Microsoft 365 Personal now sits at $99.99/year. Microsoft is rolling out Copilot AI features that analyze your documents and send data to its servers by default.
Meanwhile, LibreOffice 26.2 is still free and fully offline (no AI watching). There is no account required, telemetry or subscription.
What Is LibreOffice?
LibreOffice is a free, open-source office suite maintained by The Document Foundation. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It handles word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, vector drawing, and formula editing. It reads and writes Microsoft Office formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) as well as its own open ODF formats.
It was forked from OpenOffice in 2010 and has been actively developed ever since. It’s a mature, capable office suite that millions of people and organizations — including governments across Europe — use as their primary productivity tool.
The Full Suite: What You Actually Get
| App | What It Does | Microsoft Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Writer | Word processing | Word |
| Calc | Spreadsheets | Excel |
| Impress | Presentations | PowerPoint |
| Base | Database front-end | Access |
| Draw | Vector graphics and diagrams | Visio (loosely) |
| Math | Formula/equation editor | Equation Editor |
The Honest Downsides
Here’s what LibreOffice genuinely doesn’t do well:
- Complex DOCX formats can break in LibreOffice
- Real-Time collaboration requires set-up
- The user interface is functional, not beautiful
- Macros and VBA compatibility is imperfect
Quick Tips
Quick tips once you’ve installed it:
- Turn off the startup screen — go to Tools → Options → LibreOffice → General → uncheck “Show Start Center”
- Set default save format — Tools → Options → Load/Save → General → set “Always save as” to ODF if you work solo, or to DOCX if you regularly exchange files with Word users
- Enable the tabbed interface — View → User Interface → Tabbed, if you prefer a ribbon-style layout over the classic toolbar
- Check privacy settings — Tools → Options → LibreOffice → Privacy — confirm crash reports are off if you want zero outbound connections
