La Suite numérique
Hacker ApprovedRanked 6 of 18 office suites by recommenders
Free, open source French government office suite praised for polished interface and reuse of existing open source projects. Critics say it is more collaboration tool than true office suite.
Free, open source French government office suite praised for polished interface and reuse of existing open source projects. Critics say it is more collaboration tool than true office suite.
30 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Polished UX and in-house tooling
“It looks much more polished than a lot of the existing open source tooling, they've been building a lot of stuff in-house and really been paying attention to UX”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “The EU Open Source Strategy” “Looking through the resources you've linked is one of the most hopeful and awesome software experiences I have had in a while.”
Comment from 3 Feb 2026 in “France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US” Reuses existing open source projects
“this time it's quite good because they don't try to reimplements stuff, they reuse some existing open source project”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Office EU: European-owned cloud based office suite” “it's an office suite based on open source components”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, says US tech a strategic risk” Admired as government open source effort
“Refreshing and impressive indeed. I wish other governments did this”
Comment from 3 Feb 2026 in “France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US” “I've been admiring their efforts from afar for a while now.”
Comment from 3 Feb 2026 in “France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US” “good for the french, they made the right choice.”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “France's homegrown open source online office suite” Collaboration tools fit core needs
“La Suite seems to have more and better collaboration tools than LO, but it is also less document-focused”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “France's homegrown open source online office suite” “a lot of employees (like myself) need productivity tools but only need the core features”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “France's homegrown open source online office suite”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not really a full office suite
“wouldn't really play the role of an office suite IIUC”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “France's homegrown open source online office suite” “it is hardly an office suite”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Danish Gov agency to ditch Microsoft software in push for digital independence” “Okay this is nowhere near an "Office suite". It is a cloud collaboration suite with a glorified markdown editor”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “France's homegrown open source online office suite” Only French or English, no others
“doesn't seem to be in English or any other European language”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “France's homegrown open source online office suite” “an office suite that's available in French or English only”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Danish Gov agency to ditch Microsoft software in push for digital independence”
Other office suites people recommend
The four most recommended other office suites, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LibreOffice | 345 | 188 | 65% | 13 | 20 yrs11 owners | — |
| Microsoft Office | 256 | 407 | 39% | 12 | 12 yrs11 owners | — |
| Microsoft 365 | 151 | 340 | 31% | 12 | 2 yrs11 owners | — |
| Google Workspace | 107 | 214 | 33% | 12 | 10 yrs14 owners | — |
| La Suite numériqueThis page | 25 | 5 | 83% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
24 of the 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It looks much more polished than a lot of the existing open source tooling, they've been building a lot of stuff in-house and really been paying attention to UX”
“it's an office suite based on open source components”
“there are options that are both cheaper and better”
“this time it's quite good because they don't try to reimplements stuff, they reuse some existing open source project”
“less interesting than La Suite numérique”
“They have an extensive history in this too.”
“an office suite that's available in French or English only”
“it is hardly an office suite”
“France have already developed their own”
“La Suite seems to have more and better collaboration tools than LO, but it is also less document-focused”
“doesn't seem to be in English or any other European language”
“Good! I'll definitely give it a try!!”
“All of this goes out the window when you're dealing with a government bureaucracy that has hyper specific document formatting requirements.”
“This doesn't look like it has any of these”
“a lot of employees (like myself) need productivity tools but only need the core features”
“they are proposing an alternative”
“good for the french, they made the right choice.”
“wouldn't really play the role of an office suite IIUC”
“Kinda compromises the point of being "sovereign" doesn't it?”
“Okay this is nowhere near an "Office suite". It is a cloud collaboration suite with a glorified markdown editor”
“Looking through the resources you've linked is one of the most hopeful and awesome software experiences I have had in a while.”
“Gotta give them props for all the English. I know that can't have been easy.”
“Refreshing and impressive indeed. I wish other governments did this”
“I've been admiring their efforts from afar for a while now.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.