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Comparison

Office 2024 vs LibreOffice

Office 2024 vs LibreOffice in 2026: file compatibility, Excel features, performance, support and the real cost of going free.

Office 2024 vs LibreOffice — Free vs Paid for Real Work

LibreOffice is free, open-source, and good enough for casual document editing. Office 2024 costs €34.90 here but wins decisively on Excel feature parity, file fidelity when sharing .docx and .xlsx, and PowerPoint output.

If you exchange files with Microsoft Office users daily, Office 2024 pays for itself the first time a formula or chart breaks in translation.

How do Office 2024 Pro Plus and LibreOffice 24.8 compare side by side?

FeatureOffice 2024 Pro PlusLibreOffice 24.8
Price€34.90 onceFree
.docx / .xlsx round-trip fidelityPerfectVery good (some loss on complex docs)
Excel: dynamic arrays, GROUPBY, PIVOTBY✓Partial
Excel: Power Query✓ —
PowerPoint Designer / Cameo✓ —
Outlook (email client)✓— (no equivalent)
Access database✓Base (limited)
Pivot tablesFullBasic
VBA macros✓Partial (LibreOffice Basic differs)
Vendor supportMicrosoft + LicenseVaultCommunity

Which one should you buy?

Choose Office 2024 for any business workflow, anyone who shares files with Office users, anyone using Excel for serious analysis, or anyone who needs Outlook.

Choose LibreOffice for personal use, school essays, occasional spreadsheets, and Linux environments where Office is unavailable.

Before choosing a licence

  1. 1. Check the exact edition, Windows or macOS compatibility and number of devices covered. A Windows-only key does not install Office for Mac.

  2. 2. Distinguish personal, commercial and server use. Virtual machines, shared devices and remote access can require additional licences.

  3. 3. Keep the invoice and licence terms. Check transfer rights and support dates: a perpetual licence does not mean perpetual security updates.

Successful activation alone does not prove permission for every use. The applicable Microsoft licence terms take precedence.

−94%
Office Professional Plus 2024 — 1 PC Perpetual · 1 PC · Windows — genuine Microsoft license
Best seller

Office Professional Plus 2024 — 1 PC

Perpetual · 1 PC · Windows

The latest perpetual Office suite for one Windows PC.

€34.90€579.00
Lifetime guarantee
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Frequently asked questions

Will my Office macros run in LibreOffice?

Sometimes. LibreOffice has its own Basic dialect — simple macros often work, but anything touching the Excel object model or COM will need rewriting.

Can LibreOffice open password-protected Office files?

Yes, with the password — including AES-encrypted .docx and .xlsx.

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