Office software products - 16 of the best

Last updated:Sunday, September 14, 2014

Office software products – 16 of the best

Below is a list of 16 Office suite products, these are mostly compatible with Microsoft standard file format (.DOC, .DOCX, .XLS, .XLSX, etc.) and/or OpenDocument Format (ODF) – Industry standard (.ODT, .ODS, etc.).

Which is the best? – Well, very much a personal preference, significantly based on what the product will be used for, whether collaboration with others is required (sharing) and also from which device it is to be primarily used on.

File Sharing - Services File sharing, whilst covered to some degree below by most of the office cloud products – a specific article will be written to cover this in more detail, this will cover the best file sharing options.
including; DropBox, Google Drive, Microsofts OneDrive, Amazon Cloud, CX, SpiderOak, SugarSync, Hightail, Box, etc..

PDF - Portable Document Format PDF readers / writers have not been taken into account – (Adobe reader, is the industry standard reader) and whilst some of the below allow for saving into PDF format, better quality documents can be produced from specific PDF writers (VisageSoft ExpertPDF / AvantQuest Expert PDF is are good examples, these create PDF printer services, which when printed to, produce high quality PDF files).

The Industry Defacto Standard

Microsoft Office

Subscription: Home £6 p/mth (x1), £8 p/mth (x5), Office 3-8 p/mth – Purchase Std: £220, Pro: £390, Student £110 –
Smart Phone: Cloud based, but you will need a 356 account.
Professional version includes Outlook which is an email client, calendar / simple contact manager and Publisher for producing posters / signs etc.
VISIO is an optional extra, which produces flowcharts / diagrams.

Best FREE Cloud based office package

Google Docs

All versions – Totally FREE, 15GB of space
Extra storage space can be increased for as low fee e.g. 100gb for $2 p/mth, Unlimited is $10 p/mth p/user.
Google Apps for Business, incorporate Google Docs (colaborate) and more; Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar, Google+ (including geo-location photos), Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Sites and Vault.
Google Drive is Google’s cloud-based storage service, which facilitates Cloud sharing of files of all types, integrating with Google Docs for editing. One of the key elements, being the ability for Multiple users to edit documents at the same time and for any changes to show up in real-time. Google probaably has plans to incorporate a simple database within Docs and the Spreadsheet option can be used as a simple database, however there are other Google options that cover cloud databases,one example is Google Cloud SQL.

Best FREE alternative office package

WPS Office

All versions – Totally FREE
There is no specific graphical editor, but includes Microsoft Office compatible Presentation, Writer and Spreadsheets, which in there own way produce their own graphics and is not compatible with OpenDocument Format (ODF)

Worth considering – not yet on Smart Phones

Libre Office

All versions – Totally FREE
Libre Office is compatible with packages Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher, also allows the use of the modern open standard, the OpenDocument Format (ODF). Libre Office is extremely good and comprehensive, this would have been the best alternative Office Suite, but as yet it is not available on a Smart Phone platform. However, as of Aug 2014, an Android version is being developed and well under way – this package is well worth considering.

Best of the rest – Alphabetically

Apache OpenOffice

All versions – Totally FREE
Compatible with other major office suites, Apache OpenOffice is free to download and includes Writer, Calc, Impress, Base, Draw (Flowcharts / diagrams), Math (Equations) but does not have a specific Publisher equivalent.

Apple iWork

iWork is Totally FREE
This includes Pages (Word processing), Numbers (spreadsheet / charts), and Keynote (presentation) – In this free version, there is the lack of a Publisher and Database.
Good versions though are available from a 3rd party suppliers (for a small charge) – iStudio Publisher is a great app that covers publishing and FileMaker caters for databases / tables etc.

CloudOn

All versions – Totally FREE
Has integration with Google Drive, DropBox, Box, OneDrive and Hightail – cloud sharing technologies.

CollateBox

Subscription based
ColateBox is just a cloud based spreadsheet, but a very good one, with excellent sharing / version control – Has a FREE 15 day trial, then PAID at $10 p/mth

DataViz – Documents To Go

All versions – Totally FREE
‘Docs To Go’ as it is affectionately known, runs on Android, iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Blackberry devices. Allows saving anywhere including to multiple cloud services and your computer.

LucidChart

Cloud based version only – Subscription $3-£21 p/mth
Whilst this is not a complete Office replacement, it provides very good Diagram, Flowcharts, Mindmaps on a Cloud, recurring subscription basis. THere is a FREE 14 day trial and a limited FREE option.

MobiSystems OfficeSuite

One off purchase £15 (Google Play) – FREE trial
One of if not the best Android Office suites – PCMAG Editor’s Choice and Google Play Editor’s Choice mobile / smart phone office – Word processing, Spreadsheets and Presentations.

NeoOffice

Mac OS X only – One off payment $30
Users can view, edit, and save OpenOffice documents, PDF files, and most Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents – Also downloadable from the MAC App Store

Polaris Office

All versions – FREE, there as some in-app purchases
Chromecast display compatible, Microsoft Word / Excel and Powerpoint compatible file formats (not ODF), HWP (Hangul – word processor), PDF & TXT – There is the ability to use the Cloud via Browsers and a Windows 7/8 Sync utility to view documents that have been created via Polaris on a Smart Phone

SoftMaker FreeOffice

All versions – Totally FREE
Microsoft Word / Excel and Powerpoint compatible file formats (not ODF)
If you like the FREE version, you can upgrade to SoftMaker, a more fully featured version.

SSuite Office

All versions – Totally FREE
Along with the standard office compatible , WordGraph (Word processor / Presentations), Accel (Spreadsheet) and Databases (ODBC), there is a free Financial MyMoney package and various free communication utilities.
SSuite also has the ability to access cloud based documents directly from inside the application (DropBox and OneDrive).
Portable compact USB versions are also available.

ZOHO

All versions – FREE for 5gb storage
Extra storage can be purchased from; 250gb $5 p/mth for each of 5+ users, 1tb $8 p/mth for each of 10+ users
Microsoft File format compatible (Word/Excel/PowerPoint), Enables file sharing, Version history and Cloud/Desktop syncing
FREE Apps available on Google Play and App store.

Key:

– Supports – Documents / Word Processor / Writer

– Supports – Spreadsheets / Calc

– Supports – Presentations

– Supports – Data, Database, ODBC, SQL and/or Tables

– Supports – Publisher, Charts and/or Graphics

– Cloud / Browser based access

– Windows 7/8 compatible

– Apple Mac OS X compatible

– Linux compatible

– Blackberry compatible

– Android compatible (Google Play)

– iOS – iPad and/or iPhone compatible (AppStore)

– Outright purchase option, Installs locally

– Recurring / Subscription payment model

– FREE option product

– Basic FREE option, with ADDON / IN-APP purchases

E&OE

All logos above (some are actual representations / others have been made for this article) are all copyright to their respective owners and are used here to reference the companies respective products – clicking on any logo will direct you to the website in question.