• Google Docs

  • Apache OpenOffice Writer

  • LibreOffice Author

  • WPS Office Author

  • Microsoft Office Word Online


Epitome: anyaberkut, Getty Images/iStockphoto

Microsoft Word has its devotees, just find one person who loves it, and you'll probably find several who don't. From redesigns that hibernate familiar menu items to overly complicated and often unused features, in that location's a lot to be desired in a simple word processor that Microsoft Word doesn't evangelize due to its circuitous nature. In addition, Microsoft Word and the rest of Microsoft Office is expensive (here's the pricing for the home edition of Microsoft Office).

If you don't need all the features that Microsoft Discussion offers, information technology can be hard to justify paying that price, peculiarly in a modest business environment where yous just need a word processor. Don't pay for what you aren't going to employ–take a look at one of these v gratuitous Microsoft Word alternatives instead.

Google Docs


Paradigm:

Google Docs, which is easily the most pop Microsoft Discussion alternative on this list, is gratis to everyone with a Google business relationship.

If yous want the bones features of Microsoft Give-and-take, you don't demand to expect whatever further than Google Docs–it does all your basic word processing needs, and it is tightly integrated with Google Drive and other products. Since everything is saved in Google's cloud, you lot don't need to worry most losing your work–Docs autosaves after every single keystroke, and then in the event of a crash you should be able to pick upward right where you left off, down to the letter of the alphabet. Google Docs too supports Microsoft Discussion's .doc and .docx formats, so you lot shouldn't have whatsoever problems importing and editing those.

One of its all-time features for business users is real-fourth dimension collaboration. If you share a document with another Google user, both of you can be in the document at the same time, run into the other user's cursor position, sentry what they're typing, and chat to each other likewise. Information technology'south a great collaboration tool that stands out among word processors.

Advanced users may detect the features lacking–it really is a blank-basic word processor.


Apache OpenOffice Writer


Image: Apache

If y'all hate Microsoft Word because of the invention of the ribbon, and so Apache's OpenOffice Author is the 2003 throwback you want. It has a classic interface that, while information technology can look a bit cluttered, mimics the menus that Microsoft tossed out when Office 2007 was released. It volition definitely feel familiar to Office 2003 users, with the added perk of still receiving updates and security patches, which is of import for a business organisation software suite.

OpenOffice Writer has its ain document format, but it also supports .dr. and .docx files, and it does a great job of maintaining formatting when importing those types of files. Many of the advanced features of Microsoft Give-and-take are included in OpenOffice Writer also, so editing complex Word documents won't be an issue.

If online collaboration or native deject support is a selling point, and then you may want to pass on OpenOffice Writer considering information technology includes neither. It is possible to store files in a deject drive and access them using OpenOffice, simply you'll demand to have the desktop client of Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Apple iCloud installed so y'all can open up your cloud storage like a local reckoner folder.


LibreOffice Author


Prototype: The Certificate Foundation

LibreOffice Writer, like OpenOffice, is a completely gratuitous and open up-source production that offers give-and-take processing, support for .doc and .docx file formats, and all the tools the average Microsoft Word user will demand in a word processor. LibreOffice Writer and OpenOffice Author are like in a lot of means: Interface way, file format support, lack of deject integration and real-time collaboration, and general word processing features. Both are solid choices for those looking for a free alternative to Microsoft Word, and selecting i over the other largely comes downwardly to preference.

One aspect of LibreOffice stands out, and it isn't what's in the app–it's the community-driven nature of the platform. Collaborating with users and developers to ameliorate the product is forepart and center on LibreOffice's website, and that focus has grown LibreOffice into a thriving community of users and coders that keep making it better.


WPS Office Writer


Prototype: WPS Software

If you want a give-and-take processor that's simply every bit characteristic packed as Word, but yous don't want to pay a premium, cheque out WPS Office Author. TechRepublic sister site CNET has been singing the praises of WPS Role Writer for awhile, and with good reason: Information technology is a total-featured application suite that feels premium.

WPS Role Writer does most of the aforementioned things as Microsoft Word, and information technology includes native cloud back up to brand storing documents online a snap; nevertheless, it does lack real-time collaboration. Look at any review of WPS Part Writer, and you'll find statements that attest how much it's like Word. With its inclusion of more features than other free suites like OpenOffice, this might be the 1 to go for–especially because you don't have to pay for information technology.

With anything gratuitous and high quality, there's a grab, and you might exist able to guess what it is in our modern age of "freemium" apps: Ads. Don't let that dissuade yous from trying WPS Author–yous might not see an advertisement. There'southward no banner beyond the top of the app–ads only appear when y'all desire to use select features like printing or exporting to PDF. If you need to do ane of those things, y'all'll have to sit through a roughly ten-2d ad, which unlocks the feature for 30 minutes. If you like what WPS Writer has to offering, you can opt to eliminate ads by paying a yearly subscription fee of $29.99, or you lot can fork over $119.99 for a lifetime license.


Microsoft Office Word Online


Image: Microsoft

Don't overlook Microsoft's free culling to the paid version of Give-and-take: Office Online. Like Google Docs, Microsoft Word Online is a simplified, deject-based version of Give-and-take. It lacks a lot of the advanced features of a locally-installed version of Word, only for users who desire a free version of Word, this is as close every bit you tin can become.

Similarities betwixt Google Docs and Word Online are nowadays all the way downward to the interface, but with a few tweaks to make it feel more similar the Microsoft ribbon instead of the drib-downwardly menus Google Docs users are used to. Documents created in Word Online are saved in Microsoft OneDrive, and real-time collaboration features like those in Google Docs are bachelor too. I big plus in Word Online's favor is formatting: If you create a document in Word Online and then import information technology to a local version of Microsoft Word, it's going to retain the formatting way better than if it's made in Google Docs.

Editor'due south notation: This article was updated to reflect the current price of WPS Office Writer.