--- title: OpenOffice Reviews meta_title: 'OpenOffice Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 312 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how OpenOffice works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.3 review_count: 312 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-20' parent_category: name: Collaboration & Productivity url: https://www.g2.com/categories/collaboration-productivity --- # 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 Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **ease of use** of OpenOffice, enjoying its intuitive interface and seamless adaptation. (1 reviews) - Users find **easy sharing** capabilities of OpenOffice valuable for seamless collaboration across various formats and templates. (1 reviews) - Users appreciate the **helpful interface** of OpenOffice, facilitating easy adaptation and efficient workflow across tasks. (1 reviews) - Users appreciate the **intuitive and familiar interface** of OpenOffice, enhancing their adaptation and productivity effortlessly. (1 reviews) ## OpenOffice Reviews ### 1. Free alternative for Microsoft Office Suite **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in E-Learning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 14, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Free for businesses, no fatal bugs, work fince under various Linux versions and Mac as well **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Formatting does not always convert correctly from newer Word versions **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Regular work duties and document exchange tasks ### 2. Free and easygoing with the user, but not as reliable as others. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Julio S. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 20, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Despite being free, it works almost as well as other office suite programs such as MicroSoft Office. A complete office package with text editor, tables, presentations and much more. It is easy to find and to install, and also weighs little and consumes few resources. It is efficient, without being perfect. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It is not perfect because the dev team split and we don't have the same support that we used to, and the community that made templates is also a bit inactive. As a consequence of this, the design looks somewhat old and the bugs will not have any early solutions. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** If you do not always have an internet connection and you need a reliable program without paying, I advise you to use Open Office. It has its cons, but it fulfills its main purpose. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Open Office saves my life every time I have to use a computer that is not mine without an internet connection. I always have an Open Office installer on the pen drive of my keychain for emergency issues, because thanks to my job I travel a lot and I am not always able to carry my laptop with me. Thanks to Open Office I can be sure that I will be able to continue working as long as I have a computer in front of me. ### 3. Good product for not being paid **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Juan Manuel A. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 19, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Despite not being paid, it performs almost as well as text editing programs like Microsoft Office. A complete office suite with a text editor, spreadsheets, presentations, and much more. It is easy to install and find, and also lightweight and consumes few resources. It is efficient, without being perfect. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It is not perfect because the design team split up and it no longer enjoys as many updates or support, and the community that used to create templates has somewhat abandoned it. As a result, the design looks somewhat outdated and bugs will not have early solutions. It's a shame. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** If you don't always have an internet connection and need a reliable program without paying, I advise you to use Open Office. It has its flaws, but it gets the job done. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Open Office saves my life every time I have to use someone else's computer without an internet connection. I always carry an Open Office installer on the USB drive on my keychain for emergencies, because I travel a lot for work and can't always bring my laptop with me. Thanks to Open Office, I can be sure that I will be able to continue working whenever I have a computer in front of me. ### 4. It is quite comprehensive for a free service. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jose J. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It is a program almost as complete as MS Office, but free, which is appreciated. Since Microsoft Office does not have the features that others in its competition may have and yet it has a rather high price knowing that there are many alternatives, like Open Office, completely free. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The biggest problem with Open Office is that its interface is very outdated, therefore they should focus on creating a more modern interface, like material design, which is the current style in application and program design, so they should focus on that. Alternatively, they could also make the application accessible to external interfaces created by third parties, by users, as many other programs do. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** As an alternative to MS Office, it can be a great option if you don't want to spend money on a suite that offers the same as a free one. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Like all office suites, Open Office allows you to write documents, create and modify spreadsheets, create presentations, as well as modify all types of documents with format compatibility with the suite. ### 5. Powerful and free. Knows how to build loyalty. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Estanislao J. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like, evidently, that it is free. I like it because its interface is clear and easy to understand, and also because it allows me to edit formats even from external programs with paid licenses. It offers a large number of useful office tools that have nothing to envy from Microsoft Office. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** After having used Excel, it's a bit difficult to relearn how to use Open Office Calc, but you get used to it quickly. I can't think of any other negative point. