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LibreOffice Review

Worth it

Should I use LibreOffice?

Free and private office suite, no forced AI - libreoffice.org

· 1 month ago

Buy it if you want a free, private, offline office suite and can tolerate minor Microsoft file-format quirks. Skip it if your team needs real-time cloud co-editing or a vendor to call when things break.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~14 usable public sources; no numeric review ratings found.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

LibreOffice

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Privacy-conscious individuals
  • Offline, no-cloud document work
  • Students and nonprofits with no budget
  • Orgs avoiding US cloud vendors

Not for

  • Teams needing real-time cloud co-editing
  • Anyone exchanging complex .docx with strict formatting
  • Businesses wanting vendor support contracts
  • Mobile-first users wanting phone/tablet apps

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Old installs carry known RCE and DoS CVEs; update promptly.

medium

Complex Word/PowerPoint files can shift formatting; test your templates before migrating.

medium

No support contract — help comes from volunteers and forums, not a vendor.

medium

No real-time co-editing; teams end up adding Google Workspace anyway.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Completely free, no subscription, no forced AI upsells
  • Open source and runs fully offline on your machine
  • Opens and edits most Microsoft Office documents
  • Adopted by European government agencies for privacy
  • 'No built-in AI' marketed as a privacy feature

Cons

  • Opens 'most' MS docs; complex formatting may not survive
  • No vendor support; you rely on community forums
  • Desktop-only; no real-time cloud collaboration
  • Requires manual updates to stay clear of known CVEs

Sources & method

- 9 sources - advisories page; CVEs disclosed and patched through regular releases.

official x1review x3security x3news x2
  • CVE-2025-1080, Remote code execution via URI scheme handling.
  • CVE-2025-2866, Improper verification vulnerability, fixed in updates.
  • CVE-2026-4430, Denial-of-service issue addressed in a Red Hat security advisory.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 9

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free forever, open source, no upsells
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Users say it opens most MS docs
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Full offline suite: docs, sheets, slides
  • Support quality: 2/5. Guess: community forums, no vendor SLA
  • Security posture: 3/5. Public CVEs incl. RCE; patches ship regularly
  • $0 Price Free and open source
  • Yes Free tier Entire product, no paid tier
  • 26.8 Latest release Per release announcements
  • 2010 First release Open-source fork of OpenOffice

Pricing

LibreOffice

Free

  • Writer, Calc, Impress offline
  • Open source, no AI upsells
  • Windows, Mac, Linux

Security

advisories page; CVEs disclosed and patched through regular releases.

  • CVE-2025-1080Remote code execution via URI scheme handling.³
  • CVE-2025-2866Improper verification vulnerability, fixed in updates.⁴
  • CVE-2026-4430Denial-of-service issue addressed in a Red Hat security advisory.

What users say

Users treat it as a genuinely free MS Office replacement that opens most files, with occasional formatting and collaboration trade-offs.

“LibreOffice is free. Try it, see if it …”
Tom's Hardware forums
“It will open and edit most ms docs. Free and …”
Ramforum user
“100% free and legit, and will do everything th…”
Threads user

Companies that use it

  • Swiss federal government⁸
Full analysis

Based on ~14 usable public sources; no numeric review ratings found.

Free, offline, no-AI Office replacement. Ideal for individuals; wrong for teams needing co-editing or pixel-perfect .docx.

Methodology

Based on ~14 usable public sources; no numeric review ratings found.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. LibreOffice official sitelibreoffice.org
    official
  2. LibreOffice security advisorieslibreoffice.org
    security
  3. CVE-2025-1080 detail — SentinelOnesentinelone.com
    security
  4. CVE-2025-2866 detail — NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  5. Ramforum user threadramforum.com
    review
  6. Tom's Hardware forum threadforums.tomshardware.com
    review
  7. Threads: LibreOffice for offline workthreads.com
    review
  8. Switzerland migration away from US techfacebook.com
    news
  9. LibreOffice security and development — Help Net Securityhelpnetsecurity.com
    news

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