Why European alternatives?
There are many reasons why alternatives to the American tech giants are becoming increasingly attractive. GDPR-compliant data protection, server locations within the EU, and independence from Big Tech are all important deciding factors for European users. Products from EU companies may also integrate better into European workflows — for businesses that handle sensitive data, for public administrations, and for individuals who use office tools either professionally or privately.
This article focuses on alternatives to Microsoft Office — that is, the everyday office applications. It is based on personal experience I have gathered over the past several years with SoftMaker.
Three websites to get started
Before going further, three websites are worth pointing out as a general entry point into the topic of EU alternatives.
On the first Sunday of every month, the DI.DAY initiative (Digital Independence Day) calls on people to switch from large technology corporations to privacy-friendly, open alternatives. The goal of moving to applications that align with democratic values is to strengthen both digital sovereignty and digital independence. Behind this non-commercial project is Constantin Graf, an Austrian software developer. He collects European alternatives to digital services and products across a wide range of categories — from browsers and cloud services to email providers, social media, and video platforms. That makes the site a great starting point when you are specifically looking for an alternative to a particular service or tool. Slightly off-topic but worth mentioning: the free learning platform KI-Campus, a community initiative coordinated by the Stifterverband. While the focus of the courses is on artificial intelligence, the platform also offers many resources on the basics and competencies that are useful when working with IT and data processing in general.Software from Germany: SoftMaker
Back to the actual topic: alternatives to the ubiquitous Microsoft Office. As a freelance editor I usually receive text files to work on, and Microsoft Word seems to have established itself as the standard for that work years ago. For my line of work, what matters most is that clients can track changes within the file, that paragraph and character styles are reliably preserved, and — last but not least — that the file can actually be opened at all. Don't laugh at the last point. Admittedly, this hasn't happened in a long time, but in the early years of the internet it could occasionally be a real problem. Beyond functionality, as a solo freelancer I also have to keep an eye on the cost-benefit ratio. That last point in particular was what eventually pushed the sometimes bumpy "working with the Word barrel" past the brim. The time for an alternative had come.
More than ten years ago, I decided to go with SoftMaker. Apart from price, what was decisive for me back then was its complete compatibility with Word. I soon came to appreciate the additional features that are particularly interesting for me as a freelance editor: the Duden universal dictionary and the Duden proofreader. Even though the proofreader has always had its weaknesses, it can still help in catching typos and spelling mistakes. By now, AI tools have become part of the TextMaker word processor as well — if you want, you can use ChatGPT, LanguageTool, or DeepL directly from within the application. I do remember a period when the Duden proofreader was on the verge of disappearing from TextMaker — meaning that after a software update it had to be added back manually. Times change.When SoftMaker eventually moved to bundling its word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation applications into SoftMaker Office NX Universal and offering them on a subscription model, I was already so satisfied that I stayed. Today I'm glad to have chosen "Made in Germany" before the GDPR even came into force.
The most important European Office alternatives
Of course, SoftMaker is not the only GDPR-compliant solution for the basic office programs. What follows is a brief overview of four further European alternatives to MS Office.
LibreOffice is a widely used free and open-source application. I personally enjoy using LibreOffice Writer (the word processor) and Calc (the spreadsheet) often for my own purposes. In a business context, however, I am hesitant to rely on it because compatibility issues can arise — for example with paragraph styles. Ashampoo is another affordable office alternative from Germany covering text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. The focus is on the fundamentals of these applications, and it appears to support all formats well. There is one important limitation, however: Ashampoo requires the Windows operating system. The Calligra Suite was developed by KDE e. V., based in Berlin — a community of programmers, artists, and others who advocate for free software. In addition to the usual office applications, it integrates graphics tools, which surely makes Calligra appealing for graphic designers and similar professions. Calligra Suite is developed primarily for Linux. Euro-Office is open-source and browser-based, and is being newly developed as a European alternative to both Microsoft Office and Google Workspace. The project is based on a fork (i.e., a spin-off) of OnlyOffice, with the focus on building a secure and GDPR-compliant solution.Goodbye Microsoft?
Why not! Even this short overview shows that there are several worthwhile EU alternatives. All of these programs score well on data protection, EU servers, and professional features. Which application you ultimately prefer depends on your own needs, your budget, and your specific requirements when it comes to word processing and the rest.
What did you switch to? Or, to put it another way: what are you still waiting for?