Whenever it comes to office applications, two of the most popular options which are available is Microsoft Office and LibreOffice. One of these applications is a paid one and the other one is free. And there is this common question that quite a lot of people have that if the free one is doing the job. So why go for Microsoft Office?
Well in case if you have the same question in your head, then I am going to compare Microsoft office with the LibreOffice and draw a difference for you. So you can learn about both of the applications easily.
So let’s just head into the topic without wasting much of the time:
Microsoft Office Vs LibreOffice Which One Is Better?
Features
There is no doubt that Microsoft is one of the most powerful office applications out there. It comes with a tab based interface along with the ribbon toolbar. But on the other hand, LibreOffice is an open source application, and it comes with the traditional style interface. The good part of MS office is that, whenever it comes to checking spelling and grammar errors, Microsoft Office lets you know about it instantly. Thanks to the inbuilt spell-check tool.
But the same case is not with the other open source applications like LibreOffice. Although, you can get the same feature. But the thing is that you will have to install an additional extension to check for grammar and spelling mistakes. And this can be quite confusing to some.
However, both Microsoft Office and LibreOffice have quite similar features. For example, if you want to work with a spreadsheet then there is Microsoft Excel and LibreOffice Calc. For creating presentations, you can use MS Powerpoint or Libreoffice impress. And just like these applications, there are a bunch of other applications are bundled with the Office package.
System Requirements and Compatibility
The best part of the MS office and LibreOffice is that both of them support various devices. Like you can install these office applications on your Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, etc devices. As well as if we talk about LibreOffice then it also works well with Linux, Windows, and Mac. Even it comes preinstalled with Linux systems.
Even if you have an old computer, then the open source application which is LibreOffice is a perfect solution for you. As it is lightweight compared to MS office. Plus, it does not require huge disk space. But on the other hand, if you want to install MS office you will need around 3GB of space.
Cost
Coming to the cost part, well MS office is not free. Instead, you will have to purchase the software and use it. Even the recent version of the office comes with one year of subscription plan which can be a bit costly to many users out there. But when it comes to LibreOffice there is no such thing. As the application is completely open source. Hence, there is no need to pay for anything.
Security
Both of the office applications are highly secured and there is no doubt about it. Both of them are secured at a certain degree only if you follow the basic security guidelines. However, the thing about LibreOffice is that it is an open source application and it releases different security patches from time to time by volunteers. And they do not need any high authority permission to do so.
However, when it comes to the security part, Microsoft is a bit better. They do not share their secrets with others. Nor they allow others to contribute to the development. Instead, the software is only maintained by the software engineers at Microsoft. However, in most of the cases, the updates are not free though. But there is no need to pay for small updates.
Conclusion
So that was all for the Microsoft vs LibreOffice. Overall, both of these applications offer you a solid platform and offer you great productivity tools.
However, if you are looking at both of the options from the pricing point of view. Then if money is not an issue, then MS office is a great tool you should go with. But on the other hand, if we talk about open source applications like LibreOffice. They are definitely valued for money and help you to get done with your job.
But pricing does not always matter the most. It comes down to the user experience and features. If Microsoft is offering you the features that you need and the same features are not available on LibreOffice. Then yes, MS office is the one you should go with. But if you have basic jobs to perform and both of the applications can do the job. Then there is no need to purchase MS Office.