# OpenOffice Reviews **Vendor:** The Apache Software Foundation **Category:** [Office Suites Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/office-suites) **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 312 ## About OpenOffice Apache OpenOffice is a free and open-source productivity suite that offers a comprehensive set of applications for various office tasks. It includes Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, Draw for graphics, Base for database management, and Math for formula editing. Designed to be compatible with other major office suites, Apache OpenOffice supports the OpenDocument Format (ODF) and can handle files from Microsoft Office and other formats. Its user-friendly interface and extensive language support make it accessible to a global audience. As a mature and powerful product with a history spanning over two decades, Apache OpenOffice provides a reliable and cost-effective solution for individuals, businesses, and educational institutions seeking a versatile office suite without licensing fees. ## OpenOffice Reviews ### 1. A double alternative **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** KOSTIANTYN S. | Creative Copywriter, Marketing and Advertising, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 09, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** In a private copywriter and tutor practice, open-source products look more desirable because of the legal use combined with functionality. Although corporative users spend money on contracts with developers, obligations need to pay more for the support and updates. Self-employed individuals need daily using only, and that is why alternative platforms reward to be considered. OpenOffice requires more time to learning, but an interface becomes friendly over the time. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The more support is a function users need. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** The creating texts, tasks, and spreadsheets is that the self-employed user requires. ### 2. Open Office the free Office solution **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Entertainment | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 15, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** This is a free product that replaces many costly office products such as MS Word, MS Access and MS Excel spreadsheet, it is easy to use or install, also available for multiple platforms. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Less features are available as in some of the higher end products **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is a free product so if you don't to spend any money on other office solutions this is a fantastic substitution ### 3. An outstanding alternative office suite **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Raymond A. | Researcher and writer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 28, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice is a full featured office suite that can replace MS Office for most users. It can import documents created in MS Office- the import is usually flawless. OpenOffice offers a good number of language patches that enable multilingual users to choose different languages quite easily. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice receives fairly regular updates, but has not been updated as frequently as LibreOffice. Also, the interface is slightly dated and could use a more modern appearance. This is a minor complaint. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenOffice for editing documents and dissertations from clients, and for my own document creation. Rather than lock my workflow into proprietary office software solutions, I prefer to use OpenOffice for my personal work, and for the work I do for NGOs. ### 4. Open Office with automation **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anil N. | Management, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 14, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** there are usefull Options in open office to automate the daily activities, Easy of Use **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Formulas are not able full fill some calculations in the open office **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is resolving the spread sheets and documentation purpose issues ### 5. A free office suite that fulfills its purpose. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mario C. | Diseñador web, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 15, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I love that with a free version you can access office formats and create documents with potential similar to that of other more well-known programs. The usage is very similar to other applications, making it very intuitive to use. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There are formats that later do not open in other office suites. The keyboard shortcuts also drive me a little crazy. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows me to create office documents without having to buy a paid suite and with almost all the functionalities of the latter. ### 6. OpenOffice Adequate for my business. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ramsay C. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 13, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I have used OpenOffice from new and found it adequate for my business. Occasionally I looked at MS Office, more gongs, whistles and complications better served outside both programs. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It is difficult to find fawlt as it is my go to App. It probably lacks a bit of functionality here and there, but doesn't everything. My biggest problem is Windows storage which is driving me towards Google. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Day-to-day office tasks are relatively easy using OpenOffice, without being pushed around as per MS Office. ### 7. Very useful for writing texts **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Adrián A. | Funcionario de carrera en Dpto Informática Tributaria en Agencia Tributaria, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 05, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The main thing is that it is free. It is compatible with the office package that comes with Windows and the functionalities are very similar. I use it daily and it is very useful to me. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** What I like least about this tool, which encompasses several different ones, is that it seems like a copy of another, but this one does it for free, which gives it a great advantage. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** The main problem it solves is providing a text processing tool for free, with a large number of features compatible with other word processors. ### 8. The best review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Moises Abraham L. | abogado , Banking, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** What I like most about openoffice is that it is very practical, and similar to microsoft office, it is easy to learn, it fulfills its purpose of replacing the premium office for free, it has almost the same characteristics, its spreadsheet performs very well . **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** What I dislike about open office is its appearance is not very friendly, it lacks colors to identify many options, that would make it much easier for people like me who need glasses to use a computer, they could improve that point for the user experience **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** The problem that it solves is, as I initially mentioned, that it is free, which makes it easier for me to be able to write my documents on any computer, despite not having a license for other applications that are paid for, it benefits me in that my work never stops. ### 9. Before LibreOffice, there was OpenOffice. Many good things to come! **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** M H. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 19, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice, a great alternative of LibreOffice, already promised a well designed and fully functional office suite for cross-platform users. The software is free to use and has all the functionality you might expect from a full-fledged office program pack. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** At a certain point, I ran into some program problems across my devices. And, although I am sure they are fixed right now, at that time, I choose to switch from OpenOffice to Libre office. I instantly fell in love with the easy design layout, whereas OpenOffice had a bit more clutter in the top bar (at that time). **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenOffice allowed me to use a varity of different operating systems in my office (Mac OS, Linux and Windows) without any problems. Because it includes the basic office programs like Word and Excel (variants :-), it would help me to do my basic office tasks with ease. ### 10. OpenOffice review **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Facilities Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 20, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** if you do not have budget for MS Office , this is the best alternative **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** some formats from MS office not applicable in Opneoffice **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** it is almost the same with MS office ### 11. Open Office is an excellent alternative to Microsoft Products **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Richard G. | CEO/Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's free, there are no licensing fees. Also, it is open source and modifiable. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It lacks some of the plug-ins and other features offered by Microsoft Office. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Day-to-day word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentations ### 12. Office PC **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Manuel V. | Office Manager, Consumer Goods, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 25, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Complete open source and free distribution office suite for all PCs, organize data within documents, export PDF, manage record tables, databases and spreadsheets with professional tools. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Compatibility issues with MS Office, limits my use between signed client documents, have to export to PDF. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use of spreadsheets and text files for management and accounting work, control of files stored on PC. Document signatures to share via email. ### 13. its good to take review from user it will help update sofware **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shehzad A. | Senior Associate Manager PD, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The first thing is is user-friendly and easy to use. and available anywhere and time. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** at this time i haven't seen any dislike but if any thing i feel i will share it. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Working on data analysis and solving the issues which facing during working on the computer ### 14. Free but not easy **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Miguel G. | QA Tester & CSACT Integration , Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 03, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** What is a free program that is easy to install and easy to use if you don't want to pay for the Office license, in **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The one corresponding to Excel is difficult to use because if you want to use it professionally, it's complicated to find things. The part corresponding to Word (Writer) is not very intuitive if you want to use more complex functionalities. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I solve the problem of being able to open Word documents, Excel, and even some PowerPoint. ### 15. Review for OpenOffice **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aniket M. | Research Intern, Data Analyst, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 25, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's a good software bundle for spreadsheets, doc, and presentation-related tasks. It has a lot of features to customize your test like different fonts, colors, designs, etc. The spreadsheet/excel has various fuctions/plot features available for calculation and report generation. So it possesses most of the features of MS Excel, Word, Powerpoint and the best part is it's free !!! I recommend it, especially for students who generally can't afford costly software. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Though Upenoffice possesses most of the features of MS office software, I feel MS software is better. The latter are more convenient to use.MS Office has some more features like in MS Powerpoint, there is an option to automatically design your slides which is fantastic. There is a huge scope of improvement for OpenOffice if it is considered at par with MS Office, Google suite. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I make our reports/spreadsheets,plot, analysis using Openoffice software. Its free, so financially beneficial. Also the quality of report is satisfactory. ### 16. Everything you will need to be personally productive, FREE **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Filip G. | Web Designer / Developer / Seo Monkey, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 08, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice is as intuitive as Microsoft Office, but is free and significantly less bulky. It might not have everything advanced the MS Office does, but its a fantastic package when you don't have a big budget. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Some of the functions aren't as intuitive as MS Office and the OpenOffice Spreadsheet functions are a little clunky. