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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Drive

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Drive is a cloud file storage, synchronization, and collaboration platform and service, that features Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for document editing and presentation.

    $6

    per month

    LibreOffice

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ALibreOffice is a free and open-source Office Suite from The Document Foundation, presented as the successor to OpenOffice.org. The suite includes Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (vector graphics and flowcharts), Base (databases), and Math (formula editing).

    $0

    free and open source under the Mozilla Public License v2.0

    Pricing
    Google DriveLibreOffice
    Editions & Modules
    Basic
    $6.00
    per month
    Business
    $12.00
    per month
    Enterprise
    Contact Vendor for Quote
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google DriveLibreOffice
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsDiscounts are available for students, educators, and non profit organizations.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google DriveLibreOffice
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Google Drive
    I also use OneDrive from Microsoft as I also have a Windows phone and a Surface device and this integrated easily with my mobile document to my PC. However they can't in any way compare with Google Drive, first Google Drive have various apps which are also free and integrates …
    Incentivized
    The Document Foundation
    Chose LibreOffice
    In my view, Microsoft office products are very much user-friendly and well documented. However, these products are very expensive where the LibreOffice is free of cost. Also if you have a Linux platform, the best office product will be the LibreOffice. Although LibreOffice is …
    Incentivized
    Chose LibreOffice
    I think it is fair to say this:
    • If you are looking for a well-rounded, GNU-licensed product that will encompass word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and database then LibreOffice is probably all you need.
    • For online collaboration, links with cloud storage, and more …
    Incentivized
    Chose LibreOffice
    At first we used OpenOffice, but since Oracle took it over, the updates started to take more to go live and it hasn't improved like LibreOffice has.
    Incentivized
    Chose LibreOffice
    Microsoft Office 2016 is the premium option for word processing, but in my line of work the content is more important than the presentation. I am mostly content to work in Google Docs unless working with documents of a sensitive nature. Then I use LibreOffice.
    Incentivized
    Chose LibreOffice
    The most ubiquitous office suite now is of course, Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office offers very good tools, but is very Microsoft/Windows "centric" - understandably they want to tie users to the Microsoft/Windows universe. I'm a big proponent of open source operating systems …
    Incentivized
    Chose LibreOffice
    The online docs - people often found [them] confusing and limited in what they do. LO was preferred to those though they lack the real-time collaboration features in the other documents.
    Users preferred Office 2016 though support was going to go away for it so we investigated …
    Incentivized
    Chose LibreOffice
    MS Office is a very good office suite but in the early days of the company spending hundreds of EUR on licenses was not the priority and the added value of MS Office at that time could not compensate the costs. Google documents are used in a limited way for a few …
    Incentivized
    Chose LibreOffice
    Microsoft Products: LibreOffice is an affordable programme that is on par with Microsoft products. Unlike Microsoft, which tends to reinvent itself every couple of years and sacrifices functionality for aesthetics, LibreOffice is tried and true, sticking to the functionality …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    120 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    114 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    12 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    117 Answers
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    81 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    93 Answers
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    Features
    Google DriveLibreOffice
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Google Drive and LibreOffice
    Feature
    Google Drive
    8.4
    221 Ratings
    0% above category average
    LibreOffice
    -
    Ratings
    Versioning8.7195 Ratings00 Ratings
    Video files7.8190 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio files8.3184 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document collaboration9.0218 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access control8.0216 Ratings00 Ratings
    File search8.1220 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device sync8.9205 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cloud Storage Security & Administration
    Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Google Drive and LibreOffice
    Feature
    Google Drive
    8.6
    215 Ratings
    1% below category average
    LibreOffice
    -
    Ratings
    User and role management9.0202 Ratings00 Ratings
    File organization8.0213 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device management8.799 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cloud Storage Platform
    Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Google Drive and LibreOffice
    Feature
    Google Drive
    8.9
    214 Ratings
    3% above category average
    LibreOffice
    -
    Ratings
    Performance9.2212 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reliability9.1214 Ratings00 Ratings
    Storage Reports8.587 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google DriveLibreOffice
    Small Businesses
    IDrive Online Backup and Object Storage e2
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Google Workspace
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Apple iCloud
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Google Workspace
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ownCloud
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google DriveLibreOffice
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (224 ratings)
    9.0
    (33 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (54 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.0
    (49 ratings)
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google DriveLibreOffice
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    It is possible to share files and folders with up to 200 email addresses, as well as with persons outside the company.Use the drop-down arrow to select who may see, comment on, or change the file or folder before sending out an invitation.I am very much impressed with this feature
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    If you're working with numbers, LibreOffice doesn't get in your way and try to make changes as it sees fit, forcing you to repeatedly go back and undo processes you didn't want, didn't ask for, and that have no place in the document you are trying to produce. All I want to do is assemble the data, process it for the task at hand, and then print it for distribution. LibreOffice allows me to do that.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Any user with access can store a file using different platforms like Android, IOS, Windows, or Ubuntu (Desktop version)
    • You can share files with any number of different users with different access rights or you can even keep it public by providing the access link and assign different rights for public access
    • You can open Excel/Word files using google software Sheets/Docs in the browser environment without having to install software like Microsoft Office etc on your Windows OS
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    • Tools like speeling, grammar, and thesaurus are super fast and intuitive
    • Read-only content can be created by adding a section and password
    • The right-click menus are very intuitive and change on the fly with what is needed depending on the content and situation
    • Documents can be saved natively as *.docx or *.xlsx
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • Having a little bit more control and clarity over what is shared and how it is shared would be a useful improvement.
    • Could be more robust and flexible as far as assigning restrictions.
