It’s justified to say that OnlyOffice can be a great Microsoft Office 2021 & Office 365 alternative, so, is WPS Office. But, then we also have LibreOffice and OpenOffice on the spectrum. The five of them are all document management systems that work superbly well for small to mid-size businesses.
However, we are more interested in looking into an open-source and free alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Docs which you can use to view, create, and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and fillable forms.
To surpass this test we explored further into the OnlyOffice productivity office suite and learned that it constitutes four different and separate Office streams. You have one separate document, the other for Spreadsheet, and the last two for Presentations and Form fillouts.
OnlyOffice offers a secure online office suite highly compatible with MS Office formats. This office suite is accessible either as a cloud-based tool or deployed or on-premise servers. You pay per user for the cloud-based option or per server for the on-premise option.
The company also launched an open-source version of OnlyOffice or OnlyOffice (Github). This means that it is a free and open-source office suite that provides an alternative for three major MS Office apps namely, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – working online.
How to Download and Installed OnlyOffice?
Getting OnlyOffice to run on your PC is easy but if you need help with that then follow the instructions below:
Step 1: Download the setup file from the top of this page and launch it. Now select the setup language and click on OK.
Step 2: Click on Next to proceed.
Step 3: Accept the Terms of License Agreement and click on Next.
Step 4: Choose where you want the software suite to install and click on Next.
Step 5: Now that the setup is ready, click Install.
Step 6: After the setup is complete, you should be greeted by the app’s home screen as shown below. Now you can start using OnlyOffice for free!
What OnlyOffice and What Are its Benefits?
OnlyOffice is a powerful office suite that offers a variety of tools for individuals and businesses. It goes beyond just the basic functions of word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. With OnlyOffice, you can create fillable forms, manage your email and projects, and collaborate with your team in real time.
This is even better when you can harness the full power of OnlyOffice CRM to manage customers, track sales, send invoices, and keep track of all communications and interactions with customers for every business.
This comprehensive feature set makes OnlyOffice a compelling alternative to traditional productivity suites. Let’s explore the features that make OnlyOffice stand out.
OnlyOffice Features:
Document Editing
- Familiar interface similar to Microsoft Word for easy use.
- Rich text editing features with multiple styling and formatting options.
- Ability to insert and edit complex objects like tables and charts.
- Track changes, version history, and document comparison for collaboration.
- Secure document sharing with access control (edit, review, comment, etc.).
- Two co-editing modes (Fast and Strict) for smooth collaboration.
Spreadsheet Editing
- Includes over 400 functions and formulas for complex calculations.
- Offers table templates, named ranges, and pivot tables for data organization.
- Create charts and graphs to visualize data effectively.
- Secure document sharing with access control.
Presentation Editing
- Create visually appealing presentations with a variety of formatting tools.
- Add animations, transitions, and speaker notes for engaging presentations.
- Save presentations in various formats including PDF, PNG, JPG, and PPTX.
- Secure document sharing with access control.
Form Creator
- Create fillable forms with various question types like text areas, drop-down lists, and checkboxes.
- Use existing form templates or build forms from scratch.
- Share forms online for easy collection of data.
Email Management
- Manage corporate email for your team with a familiar email platform interface.
- Features include sorting emails, creating filters, managing attachments, and creating signatures.
- Integrate with your domain name for a professional look.
Project Management and Collaboration
- The suite includes separate apps for documents, emails, CRM (Customer relationship management), projects, and calendars.
- Manage projects, assign tasks, set deadlines, and track team progress.
- Create and share calendars, manage contacts, and collaborate on documents.
- Real-time co-editing with features like AutoSave, commenting, and user tagging.
Security
- Uses multiple encryption layers to protect your data (at rest, in transit, and end-to-end).
- Compliant with international security standards.
- Offers LDAP and Active Directory authentication for secure access control.
- Optional private rooms for additional data security.
Other Features
- Free and open-source desktop versions are available.
- Integrates with various cloud storage services.
- Available as a self-hosted or cloud-based solution.
What Benefits Do You Get Using OnlyOfficeDocs’ Editors
OnlyOffice for Desktop provides all the tools for document editing and collaboration. For example, the Document Editor tool includes the usual features you would expect in other word-processing software. The easy workflow and integrated features make Doc Editor a comprehensive word-processing tool.
OnlyDocs’ Presentation Editor is your next friendly choice to create visually appealing and engaging presentations as you’ll do with Microsoft PowerPoint. You can create and save the presentations in PDF, PNG, JPG, PPTX, PPT, and ODP file formats. You can also add entries and customizations to your PowerPoint Presentation slides that you can share with stakeholders on your team.
OnlyOfficeDocs’ Form Creator provides tons of value to online content creators business managers strategists who want an all-in-one window under their belt. The Form Creator gives you the power to create detailed fillable forms.
OnlyOffice also includes an email management tool for enterprises known as OnlyOffice Mail. It includes the typical features you’d expect in an email platform. You can sort email correspondence into different folders, sort mail automatically with filters, upload attachments, create and manage signatures, etc. It’s a serious contender to well-known corporate email management tools like Google Workspace.
Use OnlyOffice Workspace for Efficient Team Management and Online Collaboration
We have looked at how OnlyOffice Docs covers everything from collaboration to workflow designs, streamlining, and automating workflows – using the right tools. Combined with this and OnlyOffice Workspace you can make your business scalable – but How?