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenOffice to help me write letters, proposals, keep a track of numbers and records and perform small calculations. Overall it's my go to platform as a small business owner. ### 17. A complete solution for all Office essentials **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** SHAILENDRA B. | L&D Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's User Interface is perfectly awesome. We can easily create word file, spread sheet , Drawing or presentation with ease. And moreover it's absolutely free of cost. Also, it's size is pretty less compared to other such softwares **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It's available only for PC i.e. desktop or Laptops. It's not available for mobile devices such as Smart phones ( android or iOS) , or not can be installed on my samsung Tab or iPad **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can very easily create word files that I need for my training. Also, I create presentations i.e. slides for my students to be displayed via projector. I even can maintain all numerical data in the spreadsheet, as it has got many formulae and mathematical functions. ### 18. an alternate for ms office **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Abhuday T. | Assistant Professor, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 01, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's almost similar to ms word, so easy to use **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The formatting is not the same, so an ms word file, when opened with open office, gets a different format. The same happens in PowerPoint presentation files and excel files. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** As it's free, it's an excellent alternative for editing word files, spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentation files. The features are almost the same and support all the possible office requirements ### 19. Great when I worked in South Korea **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** George F. | Consultant, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 26, 2020 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Price, general ease of use, good product. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I am told LibreOffice is better. It didn't have all the functionality of Excel. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** OpenOffice is good. LibreOffice works well, also, and I am told is even better than OpenOffice. I am glad they are both free. Only for a few classes I took in my MBA program did I wish I had an English version of MS Office. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I learned how to rank students with OpenOffice, and used it when in South Korea as MS Office was in Korean, and my Korean isn't sufficient. ### 20. A great alternative to the other one **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Richard F. | Network Security Analyst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 26, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I liked that OpenOffice was so easy to download and install. OpenOffice is available for both Windows and Linux systems (systems that I use), straightforward to use, and best of all, OpenOffice is free...no need for a user license. OpenOffice has excellent versions of word, excel, and powerpoint that you will find helpful for completing your tasks. I also like that the OpenOffice is not a very large file to download and it also comes in a portable version. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The foremost of my challenges with OpenOffice is with document formatting. It does not keep the exact format of the file if you had made it with Windows PowerPoint and then open it up with Presenter in OpenOffice. The text and colors go crazy, so you may have to make some adjustments. OpenOffice should also have a mobile app on the android or iOS store for users to download and use. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** OpenOffice is free and easy to use and is an excellent alternative for anyone who may not be able to afford the other product. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** When I was a student, OpenOffice came in handy when my windows installation started giving problems. Luckily I had the Linux OS installed and was able to get a copy of OpenOffice installed on it to help me continue with the rest of my studies. Since then, I have always used OpenOffice whenever necessary. OpenOffice is an excellent alternative to other solutions, so if you are a student, using this product will be a perfect fit. ### 21. Best freeware writing tool **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mustafa J. | Assistant Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** we are using it for last more than10 years this very good office suite and no licenses just download and install it updates, it is totally compatible with Microsoft office we are working all documentation and excel works very easy to manage documents and very lite system resource use low **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** still not face any problem that really hurt us we are very happy to use **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** please use this software one of the best office suites very lite all program compatible **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** writing letters and excel works creating worksheets and many more futures are available it is a freeware and also available on internet ### 22. The Revival of Open Source Alternatives!!! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anmol J. | Customer Service Representative, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 24, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The best alternative Open Source programme to use for word processing and spreadsheet programs to create charts, databases, letters, resumes, mail merges for labels and envelopes. One of the better highlights is that I do not need to pay for MS office when you can do the same thing for free. I have used Word and Excel in the past and i picked up the OpenOffice right away because there's not a lot of difference between them. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I cannot remember a single bad thing to say or a single reason to pay for word processing or database software :) **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Apache OpenOffice is a generous software. Things you can do on other documents platforms can be done as well on this software. I have not contacted their support so I cant place rate based on support under customer service. In addition to that, there are some features on this software that will guide users. ### 23. Nice Alternative **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 17, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The best part of OpenOffice is the convenience it provides. Given the alternatives available its easy to use and easy to access. Best of all, it's free. There is no subscription fee for use. One download provides access to mutliple applications that includes a document editor, presentation creator, spreadsheets and even a database application, for example. Comparing to Microsoft this would be individual aplications each with a subscription cost, which is a bit unreasonable. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I don't like the OpenOffice default file format. Due to the prevalence of other software, when saving a file, the file format must be paid attention to; otherwise, others may not be able to open the file. Also, there is not email option with OpenOffice so that would still have to be purchased, defaulting to a paid subscription. