Microsoft Office and LibreOffice are two great office suites, but how do you know which solution is right for you? In appearance, the two are very similar, but there are some important differences to consider when making your decision.
Price
LibreOffice is free to download and use, even for commercial purposes, without any conditions. Since it is open source software, you can also download and edit the source code if you wish. You can buy a one-time license for Microsoft Office, but a Microsoft Office 365 subscription offers the best value for money. Different levels are available, depending on your needs, with options for business and private users.
Office 365 Professional Premium
program
The programs offered are one of the key things to consider when choosing between Microsoft Office and LibreOffice. LibreOffice includes Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentations), Base (databases), Math (formulas), and Draw (vector graphics). A personal subscription to Microsoft Office 365 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive (with 1TB storage), and Outlook. PC users get Publisher and Access too, even if Mac fans will miss out on the opportunity.
File compatibility
Of all the free office suites available, LibreOffice offers the best possible file compatibility. Its tools can import and export all the most common file formats, including Microsoft DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX. It also supports a wider range of non-Microsoft file formats than Office 365. Note, however, that documents won't always look exactly the same in LibreOffice and Microsoft Office programs. This is partly due to Microsoft's use of its own fonts, and partly due to the difference in rendering and rendering of data on the screen. In most cases, this won't be a problem, but if you frequently share files with people who use LibreOffice or Microsoft Office, you may find it more convenient to stick with the same office suite as this one to stay on top of things. same page
User support
If you choose Microsoft Office, you will pay for customer support. Microsoft provides a help application that can help you solve your common problems. There is also an online chatbot that can also provide solutions. If automated systems don't provide the answers you need, live phone and chat conversations are conducted with real Microsoft technicians. Microsoft has published a series of guides to help you perform common tasks with the help of Microsoft Office, which can be extremely helpful. If you choose LibreOffice, you'll call the goodwill of Community Assistance, but there are plenty. You'll find a lot of information on the LibreOffice Wiki, Ask.LibreOffice provides a ticketing system where you can submit inquiries (and read responses to other users' questions), as well as an IRC channel for live chat. remember that while LibreOffice's support is great, it depends on volunteers who volunteer their time and expertise. The Document Foundation is under no obligation to provide support, and you may have to wait longer for a response than if you were using Microsoft Office. Of course, LibreOffice is not compatible with the phone, which could be a problem if you are looking for software for your business.
collaboration
With Microsoft Office 365, multiple users can share files via OneDrive and collaborate on the same document with real-time chat. LibreOffice does not have equivalent functionality. If you're looking for a free office suite for collaborative work, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides should be your first point of sale.
Cloud services
If you opt for LibreOffice and want to store your documents in the cloud, you'll need to rebuild your own system (it goes without saying that the Document Foundation can't provide free server space to millions of LibreOffice users). This shouldn't be complicated, though, and a service like Dropbox makes it easy to sync files to the cloud by saving them to a dedicated folder on your PC or Mac. You can also sign up for Microsoft OneDrive without being an Office Subscriber or visiting one of our other recommended free cloud storage providers. If you opt for a Microsoft Office subscription, things are much simpler because Microsoft OneDrive is built into every program and is the default backup location for all new documents. A Microsoft Office 365 subscription also gives you more storage space than a free OneDrive account.
Microsoft Office 365 is available for Windows and Mac, with mobile apps for iOS and Android (the latter also runs ChromeOS). There's also Microsoft Office Online, which offers smaller versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in any modern web browser. LibreOffice is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, with a portable version that can be installed on a removable storage device. However, there are no apps that can work on smartphones, tablets, and Chromebooks, with the exception of LibreOffice Viewer for Android, which uses the same engine as the desktop software to help you read documents. There is also a remote application to control slideshows made with LibreOffice Impress.