Best Free Office Suites

There’s no need to pay for Microsoft Office with so many free alternatives now available. Andy Shaw ranks his favourite tools for word processing, spreadsheets and more

- Andy Shaw

Google Docs | docs.google.com | FEATURES PERFORMANCE EASE OF USE

What we liked: Web User used to separate cloud-based office tools from the versions you can install in Windows, because they fitted a different purpose. But now that offline suites let you save your files online, and browser-based software can be saved to your hard drive and operated without an internet connection, the dividing line between the two has more or less vanished.

In our opinion, Google’s suite of online, cloud-based tools (Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms) is the king of the free office suite, whether you’re online or off. Its tools aren’t as comprehensive as LibreOffice’s, and office-software experts might scoff at its limitations, but we think they’re missing the point. Google’s tools have just enough scope to keep most small offices running and they are more than capable of fulfilling the needs of the average home user.

Google has the essential core trio of tools covered: Docs is a capable word processor that can churn out anything from a simple letter to a lengthy book, while Sheets and Slides offer all the necessary tools for creating spreadsheets and presentations. You’d have to be relying on some very obscure features to find yourself hitting a brick wall with any one of these tools.

The online nature of Google Docs makes collaboration simple, which is ideal when sharing and organising documents with family and friends. Also, any files you save won’t count against Google’s free storage limits, so you can keep as many documents and spreadsheets within the system as you like.