Replaces Microsoft Office
European alternatives to Microsoft Office
Office suites that run offline, made in Europe
Browse the category: Office suites
Microsoft Office is the desktop office suite most people learned to work in: Word for documents, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for slides, plus Outlook and other applications depending on the edition. It runs locally, so it keeps working without a connection, and its file formats have become the default way documents are exchanged between organisations.
Desktop software is a licensing and dependency question as much as a data one. Subscription terms, account requirements and cloud sign in tie an organisation to a single vendor, and public buyers increasingly want document formats and support they can source in Europe. A European alternative to Microsoft Office covers the same daily work. LibreOffice is a widely used open suite, while SoftMaker Office NX and Ashampoo Office are commercial packages with familiar interfaces.
European options 4
Our pick
LibreOffice
Free open source office suite from Germany
LibreOffice is an office suite from The Document Foundation, a non-profit based in Germany. It includes Writer for text, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, Draw for vector graphics, Base for databases and Math for formulas. Files are stored in the OpenDocument format, and the Microsoft Office formats can be read and written as well.
GermanyOpen sourceFree plan
Questions
Will my colleagues be able to open the files I send?
All of these suites read and write the common office formats, so documents can be exchanged with people still on Microsoft Office. Complex layouts, macros and pivot heavy spreadsheets deserve a test round first.
Is there a free European alternative to Microsoft Office?
LibreOffice is open source and free to download and use, including in businesses. Calligra Suite is another open option, though its application set is different.
Which one feels most like what my team already knows?
SoftMaker Office NX and Ashampoo Office are built around interfaces that people arriving from a traditional office suite tend to recognise. Trial versions are the fastest way to judge that for your own staff.