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Productivity · head to head

LibreOffice vs Milanote

LibreOffice logo

LibreOffice

Productivity

Free and open-source office suite that runs entirely offline

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Milanote logo

Milanote

Productivity

Board-based visual workspace for creative planning, free up to 100 items for the whole account

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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; Milanote the free plan caps the entire account at 100 notes, images or links and 10 file uploads rather than capping per board, so one properly worked project exhausts it and the tool stops working rather than degrading gracefully.
  • They diverge on capability: LibreOffice covers Full suite, Milanote covers Infinite board canvas.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LibreOffice and Milanote actually diverge.

Attributes where LibreOffice and Milanote differ
AttributeLibreOfficeMilanote
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxWeb

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Milanote

  • Infinite board canvas
  • Mixed content
  • Nested boards
  • Templates
  • Web clipper
  • Shared boards with comments
  • Mobile apps
  • Free plan

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 Milanote
  • Replacing per-seat office licences at scalenot Milanote
  • Long-term archives needing a format not defined by a single vendornot Milanote
  • Reviving older hardware that current commercial suites strainnot Milanote

Milanote

  • Moodboards and visual references for a branding or design project, gathered from the web and arranged for a client review.not LibreOffice
  • Storyboarding a video or planning a shoot, where the whole sequence needs to be visible at once.not LibreOffice
  • Structuring a book, script or long article by physically moving sections around until the order works.not LibreOffice
  • A shared board where a small creative team reacts to work in progress without the overhead of a project tool.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

Milanote

  • The free plan caps the entire account at 100 notes, images or links and 10 file uploads rather than capping per board, so one properly worked project exhausts it and the tool stops working rather than degrading gracefully.
  • The value of a board is its arrangement, and arrangement is the one thing export does not carry, so a PDF gives you a picture and a text export gives you the words while nothing reconstitutes the board in another tool.
  • Pricing is per person and the tool spreads naturally to reviewers and clients who only look and comment, so a team plan ends up covering people who never create anything.
  • There is no database layer, no properties, no filtering and no dependency tracking, so a project that starts on a Milanote board has to be re-entered somewhere else the moment it acquires owners and dates.
  • Offline support is minimal, so a board full of references is effectively unavailable without a connection, which is a real problem for a tool aimed at people who work on location and in meetings away from a desk.

Pricing, plan by plan

LibreOffice

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

Milanote

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100 notes, images or links
    • 10 file uploads
    • Unlimited shared boards
  • Individual$9.99/month
    • Unlimited notes, images or links
    • Unlimited file uploads
    • Unlimited shared boards
  • Team$49/month
    • Unlimited notes, images or links
    • Unlimited file uploads
    • Unlimited shared boards

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 Milanote if

  • You need infinite board canvas.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want mixed content.
Milanote review

Questions people ask

Is LibreOffice or Milanote better?
Neither clearly leads. LibreOffice starts at Free and Milanote at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, LibreOffice or Milanote?
LibreOffice starts at Free and Milanote at Free.
Does LibreOffice or Milanote run on more platforms?
LibreOffice runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. Milanote runs on Web.
Can I use LibreOffice for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 Milanote is typically brought in for.
What can LibreOffice do that Milanote cannot?
LibreOffice covers Full suite, Works offline, OpenDocument native, Microsoft format support. Milanote covers Infinite board canvas, Mixed content, Nested boards, Templates.

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.

Milanote: How long does the free plan last?

Indefinitely. It is limited by quantity rather than by time: 100 notes, images or links and 10 file uploads for the account as a whole, so it ends when you hit the cap rather than on a date.

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.

Milanote: Can I export a board?

You can produce PDFs and images of a board and extract the text, but the spatial arrangement is not portable, so nothing you export reconstructs the board in another tool.

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.

Milanote: Is it a project management tool?

No. There are no dates, dependencies or workload views. It suits the thinking phase, and the work has to be handed to a tracker once it becomes a plan.

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.

Milanote: Do collaborators need paid accounts?

Shared boards are unlimited even on the free plan, and the paid question is about who creates rather than who looks. Confirm the current plan terms before rolling it out to a client's team.

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.

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