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenOffice provides the option to eliminate some subscription services, saving money while still being productive. Several application types are available within OpenOffice with the initial download and there is no need to purchase an additional application. ### 24. Ease of use **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Zachary M. | Academy trainer , Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like the ease of use and the fact that the software is based off of previous office design so it's familiar to the average joe learning the software and it's open source **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Sometimes the greatest strength can also be a weakness , in this case the backend design of this software in regards to office. But still it's a minor dislike compared to the favorability **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** For our non profit side of the company , not all of our employees are well versed in tech but when it comes to this software it makes it easier for them to use it and work on it without a lot of training ### 25. OpenOffice - How Open is it? **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Riva S. | Office Manager, Law Practice, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 09, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Since we do not use MS Excel, we are able to open, edit and create "Excel" documents **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It usually translates flawlessly, but every now and then, there is a glitch. Also, for some reason, there is no way to update the version, perhaps the publisher has stopped supporting it. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have an Excel Template that thas to be used with a number of our cases, and since we do not have a lot of MS software, we do not use EXCEL. So, we are able to convert the documents seamlessly! ### 26. OpenOffice is great to use and a good alternative f.e. Office365 **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Natascha v. | Medewerker verkoop binnendienst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 09, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** For me, OpenOffice is a good alternative f.e. Office 365. It is not only because I can use it for free, but also because it has many functions I need for my work to use. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I do not dislike anything at all. Maybe it looks a bit outdated, but that is not a big problem for me. The most important thing is that it can be used for the things I need to use it. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** When you search for an alternative for Office365, then OpenOffice is an excellent software to use. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It solved the problem that I can use free software instead of buying a monthly subscription to use, f.e. Office 365. ### 27. Very user friendly compared to other products. Simple yet powerful tools. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Manoj M. | Sr. Technical Support, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 19, 2020 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Easy to use, easy to adjust and filter data yet powerful to handle all requirements. Works with all useful formulas. Easier than MS office. Main pro is its an open source. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There is nothing left to dislike openoffice. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** The name itself suggests its opensource software. Highly productive software yet easy to use tool. A beginner can also easily use it. Recommended A+ **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use this for generating daily reports, client reports. It saves much time compared to other products. ### 28. An open source substitute for Microsoft office suite **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 16, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice is an open-source substitute for the Microsoft Office suite. It is free. You can open up almost all Word, Excel, and PPT files created with Microsoft Office. The Draw feature of OpenSource can also be used to generate high-definition pictures. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It is not 100% compatible with the Microsoft Office Suite. There are calculations in Excel that cannot be 100% replicated by the OpenOffice Calc. Well, at least not with the same formula. If a user is very familiar with those formulas in Excel, they may need to spend some time to transition to the formula in Calc. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using the OpenOffice Suite to satisfy the everyday needs of writing, calculating, presenting, and creating pictures. I found the OpenOffice Suite is able to satisfy the needs and even go beyond the expectations. ### 29. The best free option **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jesús Noehi P. | Tecnico informatico, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 12, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** With Openoffice you can, without a doubt, fill your needs when dealing with all kinds of documents, be text, sheets, or more, and all for the excellent price of 0. It also has a version for all the popular SO and works with all windows versions. It also doesnt need a very powerful computer to work. It performs very decent even with old computers that have low ram, old cpu or that use mechanical hdd. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It has son incompatibilities when dealing with files created with the Microsoft solution because they dont have certain features implemented thus leading to out of range text, some kind of filters not working correctly or even not working at all or out of place items. Sometimes its just something visual, but sometimes it will lead to not being able to work with the file at all. Also, the UI needs and upgrade, because it looks a bit dated by todays standards when comparing to other companies solutions. Other than that, it works flawlessly in all kind of environments, specially if you work with openoffice files. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I can without a doubt recommend its use because it works with most SO, most computers even if they are old and has almost everything you will need to work with documents. Also its free, and that's clearly a plus. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows us to work with all types of documents without worrying about the price, or missing some options, and that is very important in todays office work, because everybody uses documents. ### 30. OpenOffice Review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Solomon R. | Operations Team Member, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 07, 2021 ### 31. Great premise, poor execution **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 04, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The premise of being able to have a full suite of programs that could replace Microsoft Office for free sounded great. The actual user experience, unfortunately not so great. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** User interface was not intuitive, word processing and spreadsheet functionality seemed limited (even compared to other free products). I gave up on the PowerPoint equivalent after 10 frustrating minutes. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Worth giving a try, you can't beat the price. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Solved the problem of realizing why everyone is not giving up their paid subscriptions or licenses to paid "office suite" products to use OpenOffice. It's just not good enough. ### 32. A lighter alternative office suite for free **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Abdul Wasi K. | Project Manager | Drug Grid, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 04, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It is a lighter office suite with all the components same as other popular office suits offers. It is free & easy to download, install, setup and use. It is an opensource software. It consumes less space on disk and less resources on processor & memory. The setup package is very small comparatively. It is available for various operating systems and devices which makes it a good choice for everyone to use for their relevant daily works. It supports almost all file formats of other office suites which makes it is easier to switch from other office suites with no compromises. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It's interface is not much catchy in comparison to other popular office suites which makes it hard to believe for users that it will meet their needs unless tried out. Updates are much awaited to better support the new file formats of Microsoft Office like XLSx, PPTx, DOCx and other. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I definitely recommend Apache OpenOffice as a lighter and a good alternative office suite for all. It will not force you to use it on Windows only and you are free to choose any operating system of choice because it available for all popular operating systems. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** With Apache Open Office, I am relaxed for not requiring to pay for license to use a good office suite for daily work like drafting documents, making spreadsheets and preparing presentations. It consumes lesser disk space and system resources. It makes possible for me to choose operating system of my choice. ### 33. A Quality Office Suite **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Writing and Editing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 24, 2020 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The word processing functions & features are efficient, and I primarily utilize those features. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Need ability to convert to latest Word doc format **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I primarily use OpenOffice to write articles, fiction, and documents of various kinds. ### 34. Free code office package **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lucia Z. | Office Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 24, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Complete office suite compatible with Linux and Windows, document processing, professional spreadsheet and presentation. Download of different versions to support updates. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I have no problems with my base system, but it can improve compatibility or convert files for MS Office. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Complete office package, it has everything you need and is compatible with different PC platforms. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Developing and creating documents with OpenOffice, I have all the tools available for a complete office network. All users understand the tools. ### 35. OpenOffice is great for documentation, sheets , drawing and presentations. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Julius Cezar F. R. | Web Developer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 02, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like the way OpenOffice provide fast and easy navigation specially with large documents. I could create interactive PDF files with links on each topic. I have optimized Writer's features by making documentations on every programming language that I am studying. These are the feature that became so useful for me: *I like the ease of making table of contents with clickable titles. *As mentioned, the navigation window which lists all the headers, tables, images and other objects that I place in my document. *You could insert Calc (spreadsheet) object, drawings, formula or anything that is included in the software suite which amazes me. *I could also save a PDF copy of this document that retains all the links, which I like best!, making it my mobile reference of my documentations. This will be a long boring review if I am to include all the benefits I had with OpenOffice. I first studied OpenOffice when I was working as Systems Analyst in a manufacturing company. It helped me cut the cost of our productivity software BIG TIME! It was hard at first cause I have trained all of the company's office employees. This forced me to study all the features that would be helpful for them. AND IT PAID! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** From time to time I would experience some crash specially with old computers but they are not as annoying as the corrupted docs with.. you know... The only problem you will probably have is on how to do this and that...You can always consult its Help Menu But the good thing is, once you knew something, you can use that knowledge on the succeeding versions! **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Its a complete replacement of our previous costly office productivity software so it helped in ALL the reports, documentations and even some simple drawings. ### 36. A great free set of tools that everyone can use **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Chris C. | Office Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 22, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Open Office is a great suite of office software that is free to use. It's great to not have to worry about having to have enough licenses, or deal with reassigning licenses when you replace a computer. It is as easy to use as any of the mainstream office suites, and has all the same tools that you are used to. It has the word processor for writing documents, spread sheets, presentations, it can even do databases. It has all the formatting features you could ever need, and does an amazing job. It is incredibly easy to use, no matter what your experience with office suites. Even if you have never used a word processor or office suite before, within seconds of opening Open Office, you can be typing a letter and even formatting things with its intuitive user interface. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The biggest downside to using open office, and this is constantly improving, is working with documents made by a different office suite. Sometimes when it imports a document or spreadsheet created with a different program, it'll have formatting or formula issues. They have made great strides in fixing this though. