This free and easy to use productivity software provides a viable alternative to Microsoft Office
This free and easy to use productivity software provides a viable alternative to Microsoft Office
Vote: (193 votes)
Program license: Free
Developer: Kingsoft Office
Version: 11.2.0.9684
Works under: Windows
Vote:
Program license
(193 votes)
Free
Developer
Version
Kingsoft Office
11.2.0.9684
Works under:
Windows
Pros
- Developed by a well-known company and is free of charge
- Closest free alternative to Microsoft Office
- Very responsive and easy user interface
Cons
- Does not have all the features that Microsoft Office does
- There are sometimes character display issues due to Unicode issues
WPS Office is a fully-featured office suite designed to rival its competitor, Microsoft Office.
WPS Office was previously known as KingSoft Office Suite. It has three main features: WPS Write (Microsoft Word alternative), WPS Present (PowerPoint alternative), and WPS Spreadsheets (Excel alternative). WPS Office 2016 is the newest edition, and it does not disappoint.
First, it's important to have realistic expectations about this product. It's impossible for it to replicate exactly what Microsoft Office does because the developers don't have access to the resources Microsoft engineers do. However, keeping this in mind, it's easily the best free office suite around. There is a paid corporation version, but the individual version has all the features you could ever want at a price you cannot beat.
The suite has a ribbon user interface just like Microsoft Office. WPS Write has all the features Word does, minus a few of the newer ones. You can even set page anchors, and the app feels extremely responsive. WPS Present similarly has many of the features PowerPoint does. An important thing to note is that these do accept and output Microsoft proprietary formats, meaning that they can take in and put out .docx and .pptx files.
The furthest one from Microsoft is WPS Present. This tool has many of Excel's features but does not have quite the range of charts and advanced calculation option that Excel has. However, for the general home, office, and school user, WPS Office does not disappoint.
Pros
- Developed by a well-known company and is free of charge
- Closest free alternative to Microsoft Office
- Very responsive and easy user interface
Cons
- Does not have all the features that Microsoft Office does
- There are sometimes character display issues due to Unicode issues
