# OnlyOffice

58 Hacker News commenters recommended OnlyOffice and 48 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free office suite with an interface close to Microsoft Office and strong compatibility with Office files, recommended as an alternative to MS Office. Common caveats are its Russian ties and license restrictions.

## Why people recommend it

- Modern interface similar to Microsoft Office (7 comments): "OnlyOffice feels like it has more polish in regards to how approachable the UI/UX might be to a MS user" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47666794)) "Especially OnlyOffice looks extremely similar to MS Office, I have it on all our Linux laptops at home" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47150615)) "Its UI is very similar to MSO and it has excellent compatibility with the 2007+ file formats" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46140118))
- Strong compatibility with Office file formats (7 comments): "the UI of onlyoffice is modern and clean. To add on, it gives me a feeling of confidence that it can round-trip files back and forth from excel more reliably" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49852351)) "Its UI is very similar to MSO and it has excellent compatibility with the 2007+ file formats" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46140118)) "OnlyOffice is pretty darn good IME. I use it with some function-heavy accounting workbooks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45936622))
- Free and works well offline (4 comments): "That doesn’t bother me. I’m just looking for a free office program that runs offline and works well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47632413)) "OnlyOffice works extremely well for my purposes, and I install it on all my friends' PCs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901765)) "It feels very light and fast and handles my very limited and light usage with grace." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47100487))
- Replaces MS Office for many users (4 comments): "now that we've got OnlyOffice and ArtCraft, there's almost no reason to continue using the MS Office suite" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50257970)) "OnlyOffice is better than LibreOffice for people who want a more direct alternative to Microsoft Office" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342818)) "it was OnlyOffice that enabled me to get rid of MS Office and finally switch to Linux fully" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47100672))

## What people warn about

- Russian ownership and developer ties (6 comments): "if you ignore the Russian background of it. I wouldn't trust it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901848)) "looked pretty good, but unfortunately had ties to Russia" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46736073)) "OnlyOffice‘s UBOs are in Russia and the local variant (same code, same dev) R7 office actively recommended by the Regime in Moscow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909876))
- Restrictive license and logo requirement (6 comments): "You're right, the branding claim here is BS but attribution requirements are legit." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47602804)) "It's AGPL but has extra restrictions: you're required to show their logo but they don't give out rights for others to use their logo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47601981)) "I agree with others that this is not a legitimate way to request attribution, and therefore this could be removed from the license." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619658))
- Problems with PowerPoint and OpenDocument files (3 comments): "The one real problem we run into is PowerPoint decks that look different or get corrupted when used across different Office suites" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976753)) "It can't handle OpenDocument files (odt, odp, ods) well. Only a one-way import is supported." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46204202)) "inexplicably deleted a single spreadsheet out of a multi-sheet file on two occasions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099779))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [LibreOffice](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice.md): 345 recommend
- [Microsoft Office](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-office.md): 256 recommend
- [Microsoft 365](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-365.md): 151 recommend
- [Google Workspace](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-workspace.md): 107 recommend
- [La Suite numérique](https://hackerapproved.com/p/la-suite-num-rique.md): 25 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "OnlyOffice", https://hackerapproved.com/p/onlyoffice/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).