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenOffice on all of my computers. I even use a portable version of it on a flash drive, so that no matter where I am at, even if I am using someone elses computer, I have access to OpenOffice. It makes it so much easier to not have to worry about not having an office suite or at least one that is compatible with the documents I work with. ### 37. A great product that I have been using for years and best of all it is free **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** H. Lea S. | Web Developer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Well obviously the number one feature that I like best is that it is a free software, however even though it is a free software, I still prefer open office over microsoft office. As well as unlike other competitors software, you are able and allowed to install Open Office on as many computers as you like. With Open Office it makes creating spreadsheets extremely simple as well as easy. Open Office also allows for me to export said spreadsheets in to html documents that I can then upload to my websites where I can share them with others. I also like the fact that it is open source, so that anyone can help improve upon the software. It is also nice that there are community support forums, what this means is that you are asking for and receiving help from fellow users just like you. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** One issue that I do have with the software is that the right side menu could be better but it's not a big issue, it just gets annoying sometimes. For example, it is not very responsive. If you are multi-tasking and have several programs opened side by side, there comes a point when the width of the spreadsheet that the menu overtakes the data and you can no longer see anything but the menus. It has a somewhat wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) editor which can be annoying when you are copying items from one document to another document. So instead of your document having the same font-face, font-size, font-color, and font-attributes; it has several different ones throughout the document and you now have to go back and edit everything for it to be uniformed throughout the new document. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is helpful in creating personal expense logs as well as personal payroll logs and personal mileage logs. The software makes creating and updating datasheets easy and has the ability to convert them into html documents to easily be uploaded to websites for others to keep track of the information as well. ### 38. An easy office tool for everyone at no cost! **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Himaya E. | Specialist - Business Process Improvement (Global Technology), Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The BEST feature is it is easy to use and FREE of cost. I also love it's its ability to support various versions of other office applications. The basic (and some advance) features of the major office application tool are already present in OpenOffice. Straightforward and no fuss. Also, no pesky ads every now and then. We are also able to send reports to our clients and customers without worrying if they can open the file because we know there would be fewer issues on compatibility. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Prompt support for issues and concerns. I sometimes have difficulty opening big files (spreadsheets). I have previously used OpenOffice in a different country some ten years ago, and the look of the application hasn't changed that much. Not sure if it's the branding thing, but I feel like OpenOffice should consider updating their look. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I really feel that OpenOffice should revamp their look to a sleeker and contemporary design. As I've said on above, the first time I've used OpenOffice was 10 years ago. I've transferred work and went back to using MS on other companies. Now, I'm back to using it again on a start-up company, and the looks of it is still the same. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenOffice has been a great help to our daily operations, office tasks, and reporting. We are able to report our company status and present output during meetings with the use of OpenOffice.We've realized that certain services can be acquired free of cost. We are also able to send reports to our clients and customers without worrying if they can open the file because we know there would be fewer issues on compatbility. ### 39. Alternate software for Microsoft Office **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Viswanath V. | Business Process Lead, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 16, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** This application is cheap alternative for Microsoft Office and also provides mostly all features which Microsoft Office has. This app have Excel, PowerPoint, Office Writer and so on. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The layout could have been better. The options provided are less comparitevely. The User Interface is not upto the mark. Due to these lag, this application have less features. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** This application has been used as an alternative for Microsoft Office with less amount and this is also beneficial to most of us in enterprise. ### 40. very attractive alternative to the popular office suite **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Krzysztof S. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 04, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** First of all it offers most of often used functions which office suite should have. OpenOffice supports most common file formats and offers export and import between them. This open-source suite has enough features for your work. OpenOffice's core offerings most what you need. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Sometimes document layout and formatting looks differently when created in other tool. Problem with compatibility with Visual Basic for Applications, especially if your macro functions depend on Microsoft's environment. OpenOffice can open PowerPoint files, but transitional effects are not imported. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** If you have choice to paid for office suite and have it for free please choose Open Office. There is no reason to spend money for something which is offered for free. I'm using it privately and in my small association and it is doing its job perfectly. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Because it is free it can be installed without additional costs. It is working on multiple operating systems. Supports multiple languages. Opens various formats. it's free -- no subscription fee, no lump sum, no upsell to a pro version. If your business needs don't include complex word-processing or database-management features. ### 41. good enough, acceptable to replace Microsoft Office, but some features should be added or improved **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vasile A. | Lead Developer / Analyst, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 03, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** it is an acceptable replacement for Microsoft Office. I need a good replacement for Microsoft Office. Open Office is available on Linux as well, and MacOS operating system. Microsoft Office is only for Windows. That's the thing I like it most, the fact that is cross platform software. But we can do much more things in Microsoft office than in OpenOffice. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There are some features from Microsoft Office which are not compatible with Open Office. It was not possible to properly edit one document created with Microsoft Office. I think there is still some work to make Microsoft Office documents fully compatible with Open Office. It would be nice if some other types of documents can be worked in Open Office, like PDF documents, epub documents, mobi documents (in general books for various formats to be open in ebook reader to be able to open / edit them in Open Office). Also for drawings I would like to use it more friendly for creating UML diagrams, class diagrams, state machines, sequence diagrams. Also it can be useful to create project scheduling plans, like Microsoft Project. Once you develop some new features in Open Office, to make it more competitive, please make sure that using those features are well documented. if the use is very good in working with Microsoft Office, will have some unpleasant surprises when working with open office. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I think is a good candidate to do the same work you do with Microsoft Office, but do not expect that all the features from Microsoft Office can be worked out in Open Office. If you are very familiar with Microsoft office, you may have some surprises when working with open office. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I wanted to use it for create excel worksheets, drawings, to open documents created in Microsoft Office. General purpose excel worksheets can be worked in Open Office, but not all the functions available in Microsoft Excel are available in Open Office (for example, from my understanding, Pivot Table does not exist in open office, or some other special functions for tables). ### 42. Best Free Office Suite **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dirk H. | Business Analyst | IT Specialist | Records and Information Management , Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 10, 2020 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The thing I like best about Open Office hands down would be the rich functionality, there isn't anything I can't do as compared to other paid applications. Al the interface is very similar to what you may be accustomed using so the learning curve is not steep, basically you can install and get up and running. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I have no dislikes, I am quite comfortable with the interface and functionality, what I can do on my own I Google and normally find an answer. I guess the only think I can speak negatively about would be the icons which look a bit dated and can resemble that of a more basic application like say WordPad. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Transitioning to or using Open Office is not difficult at all, the download and install is basic (basically click through installation). The interface is similar in most part to the more popular offerings you may be used to, also you can save your documents to many different file formats so sharing your documents is not limited to other Open Office users. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** One great use of OpenDraw would be the editing of PDF documents, this has been a life saver after looking around for free PDF editors, I think it is one of the best option I have found. The problem I solve is being able to use full featured suite of applications at no cost. I save money while still being able to produce and share documents compatible with other applications if necessary. ### 43. I have worked in the open source community for years and OpenOffice is one of my GoTo applications. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** John S. | In-home caretaker, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 08, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** What I like best is flexibility and support from my fellow opensource users. We don't always have time to debug (not the best programming job), but the community will always help you find a fix. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I dislike that government agencies sign End User Licence Agreements (EULA) with for profit companies when you have a group worldwide of developers trying to make things easier for us all; Examples: Blender, GIMP, OpenOffice, Ubuntu... I am writing this on a Linux box and I still don't like that I have to learn many languages, Macintosh Operating System (OS)/ UNIX, Linux, Microsoft OS, the predecessor DOS. I don't even remember what the DOS acronym stands for. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** It is free and supported by people that write code for proprietary software companies. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is a simple Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) for written and presentation of information to others. ### 44. OpenOffice from a business perspective **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michiel L. | Owner/Senior Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Of course that it is free. Also that is is low in data to download. And that it is opensource and updated and improved all the time. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Output and saved files are not always compatible with MS office and other applications, or between versions. Especially (complex) excel formulas have a tendency to go wrong when saving in another format (e.g. .xls) than odf. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I work with small businesses and people from lower-income or rural areas in East Africa. Internet connection and speed is not always reliable. Other office suites are too expensive or too large for downloads. Open Office overcomes these issues and makes coworking with anybody anywhere great again. ### 45. Free and useful tool for work with documents **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 11, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Very easy to use, accessible, and minimum requirements for installation, allow me to save muy docs as pdf file **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The UI is not so good, I think it could be better **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Free and open source platform to work with documents **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Have all in one platform that allow me to work with documents ### 46. It has everything you need to be a sucessful student. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Scott B. | Park Ranger, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The word processor does everything you could possibly need it to. My assignments often were more professional looking than the students that paid for MS Office. The spread sheet software is powerful as well and will easily organize, analyze, and graph your data. I find the layout more intuitive and simple than the new MS Office, and with less distractions/annoyances. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Missing some advanced statistics in Calc. such as P values, and no database software equivalent to MS Access. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Data analysis, and report writing. Spreadsheets help to visualize and analyze data, where as the word processor helps to interpret and communicate the data. ### 47. I am constantly recommending OpenOffice to friends and family **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gail G. | New Business Coordinator / Database Maintenance / Plan Documents Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 08, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice has most, if not all, capabilities as other major Office programs but it is FREE! For those people who can't afford or don't want the monthly expense of paying for other office software, this is your answer. It is very easy to download and install on most of the platforms that everyday users already have. You can convert all of you documents from other office programs right into OpenOffice and also export them to be compatible with the other office programs. This software allows you to make slide presentations, open pdf docs, create word and spreadsheets as well as several more types. If you don't have access to the major office software or can't afford them, OpenOffice is your answer! