Free alternatives to Microsoft Office judged on compatibility, not features
Every office suite can write a letter. The question that decides which one you can actually use is narrower: when you send a file to someone running real Office, does it open looking the way you left it? That is what this page is about.
In this guide
Microsoft Office on the web free, from Microsoft, and widely missed
Microsoft gives away Word, Excel and PowerPoint as web apps. You sign in with a free Microsoft account and use them in a browser at no cost, with a few gigabytes of OneDrive storage attached.
Because it is Microsoft's own code, compatibility is perfect by definition. There is no conversion step and no formatting drift. For students, and for anyone whose documents are ordinary, this is the answer and it is free.
Where it stops: no offline use, and the advanced end is missing — heavy Excel work, macros, mail merge, Access, and the fuller PowerPoint animation set. If your spreadsheet has pivot tables and VBA, this is not it.
LibreOffice the full desktop suite, free forever
LibreOffice is a complete desktop suite — writer, spreadsheet, presentations, database and drawing — installed locally, working offline, free with no account and no telemetry to opt out of.
It reads and writes .docx, .xlsx and .pptx. For text documents and normal spreadsheets, round trips are reliable. It is genuinely capable software that a lot of organisations run as their standard.
Where it stops: complex layout drifts. A heavily formatted .docx with text boxes and precise spacing may shift a little on the way back to Word. Its spreadsheet macro language is not VBA, so inherited Excel macros will not simply run. If you are sending final layouts to clients, check the file in something Microsoft made before you send it.
Google Workspace best for collaboration, weakest for handover
Docs, Sheets and Slides are free with a Google account and unbeaten at real-time collaboration. Several people editing the same document at once still works better here than anywhere else.
Where it stops: it is a different format underneath. Every .docx you open is converted in, and every .docx you export is converted out. Two conversions means two chances for formatting to move. For a shared working document that is irrelevant. For a contract or a designed proposal that someone opens in Word, it matters.
OnlyOffice the closest match to Office file behaviour
OnlyOffice is less known and deserves better. It was built around the Office formats as its native formats rather than converting into its own, so .docx and .xlsx round trips hold up unusually well.
The desktop editors are free for personal use, the interface resembles modern Office closely, and it handles most macros. If LibreOffice's formatting drift is your specific problem, try this before you pay for anything.
Where it stops: a smaller community, so fewer tutorials and slower answers when something breaks.
When you genuinely need Microsoft 365 the cases where free costs more
Be honest about whether one of these is you before paying anyone.
- You inherit spreadsheets with VBA macros that must run exactly as written.
- You need Outlook with an Exchange mailbox — no free suite replaces that pairing.
- You send designed documents to clients and cannot risk a layout shift you did not see.
- Your employer or school requires it by name and tests on it.
- You need Access, which has no real free equivalent.
If none of these is you, install LibreOffice or open Office on the web and keep your money. We sell Microsoft 365 licences and still think that is the right advice for most people reading this.
Questions people actually ask
Is Office on the web really free?
Yes. Word, Excel and PowerPoint run in a browser with a free Microsoft account, with limits on offline use and advanced features. It is Microsoft's own product, not a copy.
Can LibreOffice open .docx and .xlsx?
Yes, and it can save in them too. Ordinary documents round-trip reliably. Complex layouts and inherited VBA macros are where problems appear.
Will my formatting break in Google Docs?
It can, because Google converts in and out of its own format. Fine for shared working files, risky for a final document someone opens in Word.
Which free option is closest to real Office?
Office on the web, because it is Office. Of the installable ones, OnlyOffice usually holds .docx and .xlsx formatting best, with LibreOffice close behind and far more widely supported.
Do you sell any of these free suites?
No. LibreOffice and OnlyOffice come from their own projects, and Google and Microsoft give theirs away directly. We sell Microsoft 365, so this page costs us sales rather than making them.
So when should I buy Microsoft 365 from you?
When one of the five cases above is genuinely yours. Otherwise try the free route for a fortnight first — if nothing breaks, you never needed to pay.
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We sell genuine licences with real activation. We are an independent reseller, not the vendor, and if a free option covers what you need we will say so.