LibreOffice
A complete office suite for everyday work
A practical replacement for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint for documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It works offline and does not require a subscription.
Free software
Useful software without paying for every subscription.
Free and open-source software can cover many everyday tasks: documents, spreadsheets, presentations, video, images and audio. The aim is not to replace familiar software just for the sake of it, but to choose tools that do the work well and leave you in control.
Documents and office work
Good alternatives
to Microsoft 365.
Apache OpenOffice
A familiar, established alternative
Another free office suite with tools for documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It is worth knowing about, although LibreOffice is usually the more practical starting point for a new setup.
Collabora Office
Desktop work that fits a Nextcloud setup
A desktop office suite based on LibreOffice technology. It is especially relevant when the same organisation also uses Collabora Online with Nextcloud for shared documents.
Creative everyday work
Video, images and audio
without expensive licences.
Shotcut
Straightforward video editing
A capable editor for trimming clips, combining video and audio, adding titles and exporting a finished video without paying for a subscription.
Kdenlive and OpenShot
Other approachable video choices
Kdenlive offers more room to grow, while OpenShot keeps common editing jobs simple. The right choice depends on the computer and the kind of videos you want to make.
GIMP and Inkscape
Images, photos and graphics
GIMP is useful for editing photos and bitmap images. Inkscape is made for vector graphics such as diagrams, illustrations and scalable artwork.
Audacity
Simple audio recording and editing
A well-known tool for recording, cleaning up and cutting spoken audio, music or sound effects.
Choosing and moving over
Use what fits the work.
I help check which free applications can replace the software you use today, install them, and make sure your existing files remain usable.
Some specialised work may still need commercial software. The goal is an honest choice: pay when the paid product is genuinely needed, not simply because a subscription is the default.
RL Advice