Anyone who’s been following all the drama and intrigue of office suite software development news for the past several years will know that LibreOffice has basically risen from the ashes of OpenOffice, as developers from the latter decided to go off to start their own project (while using the open-source code from the work they’d done on OpenOffice up to that point).
For a while it looked like OpenOffice was doomed, with Apache announcing that their development team was dwindling and unable to keep up with updates addressing everything from UI improvements to security vulnerabilities.
But after record-low download numbers in 2017, OpenOffice seems to have bounced back a bit, with a big update triggering people to take an interest again. In this article we compare the two Office suites to figure out which one wins.
Also read: 6 of the Best LibreOffice Extensions You Should Use
Community/Support
Open-source software like LibreOffice is defined by its community. LibreOffice has an active subreddit page, as well as a constantly monitored Ask page. There’s a whole Wiki site dedicated to the latest updates and changes to the software, and comprehensive guides for every single major update released for LibreOffice.
Despite being largely discontinued, you can still find support for OpenOffice if you look in the right places. The OpenOffice subreddit is pretty barren, but you’re likely to find answers to your questions on the official OpenOffice forum, which remains active. Beyond that, many of the other support sources – like 8daysaweek and the unofficial OpenOffice forum have closed down due to inactivity.
So perhaps there’s no surprises here, but with LibreOffice you’re much more likely to find the help you need.
Compatibility
One of the first things you probably want to know about LibreOffice and OpenOffice is which one will most readily handly your existing files, which may be in all kinds of formats ranging from Microsoft’s proprietary formats to more obscure ones like WordPerfect’s “.wp” extensions.
Both OpenOffice and LibreOffice are capable of opening a huge range of file formats, though OpenOffice is in fact capable of opening documents in a wider range of formats than LibreOffice (103 to LibreOffice’s 73).
But there is a catch. Just because these suites can open a certain file format doesn’t mean they can save in that file format. When it comes to what file formats you can save in, LibreOffice is decidedly more modern, most notably being capable saving files in Microsoft’s latest range of proprietary formats (.docx, .xlsx and so on).
So OpenOffice may win in pure quantity of compatible formats, but LibreOffice arguably outdoes it by letting you save in the biggest formats out there.
Features
Both OpenOffice and LibreOffice look much the same from the outset, with vintage-style interfaces that reject Microsoft’s tab-based look. Look a little closer, though, and you’ll see the differences. Handily, LibreOffice keeps track of your word and character account dynamically as you write, which is great for those working with word limits. (In OpenOffice you need to click “Tools -> Word Count.”)
OpenOffice launches with a sidebar for various font and paragraph options, which is theoretically useful, except that many of the options are just repeats of what’s already in the toolbar across the top of the window. You can enable this sidebar in LibreOffice as well, but I think it’s a little superfluous.
Font embedding is a nice addition in LibreOffice, too, which ensures that whatever fonts you use in your document get displayed correctly in other word processing software that opens the document. On a related note, LibreOffice allows you to save in the .docx format, while OpenOffice doesn’t. (Both let you save in the OpenDocument format and most of Microsoft’s proprietary formats.)
Both LibreOffice and OpenOffice use open-source document formats and have exactly the same programs with exactly the same names contained therein. Namely:
- Writer – word processing software
- Calc – Spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel equivalent)
- Impress – Presentation software (Microsoft Powerpoint)
- Draw – A vector program (decent alternative to Microsoft Visio)
- Math – Mathematical formula software
- Base – Database management software (Microsoft Access equivalent)
In short, they look very similar, but LibreOffice has more quality-of-life features resulting from more consistent development of the software.
Tip: Use these OpenOffice tips and tricks to improve your productivity.
Security and Stability
LibreOffice gets updated much more than OpenOffice, thanks to a bigger team and more resources. A factor in this could also be that there’s a license in place, and that means the LibreOffice lot can help themselves to the code from OpenOffice but not the other way round.
The rarity of updates with OpenOffice also means they’re not quite as on the ball in terms of security, and the team often take a long time to address the latest security vulnerabilities and bugs. A major bug in the macOS version that causes crashes when making diagrams in Calc is yet to be fixed, while Apache seems to be constantly scrambling to iron out security issues.
OpenOffice is hanging in there, but you get the sense that it’s struggling to keep its head above the water.