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Give it a chance. Make sure to search the open office community for everything you need, as surely someone has already thought of the idea you wanted to do and it will make your life much easier. That's the good thing about free software communities, there is selfless help. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** The large number of templates available allows me to organize my work clearly and concisely, and dispatch my documents securely and quickly. Additionally, since it consumes very few resources, I can easily move it on the office computers, which are not exactly the most modern on the market. ### 6. Free and good **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rodrigo L. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 16, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Following the steps of the Office. Free Constant evolution Open and save in multiple formats Very complete suite. A very good alternative to the Microsoft Office. One of the advantages is that you do not have to pay to have an writer, and the compatibility of files is even greater than that of microsoft, it is light, it has everything you need to be one of the best office suite, and above all it is FREE!! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The only failure that I find and it does not always happen is to open some files made by Office or Office, because they tend to dislocate the paragraphs and images. Some problems when opening files of Office Very heavy in execution (like the Office) You have to learn how to do spreadsheets. Slightly different to excel. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** It's worth and free. Don't fall for the paid options, it's not worth your money in this case. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have been working with him for over 2 years and I have not found many negative things although I get documents in other formats, I can read them with this suite. It has appearance options that I have not seen in the competition, and I only use the microsoft when I use a computer that is not mine. For the mathematical formulas it is excellent, the spreadsheet does not ask for anything to the others, my slides look spectacular, in short, I have not found anything negative until now. I would recommend it to everyone. ### 7. It's okay **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Isabel T. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's free, and that's the most important thing, but it doesn't work as well as it should because it is not widely used for common use like the official Windows Office is. It's a shame because I like free software, but money rules. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Incompatibility is key. It messes up the format of many files by not being able to adapt them, and you cannot save them again after editing them in their original format. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Use it if you have no other choice, but don't expect to be able to edit the text in the future with your usual text editor. You will need to either convert it to PDF or download Open Office on your other computer to be able to edit it correctly. Install the minimum accessories because you will really never use them, deselect all the boxes during installation, they take up space unnecessarily. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has done the trick to get by when I needed it, whether on computers without Microsoft Word or on others with expired licenses. It's good for installing on computers that came without an operating system. ### 8. Complete and free **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Juan P. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** The best part is that it is free, obviously, and it is a program that doesn't have to envy the paid ones from Microsoft. I personally find it more user-friendly. Additionally, it is very lightweight and comes with a large number of tools that I use constantly, like quick conversion to PDF and things like that. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The compatibility between Open Office and Microsoft Word is difficult. The files appear broken, and that is a problem for me because many people use Word rather than Open Office. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Maximize compatibility when saving files to avoid issues when sending them to other people. Ideally, it would be best to convert them to PDF first to prevent any misalignment from the text editor used by our recipient. If that's not possible, save with the maximum compatibility option from the tab below. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have written so many papers, prepared debates, written novels, prepared exams and notes... It has simply saved my life, and along with its compatibility with Android, I take it everywhere. It works better on Android than the competitors. ### 9. Perfect no cost alternative to MS office **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 08, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** You save money by using this free software to work with common ms office products **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Still some complication when using this product to work on MS office products **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Better customer friendly surface **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a student, it helped me to master the subscription fees that MS office usually charges ### 10. OpenOffice is good but not up to the mark in case of UI **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Less cost, multiple files type support, good handling of tables in the documents file. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** UI is not good, Excel sheet viewing is also not good. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm using it for editing and creating xls files and also for creating open document text files. ### 11. Best free Word Software program out there **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Farming | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 26, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's compatible with all browsers. I've used it with Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. It's easy to use. If you're used to MS Word or Word Perfect, it's just as easy to use. I even found that some of the key strokes (short cuts) are the same. So it really speeds up your ability to get documents completed quicker. And did I mention that it's free to download and use? It is. Free! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Nothing I dislike at all about it. It has always worked well for me. