Sheets, you can create and edit your files, right from your browser with no installed bulky software. They provide the same functionality as any pre-installed software do. You can prepare your budgets, schedules from anywhere, even on a public system with your Google account. You’ll get with all essential features, like built-in formulas, pivot tables, and conditional formatting as well. This cloud-based integration seamlessly connects your existing files with ease. Google provides 4 core elements in this bundle Google Docs, Google Sheet, Google Slides and Google Forms.

Pros
+No offline installation
+Less resource usage 
+Edit in realtime
+Addon support.

Cons
-Slower when dealing with large data. 
-Must connect to the internet, if it is down you can not work on the documents

In addition to all these alternatives, you can also choose Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based online office tools. It is completely free to use lightweight Microsoft Office web apps. We can access Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote from a unified app switcher. The offering also includes Outlook.com and OneDrive, which makes cleary an alternative to its paid version.

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