Conclusion
LibreOffice has all the advantages in this one, though there are a few users who’ve reported features bugging out in it, only for them to work fine in OpenOffice. It’s good to have a backup office suite, in other words, though we think there are better options than OpenOffice out there. Check out our list of free alternatives to Microsoft Office to get an idea!
This post was first published in Feb 2018 and was updated in September 2019.
15 comments
“LibreOffice has all the advantages in this one, though there are a few users who’ve reported features bugging out in it, only for them to work fine in OpenOffice.”
Is it possible that it is particular hardware that is causing the “features bugging out” rather than the software?
I have always found both interfaces so old and ugly compared for example to the Microsoft and google office suites. I would like to understand for what reason those who are used to the Microsoft Office 2016 would want to use something that looks like windows 98, i really don’t understand the lack of design polishing. For my part i chose the Google suite which suits my needs and looks like something made in 2018.
I did a lot of processing and all these menus are really good. It is because I use keyboard more often and You seems to be mouse-bound user. People like You tend to be low-productive, slow and have plenty of time to look for proper functions.
The “polishing” is totally wrong strategy, although -modern. I have a licensed MS Office 2016 at my work computer, but also always have LO at my disposal. Me and people like me we do want to do to our job instead of looking at stupid pictures and reorganized tab bar system which tends to be occupying a lot of precious space.
I can add that my experience is mostly MS Office 2003 and then I simply see how M$ started slowing our performance using those stupid changes, that no one knows, but seems are well accepted by people around the world.
So now You have two reasons for this old design – speed and clarity.
MS office changes (more downgrades than upgrades) are not accepted by the people like you said
(Also, myself, would like a minimalistic customizable toolbar instead a “ribbon” which eats a lot of space on the screen)
I have tread plenty of complains about the stupid ribbon and the bug with the selection with the mouse, but no one from the M$ staff is interested as long the money flows. Big companies still buy MS suite.
LibreOffice seems to get worse with each new update. They seem to have too many volunteers who do what they want to do, not what needs to be done. Users who complain about bugs basically get told that they may or may not get fixed, depending on whether a volunteer steps forward.
I keep hoping for more “adult supervision” “quality control”, etc. For example, why are they still using Java? Apparently no one else does, so many people either don’t have Java Runtime Environment or have uninstalled it. Then on a rare occasion they discover they need it for a specific LO function, then LO help won’t even give you a straight answer on where to install it.
It’s just nutty, every time I have a problem I have to spend an hour trying to fix what should take 1 minute! For example, LO Writer keeps changing text in my word docs (ex: it might change “spend” to spending”) even though I have turned off auto-spell and grammar check. I then have to manually proof the doc to catch all the errors made BY LO! There are a lot of things where so should be able to right-click to find what you need, but it isn’t there. Even the LO update page is confusing, it offers too many choices to the average person who just wants to update the current version.
Another thing lacking in LO is templates. Guess what, there are 100 times as many templates in Open Office that will work in LibreOffice, but LO doesn’t link to them, even though they work in LO. I think too many people are uncritical of LO’s failures.
The reason I stick with it is that I feel it’s less of a risk in terms of hackers trying to inject viruses/macros, I think they focus on MS Office. Also, I don’t want Micro$oft and Google knowing everything about me and then “monetizing” it (selling my info to advertisers), so I try to use open source software, like LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.
JRE is installed automatically along with the rest of LibreOffice. You should have no need to install it afterwards. Unless you uninstalled it manually.
“LO Writer keeps changing text in my word docs (ex: it might change “spend” to spending”) even though I have turned off auto-spell and grammar check.”
Interesting. I’ve been a LibreOffice user (Windows and Linux versions) since its StarOffice days and I have never encountered that problem. Granted, I’m only one user and cannot generalize based on my experiences but so are you.
“Even the LO update page is confusing, ”
There is no need to go to the LibreOffice site to get check for an update. If you click on the HELP drop-down menu, there is a ‘Check for Updates’ entry. LibreOffice also notifies you with a ‘Update Available’ message if there an update. You can also run the LOManager program which will apply the update. In none of the three options are there ‘too many choices’ for the user.
“Another thing lacking in LO is templates.”
Google is your friend. Search for ‘LibreOffice templates’ and you will find at least 5 sites that have hundreds of LO templates.