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Would highly recommend this for all simple office and business tasks! I would never invest in a word software program that costs more than $30 without first trying Open Office. It's easy to download and install. It's free. And we also found that it opened, with no problems, documents that we had saved using other word programs. So it's win win no matter how you use it! **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use it to write documents, create banners, make info sheets. I've even used it to design a company brochure. It has the ability to do that and allows you to fold it into a booklet. Really need ability of this software. ### 12. Free version of Microsoft Office **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's free! and has quiet all Office's functions. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The interface is not so good, sometimes you'll feel lost and you can't even find something in first look. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Writing documents , mockup and everything I need to print / share. ### 13. Great Office lite product **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 24, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's free and open source. It works well without many issues. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Not as robust as MS Office, or even Libre Office for that matter. Still great though. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Allows word processing without the huge cost of the Microsoft Office suite. ### 14. Great alternative to MS Office **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 08, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** If one cannot afford Microsoft Office, or if you prefer to use an alternative, then look no further! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It doesn't have quite all the functionality of MS Office and isn't used as widely **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows me to use office applications for occasional use. ### 15. An overall solid office document program for Mac and PC **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Peter B. | Account Executive, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like that OpenOffice is highly compatible with documents generated from other common office document software like Microsoft Office and Google Docs. OpenOffice has most all of the features one can expect in the most advanced text editing, spreadsheet and presentation software. The layout and user interface are very familiar for those that have used common office document software. Beginners will likely find using OpenOffice to be intuitive and straightforward. The tools are easily identifiable with clear and concise icons. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Unless I save in the native ODS file type, working with non-native file types can often cause errors or inconsistencies that could deformat or break the original document. Also, though the overall user interface is clean and easy to navigate, the design seems a bit old and not up to modern standards. In my opinion, Microsoft Office looks more current, sleek and appealing. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I think OpenOffice will allow most businesses to get by with their office document software needs. It's constantly being updated, so I'd recommend you download the latest version and continually update the software to ensure compatibility and security updates are current. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenOffice is has been a reliable office document tool that doesn't break the bank and is easy to use. I've been able to use OpenOffice to view a wide variety of text documents and spreadsheets sent from business associates. Since most of the documents I work with have simple and straightforward formatting, I can typically edit documents without many problems. OpenOffice also allows me to save files in a many different formats, so it's great to use for file conversions. ### 16. Great, free program **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Writing and Editing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 27, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It is easy to use, similar to MS Word, and easy to convert to Word Docs. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** On my old laptop, I could t update to a new version because my oS was out of date. Had a lot of glitches over time, made it hard to work. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I didn’t have to buy MS Word, but could work with Word Docs. ### 17. Has just about everything I need for office documents **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Thomas R. | Human Resources Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 09, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like that OpenOffice has all the standard features I need to create, edit and view a wide variety of office documents. I have a version installed on my Mac and a PC, which helps to maintain an consistent working environment regardless of the platform I'm on. Using OpenOffice isn't difficult for most people, so many people I work with use OpenOffice or can support documents I create with it through other software like Microsoft Word, Excel or Google Docs. I also really like that many of the formulas in OpenOffice's spreadsheet application cross over seamlessly with other spreadsheet software. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The overall look and feel of OpenOffice seems a bit dated. Compared to some office document programs, like Google Docs, OpenOffice tends to be a bit clunky and can take a while to load. I feel that it's also more susceptible to crashing. When I open certain documents created in other software, the layout and formatting won't always appear exactly the same in OpenOffice, which can be problematic when trying to collaborate with others and achieve a very specific design to documents. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I think OpenOffice can be used in any company that has regular office documents. It can create and load common text document, spreadsheet and presentation files very smoothly. I'd recommend using the native file format when editing. That should allow you to maximize the capabilities of OpenOffice and reduce your chances of errors. When you're ready to save the file, you can simply export a copy with a different file type. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenOffice provides me with all the necessary tools I need to view and edit text documents, spreadsheets and presentations for a wide array of business purposes. There are often new and updated versions that I can download to help ensure the software is secure and up to industry standards. Our office doesn't have to spend a great deal of money on expensive software that doesn't actually have much more capabilities than we need. ### 18. Free alternative to Office **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 27, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice is a very useful free software package for office work **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There are still many Microsoft Offique functions that have not been done. He needs to improve **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** OpenOffice is a free software that competes with Microsoft Office (Payment Software) **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** As it is a free software we have been able to save some costs in companies without losing work ### 19. OpenOffice **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 14, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Very good contender to Microsoft office **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Usability could sometimes be better, but remains ok. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Great alternative to Microsoft office ### 20. Good alternative for MS office **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** That's is free to just. Although it has its limitations **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Can't properly make table and draw pictures like in MS Word **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I forked out for MS office licence because OpenOffice doesn't support all file formats **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Couldn't afford a MS office license ### 21. Try OpenOffice, you won't regret it **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Xavier B. | Senior Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 19, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** One of the advantages it offers me is that it is a cross-platform program, as I can use it on Windows or Linux. Another thing I like is that it is free, so you don't have to pay for it or its updates. Only some program enhancements are paid. Moreover, as of today, there are numerous extensions available to apply to Openoffice. It consumes far fewer resources than Microsoft's software, so your computer will run faster. Additionally, Openoffice has the ease of saving documents in Open format or other formats like .doc. Finally, Openoffice has a tool to directly export our documents to pdf. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Users accustomed to Office will have difficulties using it, which will cause, especially in business sectors, a need for an adaptation period, since the buttons and functions are not in the same place within the interface. The new menus confuse more than one person. Sometimes it crashes when using it, especially when we modify a document from Office; on some occasions, after making changes, saving it, closing it, and reopening it, the margins are not in the same place or the tabs, which is frustrating to have to modify it again. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** It is an open-source program, and this allows any developer to make modifications and extensions to the program, so you will always have the program updated. You have to try it; it is a great and lightweight free alternative to other text editors!!!! **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has been very useful for creating word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and more. It has also helped me to export these documents to PDF so that no changes can be made to them. ### 22. Great **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Pharmaceuticals | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 06, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It works well as described, user friendly. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Can have operating issues, sometimes slow to load. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** As designed helps with business management. ### 23. Great and free office package **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Cristian M. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 13, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It helped me a lot with all the projects and presentations. I mainly use Apache OpenOffice Writer, Calc, Impress, and Math. I use it on Windows (however, it is available for Mac and Linux) and it has good integration with my operating system. It is free software, a great substitute for paid versions. It has good functionality and compatibility with different types of files. I love that there are a lot of extensions that can be downloaded for free. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There isn't much documentation on the problems, and when one arises, it's difficult to find a quick solution. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Apache OpenOffice has become a great alternative to other brands and has significantly improved since its creation. When I discovered it, I suggested it to my work team and I constantly receive compliments for the good choice we made with the implementation of this software. Apache OpenOffice has everything you need in an office. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Editing documents and works with most office file formats such as text documents and spreadsheets. ### 24. Best office software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Retail | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It’s easy to use and has everything you need in a office package! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I don’t like the look and feel of the product **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has become a lot easier to make and edit documents ### 25. Heftier than Microsoft Office **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Todd H. | support associate, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like that it has most of the necessary accoutrements of a word processor in a compact, intuitive UI. It works well. The compatibility with standard document types means you can import and export many different file types with ease and predictability. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Performance-wise, it isn't very quick and some features can bog you down. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Accounts payable, income statement design, invoice modifications and various admin tasks. ### 26. Free Word Processing as Good as Office **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Celena J. | Publisher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I've been using Open Office for the last six years. It is, in many ways, even better than Microsoft Office and it's free. Can't go wrong with that! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Nothing at all. Open Office couldn't be more perfect for my publishing needs. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** If you're looking for the great office product comparable to Microsoft Office, OpenOffice couldn't be better. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Document creation, book publishing ### 27. Open Office. Your free office suite **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 01, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Compete head-to-head with Microsoft's office software, but with all the advantages of being open source and free software. This means it is always in the improvement phase, as its code is open and available to any user and is constantly being improved. It also supports plugins or extensions from users that are installed to obtain more functions. Moreover, you can use it on as many computers as you want, whereas with Office you have to pay a license fee for each device you install it on. The OpenOffice suite consists of: - word processor, spreadsheets, presentation slides, database, graphic design software, mathematical formula editor, PDF export, Xforms support, and it integrates easily with email like Thunderbird. It is completely cross-platform: it works on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc. The complete installation takes up less disk space than competing Office Suites (700MB) and 256 MB of RAM is sufficient. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The overall processing speed of OpenOffice, when editing and saving documents, is somewhat slower than Microsoft's Office. It is not entirely compatible with documents generated by Microsoft Office, which are usually the majority in the work, business, or education sectors. Sometimes it can freeze when we are modifying a document created under M.Office, or the margins, tables, headers, or footers may become misaligned. The user interface differs enough from Microsoft Office to require a period of adaptation and learning when coming from Microsoft's solution, because although the icons on the toolbar are usually in the same position, the terminology used often differs. The new menus confuse more than one person. Since OpenOffice is an open-source program maintained by the user community, the support and help are not official and therefore somewhat informal. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Install it, or Libre Office, but forget about Microsoft Office for your company. You'll notice it in your pocket. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is multi-platform, it works on the computers we have with Linux in the classroom without having to restart the equipment to switch to Windows. It's free! It represents a cost saving on the licenses that would be required to have the Office package installed on each computer. It consumes fewer resources than other competing programs, which allows us to have a lighter and higher-performing machine to carry out more tasks in parallel. ### 28. Open Office Review **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in International Trade and Development | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 18, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Open Office provided a diverse number of services that makes office work efficient and effective. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Very little - it does seem to be a bit outdated in terms of interface, but it is functional and meets all of my organizational needs. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** No problems - benefits include a diverse number of resources for use. ### 29. Alternative to MS Office **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 16, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like this because it is an alternative to MS Wors and its free! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Sometimes when working on documents the texts gets all scrambled up and distorted especially when opening files from other word processors. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I don't have to buy a word processor and I can do all work without paying MicroSoft a dime. ### 30. A complete, useful, and efficient software to work with. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Antonio P. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 15, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I really like this software a lot compared to others that are similar because not only is it free for anyone who wishes to use it, but it can also be easily customized. Its tools are very efficient and quick when it comes to loading all the documents. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Sometimes the format does not match that of another software when it is transferred to another software program. A priori, it is the only drawback I find. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Highly recommended due to its great usefulness when working, a lot of content can be customized within it and it is very easy to handle, in addition to its fluency when **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it a lot to draft reports at work, plus it offers me many customizable tools to work with. ### 31. Very useful office package with great effectiveness **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ramon C. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 16, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice can be downloaded and used completely free of charge and without paid licenses. In summary, it means that any project, whether commercial, educational, or even public administration, can be installed on as many computers as desired, it is easy to install and very easy to use. It is a fantastic office suite. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There is a lot of data that includes complex formulas that can crash or slow down your performance, but otherwise I don't find any disadvantage other than this. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** It is a free and very efficient office package. From my point of view, it is very complete and very useful for carrying out work tasks. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it to perform all the computer work involved in my business. Among them are writing reports, budgets, and more. ### 32. Magnificent free office package **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rafael M. