Free Office Apps?

October 2025 is notable for being the end-of-support date for Windows 10, but it’s also the end-of-support date for Office 2019.  This means that by the end of the year only Office 2021, Office 2024, and Office 365 will be supported. If you want to stay current but don’t want to send any more money to Microsoft’s coffers, here are some no-cost alternatives.

Microsoft is desperate to keep you in their ecosystem, and provides web-based versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for anyone with a free Microsoft account. The programs are accessed through a browser and the interfaces are actually extremely similar to the traditional apps. For light use and a familiar feel, this is a good alternative.

If you live more in Google’s world than Microsoft’s, a free Gmail account gives you access to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides (the equivalents of the familiar Microsoft apps). This, too, is web-based and could be a good alternative if you already have experience with Google Drive.

Not loving the web-based approach, or don’t want to support Big Tech? Two open source and free office productivity suites can be installed on your computer and used just like Microsoft Office: LibreOffice and OpenOffice. These are popular not just for the price point, but also because they can open, edit, and save in the popular Word .doc and Excel .xls formats.

If you’re on one of the older versions of Office that will soon be unsupported and would like help moving to one of the options above, drop us a line!