ONLYOFFICE
Open-source suite with the closest Microsoft-format fidelity and real-time co-editing.
ONLYOFFICE is an open-source office suite whose editors use Office Open XML (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) as their native formats, which gives it some of the best fidelity with Microsoft files of any alternative here. It comes in two parts: the free ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors, an offline app for Windows, macOS, and Linux; and ONLYOFFICE Docs (Document Server), a self-hostable engine that adds real-time co-authoring, comments, track changes, and version history in the browser. Both are AGPL-3.0 licensed. It is a strong fit for teams that want Microsoft-like documents plus self-hosted collaboration on infrastructure they control. The vendor also sells hosted cloud and enterprise editions.
What it does well
- +AGPL-3.0 licensed and genuinely open, for both the desktop editors and the Docs server
- +Uses DOCX/XLSX/PPTX as native formats, giving very high fidelity with Microsoft files
- +Self-hostable Docs server adds real-time co-authoring, comments, and track changes on your own infrastructure
- +Free offline desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux for users who do not need collaboration
- +Actively developed with a regular release cadence and integrations for Nextcloud, ownCloud, and others
Where it falls short
- −Real-time collaboration requires running and maintaining the Docs server, which needs a capable server
- −The free self-hosted Community edition is intended for smaller deployments; heavier or enterprise use points to the paid editions
- −Some advanced features and official support sit behind the paid cloud/enterprise tiers
- −As a newer suite, it has a smaller extension ecosystem than the most established desktop suites
ONLYOFFICE as an alternative to
Where ONLYOFFICE shows up in our comparisons, and how it ranked.
ONLYOFFICE head-to-head
Straight comparisons against the tools people weigh it against.