4 Microsoft subscriptions you can easily replace with free open-source apps

At the start of this year, I stopped paying for Microsoft 365. My reason for dropping the subscription was simple: I wasn’t using it to its fullest, and over the years, I had found better alternatives for most of what it offered. For instance, I replaced Word with Obsidian as my default writing app, and I hadn’t opened Word in months.

Microsoft 365 isn’t the only paid service I’ve cut from my workflow. Over the past year or so, I’ve also replaced the rest of the Office suite, OneDrive, and Outlook with free, open-source apps that do the same job without the recurring bill. Here are the four Microsoft services I no longer pay for, and the open-source tools I now use instead.

Obsidian

A free, markdown-first replacement for Word

If you mostly use Word for writing and quick syncing across devices, Obsidian is hard to beat. It’s not technically open source, but it’s completely free for personal use, and it’s so good that I had to include it on this list. The app opens almost instantly on my Windows PC, while Word still takes a few seconds to load on the same machine.

The bigger win for me is that Obsidian uses the Markdown format, which means every note I write is a plain .md text file. I can format headings, lists, bold, and links using simple syntax, and the file stays readable in any text editor. If I open a .md file in my browser using a Markdown viewer, the formatting shows up exactly as intended. There’s no risk of being locked into a proprietary format like .docx.

That portability is why I ditched Word for a Markdown-based writing setup in the first place. My notes work in any editor on any operating system, and I can paste them into a CMS without losing structure. Obsidian also stores everything locally, so I’m not paying a subscription just to access my own files.

OS

Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS

Developer

Dynalist Inc.

Obsidian is a local-first, Markdown-based note-taking application that stores your notes as plain text files and lets you build interlinked “vaults” of knowledge. It supports plug-ins, graph visualisations, and full control of your data rather than locking you into a proprietary format.

LibreOffice

A full Office suite that runs offline

Credit: Yadullah Abidi / MakeUseOf

Obsidian replaces Word for writing, but it can’t open spreadsheets or build slide decks. That’s where LibreOffice comes in. It’s a free, open-source office suite that includes Writer for documents, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, Draw for diagrams, Base for databases, and Math for formulas. Together, these cover almost everything Microsoft 365 offers on the desktop.

LibreOffice runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux. There’s even a portable version you can carry on a USB stick, which is handy when you need to work on someone else’s PC without installing anything. It opens .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx files without much trouble, though heavily formatted documents passed back and forth between LibreOffice and Microsoft Office can sometimes have small rendering issues.

The trade-offs are real and worth knowing before you switch. There’s no built-in cloud sync or real-time collaboration like Microsoft 365, the mobile app for Android is still experimental, and there’s no official customer support, only community forums. But for offline writing, budgeting, and the occasional slide deck, LibreOffice has been more than enough for most people, and it doesn’t ask for a credit card or build a profile out of my activity.

OS

Linux, Android, Windows, macOS

Developer

LibreOffice

The primary open-source alternative for offline work. LibreOffice handles complex, long-form documents and massive spreadsheets without requiring an internet connection or a cloud login.

Nextcloud

Self-host your own OneDrive on a home server

OneDrive is convenient because it’s built into Windows and ties neatly into the rest of Microsoft 365. The downside is the recurring storage bill, and the fact that all my personal files sit on Microsoft’s servers. Nextcloud solves both problems by letting me run my own cloud on hardware I already own.

Nextcloud is an open-source platform that I host using Docker on a small home server. Files live on my own disk, but I can still access them remotely from a web browser or sync client, just like OneDrive. The official Nextcloud client is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, so my devices stay in sync without anything touching a third-party cloud. To connect a device, I open the client, choose Log in, enter my server’s address, and sign in with the credentials I set up during deployment.

There’s no denying that the setup takes some effort the first time. You’ll need to install Docker, deploy the Nextcloud image, set a sync folder, and configure trusted domains. I’d say it’s a weekend project rather than a thirty-minute task. But once it’s running, pairing Nextcloud with Google Drive for hybrid cloud storage gives the local control you want without losing the safety net of an off-site backup.

Mailspring

A modern, open-source alternative to Outlook

The last subscription I replaced was Outlook. The new Outlook for Windows proxies non-Microsoft accounts like Gmail through Microsoft’s own servers, which I’m not comfortable with for personal email. The interface is also cluttered with promoted Microsoft services and ads inside the message list, and there’s no proper unified inbox if you manage multiple accounts.

Mailspring fixes most of it for free. This open-source desktop email client offers a clean four-column layout and a real unified inbox that pulls every account into one chronological view, and built-in dark themes. I tried Thunderbird first, but its interface felt a bit dated, while Mailspring looked closer to the polished email clients I was used to.

Where Mailspring really stands out is the productivity features. I can snooze emails, schedule Send Later for messages I want to deliver overnight, and set reminders if a recipient hasn’t replied within a few days. There’s also email translation for around 100 languages and an analytics dashboard that tracks open rates and reply rates, which has been useful for follow-ups.

Most features work in the free tier, but with Mailspring Pro at around $8 per month, you can unlock unlimited use of tracking and snoozing. Either way, I’m paying less than I did for Outlook through Microsoft 365, and my credentials stay on my own machine instead of being routed through someone else’s servers.

OS

Windows, Linux, macOS

Developer

Foundry 376

Mailspring is a fast, open-source email client for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It supports multiple accounts, unified inbox, read receipts, link tracking, spell and grammar checking, and custom themes — free to use.

Worth the switch, but with realistic expectations

Replacing four Microsoft services with open-source apps isn’t a drop-in replacement. Nextcloud took a weekend to set up, LibreOffice still trips over the occasional Word document, and Mailspring’s tracking features need to be used carefully because of GDPR rules. None of these tools is a perfect, drop-in replacement for what Microsoft offers, and it would be unwise to pretend otherwise.

What I’ve gained, though, is full control over my files, no recurring bills, and software that doesn’t keep nudging me toward Copilot or another upsell. If you depend heavily on real-time collaboration, SharePoint, or Teams, sticking with Microsoft 365 still makes sense. But if your workflow is mostly personal writing, file storage, and email, this combination of Obsidian, LibreOffice, Nextcloud, and Mailspring has handled everything I used to pay Microsoft for, and then some.