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 12, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I can do almost everything I can in other document products and the files have multiple compatible formatting options. It practically includes the office package but FREE! and the best part is that it is very efficient and comfortable to use, as it is lightweight on the device and loads faster. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Some applications like Excel or PowerPoint are somewhat more limited than Microsoft Office, but being free, they more than fulfill their function. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Try it, it is free and effective, it fulfills its functions correctly and for its price, it is a great tool. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use this free and complete office suite for creating and editing documents, for the office or to edit for sending to clients or even documents for our employees. ### 33. Great software **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Individual & Family Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** That I was able to use without paying. Word costs too much. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It took a while to get used to it. Had to learn to use differently. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Its a little different than word but its free. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It was free. ### 34. Great for most things **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Wireless | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 19, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's free and works really well with most Microsoft Office files. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Files created in this don't always look the same in Microsoft Office **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use OpenOffice as an alternative to buying a volume license of Microsoft Office. ### 35. Great and free Office Suite **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alberto B. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 26, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It has everything that an office suite needs. Text editor, data sheet. Everything required can be done. Besides that it is free software, so anyone, at any time can download it and use it on your computer without many restrictions and totally free. Open Office is constantly updated, and developers and partners are taking out packages that can be installed to expand their functions, such as language packs. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It looks old compared to other office suites and if you dont save the file in the correct format it can lead to incompatibilites with other suites. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** I recommend undoubtely openoffice, its basically the sime as other suites, its free and its very easy to start using it if you where a user of a different suite. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Saving money without losing any feature we need when working with any type of files(text, data sheets, presentations ... ) ### 36. Awesome software, easy to use **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kenny B. | President, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 26, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Free and compatable with microsoft files **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Limited tech support, downloadable only. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Nice software **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Cost of equipping employees with usable software without breaking the bank. ### 37. Great open source software basic yet decent capabilities **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 30, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Great open source software basic yet decent capabilities **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** It needs more features, coloring scheme of elements is very limited. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** It's a great open source alternative to MS Office **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a personal replacement for the lack of the company's subscription to MS Office ### 38. OpenOffice the most efficient tool in the office and the best of our lives. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jorge L. | Periodista autónomo y Abogado en libre ejercico, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It is the best tool that can be counted in the office, for the independent professional, students and anyone who develops texts, spreadsheets, presentations of projects, visualization of images and a large number of utilities. The best of all is that this tool is open source and it is not necessary to buy a serial to enjoy all its benefits in the development of a project, personal, corporate, marketing, student or any type. Best of all, I did not invest any money **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** What I do not like is not having known the benefits of OpenOffice before and having used it for a long time without having to resort to buying another software or package with the set of tools it has. The benefits of using OpenOffice have no limit and it is incredible as a tool with so many benefits has not been made known to all people and thus help not to depend on the softwares we have used all our lives **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** The barriers must be transferred to achieve the objectives set efficiently and effectively. We should not be afraid to use new tools, Open Office exceeds all expectations in any work or project that we should develop. It's time for a paradigm shift, Open Office is that change. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Business presentations, educational presentations, documents, spreadsheets, graphics, pdf documents, image editing, image creation, among others. ### 39. Great for a Microsoft Alternative **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Food & Beverages | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 08, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I like that this is a free program available to all users. I is easy to use but has a lower functionality than Microsoft. Don't let that chase you off this program is always my go to in between school access to Microsoft. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Open Office does not provide the same level of functionality as Microsoft Office or other paid software. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Great program when affordability is the main consideration. Open Office provides a fairly decent level of functionality and ease of use. The difference are in the the little things like ease of formatting and cabibility of formatting. