Free Office Suite Picker
You do not need to pay $100/year for Microsoft Office. Five free or near-free options compared.
For most people, the answer is Google Docs
Free, works on every device, auto-saves, opens Word and Excel files. Unless you have a specific reason to use something else (Apple-only home, employer requires Microsoft), Google Docs handles 90% of what most home users do.
Google Docs / Sheets / Slides
Best for: Most people. Real-time collaboration. Anyone with Gmail.
Pros
- +Auto-saves every keystroke — never lose work.
- +Share a document, multiple people edit together live.
- +Works on any computer or phone with a browser.
- +Opens Word, Excel, PowerPoint files; saves back as the same.
Cons
- −Less polished than Microsoft Office for advanced formatting.
- −Free 15GB shared with Gmail and Google Photos — fills up.
Apple Pages / Numbers / Keynote
Best for: Apple-house users. Beautiful design templates.
Pros
- +Already installed — no download needed.
- +Beautiful templates.
- +iCloud collaboration (same as Google Docs but for Apple users).
- +Best on Apple devices — works less well in browsers on Android/Windows.
Cons
- −Mac-first — Windows users can use it through icloud.com but it is awkward.
- −Smaller user base — sharing a Pages file with non-Apple friends often confuses them.
LibreOffice (download)
Best for: People migrating off old Microsoft Office, or doing serious offline work.
Pros
- +Most like the old Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint clones).
- +Works on Windows, Mac, Linux.
- +Powerful for serious documents and spreadsheets.
- +No account needed.
Cons
- −Old-fashioned interface.
- −No built-in collaboration like Google Docs.
A note about old .doc and .xls files
Files made in Microsoft Office 2003 or earlier (.doc, .xls, .ppt) open fine in everything above. Modern .docx, .xlsx, .pptx open everywhere too. Saving back to .docx works in all options. So your old files are NOT trapped — you can switch any time.
Related
Quick Tip: write your important documents in Google Docs and download a copy as Word format whenever you need to send to someone using Microsoft Office.