LibreOffice and OnlyOffice: AI revolution in free office suites

The battle for office software will reach a new dimension in 2025. Free office suites like LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, and Google Workspace are massively integrating AI features and dramatically improving their performance. These developments fundamentally challenge Microsoft's dominance.

The numbers speak for themselves: LibreOffice now opens files 30 percent faster, and OnlyOffice has increased its speed by over 20 percent. At the same time, all major providers are embedding artificial intelligence deep into their applications—and all for free.

Performance leap: Finally competitive speed

Free Office alternatives were long considered slow and sluggish. That's over. The Document Foundation released LibreOffice 25.8 in August with significant speed improvements. Writer and Calc now launch 30 percent faster—a noticeable difference for millions of users worldwide.

OnlyOffice followed up in June with Docs 9.0 : Documents open 21 percent faster, and presentations even 17 percent faster. In addition, there are modern "light" and "dark" themes that make working more pleasant.

These performance leaps are no coincidence. The developers are responding to years of user criticism and are finally creating office suites that run smoothly even with large, complex documents.

AI becomes the standard: Free, what others sell at a high price

Artificial intelligence is taking over the free office world. Google is leading the way with Gemini in Workspace and offers features like "Help me refine" in Docs – an AI writing assistant that improves text. In Sheets, AI automatically analyzes data and uncovers important insights.

OnlyOffice Docs 9.0 boasts an entire AI suite: OCR text recognition from scanned PDFs, automated data analysis in spreadsheets, and even on-demand macro generation. Even Zoho Workplace and WPS Office are jumping on the AI ​​bandwagon.

What does this mean? Features that Microsoft charges extra for with its Copilot subscription are available for free elsewhere. A slap in the face for Redmond.

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Compatibility barriers fall: Microsoft files finally perfect

The biggest problem with free Office alternatives will be resolved in 2025: poor Microsoft compatibility . LibreOffice 25.8 completely redesigned the display of DOCX documents and added new Excel features like TEXTSPLIT .

OnlyOffice Docs 9.0 now supports Markdown files and Excel Binary Workbooks (.xlsb)—important for developers and data analysts. Even a Visio viewer is integrated.

The result: Google Docs, WPS Office, and FreeOffice now handle Microsoft formats as well as the originals. No more formatting chaos when exchanging files.

Market shift: Why Microsoft is under pressure

These developments are more than technical updates—they mark a turning point. While Microsoft charges monthly for Office 365 and Copilot , free alternatives offer similar AI features for free.

Government agencies and businesses in particular are taking notice. Open source solutions like LibreOffice promise data sovereignty and less dependence on US tech companies—an argument that is gaining increasing traction in Europe.

Users benefit from increased competition. All providers – free and paid – must innovate, become faster, and deliver more value.

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Outlook: AI becomes a proactive assistant

Where is this development leading? The next stage is proactive AI assistants that anticipate user needs and automate complex tasks. Google is already working on "Workspace Flows" for intelligent workflows.

Zoho is even developing its own AI foundation models—a sign that free providers are catching up technologically. Competition in the future will revolve around AI intelligence , performance , and data protection .

One thing is certain: 2025 will mark the year free Office suites have come of age. Microsoft 365 is finally facing serious competition – and users have a choice.