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Open Office helped us during a transition of ownership of the facility. During the changeover we were looking to cut cost without taking away from the services provided and they determined to have me seek an alternative to purchasing new software with the new computers. ### 40. Not Word, but still good **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Human Resources | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 14, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It's free!! I like that all the options come standard - the document and excel are what I use most, but obviously the price is why I chose it. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** There are some things I do like doing better on Word. The formatting isn't always my favorite and it's not always the most customizable. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use the "excel" a lot to organize things and it's very helpful for what I use it for. ### 41. Best free office suite out there **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Patrick S. | Designers, Writing and Editing, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 06, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** OpenOffice best feature is not being free. OpenOffice can handle files of many extensions without changing the characters, values, images, font style or formulas. In fact, the fact of OpenOffice opens your files without changing is amazing, everytime you try to open a CSV or TSV on excel, it changes to XLS standards format, but OpenOffice stick with the original extension, which makes life easier when you are saving your big tables or slides. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The interface could be more elegant, still lot of small icons and few floating information on menus. It's hard to find some basic options because the menu is not centered, there are options on top and on the side. The fonts used in menu texts should be more smooth, more professional, because right now is a little bit crispy and look like and old computer software. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Download it and give it a try. It's free, tons of updates and worth it if you need a fast writing and editing business suite in your life. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** As I told before, OpenOffice is able to handle big tables in CSV of TSV format without changing it, the OpenOffice also opens is in tab separated mode and this is very satisfying. ### 42. Open-Source Word Processing - No Cost, No Fuss **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mark D. | Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I love that this is open-source, meaning the design and updates come from a dedicated community of users and creators who are passionate about what they do. This does nearly 100 percent of what I need to do and what I previously used Microsoft Word and Excel for. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Sometimes (rarely but on occasion) I am unable to properly open a file into the spreadsheet editor. This is not frequent but can sometimes cause hangups. If it does happen I move on to a different program and try it there. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** It's free and easy to use - give it a shot. It's a very worthwhile replacement to Microsoft's products. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Documents, spreadsheets, fliers - all vital and frequently used within my workplace. OpenOffice makes it easy (and quite affordable) to get the job done. ### 43. Needed an alternative to MS **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Farming | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Not only does it work well, it’s also free. It does everything I need it to do for our business and is pretty easy to use. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** I don’t like the initial set up on spreadsheets. Not OpenOffice specifically, but setting up spreadsheets in general. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** try it, you have nothing to lose **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** OO makes it easy to collect and print off information we need for end of the year accounting and tax preparation. ### 44. Comparable to Microsoft word **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Food & Beverages | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 19, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** I love this software. When we need to make signs, we use this and it works almost as good as Microsoft **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The only thing I disliked was how hard it was to create a bar graph. It took awhile to figure out how to maneuver it. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Make sure that you are looking at the formats when saving. They automatically save in ODF format. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** It’s easy and it’s free unlike Microsoft word. So we don’t have to dip into our expenses to obtain the software. ### 45. OpenOffice, Free Word Alternative **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Liz W. | Photographer, Photography, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 21, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** What I like best about OpenOffice I can sum up in three words: free + fully functional. When I bought my first Macbook, I did not want to pay additionally for Microsoft Word or any other processing software. I found OpenOffice as a free alternative that met all of my basic needs. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** My complaint is not a big one: it does not have all the bells, whistles and support of Microsoft Office, but for anyone who needs simple word processing, this is hardly an issue. One other note, the software is sometimes laggy. However, I must stress, this software is absolutely free - it's not a trial version, there's no subscription plan - so I would not expect it to be anything other than what it is. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** If you're looking for a free word processor and you do not need all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office, then OpenOffice is the program for you. The software can sometimes be laggy and the design options are not quite at Microsoft level, but it is compatible with Microsoft Office file formats and there's only a small learning curve to it. If you're coming from Microsoft Office, you should be able to jump right into OpenOffice. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenOffice for free to create any business-related documents: invoices, receipts, quotes, etc. It is perfectly adequate for this purpose. I do not have the need to create more complicated documents or presentations, so I can move through the administrative part of my day with ease and no cost. ### 46. OpenOffice **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Priyank T. | Angular Developer, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 08, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** easy track/record/export daily activities. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** online sync fails when I logged into multiple devices **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** solved many business problems like exporting data to any form, creating customer presentations. ### 47. Word in a pinch **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 14, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** free software that can open Word, Excel on laptops that don't have Word installed **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** designing multi-column documents difficult -- not intuitive **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** a bit of a learning curve, but budget-friendly **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** opening Word docs while out of the office on laptops ### 48. Hooray for Open Source word processing, spreadsheets and more! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Twin A. | Owner, Farming, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 05, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** Open Source! There are still developers that believe that products on the internet should always be free. In the age of hyper capitalism, it is a blessing to see people willing to give regardless of the group-think mentality. This is especially true for OpenOffice. Being a startup business, we needed to stream all of our revenue and profit right back into building our business. Desktop computing application cost certainly wasn't one of our desired line items for expenses. We were forced to scour the internet for a Windows-based word processing and spreadsheet solution that wasn't controlled by the Microsoft behemoth. All rise for the honorable Open Office! The similarities to MS Office are so close that it is almost the generic version of the proprietary juggernaut. Not much needs to be said about these mainstay applications except that the usability, look and feel, and functionality of the code functions (especially in OpenOffice's spreadsheet) are so similar that someone with basic knowledge of Excel coding pump out some vlookups. We use the word processor and spreadsheets extensively, however for those looking for Visio-style page diagrams and Access-style databases - OpenOffice definitely delivers! **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The paste-special function is a bit cumbersome in the OpenOffice spreadsheet with its multiple checkboxes in the dialog box, but hey its open source and free so quit complaining! :) **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Dump MS Office and their high price tag for OpenOffice today! Your wallet with fatten because of it! **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Word processing, PDF conversion, spreadsheet management, and more. We realized the benefits of savings, savings, savings! ### 49. Powerful office suite **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Juanan M. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 03, 2018 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It allows to do the same as the most famous office suite, but for free **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** Sometimes they update a bit slow wich creates some imcompatiblity issues with other suites **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Openoffice its a great choice for text editing, calc editing and such. The best part its that it is totally free. The bad part its that sometimes if they dont update fast enough can find some little compatibilites issues. Even though I totally recommend the use of openoffice be at your home or office. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Editing text files, calc files, etc ### 50. Free software for office **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mónica R. | E-Commerce Manager Store, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 06, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenOffice?** It has everything an office suite needs. Text editor, spreadsheet. Everything required can be done. In addition, it is free software, so anyone, at any time, can download and use it on their computer with few restrictions and completely free. Open Office is constantly being updated, and developers and collaborators release packages that can be installed to expand its functions, such as language packages. **What do you dislike about OpenOffice?** The visual of the program could be improved. It lacks "beauty," and it is also a bit complicated to make other office suites read the files created in Open Office, which is sometimes a problem when sharing files. The spreadsheet editor lacks some functions that the Microsoft suite has. **Recommendations to others considering OpenOffice:** Open Office is very similar to any other office suite, so it is very easy to learn to use it. **What problems is OpenOffice solving and how is that benefiting you?** Apart from being free software, which can be downloaded and installed for free, it is easily installable on any operating system. You can use databases, text editor, spreadsheets just like any other suite, such as Microsoft's or Google's. It allows me to save documents in PDF, add various dictionaries and language packs, very useful when working in multiple languages. In addition to all this, I can download and install it on both Windows and Linux easily and without complications. It has a large community, where you can make inquiries and always get the help you need. ## 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?page=5§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-01+08%3A40%3A04+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=278db1ba-592e-4957-96ec-3d9c620ace5c&secure%5Btoken%5D=952bb9095416cc0718ecf794fa6042f236438e6bd112ad82582ef268660b553e&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 (45,640 reviews) - [Microsoft 365](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft365/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (5,533 reviews) - [WPS Office](https://www.g2.com/products/wps-office/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (325 reviews)