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
Updating LibreOffice
To update LibreOffice on a MacBook, you typically need to download the latest version from the official website, as the app does not usually feature a built-in “one-click” auto-updater that modifies the application files automatically.
- Go to the official LibreOffice download page.
- Select the version compatible with your Mac (e.g., macOS x86_64 for Intel Macs or macOS aarch64 for Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3 Macs).
- Download the .dmg installer file.
- Open the .dmg file and drag the LibreOffice icon into your Applications folder.
- When macOS asks if you want to keep the existing version or replace it, select Replace.
A couple of things worth knowing:
- The App Store version is a one-time €8.99 (about $9) convenience fee, charged by The Document Foundation to cover the cost of being on Apple’s store — it’s not a subscription. It’s official and updates arrive through the normal App Store update mechanism (which still only checks when Apple pushes an update).
- The free version from the LibreOffice website remains the recommended source (The Document Foundation says so explicitly). The main difference to be aware of: the App Store version does not include Java support, because Apple’s store rules don’t allow apps to depend on optional external dependencies. That limits the functionality of LibreOffice Base and Java-based extensions. If you only use Writer and Calc, you’ll never notice — but if you touch Base, use the website version.
- On the point about the failed install: deleting the old app manually before installing is generally fine — your profile/settings live in
~/Library/Application Support/LibreOffice, not in the app bundle, so you don’t lose anything. The “Replace” prompt simply doesn’t appear if you’ve already removed the old copy, which matches what he saw.
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