    • Google Sheets could be enhanced because Excel really is not there yet as a product with equal capabilities as there are still quite a few limitations to the functionality.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    • It doesn't provide all the functions it should with a paid subscription.
    • There are features that are only available with Premium and I have premium and they are still not available.
    • Paying for the premium version doesn't provide additional services than free version
    • Customer service is nonresponsive and has been nonresponsive for years even prior to COVID.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    It's perfect for me. It keeps things saved and is easy to remove items if needed. Also, I very much enjoy the formatting options. Along with the integrations it has for SSO. Overall, this is the most user friendly system I have ever come across.
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    We use it consistently and have a lot of documents in the OpenDocument format so it will be necessary to use LibreOffice or a compatible product such as Openoffice in the future to be able to open these files. Because the license fee for Libreoffice is zero it is not very costly to keep using it - the costs are mostly for keeping it installed on the office PCs and regularly updated, and solving employee issues with the user support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    It's easy enough to use for computer users of all ages and skill levels. I am an advanced user, and I think the hardest part might be showing someone how to download and set up the app on their device if they weren't too familiar with computers, but overall it is very easy to understand.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    For all of the reasons in the foregoing evaluation. Its menus are clean, intuitive and straightforward. Any function I need to use can be accessed via keystrokes, without having to stop, move my hand to the mouse, deal with it, and then get back to the keyboard to proceed. It helps me keep my mind on my work and not worry about dealing with the mouse all the time.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    Always available
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    Libreoffice is a desktop app not requiring any server part so it is always available when the PC is working normally. Installing it on another machine if one PC fails is very quick and easy. This is a non-issue.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Google
    The documents load fairly quickly and also update in real time, especially given the fact that multiple people can be using it at once. The "Offline" feature works great to allow the user to make edits and access the document without access to the internet, and then sync changes later once they're back.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    For big/imported tables or text documents with images loaded from the internet it is sometimes getting very slow, RAM and CPU intensive, and sometimes even hangs due to some memory leaks or other bugs. This is a long-term problem and is still not resolved perfectly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Google
    It takes a few days for customer support to get back to you. Although, I have not had to use support too often. Once you get an email back, they are very thorough and work hard to fix the problem quickly. It is a really great resource and a great way to get the help you need if you're stuck. A phone call also works quickly but you have to call during specific times.
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    Support is not officially offered. However, you can find answers to any usage questions or trouble-shooting online easily, typically starting with a Google search. (I believe that all forums / tips for OpenOffice apply equally to LibreOffice, and vice versa.) While Microsoft Office, for example, officially includes support, I find that typically you end up going to a Google search in any case. So, this is not really a downside. However, in all these cases, you end up doing a lot of figuring things out for yourself.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Google
    The effective google workspace using training that my organization received and was conducted by me (as a team lead of the ICT team) was mind-blowing and as a result, our staff is performing well in terms of using the application for their daily jobs than before. Now, in my institution, all teachers and all the administrative personnel are very much interested in cloud storage facilities, in previous my institution was afraid of losing all important documents in the cloud storage. But, after having received the training they are now realized that if anyone has only one google account then he or she can use 15GB of cloud storage freely and they are now happy because now it is not necessary for anyone to carry the traditional pen drive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    It's an extremely easy software to implement, once you sign up for a google account you automatically have access to google drive with a set amount of storage space. The business or Google Suite accounts have more storage space than a regular free account, but setting up and accessing google drive is very easy in both cases
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    Generally easy to perform, issues are how to ensure regular automatic updates on Mac OS X. Fortunatly we have only a few machines with OS X run by management and we can do these updates manually occasionally. Windows updates are quite easy with the support of third party software such as Ninite or Chocolatey, and Linux updates are super-easy thanks to the package manager (apt-get).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    In short, Google Drive is better for independent users who store a normal amount of stuff. OneDrive makes more sense for businesses and teams that are doing heavy-duty storage or large-scale syncing. Realistically, though, most users will fall somewhere in between the two, where either platform would meet their needs.
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    I think it is fair to say this:
    • If you are looking for a well-rounded, GNU-licensed product that will encompass word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and database then LibreOffice is probably all you need.
    • For online collaboration, links with cloud storage, and more robust support, Microsoft Office 365 and Google Docs are probably what you or your organization needs.
    • LibreOffice is at its best for regular document creation and spreadsheet management. It is more cumbersome when it comes to fonts but also when it comes to linkages with cloud-based services. It is there, but you need some more computer knowledge to make it work.
    • There are other free alternatives, most notably Apache Open Office, which is also a very good alternative if you do not like LibreOffice.
    Having said that, I honestly think off-line computers or laptops used off-site can certainly benefit from having LibreOffice installed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    I have always been able to access
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    With more users using it in the company there are more cases when a simultaneous editing of the same document is needed and this feature is lacking in Libreoffice even though the files concerned are shared and synced by some solution (we use ownCloud). Google Docs or MS Office365 via Sharepoint/Onedrive offer a better function for this.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • It has given our operation remote capabilities
    • Easier to access and understand client's need through collaborative enviroment
    • availability to digital resources fast and easy
    • saved our operation hundreds of dollars in physical storage (both investment and maintenance)
    • our operation became easier for new staff to get onboard: small learning curve to use it
    Read full review
    The Document Foundation
    • I am able to quickly create and edit word processing documents and spreadsheets which are for all intents and purposes equivalent to documents I could create and edit in other tools such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs/Sheets.
    • Lack of an online portal for sharing documents necessitates the use of Google Sheets for automation/integration. Ideal would be an all-in-one solution.
    • Having open-source software that provides common functionality eliminates the need for expensive licenses.
    • Lack of dedicated support is negligible. Most issues can be resolved using online search.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Google Drive Screenshots

    Screenshot of Google Drive PriorityScreenshot of Comment on Microsoft Files in Google DriveScreenshot of Shared drives