--- title: OpenOffice Base Reviews meta_title: 'OpenOffice Base Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 52 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how OpenOffice Base works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.1 review_count: 52 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-06-21' parent_category: name: Database Software url: https://www.g2.com/categories/database-software --- # OpenOffice Base Reviews **Vendor:** The Apache Software Foundation **Category:** [Desktop Database Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/desktop-database) **Average Rating:** 4.1/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 52 ## About OpenOffice Base Apache OpenOffice Base is a comprehensive desktop database management system designed to cater to a wide range of users, from individuals managing personal collections to businesses generating detailed reports. It provides an intuitive interface for creating and managing databases, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced users. Key Features and Functionality: - User-Friendly Wizards: Assists users in creating tables, queries, forms, and reports, simplifying the database design process. - Predefined Table Definitions: Offers templates for tracking assets, customers, sales orders, invoices, and more, facilitating quick database setup. - Integrated HSQLDB Engine: Includes a full HSQL relational database engine for single-user configurations, storing data directly within the Base file. - Support for Multiple Database Engines: Provides native support for multi-user database engines such as MySQL, Adabas D, MS Access, and PostgreSQL. - JDBC and ODBC Compatibility: Allows connections to virtually any database through standard JDBC and ODBC drivers. - Seamless Integration with Apache OpenOffice Suite: Enables functionalities like supplying address book data for mail merges in Writer and creating linked data ranges in Calc for analysis and charting. Primary Value and User Solutions: Apache OpenOffice Base empowers users to efficiently manage and manipulate databases without the need for specialized software. Its integration with the Apache OpenOffice suite enhances productivity by enabling seamless data sharing and analysis across different applications. Whether for personal use or within an enterprise environment, Base provides a robust and accessible solution for database management needs. ## OpenOffice Base Reviews ### 1. Reliable Simplicity for Everyday Database Needs **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Translation and Localization | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** OpenOffice Base is a dependable, open-source solution for everyday database management tasks. Its cross-platform compatibility and seamless integration with other OpenOffice tools make it an appealing choice for users seeking a unified, cost-effective workflow. With built-in wizards and support for multiple database engines, it caters to a range of needs—from simple record keeping to more advanced setups using MySQL or PostgreSQL. While its interface may feel dated and less intuitive compared to premium alternatives, its flexibility and zero cost make it a solid option for budget-conscious teams or those already invested in the OpenOffice ecosystem **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** OpenOffice Base offers a no-cost entry point to desktop database management, but it shows its age in several key areas. The interface feels outdated, and users often face formatting inconsistencies when working with Microsoft Office files. Performance tends to lag with large datasets, and the lack of real-time collaboration or cloud integration limits its appeal for modern teams. Dependency on Java can complicate compatibility and system setup, while the sparse documentation leaves beginners without adequate support. For basic tasks on a tight budget, it still holds value—but for scalable, intuitive solutions, other platforms may serve better. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenOffice Base offers an accessible solution to basic database management challenges by removing licensing barriers and simplifying setup for non-technical users. Its integration with the OpenOffice suite streamlines workflows, allowing data to flow easily between documents and spreadsheets. Support for multiple database engines provides flexibility, while built-in wizards and templates help teams organize records without requiring advanced expertise. Although not ideal for high-volume or cloud-based collaboration, Base delivers meaningful value for budget-conscious users who need reliable tools for structured data organization across platforms. ### 2. OpenOppice is a winner **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sherry C. | Hostess, Automotive, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 10, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** The integration is key for my day to day **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I wish it had a user email base so i could streamline **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Don't be afraid! **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I love using Microsoft and now OpenOffice allows me more freedom to use that platform. ### 3. Good free alternative to Microsoft Office **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** James P. | Co-Owner, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 03, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Microsoft office is expensive and switching to a yearly fee from one time made me look for alternatives and that is where OpenOffice comes in. It covers all the basic functionality you need and is free to use. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** It doesn't have all the features of Microsoft Office and it does take a bit to find everything as it doesn't have the same layout as Microsoft Office. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** If you are paying for Microsoft Office it is worth trying Open Office. You may find it can do everything you need without the high cost of Microsoft Office. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** It gives me all the functionality I need from the Office programs without the large recurring price tag of the Microsoft Office products. There are drawbacks, but for me it's worth the money saved. ### 4. Useful for containing simple databases **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Celine N. | Celine Nanni, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 09, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I found it useful to use OpenOffice Base when for a search I had a huge amount of data with information referring to different subjects. So it was convenient to create records for each subject and then add the various information. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I don't think it's a program that can be used by the average user, as you need to have the basic knowledge to use it. Perhaps adding user suggestions would be useful. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was useful for a research in which I had a limited number of subjects, but information that increased over time. So I was just going to add those easily. ### 5. Free Alternative To Microsoft Office **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 29, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Open Office is one the best free software for your office work. It has most of the features available to use just as Microsoft office. You can create documents, worksheet, presentations and it does satisfy your needs with minimum features. It is a good alternative to Microsoft office. The user interface is simple and customizable. It does not have any compatibility issues with other formats and lets you share and edit the documents. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** The software does not have as much features as other software does but you cant complain as it is free to use. The updates are not quite frequent and have to be manually done. The software does not maintain regular backup of documents being made which sometimes can be an issue if there is power failure and you forgot to save the document. Other than that it is a decent software. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** OpenOffice is a good software to use if you are looking for cost cutting in your company, As this software is free and it meets the requirement for basic documentations. It has most of the features required as compared to other similar software which are not free to use. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** My work required me to document every aspect of my work and this software helped me to do the documentation. It is free to use so my company did not have to purchase extra software for my need as it was for basic documentation. ### 6. a very valid set of tools **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** giulia f. | office staff, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 24, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** is a very valid alternative to the very expensive "office package". it's cheap and manages to keep up with 100% more expensive and popular software. I find the part about presentations very useful, especially for creating basic presentations instead the part related to the spreadsheets is excellent! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** the graphic of the program is not up to the level of what we can find in programs at a little high value. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** yes **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** it is an extremely economical solution for creating documents, performing calculations, and creating presentations. ### 7. Useful only if database operations are known, not from scratch **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marco T. | Personnel manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** In my case I use OpenOffice Base because I received the file created by my predecessor. The records and the various information to be entered had already been set. I found the program useful only after they instructed me well about its operation. Now I use it to add and edit information in the records. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I don't like that the program is not intuitive. I know a lot of people who might like it but when they open it they don't understand how it works. I think it would be convenient if the wizard was more detailed when it was turned on and that clearer suggestions appear as you go through the commands. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I manage staff information and change the details when necessary. ### 8. Not intuitive **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Francesco M. | Francesco Montani, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 11, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I like that this suite has kept this database management program among its programs. If you have a basic knowledge of creating and modifying records, anyone can process their own database. I used to use Access, but it hasn't been available for quite some time. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I don't like that sometimes you have to look through tutorials to understand how to perform certain operations. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Now I can access the database with the various information about the materials we use in our architectural projects. Additionally, we can create records for each client and keep track of them through this database. ### 9. Database for everyone **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paola M. | Architect Paola Morrone, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 19, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I like being able to create my customer databases and keep everything under control quickly **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I do not like that unfortunately the files are not interchangeable with those who do not have the same software **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** It takes some time to create your own records but the result is excellent **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was able to organize customer information ### 10. Not so bad app for database management **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paola M. | Paola Mello, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 23, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Before I used the Access app from Microsoft, but since it is no longer included in the pre-installed package on the PC I looked for an alternative and I found it with OpenOffice **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** The database creation mechanism is not very guided, therefore not very easy **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** I recommend it because it is an open source software **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I collect project information, including materials and costs ### 11. Great experience with free program **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** The program is free and does its job well, it is a direct competitor with other well-known software but has nothing to envy. Simple and intuitive program, very fast. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Graphically outdated program, it should be updated constantly, but all in all it has no negative aspects... it is still a free program after all. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used the entire Office suite to perform many operations, from the simplest to the most complex. ### 12. free and effective office suite with good tools **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mike F. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 14, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Effective tools for a complete office work, a great alternative to payment options, with optimal and highly functional performance, quality tools, compatibility with many formats, and a zero learning curve as it is very intuitive an interface control as most office suites and everything at free price. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** The interface could be better, and have more customization options, the powerpoint alternative is not flawless like all the others programs in this suite **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** I find it very useful for people and companies who want to use it both in business and personal or university work without spending a penny. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it to work with the necessary documents of all kinds, spreadsheets, text, presentations and other formats. ### 13. Good but not great **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 10, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** What the program aims to do is good. I like that you can create your own layout designs for a website using this program. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I don't like that it glitches occasionally. The functions you want to put on a website page do not execute correctly all the time. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Open Office was mainly used as a teaching tool to show students how they can design their own web pages. ### 14. Excellent, Inexpensive Word Processor **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Courtney P. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 30, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I absolutely love the low cost and the ease of use. It is much cheaper than any other writing platform out there, which makes it great for work. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** When sending files as .doc, it does not always transfer to other platforms or systems as well as it could. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** If you are looking to save money, then this is an excellent option for you. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is significantly lower in cost, which helps to reduce our bottom line. The only problem is when it transfers files, but other platforms like Google Docs can be used in conjunction with Open Office. ### 15. Excellent For Needs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Entertainment | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 07, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Compatible with all necessary software and performs exactly the way it needs to. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Fewer options and customizations, and slightly less powerful, than other counterparts. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use to create and edit contracts, business plans, communications, and many other text-based needs. ### 16. Complete suite with everything you need! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Cristina M. | Líder de Seguridad y PRL tienda, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 24, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Free suite, with different possibilities and open-source, cross-platform. It allows us to do practically everything with a free license. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** It is not optimized as it should be, the main problem this causes is its slowness on some occasions. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** edit all types of files and spreadsheets for a company dedicated to retail ### 17. Better than Microsoft and Free! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kristyn O. | Business Development Manager, Automotive, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 19, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I like that it is free, has the same applications to offer as Microsoft and is easy to use **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I don't dislike anything about it. All of the features are great! **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** It is a great product that is easy to use and it helps me get the work done that I need to get done without any hassle. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am able to avoid paying the heavy costs of using Microsoft Word, I have the support I need and it helps when I need to open excel or word files when I need it. ### 18. Open office my opinion **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Proste M. | Informatique, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Open office is a free word processing service and I am delighted to have had the chance to use it to share course pages or other things with my friends. It is very practical and even competes with Word Office, but the tools unfortunately make the difference with updates. One day, perhaps, this free software will surpass Word. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** I have nothing to criticize for a free software, it knows how to defend itself and move in the right direction. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** I recommend it to anyone who needs to write letters or other things; it is free and practical, not too much or too little. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was looking for free software for word processing, OpenOffice is perfect for that. ### 19. The Most Robust Free Alternative to the Microsoft Office Suite **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Felix M. | CPQ Professional, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 25, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** - Free package - Full font and formatting functionality - Ability to save into Microsoft formats - Customisable Pallets and User Interface - Available across operating systems - Includes a Presentation tool, a document tool and a spreadsheet tool in one download **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** - Imperfect formatting when saving xls files - Imperfect conversion of characters when opening docx files. Oftentimes I save a Microsoft file into Google Sheets or Google Docs, then download it and open it in Open Office. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** There is a learning curve to use the features. It is not the exact same as Microsoft Office and the documentation is not as robust as Microsoft Office. It's not as complete as Microsoft Office, but it has all the core features necessary to complete the vast majority of productivity tasks related to business in the IT industry. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** While I am awaiting a license for Microsoft Office from my employer, I am using Open Office to allow me to work with company documents and remain productive. I utilize the Writer and Calc Applications daily. I am able to proceed with almost all functions without having Microsoft Office. ### 20. all in one place **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marketa K. | Marketing Coordinator, Staffing and Recruiting, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 21, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Everything is in one place. It is a good alternative to Microsoft Office, which can be expensive. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** For my purposes, I don't have any disadvantages. It can do almost anything that Microsoft can, so that is important to me. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using it at work since I am used to the program from home. I can do any tasks that I need on a day to day basis. Everything I need in one place. I am not using any advanced features since I don't need them. ### 21. Open Office - Free Alternative to get away from microsoft Suite **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kyle P. | Information Systems Support, Automotive, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Free. Thats the main feature. It has 95% of what Microsoft Office has(if you don't include Outlook) while being 100% free. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Not much to dislike. Free, easy to use, familiar. