Openoffice or Libreoffice: which is better?

There are many alternatives for Microsoft Office on Linux, but without a doubt the most popular are OpenOffice and LibreOffice, two brothers who used to be one and now have diverged. But… which “brother” has taken the best path? Which of the two office suites is better than the other? Well, if you have doubts, here are some comments that can help you opt for the definitive one and dispel all those doubts that now make you undecided between one or the other.

OpenOffice vs Libreoffice: Updates

One of the biggest differences between Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice is the frequency with which new version releases are made. While LibreOffice maintains a much more frequent update policy, OpenOffice makes you wait longer from one version to another, which means less agility to resolve vulnerabilities and bugs that it may contain. Therefore, in this sense win LibreOffice.

Tools and features

Both LibreOffice and OpenOffice offer the tools and features you would expect from a modern office suite. All thanks to its Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base and Math apps, which use the same names and look quite similar. However, LibreOffice also includes another app called Charts, which is a small application to create diagrams and graphs for documents, so again another bonus point for LibreOffice.

Language support

In this case, Apache OpenOffice offers greater flexibility for multilanguage, allowing additional languages ​​to be downloaded as plugins. In this sense, LibreOffice only allows you to select a language at the beginning and you will have to continue with it or change it, but not with the flexibility of OpenOffice. Therefore, in this case OpenOffice wins. Of course, both have a multitude of languages ​​available...

templates

Being the most widely used office suite, LibreOffice has a wide range of templates available to download and use, as well as being generally of better quality. I would win again in this dot LibreOffice versus OpenOffice.

Integrated

In the case of the design, both LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice are almost identical, with only some minor differences, such as the sidebar that is open by default in OpenOffice and closed in LibreOffice. Here we could say that there is a tieNeither one stands out too much above the other. But… there is a but, and that is that the appearance of LibreOffice seems more modern, so it could be that the balance tips on the side of LibreOffice again.

File support

Lastly, when it comes to file support in LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice, both can open and edit both free and native Microsoft Office formats like DOCX, XLSX, etc. But Libre Office only you can save in those formats.

Winner?

LibreOffice