10 Free Alternatives of Microsoft Office Word - Reviews, News, Opinions by ReviewSaurus

10 Free Alternatives of Microsoft Office Word!

Aug 23, 2007

Over the years, Microsoft Office Word has been the best and most advanced Word processing application. However, the cost of Microsoft word can be extremely high and the small businesses may feel it as a burden. So, I’m listing the free alternatives of Microsoft Word, so that you may use it for your business or for your personal use :-

Offline Alternatives of Microsoft Office Word :

1. OpenOffice.org Writer : This open source software package is an overall alternative to Microsoft Office. OOo Writer is perfect replacement of Microsoft word. Bruce Byfield has done an extensive comparison between the two programs and I’m sure you’ll see that OOo Writer is no less than MS Word.

2. AbiWord : AbiWord is similar to MS Word and MS Word users will not find much problem in switching over to this free application and will certainly love it as there is nothing better than a powerful and free word processor.

3. QJot : This particular software is not as powerful as OOo Writer and AbiWord but it’s a light weight replacement of MS word. It allows you to edit the DOC files and that’s what puts it in the list of the alternatives.

4. Jarte : Jarte is another replacement of MS Word but only because it lets you edit the word files. It’s very strange looking and I would say that you won’t like this one at all, it’s user interface is one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen.

I’ll say that only OOo Writer and AbiWord are the real alternatives to MS Word and because both of those software are available for Linux and Windows alike, so you’ll find them as the perfect solution and alternative to MS Word.

Online Alternatives of Microsoft Word (everyone of them is in beta):

1. Zoho Writer : The perfect alternative of MS Word when you talk about online word processor. It doesn’t have the features of complete MS Word but it gives you more than what a desktop based word processor can’t give you and that will be Collaboration with other users. It’s still in beta so you can expect some serious features in short time.

2. ThinkFree Writer : ThinkFree offers both online and offline versions but it’s the online one which is free. It is also a powerful online word processor and is no less than Zoho writer. It also offers collaboration and that’s what puts it at par with desktop based word processors. Again like Zoho writer, its short of features as compared to desktop based word processors but I think that most of you will do without those features.

3. Google Docs : This offering from Google isn’t the best at this point of time but you can’t say anything when we are talking about Google. They are the number 1 brand and everyone know why, because they are known for building great web applications. Don’t forget to check this one out.

Well, I use Zoho, Google docs and ThinkFree the most. So I’ve written what I personally feel about them. However, there are many other online MS Word processor. So, I’m just listing them with the description given by their creators.

4. Ajax Write : ajaxWrite is a web-based word processor that can read and write Microsoft Word and other standard document formats. Anytime you need to open, read or write a word processor file, simply point your FireFox browser to www.ajaxwrite.com and in seconds a full-featured program will be available for you to open, edit, print and save.

5. Buzzword : I’d recommend you give it a good try as soon as it is available, there really isn’t a learning curve if you are using word processing apps already. I’m looking forward to seeing how Buzzword develops. If they nail those integration tasks then it will definitely become part of my bookmarks toolbar for creating and editing documents for myself or to share with colleagues. Review & opinion by Richard.

6. gOffice : No it’s not by Google but by SilverOffice Inc. Here’s what manino has to say about this MS Word alternative – ” gOffice has word processing, DTP, presentations and spreadsheets. Of course, all of them have to be very simple, which is good for 80% of the population – the rest can very well shell out $500 for their own indesign or whatever.”

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33321 Responses2007-08-23+20%3A54%3A29ReviewSaurus so far | Have Your Say!

Benedict Herold
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:19 pm #

Nice list Mayank! you started of with alternative of Office Word and ended with OneNote! Open Office and Zoho are my personal favorite.!
ReviewSaurus
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:23 pm #

@ Ben : where, which one…I didn’t see any onenote alternative in here :D
kanak
August 24th, 2007 at 9:24 am #

My vote for Google docs . Single google ID for all the services doenst let me think of any other service.
Shankar Ganesh
August 24th, 2007 at 12:59 pm #

I’ve been using OpenOffice.org and Abiword. The latter is very light on resources.
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ReviewSaurus
August 25th, 2007 at 11:42 am #

@ Kanak : Well, kanak I know that Google accounts help you manage everything but just go ahead and try Zoho and you’ll see the difference :)

@ Shankar : No doubt that they are indeed the best replacement of the Microsoft word, when it comes to desktop based software.

@ Alpesh : Thanks a lot for the link backs :)
Daniel
February 29th, 2008 at 9:46 am #

I’ve searched the web over, and have one Q: Which word processor is the best one over all for writing novels, short stories, ect. ect.?
ReviewSaurus
February 29th, 2008 at 5:22 pm #

@ Daniel : It really depends on the kind of needs you have , if you don’t mind in shelling out some money and want to stick with the best the Microsoft Office is for you.
If you want a free solution and want the most of the features of Microsoft Office then Openoffice.org is best for you.

If you are looking for collaborative features, ability to edit and check the documents online then Zoho Writer will be best for you.

I hope this helps
Ryan Hartney
March 26th, 2008 at 6:08 am #

gOffice isnt free. its 99 cents per month.
Ryan Hartney
March 27th, 2008 at 3:46 am #

GET RID OF JARTE!!! I DID A WHOLE REOPRT ON IT, AND NOW IT WON”T LET ME OPEN IT. IM MAD AS HELL, AND I WOULDN”T EVER RECOMMEND THAT PROGRAM.
Ryan Hartney
March 27th, 2008 at 3:59 am #

I do like iNet Word, which I just discovered by the way.
Ryan Hartney
March 27th, 2008 at 7:31 am #

try this : the list of 13 online word processors
Ryan Hartney
March 27th, 2008 at 7:37 am #

Qjot is nice also.
ReviewSaurus
March 27th, 2008 at 11:20 am #

@ Ryan : Hey thanks for sharing this mashable link. And if you ask my personal fav. it’s gotta be Zoho. Which one is yours ?
Judith Lake
November 17th, 2008 at 4:56 am #

A really good idea, similar for Excel & Powerpoint would be useful maybe something to go into? I'll be recommending to friends, family & businesses I am in contact with as I run my own business. Many thanks
Andrea
May 1st, 2009 at 7:19 pm #

thanks, all i have on my computer is MS Word 07, and you need to buy a key for it. I had OOo on my other computer, it was great.
Vic
November 26th, 2009 at 6:48 am #

I am using KSOffice , it is also very good , very similar with MS Word .
Simon
November 26th, 2009 at 12:37 pm #

I believe KSoffice can be the real alternative one, I use it for many years and really much similar with Microsoft Office, Also have the writer, spreadsheet, Presentation. Meantime, include the Equation Editor, VBA, and other Useful functions.
cash reward club
December 16th, 2009 at 10:58 pm #

I forgot about google docs, I will definitely use that. Much easier, and access my files from anywhere.
Vanja
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:47 pm #

I still prefer SSuite Office for a free office suite. There software also don’t need to run on Java or .NET.