The five independent project management tools namely ‘documents’, ‘emails’, ‘CRM’, ‘projects’, and ‘calenders’ all work in harmony to organize your business workflow from lead generation to order fulfillment. Create reports and monitor your team’s progress.
You can use Only Office Projects to organize your team for success. Create projects, prioritize tasks, and set deadlines. Similarly, track time and generate reports to analyze your team’s productivity.
Even more so, you can manage your time wisely and create a personal or team timetable, add different event types, and set reminders for assigned projects. Similarly, you can create corporate mailboxes on your domain, connect multiple email accounts, and manage and tag messages.
- Enhanced security features, including private rooms
- LDAP and Active Directory authentication
- Compliance with international security standards
Scale Up Your Business Model
The three top reasons why we should use OnlyOffice: It’s free. The software doesn’t cost you anything. The second reason is familiarity. Even if you’ve spent years using Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, ONLYOFFICE’s similar interface means you’ll be right at home.
The third and biggest reason to use the OnlyOffice office suite is collaboration. OnlyOffice was built from the ground up to be used by teams where multiple people work simultaneously on a collaborative project.
Collaborative work is made easy due to a full set of must-have features, such as AutoSave, Version History, Version Control, Track changes, commenting, user tagging, chatting, and even two co-editing modes, Fast and Strict.
For example, a strength of Ascensio System OnlyOffice, revisions let you not only see who made changes to a document and view a preview or download the revision but you can also comment on revisions, and restore a previous revision to the current active revision.
In addition to the capabilities offered by revisions, Ascensio System OnlyOffice also supports simultaneous document editing. This lets users work on a document collaboratively with another user, even including a chat window in the online document editors.
OnlyOffice Pricing
The basic OnlyOffice suite is completely free but other features are paid, so here’s what each of those will cost you. The pricing is divided into two categories: Cloud-based and on-premise versions. The cloud-based version is available on subscription, while the on-premise is paid for per server.
It has three variants: Personal, Startup, and Business. The startup tier is free but has limited features. Business starts at $5 per user monthly with a minimum of three users. Personal is completely free with only one user’s support.
The second business model has three tiers: Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, and Enterprise Premium. Unlike the cloud-based version, you pay for a lifetime license rather than a subscription. Enterprise is at $1900 per server, while Enterprise Plus costs $3000 per server and Enterprise Premium costs $4150 per server. Each plan is capped at 50 users per server. If your enterprise surpasses that number, you can pay the same amount for another 50-user license.
OnlyOffice Android
OnlyOffice is also available as a free download on Android. You can download OnlyOffice for Android directly from the Google Play Store. OnlyOffice Android is one app for your text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and media files. It is also 100% compatible with MS Office formats making it one of the best free alternatives to Microsoft’s popular suite on Android.
OnlyOffice VS LibreOffice
In terms of practicality, the answer is clear: OnlyOffice is the easiest alternative to pick up and use. It doesn’t take long to download and the interface characterizes it as a familiar environment, adapting to it is a matter of hours.
LibreOffice is more expensive to implement than OnlyOffice. OnlyOffice also offers more features to its users than LibreOffice. To help you evaluate this, we’ve compared ONLYOFFICE Vs. LibreOffice is based on some of the most important and required Document Management features
Document Editing
- Similarity: Both offer core editing functionalities like formatting, styles, and collaboration tools (comments, track changes).
- ONLYOFFICE Advantage: Offers real-time co-editing with two modes (Fast & Strict) and potentially better compatibility with Microsoft Office formats.
Document Sharing & Collaboration
- LibreOffice Advantage: Free and open-source software, might be better for privacy-conscious users.
- ONLYOFFICE Advantage: Cloud-based option enables access from anywhere and potentially stronger collaboration features (built-in chat, document sharing with various permission levels).
Version Control & Revision History
- Similarity: Both offer revision history and the ability to revert to previous versions.
Security
- LibreOffice Advantage: Open-source nature allows for independent security audits.
- ONLYOFFICE Advantage: Offers enhanced security features like private rooms and potentially more frequent security updates (due to commercial focus).
Overall:
- LibreOffice: A strong choice for users prioritizing free, open-source software and who might value a simpler interface.
- ONLYOFFICE: A compelling option for users seeking real-time collaboration, strong Microsoft Office compatibility, and potentially more advanced security features (with a caveat of being a commercial product).
FAQs
OnlyOffice offers protection of confidential files with Private Rooms. It is a space where you can store, edit, and share documents in the always-encrypted form. Each document is encrypted with randomly generated AES-256 keys that are shared with authorized users through asymmetric encryption.
The basic OnlyOffice suite is completely open-source and free to use but there are some additional apps like OnlyOffice DocSpace, Docs Enterprise, Workspace, Docs Developer, Docs Home Server, and DocSpace Family Pack that are paid.
OnlyOffice Desktop Editors is a free desktop suite for editing text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations available for many Linux distributions including Linux Mint (Ubuntu- and Debian-based) users via the Official Software Store. You can download OnlyOffice and all the tools on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
No, OnlyOffice is offered in many ways but not as a web app. You can use it offline on your PCs and mobile devices via the free office apps or you can connect OnlyOffice Docs to your preferred app and edit documents directly from it. Currently, there are over 40 ready integrations: Box, Moodle, Nextcloud, Odoo, WordPress, etc.
