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Should I Use LibreOffice?

libreoffice.org·Analyzed 1 day ago··Based on 9 sources

Free and private office suite, no forced AI

Worth it

Worth it

Buy it if you want a free, private, offline office suite and can tolerate minor Microsoft file-format quirks.

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

Confidence: Medium

$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

Value for money5

Free forever, open source, no upsells

Ease of use3

Users say it opens most MS docs

Feature depth4

Full offline suite: docs, sheets, slides

Support quality2

Guess: community forums, no vendor SLA

Security posture3

Public CVEs incl. RCE; patches ship regularly

Pros

  • Completely free, no subscription, no forced AI upsells¹
  • Open source and runs fully offline on your machine⁷
  • 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 survive⁵
  • No vendor support; you rely on community forums⁹
  • Desktop-only; no real-time cloud collaboration
  • Requires manual updates to stay clear of known CVEs³

Gotchas

  • highOld installs carry known RCE and DoS CVEs; update promptly.³
  • mediumComplex Word/PowerPoint files can shift formatting; test your templates before migrating.⁵
  • mediumNo support contract — help comes from volunteers and forums, not a vendor.⁹
  • mediumNo real-time co-editing; teams end up adding Google Workspace anyway.

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

Companies that use it

  • Swiss federal government⁸

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

Alternatives

Compare LibreOffice with each alternative.

Microsoft 365

Paid standard: best .docx fidelity and cloud co-editing.

Full analysis

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

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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