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For documents, spreadsheets and presentations, France leans more towards free office suites than many countries, partly because the public administration officially recommends and uses LibreOffice through its SILL catalogue. You do not need to pay for a Microsoft 365 subscription to write a CV, build a budget or prepare a slide deck. The free suites are mature, fully translated into French, and read and write the common .docx, .xlsx and .pptx formats.
This guide compares the best free office suites from a French point of view, including the euro cost of paid Microsoft 365 if you decide you want it, and notes on data residency and the RGPD for the cloud-based options. We link only to the official projects so you get a clean, genuine installer.
Top picks & alternatives
LibreOffice
Full free office suite in French, recommended by the French administration.
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OnlyOffice Desktop Editors
Free suite with excellent Microsoft format compatibility.
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Apache OpenOffice
Long-standing free office suite for documents and spreadsheets.
Visit official site ↗
Google Docs
Free browser-based documents and spreadsheets with a French interface.
Visit official site ↗Free suites vs Microsoft 365 pricing in euros
Microsoft 365 is a subscription: in France it runs roughly 7 EUR per month or around 69 to 99 EUR per year depending on the personal or family plan, plus the cloud storage. The free suites cost 0 EUR forever.
- LibreOffice: full free suite, recommended by the French administration.
- OnlyOffice / WPS: free desktop apps with strong Microsoft format compatibility.
- Microsoft 365: subscription, useful if you live in Word and Excel with cloud sync.
For most people the free options replace a paid suite completely.
Compatibility with .docx and .xlsx
The practical worry is always whether a free suite opens files colleagues send in Microsoft formats. Modern LibreOffice and OnlyOffice handle .docx, .xlsx and .pptx well for everyday documents. Very complex layouts or heavy macros can shift slightly, so for a document that must look pixel-perfect when shared, export to PDF, a format that displays identically everywhere.
LibreOffice and French public sector backing
LibreOffice is the standout for France. It is on the official SILL list of recommended free software, the Gendarmerie nationale famously runs its own Linux distribution with it, and it has one of the most complete French translations of any application. Documentation, help and community support in French are plentiful, which lowers the learning curve.
Cloud suites, data residency and RGPD
If you choose a cloud-based suite (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or a hosted OnlyOffice), your documents are stored on the provider's servers. Under the RGPD you have rights over that data, and some French organisations prefer European hosting or self-hosted options for sensitive material. For purely local work, a desktop suite like LibreOffice keeps your files on your own machine.
Download safely from the official source
Office suites are frequently impersonated by fake download pages and search ads. Get LibreOffice from libreoffice.org (the French site is fr.libreoffice.org), OnlyOffice from its own domain, and Microsoft 365 only from microsoft.com. Avoid portals that bundle a download manager, and verify any checksum the project publishes.
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