“there are 100 times as many templates in Open Office that will work in LibreOffice, but LO doesn’t link to them”
Why should LibreOffice link to a competitor’s products? FYI, even though OO and LO are forks of the same code, their developers ARE basically competitors. Although that may not last too long. Apache may be closing down the OpenOffice project.
“The reason I stick with it is that I feel it’s less of a risk in terms of hackers trying to inject viruses/macros”
Security by obscurity is not a safe policy. :-)
I tried libreoffice for the word count. I used to have a live word count extension for open office but my 2012 version kept crashing so I had to make a new user and lost it. I somehow wasn’t able to reinstall it and decided to try libreoffice. Three hours and I uninstalled again. I couldn’t even remove the headers and footers that were added to all of my old open office documents. In open office, it’s as easy as Tools/Options/OpenOffice/Appearance/Text Boundaries to remove the grey box around the text, but removing these default headers and footers in libreoffice seemed impossible. I googled and googled and the explanations made no sense, or it was for an older version and no longer worked or god knows what. I reinstalled open office and I found a newer word count extension that works just like the libreoffice word count in less time than it took me to figure out the simplest thing in libreoffice.
I’m not techy and just want a program that will let me write and do basic formatting for no or little money. Open office does that. Libreoffice is not for folks like me. It’s just not intuitive whatsoever. I never had any issues with open office until my old version started crashing after six years of use.
I’m not going to spend money on word. I don’t give a crap about how sleek and modern it looks, the price tag isn’t worth it for what I do.
LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice. When Oracle bought out Sun, everyone was scrambling wondering what would happen to OpenOffice and Java. They were worried Larry Ellison’s drive for profits would turn them into monetized machines for big O. (Tons of legacy software is written in Java, and lots of folks used OpenOffice, so Oracle forcing folks to suddenly license all that would have turned the IT/IS world on its head and caused outrage for Oracle).
LibreOffice has had more development than OpenOffice, and has kept up with MS Office a bit more. But, as others have said, you will be using an interface that harkens back to Win95/98/XP days sans Ribbon. To some that’s a blessing. To others.. well, they love their ribbon (which, while annoying sometimes, helps condense down some of the most used features with nice mouse-over target buttons).
If you’re a casual Office user, then LibreOffice can fill in. However, there are some software companies that need MS Office only (eg: SAP Business Analytics requires MS Excel, no Libre/OpenOffice Calc functionality).
Work forces that have tried to migrate to Libre/OpenOffice have just found too many small nuances to keep it from sticking, like opening files of different formats (notably Word to Writer) fonts and table formatting can get altered to not look like the original. When you’re dealing with corporate contracts or resumes and such, it’s just best to use what everyone else uses, which is still MS Word.
Also, for power users, while MS Office uses Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) I think LibreOffice / OpenOffice both use Python (they have Java applets, but automation scripting via user is in Python). Python is like VBA in that it’s high-level and simple, but it’s a change of pace and requires a learning curve. So, you can’t just open MS Excel spreadsheets that have macros in them and expect to use them as-is in Calc. If you’re a marketing or analytics shop with big Excel spreadsheets, you’re stuck with Excel unless you want to spend time/money redeveloping your spreadsheets in Calc / Python. (But, really, that kind of stuff should be in IT/IS side of house with applications development. But, I’m the first to tell you the real world isn’t always the same as the fantasy IT/IS world. So, there’s a lot of extracurricular analysts in dept’s stuck with massive automated excel and ms access projects via VBA that makes it hard to transition to Open/Libre.)
Since MS has gone the way of subscription (MS Office 2016 the last version you can get that’s “buy once, use forever”), you’d think more people would go with Libre/OpenOffice as an alternative. But, MS Subscription has been ok with IT dept’s, since they are often keeping machines going in ebb and flow fashion yearly anyways. The subscription is tied to a user, not a computer, so they can have a pool of subscriptions and just replace computers whenever they need due to depreciation or obsoletion or destruction. IT dept’s work differently then home users, though, in that they have massive pools of software licenses they get in bulk. They also have more control of MS software via enterprise editions.
