10 BEST Google Docs Alternatives You Should Try (2024)

When Google Docs launched in 2006, it drastically changed how we collaborate. Stop including files in your email attachments. Stop using Report v15.docx. There is no longer a need to hit “Save” every few minutes.

People were ready to adopt Google Docs’ straightforward interface in place of Microsoft Word’s cluttered and perplexing one. The ease of real-time document collaboration makes it difficult to envision life without it today.

However, Google Docs has flaws, and you might seek Google Docs alternatives for various reasons. Fortunately, technological advancements have led to many fantastic possibilities over the past ten years.

Best Google Docs Alternatives

Google Docs comes to mind when you consider online word processing. It is a fantastic service with a huge selection of features and tons of extras.

However, Google Docs may not always be a good choice. Fortunately, you may use several top-notch Google Docs substitutes for online document editing. Here are the top Google Docs alternatives available right now.

1. Zoho Writer

The vast array of apps that Zoho creates includes everything from a personal wiki to an email service and CRM and bookkeeping solutions. In response to Google Docs, Zoho offers Zoho Writer, a powerful online document editing option.

The word processor is first-rate, with many editing possibilities arranged in a clear and attractive sidebar. Zoho allows you to do almost anything in Word, including posting a document directly to your blog and adding a header and footer.

Additionally, it has sophisticated capabilities, including support for electronic signatures and mail merging. The integrated Zoho chat feature is another incredibly useful tool that enables you to communicate with colleagues while working.

2. ONLYOFFICE

A Google Docs substitute called OnlyOffice provides offline and online document editing tools. We’ll concentrate on the online OnlyOffice alternative since we’re mostly interested in Google Docs substitutes that don’t require downloading.

One of the complete alternatives to Google Docs is OnlyOffice’s personal document editing tool, similar to Zoho Writer. Along with offline document editing tools, there are several editing alternatives available.

Additionally, OnlyOffice add-ons, extensions that improve the functionality of the document editing tool, can be installed. Two examples are installing the Zotero plugin for managing references and other research materials or the WordPress plugin, which allows you to publish content straight to your website.

3. Dropbox Paper

Paper’s simplicity and adaptability make it a great Google Docs substitute. It is the replacement for Dropbox’s Hackpad and supports spreadsheets, images, and Dropbox links.

If you have a Google account, you can tag other Dropbox users or add people from your contact list to invite them to work with you directly. Dropbox Paper is somewhat comparable to having Docs with a personal assistant.

While working on text documents in Dropbox Paper, the assistant will alert you when new documents are shared with you and when deadlines are drawing near.

4. Quip

A flexible and accessible alternative to Google Docs is Quip. Whether you’re using a laptop, tablet, or mobile device, launching the application and getting to work is simple because it is entirely free to use.

The Quip UI is easy to use and has some of the best collaborative capabilities. Each paper has a chat section where stakeholders can discuss the topic.

When you’re working on lengthy documents with complex elements like photographs and tables, Quip is rather less useful. Although you can include these elements, formatting and customizing them is more difficult than working with Google Docs’ competitors.

5. Xara

The Google Docs substitute Xara opens up a whole new universe for your workflow. A straightforward option for editing and teamwork is Google Docs. From an editing standpoint, Xara enables you to produce any material with your team and brand it immediately.

Additionally, you always have access to and can easily find all of your crucial photos, elements, logos, fonts, and company assets.

Xara is a visual communication platform that enables you to create, collaborate on, and grow the content that distinguishes your brand—creating meaningful touchpoints with your audience instead of chores. Designed to be optimized for business teams.

6. Document360

Document360 is a great alternative to Google Docs if you want to improve your authoring experience. It provides an unmatched content editing process that allocates your editor’s various roles based on the stage of the document development process to which they are contributing.

The best feature of Document360 is that it gives users access to a final documentation site for the publication of information, complete with a prominent search bar to make content discovery easy. Your knowledge base homepage can be fully customized, and you can highlight key articles.

You can use analytics to learn which of your articles are the most popular and more about your audience’s demographics. Additionally, you can enhance and combine your knowledge base with well-known apps that improve your operations.

7. Evernote

Evernote is a note-sharing application that allows users to manage their work, plan their lives, and remember everything. You can take on any project with notes, tasks, and calendars in one location that is simple to share with other collaborators.

Evernote’s robust, adaptable search features let you find what you need when you need it. By integrating Google Calendar, you can optimize your schedule. Nothing gets lost in the shuffle since your meetings and notes have context.

Evernote is great for building a personal knowledge base with your ideas, thoughts, and administrative information. You can only share stuff within Evernote because exchanging notes with others who don’t use it is quite challenging.

8. CryptPad

An alternative to Google Docs, CryptPad is a suite of simple web-based apps. Rich text documents, presentations, and other common file types are also acceptable. Users can also share surveys, whiteboards like Trello, and to-do lists.

In addition to its many features, CryptPad stands out as a viable alternative to Google Docs because it does not require users to join before they can start working on a document.

You receive a lot of options for revising documents, and the design echoes that of Google Docs in its color scheme and editing tools. A link to the document can be sent to others, or the document can be embedded on a web page.

9. Collabora

Collabora, built on the foundation of LibreOffice, is a web-based editing and collaboration environment ideal for complex documents. The online program has a wide variety of editing capabilities in a format similar to Microsoft Office. Along with a comprehensive set of editing tools.

Collabora has a more natural commenting system than Google Docs, where you can only mark comments as resolved. Here, users can respond to each comment independently, marking it as resolved or removing it.

The cloud version of Collabora is supported by dependable providers like NextCloud, ownCloud, and Pydio, and it’s also available on servers.

10. Nuclino

A fantastic free alternative to Google Docs, Nuclino is an excellent collaborative editor. It’s incredibly straightforward, boasts a polished user interface (UI), and delivers in almost every respect. However, it shouldn’t be seen as a direct competition to Google Docs.

However, the streamlined design and user-friendly nature of Nuclino’s editing features make it a pleasure to spend time writing and revising it. Nuclino’s adaptability extends to other areas as well. Groups, boards, invitations, smart tags, and interaction with other platforms (including YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud) round out the service nicely.

In terms of a purely editorial experience, however, Nuclino isn’t comparable to other document editing software. You’ll need to import to Nuclino from another system if your team often uses sophisticated document editing and formatting or even just simple spreadsheets.