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** If you are looking for a simple alternative to Microsoft office, OpenOffice or LibreOffice(Exactly the same as open office) are your go to. It seems like they're goal is to as simliar to Microsoft Office as they can possibly get without infringing on anything. This is great as it removes the learning curve from learning a new software. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Lisencing issues around Microsoft office for personal use and even enterprise use. You don't have to worry about any payments. Users will find it easy to use because it is almost exactly the same as Office ### 22. Great desktop Database **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christopher L. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 20, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** able to keep all the necessary data in one place to build reports quickly **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** sometimes gets errors that have to be researched online to fix **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Easy to use, any issues can be found online quickly for sometimes easy fixes on any issues you incounter. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** it allows quick access to data to any questions or reports that are needed ### 23. Pretty Standard **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Health, Wellness and Fitness | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 10, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** It's easy to use and you can save files in a way that they will be able to be opened in other programs. It is a free version of Microsoft Office, which is what makes it a desirable software to have and if you save things in the right format, it is compatible with MO. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** While there are many similarities to things like Microsoft Word, there are just enough differences to make you have to search for what you need sometimes. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Not really solving problems. We used it to make signs, documents, etc. It's a pretty standard office software. ### 24. Open Office Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Harry M. | Owner, Public Relations and Communications, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** It's free and it's an alternative to Microsoft Word. It does everything Word does. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Nothing. I haven't had any problem with it at all. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** It works fine. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is a good software for writing in text but you can also upload pictures and signatures with it. It exports easily to PDF so anyone can read it without having to download the software. ### 25. Great Free Office Software **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kris L. | Artist, Animation, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** First of all, it's free! It's pretty straight forward and easy to use. Has many of the features that Microsoft Office does. Saves in many different file types. The tool bars are customization. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Sometimes it screws up the formatting. It doesn't always import things correctly. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** If looking for a stable office program, this is the one! Has most every feature one could need for basic spreadsheets, power point, or Word programs. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's a great program, it's saved me from having to buy new versions of office every x amount of years. It has all the main features that office has, I don't need much more outside of those. It's not as complete as Office but for someone who doesn't need those it's perfect. ### 26. Quality better than price **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Audrius P. | Jr. program analyst, Computer Games, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 27, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** That it is open source, reliable, easy to use, very popular in the world. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Calculator is not that good as in other similar products. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** It is free, has a nice recovery on crash. has all the features as the premium office softwares do have. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our company is open source oriented, that is why we chose this product. We don`t any other office soft. Full download file is only ~140mb ### 27. OPEN OFFICE "DOCUMENTS" **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lauren R. | Office Assistant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 11, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** My "favorite" thing about open office is the fact that it offers several different types of documents such as spreadsheets, word, text, presentation, & drawing. Mostly use it for the word documents to create flyers and company brochures & we can easily add in our company logo. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** While open office is great, it does not have as many options as other word programs may offer, but for the most part, no complaints **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** open office is very convenient and easy to use! definitely try! You can create great documents & spreadsheets with this program **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** The open office application enables our company to create and save our own documents, for example: flyers, business forms, brochures, etc. Very professional program ! ### 28. Almost makes Microsoft Office unnecessary - Almost. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Retail | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 19, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** It's Free. Not much more can be said about a program that you don't have to pay for. It has a pretty full feature-set and doesn't have some of the annoying quirks that come with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel's annoying automatic column formatting which changes UPCs into scientific notation nonsense. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** The program seems to have some sort of a memory leak which cause copying and pasting from within the program to another take a few seconds. If you copy a cell in Calc and try to paste into Chrome you may have to wait five seconds. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Give it a try before giving into Office. You may find yourself wondering why anyone would purchase something when a comparable product is free. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** The ability to open CSV files in ways that Excel doesn't let you do easily makes for huge differences in being able to correctly view a file delimited by several characters. ### 29. Open Office **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marina G. | Profesora de educación secundaria, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 15, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** The best part about this software is that it is completely free. It works similar to Word, and has mostly the same functions, so, if you know how to use Word, you will feel completely confident using Open Office. It has the same default settings and the paper sheets and options (fonts, colors, size) is exactly the same and put together into a similar user interface. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** What I dislike is that most computers do not have this software and have Word instead. Even when you save the documents into the .doc/.docx format, the format of your document would normally change when opened with Word. As an instructor at a university, this is a huge inconvenient, as my powerpoints will not look the same in class as they did in my computer. Also, the default document type will be .opt, and, if you are not careful enough, you will save your documents in this format, which you won't be able to open in most computers that do not have this software. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** This software is a good product for a starting company, however, I would recommend switching to the standard Office package. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** As it is an open software, it is completely free, which is a huge advantage for a company, as the office package might be too expensive for low-income or starting companies. This software is a good way to start your business without a huge investment on software. ### 30. Get rid of Microsoft Office **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Fully compatible with MS Word, Excel etc. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Nothing, this product has served me well for many years. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Try it you won't be disappointed **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Compatible spreadsheets and word documents. ### 31. Used for 10 years. Works great unless you need very advanced spreadsheet compatability. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Luke Z. | Videographer, Owner, Media Production, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** You cannot go wrong for this free product. I do not use many advanced functions and advanced users of excel may have to relearn some formulas. For simple-intermediate spreadsheets and simple math functions, open office works like a charm. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** CALC funtions not nearly as powerful as true Excel. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Seriously worth it if you are looking to save on Microsoft Office Subscription. I am able to work with files from Microsoft as well as OpenOffice spreadsheets. Although, if you deal with other office's using Microsoft, you may run into some compatibility issues when it comes to complex formulas. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used CALC for income analysis, budget layouts, timesheets, and more. ### 32. Good for basic everyday use **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 09, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** The price! Seriously, a free office suite is magnificent. If you are using for personal use, or even a small business, this is absolutely key! As far as I can tell, it has all the functionality of Microsoft Word, columns/tables, bullets/numbering, can import pictures, text/font editing, headers/footers, etc. All of my fonts that are saved on my computer show up in the program to use. It is extremely easy to use, pretty much intuitive if you have used other word formatting programs (ie microsoft word). Even if you have not used them, I doubt that anyone would struggle with using this program. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** If you are formatting a document with bullet points, numbers, etc, and sending to someone who uses microsoft word, there will be formatting issues. I have not figured out a way to send it without the formatting becoming completely whack when opening in microsoft word. The only solution I figured out was to save it as a PDF. Other than that I really have not come across any major issues with the program! **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Give it a chance!! It has been perfect for basic needs. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Most of the programs I use are design programs, but the need for a basic word computing program is still needed, but not to the point where I felt like I should spend money on buying the Microsoft suite. This has been the perfect option for me to keep me in budget. ### 33. Great software suite if your computer doesn't have MS Office and you want an inexpensive solution. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brandon J. | IT Support Technician, Computer & Network Security, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 02, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Free. What isn't good about free software that does the same functions as a $150+ program. It does everything the more expensive office suites do, without the extra cost. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Nothing that really stands out at this time. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Needed office software for some computers that did not have MS Office, and did not want to spend a lot of money to add it. ### 34. Compatibility at the right price! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bruce H P. | Lead Project Manager, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 26, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Can create just about any document type I need with MS compatibility, all at the right price! The Draw program is useful for creating Banners, Flyers and promotional materials. The Calc program is as advanced as Excel, and can be used to open and create Excel spreadsheets. The Writer program appears to be fully usable with MS Word, I have been able to create and edit MS Word files. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** OpenOffice Draw does not have enough export options. If I could send a version of a Draw document that someone with MS Office could edit and send back, that would be a major improvement. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** If you are not interested in entering into MS Licensing, then this is the right product for you. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenOffice to create and edit documents and figures that I can send out as PDF or MS format. I also use OpenOffice to create Ads and Promotional documents. ### 35. Quite good, but not without flaws **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael T. | Model, Entertainment, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 25, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** As most of the people would say, it's the license. But to me, it is not only about price, but the fact that the software is open source and is free (as in freedom) and you are more than welcome to help. I had no second thoughts when I switch from MS Office several years ago and ever since the software got only better. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** It seems like Oracle doesn't have too many plans on OpenOffice, the updates are rare and the biggest problem for me is the UI, like with many other open source programs, it looks like it came from the late 90s, early 2000's. So I had to make a switch to LibreOffice. