Softwr

Productivity · head to head

LibreOffice vs Microsoft 365

LibreOffice logo

LibreOffice

Productivity

Free and open-source office suite that runs entirely offline

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft 365 logo

Microsoft 365

Productivity

Subscription bundle of the Office applications with mail, storage, meetings and organisational identity

From
$7/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only LibreOffice has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: LibreOffice real-time collaborative editing is far behind Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and for teams who co-edit this alone usually decides the question; Microsoft 365 business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • They diverge on capability: LibreOffice covers Full suite, Microsoft 365 covers Office applications.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LibreOffice and Microsoft 365 actually diverge.

Attributes where LibreOffice and Microsoft 365 differ
AttributeLibreOfficeMicrosoft 365
Starting priceFree$7/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in LibreOffice

  • Full suite
  • Works offline
  • OpenDocument native
  • Microsoft format support
  • No telemetry or AI
  • Extensions and macros

Only in Microsoft 365

  • Office applications
  • Hosted services
  • Teams
  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • OneDrive storage
  • Device management and endpoint protection
  • Purview compliance
  • Copilot

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

LibreOffice

  • Organisations where documents cannot leave the premises for policy or statutory reasonsnot Microsoft 365
  • Replacing per-seat office licences at scalenot Microsoft 365
  • Long-term archives needing a format not defined by a single vendornot Microsoft 365
  • Reviving older hardware that current commercial suites strainnot Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365

  • Any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill.not LibreOffice
  • A company standardising on single sign-on, where Entra ID becomes the account other services authenticate against.not LibreOffice
  • Regulated work that needs retention, legal hold and eDiscovery across mail and documents, provided the tier that includes them is actually bought.not LibreOffice
  • A household that needs installed Office applications on several machines rather than browser-only editing.not LibreOffice

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

LibreOffice

  • Real-time collaborative editing is far behind Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and for teams who co-edit this alone usually decides the question
  • Mobile support is weak, which is disqualifying for a workforce that reviews documents on phones
  • Complex Microsoft Office documents still lose formatting in transit, so exchange-heavy workflows need testing with real files
  • Central policy management, conditional access and audit tooling are thin against the commercial suites
  • Advanced spreadsheet work is where the gap with Excel is widest, and it affects exactly the users least willing to change

Microsoft 365

  • Business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • The compliance capabilities most organisations eventually need, including retention, data loss prevention, advanced eDiscovery and insider risk, sit at the top tier or in add-ons, so the real cost surfaces after an audit or a customer questionnaire rather than at purchase.
  • Annual term subscriptions commit you for the year and month-to-month terms cost measurably more per seat, so the flexibility to reduce seats during a quiet period is bought at a permanently higher rate.
  • Entra ID becomes the identity for everything else the organisation uses, which is the hardest kind of lock-in to put a number on, because leaving means re-federating every connected application rather than simply replacing a word processor.
  • The licensing model is complicated enough that most organisations are either over-licensed or quietly non-compliant, and reconciling it usually requires a partner or a specialist, which is a recurring cost that never appears in the advertised per-user figure.

Pricing, plan by plan

LibreOffice

Free
  • LibreOfficeFree
    • Full suite
    • Commercial use permitted
    • No per-seat licence

Microsoft 365

$7/month
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7/month
    • Email and calendar with 50 GB mailbox
    • Web and mobile versions of Office apps
    • Microsoft Teams included
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard$14/month
    • Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
    • Email and Teams
    • 1 TB cloud storage per user
  • Microsoft 365 E5$60/month
    • Comprehensive security and compliance
    • All productivity apps
    • Advanced analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose LibreOffice if

  • You need full suite.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want works offline.
LibreOffice review

Choose Microsoft 365 if

  • You need office applications.
  • You also want hosted services.
Microsoft 365 review

Questions people ask

Is LibreOffice or Microsoft 365 better?
Neither clearly leads. LibreOffice starts at Free and Microsoft 365 at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, LibreOffice or Microsoft 365?
LibreOffice has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for LibreOffice and $7/month for Microsoft 365.
Does LibreOffice or Microsoft 365 run on more platforms?
LibreOffice runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. Microsoft 365 runs on Web.
Can I use LibreOffice for free?
Yes. LibreOffice has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Microsoft 365 starts at $7/month.
What is LibreOffice best used for?
LibreOffice is most often used for organisations where documents cannot leave the premises for policy or statutory reasons, replacing per-seat office licences at scale, long-term archives needing a format not defined by a single vendor, reviving older hardware that current commercial suites strain. Of those, organisations where documents cannot leave the premises for policy or statutory reasons and replacing per-seat office licences at scale are not what Microsoft 365 is typically brought in for.
What can LibreOffice do that Microsoft 365 cannot?
LibreOffice covers Full suite, Works offline, OpenDocument native, Microsoft format support. Microsoft 365 covers Office applications, Hosted services, Teams, Microsoft Entra ID.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

LibreOffice: Is LibreOffice really free for business use?

Yes. It is open source with no per-seat licence and no restriction on commercial use. The Document Foundation is funded by donations and sponsors.

Microsoft 365: What is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office?

Office was a one-off licence for a specific version. Microsoft 365 is a subscription covering the applications and the hosted services together, and when payment stops the applications drop to a reduced state rather than continuing as they were.

LibreOffice: Does it have AI features?

No. The 26.8 release states it contains no generative AI, that documents are not transmitted to remote services, and that no component requires network access.

Microsoft 365: Is Teams included?

Not automatically for newer customers. Microsoft unbundled Teams and now sells it alongside the suite, so check what a given quotation actually covers.

LibreOffice: Can it open Microsoft Office files?

Yes, and save back to them. Round-tripping complex documents is imperfect between any two suites, so test with your own files before committing to an exchange-heavy workflow.

Microsoft 365: What happens to our files if we stop paying?

The documents remain yours and can be downloaded, but access to hosted mailboxes and sites ends after a retention window, so leaving requires a planned export rather than a cancellation.

LibreOffice: Why do governments use it?

Two reasons: no per-seat cost at scale, and OpenDocument is an ISO standard implemented by more than one vendor, which matters for archives that must stay readable after a vendor relationship ends.

Microsoft 365: Is Copilot part of the subscription?

No. It is a per-user add-on on top of the base licence, generally with its own term commitment, and it is priced per seat regardless of how much any individual uses it.

LibreOffice: What is the biggest reason not to use it?

Collaborative editing. If several people work on the same document simultaneously, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are substantially better and that gap is not closing.

Share

Related pages

More on LibreOffice

More on Microsoft 365

Keep looking

Other head to heads