7 free alternatives to Microsoft Word

July 2, 2021

By Kim Komando

Google’s search engine has become so popular over the last decade that the company’s name has become a verb. Looking for something online, you’ll often hear people say, Google it. There are few other instances where this applies as well.

Microsoft’s Office suite is another great example of a Big Tech company dominating a field. Its Word software is what many people turn to when creating important documents. Tap or click here for five tricks to get the most out of Microsoft Word and Excel.

Millions of people around the globe use Word. But if you want to move away from the tech giant or don’t want to pay for a word processor, there are several options available to you. Keep reading for seven free alternatives.

1. FocusWriter

For distraction-free writing, have a look at FocusWriter from Gott Code. It does away with all the tabs, bars and options in the main document that could break your concentration. Like navigating in macOS, you access the menus by moving your mouse cursor over to the edges of the screen.

RELATED: 5 hidden Microsoft Word tricks that will make you stand up and cheer

It’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux and supports creating text files in the TXT, basic RTF and basic ODT file formats. As a bonus, you have the option to turn on typewriter sounds just in case you want a nostalgic office environment. Tap or click here for our guide on using FocusWriter.

2. Google Docs

Google’s word-processing technology has become a popular choice for those who don’t have a Microsoft Office subscription. Google Docs is an online-only service and mimics Microsoft’s efforts closely.

You can create documents, and through other plug-ins, you can create spreadsheets and presentations. Everything is stored in the cloud, but you can copy or move documents to Google Drive as well.

Just a word of caution: it’s a Google product, so the same level of privacy concerns should be kept in mind. Tap or click here for 15 smart ways to get more out of Google Drive.

3. WPS Office Writer

WPS Office has a range of productivity software available, with Writer serving as its text editor. It is fully compatible with Microsoft Word and supports DOC, DOCX, TXT, HTM, DOT and DOTX file formats.

It features most of the available functions in Word, including spellchecker, keyboard shortcuts and 230 different fonts. The company also has a free online-only version available, called WPS Docs.

With it, you can directly edit office files without formatting the conversion process. Freely switch between WPS Office for PCs and WPS Office for phones. And you can convert Word, Excel and PowerPoint files to PDF directly.

4. LibreOffice Writer

As part of the complete LibreOffice package, Writer is the dedicated word processing software in the bundle.

LibreOffice offers six programs that will feel instantly familiar to you if you’ve used Office before. Writer, Calc and Impress are equivalent to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. They have most of the same features, but you might need to poke around to find some of them.

Even better, LibreOffice can open and edit the documents you made in Office and save new files in Office formats. LibreOffice is compatible with the most popular document formats, not just Office documents. Tap or click here to see everything LibreOffice can do.

5. FreeOffice TextMaker

As the name implies, TextMaker is a free offering from development studio SoftMaker as part of its FreeOffice downloads. The software can open and create DOC and DOCX files, OpenDocument extensions and save them as PDFs.

Its design is similar to other document editors and comes bundled with spell check in 58 languages. You can also insert pictures, drawings and tables. It even lets you create PDF files and EPUB eBooks directly from within the application.

6. Jarte

If you are looking for something easy to use and uncomplicated in functionality, check out Jarte. It is a no-frills word processor based on Microsoft’s WordPad processing engine.

RELATED: Hackers are using Microsoft Word to infiltrate computers

It can open files with RTF, DOC, and DOCX extensions and is fully compatible with touch screen devices. But the thing that makes Jarte stand out is that the program is so small it can be downloaded to a USB stick and run from there.

As for other useful functions, Jarte has a spell checker, word count, an online web-based dictionary/thesaurus and handy clipboard access for quickly pasting copied text. It supports Rich Text, Plain Text, and Word Document formats, and you can even export your work as a PDF document or HTML.

Tap or click here for our guide to using Jarte and to download it today.

7. WordGraph

Developed with a small download size in mind, SSuite WordGraph is only 12MB in size but packs a punch with free word processing software. It can handle almost all files types used today and has built-in capabilities to export documents to PDF files.

Just like Jarte, WordGraph doesn’t need to be installed on a computer to work. Download the application onto a USB stick and operate it from there. This means that you can take a word processor with you.