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** It's a great piece of software and it excels at what it does, if you are not looking for the bleeding-edge updates and improvements, but rather want stuff done as quickly as possible, it's a great choice. You are free to use it on as many computers and for as many users as you like, no hidden fees or back-doors for spying and/or data-mining. But if you're looking for frequent updates and bug-fixes, a somewhat improved UI then LibreOffice would the obvious choice. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** There's too many to list them all, everything from basic word processing, business documentation, invoices, quotes and such. ### 36. a FREE office tool with no costs! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gian Pietro D. | Specialista in marketing digitale, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Is a suite for free and open source productivity compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. One good thing is the sidebar where many tools useful panels are enclosed, which you can expand and collapse as required. Being located to the side, it makes good use widescreen displays of modern computers (unlike the Microsoft ribbon) and significantly increases productivity. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Sometimes i lost the proper formatting of documents created on Microsoft Office Word. But I'm seeing that this problem is being solved gradually with updates released. On Ubuntu Linux i used LibreOffice that maybe is better than OpenOffice. Last thing: maybe is not easy to learn to use it, on this Microsof Office i think is little better. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** No license costs, a thing that you have to consider when you make business (i think). **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I don't have to pay a license for using it, that's the most important benefit. ### 37. Open office **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I appreciate that open office is a free use software. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Some of the features are somewhat complicated to figure out. Especially when importing docx files. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Bringing in lots of different text files. Open office is pretty great to have around since it allows you to open lots of different types of text files from multiple applications. ### 38. A great free alternative to M$ for freelancers **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kyler B. | Co-Owner / Developer, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 19, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** It's free and it's under constant community development **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** There are some slight UI quirks from where menus and features are located less than intuitively and M$ is always taking steps to fight it's compatibility so that can be a battle. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** If you are in a governmental or municipal organization, it can be difficult to remain compatible with your colleagues but it is getting better. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** The cost of software is removed in this category so that budget can be used elsewhere. ### 39. The free and open productivity suite **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 25, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** The licensing system, free price and the compatibility with other payments suites **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** The users difficult, to learn the new commands and user interfaces from other suits more populars **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** If you want a goog open source office suite, this is your product **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** The licensing payment using an open source product ### 40. Love It! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Zachary T. | Head Of Marketing, E-Learning, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Easy to create pdfs! Free word processing software. Opens a number of file types. This was the standard the the digital agency I use to own. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Like other similar programs a little slow unless your computer is new. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Get it! Use it! **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** General office use. Writing business documents, articles, etc. ### 41. Essential productivity tool -- and it happens to be open source **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mitchell S. | Owner, Publishing, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 31, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Surprisingly robust and useful suite of installed applications, fully compatible with industry standards such as Microsoft Office. Interface and shortcuts will all be familiar to old MS Office hands. OO comes with helpful add-ons and templates, creating a comprehensive set of solutions for medium-duty document creation and storage & retrieval needs. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** OpenOffice is just about flawless, even if it falls slightly short of the MS Office benchmarks. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Download it, install it and use it. There is no downside. I can't imagine that it will fail to meet expectations. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Spreadsheet, word processing and presentation software are deployable every business day of the year, and contribute to organizational productivity. ### 42. Good **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Graphic Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 17, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Open Office I like because it has a simple interface very easy to use interface but in turn has many options that are in view of the consumer, I think it need not be an expert in the field to achieve an excellent job. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** What I do not like Open Office really is very little to be said, but I think the only thing is that option that has the competence that when we copy a paragraph of text in any web and paste it into the document does this that option to keep the format you are working on the file **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** It is the best software for documents that I used on MAC platform. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Open Office helped me a lot since I change platform because I export my old file with another extension and continue to provide a good job to my customers. ### 43. Open office base **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Newspapers | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 14, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I really love being able to use this program for cataloging all of my collections! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** So far, I haven't found anything to dislike about the program. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** --ease of collection management --ease of connection with Apache ### 44. Microsoft Office Suite Alternative **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 13, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Its capable of opening most documents that Microsoft Suite would also open, its cheaper than many other products and relatively easy to work with. This product is also free, so not only is it valuable to our business, but I can also use the product from home on my personal computer. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Lots of crashes. If I have too many documents open at once it likes to crash. It isn't as easy to work with as some of the more expensive products. When using some of the sub-products, like the spreadsheets, the formulas aren't always compatible with those used in excel. It loads up pretty slowly on my workstation. Spmetimes I give up on it and I open my Windows Virtual Machine to use Office Instead. This product is not as mainstream as Microsoft products, so its often a little more difficult to find help. I use google to solve a lot of problems, and to learn more about the tools I'm using. There aren't as many resources available for Open Office as there are for alternative tools. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Great for Linux! If youre using Linux I would recommend this. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use this as an alternative to Microsoft Office for Licensing reasons. I also work primarily on Linux, and the only other options are Libre, which is no longer approved by my employer. And Lotus, which is pretty bad. When it does work as intended, I don't have to jump back and forth between my virtual machine and my Linux workstation. ### 45. Best Free Office Suite **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ray N. | Software Sales, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 06, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** OpenOffice Calc is miles ahead of all the other free spreadsheet programs. I've had problems with other software when opening very large spreadsheets, but OpenOffice seems to handle them really well. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** The interface isn't the easiest to deal with. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Haven't had to purchase Mictrosoft Office for our entire staff. We are a small company, so this has saved us some money. ### 46. A Comparable version of Microsoft Office Suites **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 02, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I generally only use Open Office Calc and Open Office Writer, because my company sent me to work from home with the program, instead of MS Office. I like that I can open any needed docs with it - it serves a purpose, once you get used to it. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** There are less options. The format feels like it's about ten years out of date. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** I would consider recommending the software if I knew they were adding necessary upgrades to the products. There is much room for growth, speaking as an MS Office user, so I hope this is the direction in which they are headed! **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I help to streamline data. Benefits: It's better than nothing! ### 47. open office **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 02, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I like Open Office because it is easy to use and offers the same functionality that I look for in any other product. My husband uses this at his work, so we implemented it at my work shortly after I started. I like that it does all of the same things that I would get for more expensive products, but it isnt. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** There are always things that could be done better. I think with Open Office, there isnt always the same compatibility with other programs that is offered by competitors, but it serves its purpose. There is no way to have everything compatible with everything, so I think this is still a solid product and is competitive in what it offers. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it to track incoming/outgoing food and personal care products from our office. In regards to benefits, it works smoothly and does what I need it to do for simple data tracking. ### 48. OpenOffice is a great alternative to Microsoft Office **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lori Anne B. | Owner, Retail, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 30, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** I don't actually use the base program - use mainly write and the calc. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Had a bit of problems installing it on windows 10 but finally found a helpful article somewhere that solved the issue I had. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Works perfectly for what I need - mainly to open spreadsheets some of my vendors supply and to write the occasional letter. ### 49. Better than using the MS product, and free! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gautam R. | Design Consultant, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 31, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** Compatibility with MS Office/Office 365. Ease of use and availibility of multiple save formats. One-click export to PDF. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Not much to dislike in the product any more, as it has evolved to be very user-friendly, over the years. Interface design can be made more modern, in keeping with the times. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** Give it a fair shot to understand its' usefulness. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a freelancer, it can be expensive to buy/subscribe to expensive products like Office 365. Open office solves this problem, by being a free, open source product. The savings are tangible. ### 50. Easy to Use word processing **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 02, 2016 **What do you like best about OpenOffice Base?** It is basically Microsoft Office without the cost. User friendly and straightforward. Would definitely consider recommending this to a friend. Easy to make tables and documents as needed. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice Base?** Can run a bit slowly. Like, Microsoft Word, there are many options that the average user would find unnecessary. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice Base:** 100% would recommend using this instead of Word. Simple platform with easy to use implementation. Simple internet download and viola, you have your program. **What problems is OpenOffice Base solving and how is that benefiting you?** Very user friendly. Easy to use word processing. Easy to download from the web. ## OpenOffice Base Discussions - [What is OpenOffice Base used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-openoffice-base-used-for) - [View OpenOffice Base pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/openoffice-base/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-24+04%3A20%3A05+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=68f44f3c-a920-4c2b-8350-f120514ea10a&secure%5Btoken%5D=1d43289329462f324a572aa7b05225e5449a99dda5c12578f12d386a6fa2ca11&format=llm_user) ## Top OpenOffice Base Alternatives - [Microsoft Access](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-access/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (830 reviews) - [Ninox](https://www.g2.com/products/ninox/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (332 reviews) - [LibreOffice Base](https://www.g2.com/products/libreoffice-base/reviews) - 3.8/5.0 (14 reviews)