Microsoft is a major player when it comes to office suite platforms, but there are some interesting free alternatives – like LibreOffice and Apache’s OpenOffice. The basic features – such as the word processing, spreadsheets and slide presentation tools – are pretty similar across the board, but there are pros and cons with each. It all comes down to what best suits your needs.

Here is the big freeware pro. Freeware is absolutely free, and since no license is required, you can use it on whatever devices you want. Microsoft Office requires you to purchase a license. The cost of that license depends on which edition you choose and how many copies of that license you want. 

But there are some pretty nice Microsoft pros. Freeware has Cloud limitations, allowing you to view files, but not do much more. Microsoft, on the other hand, lets you open and edit the documents you save on the Cloud. Spell and grammar check is built into Microsoft Office, but needs to be installed in freeware. Microsoft Office also has excellent cross-platform capabilities. 

As far as Microsoft Office security, that can come at a cost too. While some small updates may be free, other upgrades may cost you, but the good news is that Microsoft keeps its code secret to protect from hackers. Conversely for LibreOffice and OpenOffice, security patches and updates are available to anyone at no charge.

Ok, so let’s boil it down. Microsoft Office is paired well to Microsoft-based technology, so if cost is no issue, it is easier and may be better to opt for Microsoft Office. However, if licensing is an issue for you, freeware could certainly be worth the switch.