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I haven't found anything I don't like about OpenOffice. It can pretty much do everything you need outside of more intricate software programs that cost two or three times more. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** If you have any doubts, I recommend this as it is so easy to download and install and if you're not satisfied, you can uninstall it just as easily. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** If I had come across a problem, I would just use their help section but I haven't had any problems but that could be because I'm technically savvy so that helps. But the average user should have no problems they can't solve with the Help section. ### 48. OpenOffice works for me **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sue W. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 05, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I've been using OpenOffice for many years. I've mainly used it for text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. In the near future I will be giving the database a try. If I need to send a document or whatever to others, I don't worry if they have OpenOffice because it is easy to export to PDF. A few times in the past, I've tried to collaborate on a project and we had problems between Microsoft and OpenOffice. I'm not sure if that is still the case. There have been many improvements over the years. But best of all, it's free. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Windows has made it very hard to open a Microsoft document with OpenOffice. But, hey, that's nowhere near how aggravating Microsoft can be. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Right now, I am using OpenOffice for my resume. I can make changes to the .odt and export it to pdf with the date of the update. If I am missing something that Word has, it must not be important. The two main spreadsheets I always have open are for a work search lob and to track the classes I am taking from a website. Again, I don't see what Excel has that could be better. The spreadsheets can also be converted to pdf if necessary. ### 49. Great alternative word processing suite **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Import and Export | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 27, 2020 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice provides all the features that a word processing suite should have. Its writer application enables you to write documents, letters, essays etc providing features such as letter formatting, lists, numbering, paragraph alignment etc. In addition the calc application enable you to create spreadsheets using powerful inbuilt functions with the ability to display your work using graphs. Yet another application enables you to create presentations similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. Documents can be easily converted to PDF by clicking a button right in the application. It's great because it is free firstly. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There haven't been many updates over the years. Although the features are great, it could use a little update. The interface has been pretty much static as well and is a little outdated. It would be great if the product was updated more frequently and the interface changed to have a more modern look. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Because OpenOffice is free and it requires no paid license, it was a good option to getting a word processing suite to use without the added cost of a license. Money was saved on a yearly basis through not having to pay annual fees. ### 50. OpenOffice **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** MUHAMMAD MOHSIN N. | Director & Chief Executive Officer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 24, 2020 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice comes in handy if you compare the file or program sizes as compared to MS Office that is it takes lesser space to install even and have all the basic options needed to handle make or edit a MS Word and or Even MS Excel Files. So, if you are in a hurry and unable to get an original MS Office Applications, OpenOffice is best suited and best thing it is open source so lesser or no charges in using. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Fewer options as compared to MS Office, no down sides, its just quick way of making and using smart word text files. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Can be used on smaller or lower memory plus storage smart devices likes Tablets, phablets and or mini computers without any problem without the problem of carrying a laptop and or going to office and making a report using portable devices, so while working from home and or on customer site, is a good application to have onboard your portable device to be transferred on to your desktop pc and or laptop later for further editions. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** No problems faced while using OpenOffice during my programming projects, it takes lesser space to install onto the hard drive. ## OpenOffice Discussions - [Are you experiencing any disadvantages using pivot tables in OpenOffice?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/35474-are-you-experiencing-any-disadvantages-using-pivot-tables-in-openoffice) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Open Office email client](https://www.g2.com/discussions/32154-open-office-email-client) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [what is the best tutorial to learn about open office](https://www.g2.com/discussions/13304-what-is-the-best-tutorial-to-learn-about-open-office) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What is OpenOffice used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-openoffice-used-for) - 2 comments - [View OpenOffice pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/openoffice/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-14+10%3A31%3A57+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=41904505-6679-4bf2-ae41-65d34169b1ce&secure%5Btoken%5D=b4b146006e50aa0be828395d207a5f56e0b4749ed8c11101e63268811871c459&format=llm_user) ## OpenOffice Features **Applications** - Basic applications - Suite access - Templates **Collaboration** - Cloud collaboration - Annotations - Simultaneously editing **Management** - Web Interface - File Type Support - Auto save **Agentic AI - Office Suites** - Autonomous Task Execution - Natural Language Interaction ## Top OpenOffice Alternatives - [Google Workspace](https://www.g2.com/products/google-workspace/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (45,377 reviews) - [Microsoft 365](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft365/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (5,499 reviews) - [WPS Office](https://www.g2.com/products/wps-office/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (321 reviews)