What we’re seeing in the home user market is more folks willing to try Libre/OpenOffice, b/c they’re sick of having so many maintenance fees in their life as-is. There is still a generation of home users that remember “buy once, use forever” licensing, and they’re sick of Office 365 subscriptions. Especially when they find out that a lot of what MS is doing these days is just data-mining information off of software use (from Windows, Office, apps, etc) like Google does, but MS makes you pay for the privilege while Google and others give you free services which they harvest from. (MS has a “pay us and we’ll take extra advantage of you” while Google, et.al. have a more “quid pro quo” mentality).
So, we see an uptick in Google Docs, Libre/OpenOffice, and other Office alternatives.
For the average users, it really comes down to whether you want to pay a subscription fee or not these days, b/c MS is cutting off support for their older MS Office versions. So, eventually, you will need to be Office 365 or some alternate unless you want to keep using an older MS Office version that isn’t getting security fixes and risk your computer’s (and possibly network IT / server) security health. For some folks, their old MS Office 2000/2007/2010/2016 is fine. For others, they want to look into alternatives. And the alternative is to either pay MS for a 365 subscription or look for something else.
At least with LibreOffice/OpenOffice, you don’t have spyware harvesting usage data from you (unlike Google docs, Office 365, etc). Every product seems to have a catch these days. Either pay for a decent product (which has other catches) or use a free product (which may not be as good or has other catches). (“other catches” = spyware).
Do you have a list of the differences in format support? Since the split Libreoffice has gained a few formats, such as Quark Express, ClarisWorks and Abiword. LO dropped support for some staroffice formats for a while, but then re-added them. On the other hand OO had to drop support for the Hangul WP 97 format, because they did not have the resources to fix a security bug.
This is a nice discussion. However, I am interested in both good and secure. That means it is not going to be free. Obviously those putting their time into developing a good product, especially something as complex as Word, must be compensated for their time. I would rather pay them than to have them sell my information to others. Why is everyone so hung up on “free”? There really isn’t any such thing. You pay one way or another. I would prefer to pay up front and get anonymity and privacy for my money.
“I am interested in both good and secure. That means it is not going to be free. ”
MS Office is not free. Neither is it secure, or at least your data is not secure. Any time you store your data on someone’s server, you no longer control it.
With open source projects like LO and OO, you KNOW they do not contain any tracking or spy code because it cannot be hidden in any way. OTOH, proprietary projects are closed source. Who knows what spy code or tracking code is embedded.
Is MS Office “popular” because it is good and secure or because so many people are trapped in the MS walled garden?
Alice,
Your comment ” I would rather pay them than to have them sell my information to others” doesn’t reflect what BlahBlah was saying: in that with MS 360 you have to pay Microsoft to more or less rent their product and then Microsoft spies on you and markets your info anyway… Whereas Google Docs and their ilk give you a “free” product and then spy on you and market your info…
As a home user, I have found that Open Office meets my needs at all times. It’s much more powerful than many users realize, although not always user-friendly needing some study and practice to use successfully. I have been in contact with a teacher in Sri Lanka, who with my help, has successfully introduced OO to her community by learning the suite from free tutorials on Utube and teaching it herself to those wishing to be able to use office software. The high cost of Microsoft office software is a considerable and often insurmountable barrier to people in third-world and developing countries with low disposable incomes such that the free Open Office Suite is like a gift from Heaven. Although many people in the USA, UK etc find time to be hypocritical of these free suites, it should be remembered, that they have done and are continuing to do an enormous amount of good by bringing these facilities to the people who most need them. I therefore on behalf of needy people everywhere, give my grateful thanks to the people, who have given so much time and effort to OO.
I was fully expected to see here something like “Oh they are both great” but am glad that the article clearly says – OpenOffice is UNSUPPORTED, or DEAD, and LibreOffice is being developed.
But from my perspective, the single biggest difference between the two is that LibreOffice is everything I need it to be, including a better word processor than MS word (and 10000 times more user friendly) while also allowing me to do page design (and possibly even publish my book from LibreOffice), while OpenOffice is too unstable for that.
You cannot use OpenOffice for serious work any more. BTW, in my case, I have compared the two in exactly the same situations so I know it is not a user error or hardware issue – it is simple case of serious software bugs that make me never want to even touch OpenOffice, not with a 10ft pole.
I JUST wish LO had a choice of turning OFF the annoying overwrite feature, IM REALLY old school, you know back in the Appleworks era