Summary: Free Microsoft Office alternatives are good options to create documents and spreadsheets, send emails, and conduct video conferences like MS Office for free. What is the top software you can use for the same? Find the article below!
Microsoft Office has been a popular collaboration suite for almost a decade. It comes with multiple apps like word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, etc., to streamline the workflow and improve communication in the organization.
However, it is not the only option when it comes to office suite applications. There are several Microsoft office alternatives that provide similar features free of cost. Therefore, making them a great choice for organizations that do not want to spend much on Office suite applications.
By using the best free Microsoft office alternative, you can easily create and edit documents, generate spreadsheets, schedule meetings, collaborate in real-time, and much more.
Get more insights on the best free office alternative in the article below.
| Metrics | Microsoft Office | Google Workplace | DropBox | Kingsoft WPS Office | Zoho Docs |
| Cloud Storage | 5 GB free | 15 GB free | 2 GB free | 1 GB Free | 5 GB free |
| Pricing | ₹4,899.00/year | ₹136.90/user/month | ₹818.42/month | ₹1,473.95/year | ₹240/month/ user |
| Real Time Collaboration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rating | 4.6/5 | 4.7/5 | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 |
| Operating System | Windows | Windows, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux | Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS | Linux, Mac, Windows |
Pricing: Free to use
Storage: 1.5 GB hard disk storage space
LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite offering multiple applications for word processing, creating spreadsheets, presentations, drawing vector graphics, maintaining databases, etc.
With it, you can export your data and documents in multiple file formats, collaborate in real-time, generate and edit spreadsheets, and so on.
LibreOffice is free and open-source and therefore makes it easier to use Office functions like spreadsheets and documents creation without any payment.
Pricing: Free to use
Storage: Not available
NeoOffice is a comprehensive Office suite designed for Mac operating system based on OpenOffice and LibreOffice
With it, you can easily view, modify, and store OpenOffice and LibreOffice documents, Word files, PowerPoint files, etc. Further, this MS Office alternative automatically saves a copy of document before any editions.
You can pick NeoOffice as an alternative to Microsoft Office if you require basic file creation and editing features.
Pricing: Free to use
Storage: Not available
SSuite Office is a suite of free tools for improving collaboration and productivity. This free office alternative can be used to manage tasks like creating and editing files, collaborating on documents, sharing files in various formats, etc. Further, you can also create amazing slideshows and animations with SSuite Office.
SSuite Office is a good choice as it offers multiple applications that you can use for free, such as database manipulation and finance management.
Pricing: Free plan available | Paid plan starts from INR 1,473.95/year
Storage: 1 GB cloud storage in the free plan
Kingsoft WPS Office is a free office suite that offers various productivity apps to easily create, edit, and share documents.
This Microsoft Office alternative helps you to create professional presentations, content, spreadsheets, and so on. Kingsoft WPS Office can also be used to compress file sizes and managing file permissions for security.
Kingsoft WPS Office is a great office suite as it offers 100,000+ templates to create and customize documents.
Pricing: No free plan available | Paid plan starts from INR 136.90/user/month
Storage: 30 GB storage space/user in its starter plan
Google Workspace provides users with multiple business apps and collaboration tools to improve business communication and boost productivity.
This alternative to Microsoft office can be used for sending emails, creating documents, making spreadsheets, generating forms, and a lot more. Further, you can also schedule meetings and send automated invitations through calendars.
Google Workspace is a good option because it lets you work on your MS office documents irrespective of whether you have installed the application or not.
Pricing: iWork apps are free to use on any apple device
Storage: 5GB with iCloud cloud storage
iWork is a complete suite of applications that can be used for word processing, creating presentations, and generating complex spreadsheets.
With multiple templates and design options, you can create any type of document quickly. Further, with real-time collaboration, you can easily work on projects with your team members.
iWork is a great option as you can save and edit documents in Microsoft Office supported files formats like doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf, .csv, etc.
Pricing: Free plan available | Paid plan starts from INR 818.42/month
Storage: Up to 2GB in the free plan
DropBox is a file sharing and collaboration tool to easily create, share, store, and sync your files. This alternative to Microsoft Office can be used for storing files on the cloud, organizing, editing, protecting and recovering files, and so on. DropBox can also be used for managing files’ permissions and saving their version history.
If you require up to 2 GB storage space and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert scanned documents, then DropBox is a better option.
Pricing: Free plan available | Paid plan starts from INR 240/month/ user
Storage: 5 GB storage in the free plan
Zoho Docs is document management system to create and edit different files. All the files are synced in cloud for easy accessibility. With it, you can create, edit, manage, and collaborate on documents directly from the software.
Zoho Docs can also be used to securely share files both within and outside the organization. Furthermore, you can also import and insert excel spreadsheets into Zoho spreadsheets with this free Office alternative.
Zoho Docs is the best option if you need file versioning, an in-app chat option, and up to 1 GB file size option for free.
Pricing: Free to use
Storage: Not available
Apache OpenOffice is an open-source Office Suite that offers multiple tools for creating documents and spreadsheets, graphical presentations, creating reports, and a lot more.
This free Office alternative stores the data in an international open standard format and reads and writes documents from other Office apps. With its Base tool, you can also manipulate different types of databases easily.
Apache OpenOffice is a good option as its spreadsheet functions are similar to Microsoft Excel that you can use for free.
To choose the best free Microsoft Office 365 alternative, you need to ensure that it offers features similar to MS Office. Some of the common parameters that you need to keep in mind are.
Conclusion
Microsoft Office is undeniably one of the most popular Office productivity apps to work and collaborate with team members. But you need to buy its subscription to access the complete MS Office applications.
However, with the availability of so many open-source Office Suites, businesses that are tight on budget can easily ensure collaboration and productivity.
FAQs
There are many software solutions that you can use for free to create, share and edit documents. Some of the top choices include Apache OpenOffice, Zoho Docs, DropBox, iWork, etc.
Yes, there are free office suites that you can use instead of Microsoft Office to work on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. Some of the best Microsoft Office alternatives that you can consider are Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice, NeoOffice, Kingsoft WPS Office, SSuite Office, etc.
Yes, Microsoft Office Online is free to use for one month. After that, you need to subscribe to any of its paid plan to access all its features.
The Microsoft Office personal plan costs around INR 4,899.00/year that comes with 1TB of cloud storage space. Its family plan starts from INR 6,199.00/year that offers 6TB of cloud storage space.
There are several reasons why people are using free alternatives to Microsoft Office because it might be costlier as compared to its competitors. Further, you can do document sharing, file collaboration, spreadsheet creation, etc., for free in its alternatives without any limit as compared to MS Office.
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