LibreOffice - Fast intuitive and free
January 03, 2026

LibreOffice - Fast intuitive and free

Douglas S Bush | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Writer
  • Calc
  • Impress
  • Draw

Overall Satisfaction with LibreOffice

I have used LibreOffice since 2012 for a client company that sought a free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office. This company was reorganizing itself after emerging from bankruptcy and needed a low-cost, quality, easy-to-use office suite of applications that rivaled Microsoft Office. I installed LibreOffice for all users, and they never looked back. I previously gave this suite, primarily Writer and Calc, an 8 out of 10 in a review, but my client is now using version 25.2.7.2, and I keep myself quite fluent in the suite to answer user questions, and I’ve revised my rating to a 9 out of 10 due to the continuous improvements. The main business problems this suite addresses are cost-containment, compatibility, and ease of use for nearly 100 users who would not be considered computer savvy by any stretch of the imagination. Occasionally, new hires initially grumble, but within a very short time of using LibreOffice, they generally settle in and find they love it. And, with each new version, it gets more user-friendly, and the user support required gets less and less. A win-win!

Pros

  • 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

Cons

  • I would like to see more templates such as ones for forms
  • I would like to see a free-form character/text rotation
  • LibreOffice is free, open source software, so there is no cost, and it does that without sacrificing much, if anything.
  • For businesses starting up, or those in very competitive markets, or with extremely tight margins, LibreOffice is the way to go.
Its user interface is easy to navigate. Its right-click menus couldn't be more intuitive, at least for me. And, I find it has all the features I need for my business and for several of my clients' businesses, provided in a format that even non-savvy computer users can use with ease. Creating things like tables or forms is quite easy. And, every day business documents are inherently user-friendly.
Except for collaboration, which I seldom need, I find that LibreOffice beats all of the other similar products I have used in features, functionality, and intuitiveness. The user interface on the LibreOffice applications seems cleaner, and the right-click menus are more intuitive, with much better auto-adapting what is presented based on content and situation.

Do you think LibreOffice delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with LibreOffice's feature set?

Yes

Did LibreOffice live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of LibreOffice go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy LibreOffice again?

Yes

LibreOffice is well-suited for just about anyone who has used MS Office or Google Docs. I find it to be more powerful and feature-rich than both, and its ease of use and intuitiveness are far better. I've primarily used Writer and Calc, but also have some experience with Impress, Draw, and Base, and find them top-notch as well. On the other side of things, I find collaboration to be more difficult than with Google Docs, and to a degree, even MS Office. LibreOffice does have a fairly robust Tools > Share Spreadsheet… feature, but I've never been able to find one for Writer. I have little need for collaboration, but when I once did, I found it somewhat convoluted.

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