- LibreOffice and Collabora Office share the same open-source engine, but target different audiences and scenarios.
- LibreOffice offers more customization, additional modules, and massive support for formats and extensions.
- Collabora Office prioritizes a modern interface, professional deployments, and consistency with Collabora Online.
- The choice depends on the weight you give to open formats, commercial support, and user experience.
If you have ever installed Collaborate Office on the desktop and it seems like you're looking at LibreOfficeYou're not going crazy. At first glance, they share an interface, format compatibility, and much of their core technical infrastructure. However, behind these names lie different projects, objectives, and use cases that are worth understanding, especially if you're considering using them. in a small business or professional environment.
Besides the Collabora Office vs LibreOffice "duel," the FOSS ecosystem also includes players such as OnlyOffice, Collaborate Online or even Microsoft Office as a compatibility reference. For a user who simply wants to "leave the Microsoft world" while still being able to work with clients who use it, all this jargon can be dizzying. Let's clear things up. Explain where each project comes from, and how they truly differ. and in what cases it is better to opt for one or the other.
What are LibreOffice and Collabora Office, really?
LibreOffice is today the leading office suite in the world of free softwareIt originated as a fork of OpenOffice, is supported by The Document Foundation, and is distributed completely free of charge. It includes a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation software (Impress), drawing and diagramming software (Draw), mathematical formula editor (Math), and a file manager. databases (Base). Its main objective is to offer a powerful and open alternative to Microsoft Office, with increasing compatibility with DOCX, XLSX and PPTX, but betting on the open standard ODF as its native format.
For its part, Collabora Office is a suite based on the LibreOffice code.Maintained by Collabora Productivity, Collabora has been one of the largest contributors to LibreOffice development for years, particularly in the enterprise and cloud-based versions (Collabora Online). Collabora Office offers a classic edition (Collabora Office Classic, very similar to traditional LibreOffice) and a new desktop edition based on the Collabora Online web interface, packaged as a local application.
The key is that Collabora Office leverages the LibreOffice engine and compatibilityHowever, it is clearly geared towards organizations, managed deployments, and professional scenarios, with commercial support, certified versions, and more controlled update cycles. LibreOffice, on the other hand, focuses on community, flexibility, and customization, with more frequent builds and a huge ecosystem of extensions.
For the average user, this means that when opening both suites, the feeling of familiarity is extremely highThey share the same basic functions, support for the same file types, privacy philosophy (everything local, no documents sent to the cloud by default), and very similar performance. However, differences do appear in terms of interface, dependencies, and extras, which could tip the scales in a specific professional environment.
User interface: similarities, changes and approach to use
One of the reasons why many people get confused is that Collabora Office “looks too much like” LibreOfficeHistorically, Collabora Office Classic offered virtually the same classic LibreOffice interface (toolbars, traditional menus, etc.). With the new "modern" Collabora Office, the company takes a significant turn: it reuses the Collabora Online interface based on web technologies (JavaScript, CSS, Canvas, WebGL) and brings it to the desktop.
This means that, although the LibreOffice engine is still running underneath, The presentation layer in modern Collabora Office is more reminiscent of the Ribbon style in Microsoft Office. It's similar to suites like ONLYOFFICE or FreeOffice. It's organized by tabs, offering a cleaner look geared towards common office workflows: less visual clutter, fewer simultaneous panels, and a greater focus on frequently used options. It's essentially a "free-to-use Ribbon," but without calling itself that.
LibreOffice, for its part, has evolved into a very flexible concept called MUFFIN (My User Friendly & Flexible Interface)This includes different interface modes that the user can choose from: classic multiple bars, a simplified single bar, a tabbed Notebookbar, compact mode, contextual mode, etc. It also integrates a sidebar with properties, styles, and navigation. The philosophy is that each user or company can customize the UI to their liking.
In practice, If you're looking for something highly configurable and don't mind spending a few minutes adjusting the interface, this is for you.LibreOffice offers more options. If you prefer something more guided, with a modern layout and less customization but very consistent between web and desktop, Collabora Office (modern version) tends to be more straightforward for offices coming from Microsoft Office and wanting a smooth transition.
Another important detail is that Collabora Modern Office eliminates Java dependency which is still present in some parts of LibreOffice, such as the Base module (databases) or certain advanced functions. This simplifies the installation and maintenance of Collabora Office, reduces the package size, and results in a more self-contained binary, something that system administrators often appreciate.
Included components and functional differences
Although both suites share the same technical foundation, They don't offer exactly the same set of applicationsLibreOffice includes:
- Writer: a very complete word processor, with advanced features for layout, styles, indexes, cross-references, etc.
- Calc: spreadsheet with a wide range of functions, charts, pivot tables and data analysis tools.
- ImpressPresentation creator, with animations, transitions and multimedia support.
- Draw: vector drawing and graphics tool, capable of handling complex diagrams, large pages (up to 300×300 cm) and DTP functions.
- Base: database manager, which acts as a front-end for various engines (HSQLDB, Firebird, etc.).
- Mathematics: mathematical formula editor, which integrates with Writer and the rest of the modules.
All this makes LibreOffice covers everything from basic office tasks to advanced scenarios such as scientific editing, brochure design, or light database management.In addition, it has a very large ecosystem of extensions and templates that further expand its capabilities (special dictionaries, grammar checkers, connectors with external services, etc.).
Modern Collabora Office also includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, and a vector graphics and diagram editor; that is, the equivalent combination of Writer, Calc, Impress and DrawHowever, this new edition does not include Base or the advanced macro editor, which remain in Collabora Office Classic. The focus is more on meeting the most common needs of offices and businesses than on covering all the advanced features that LibreOffice addresses.
In other words, if your work revolves around documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, Collabora Office covers your day-to-day needs in a very convenient wayBut if you need to manage databases from within the suite itself, edit complex formulas with a dedicated editor, or take full advantage of the extension ecosystem, LibreOffice remains more complete.
File formats, open standards and compatibility
A critical point for any office suite is how it handles file formatsboth their own and third-party applications. In this area, LibreOffice and Collabora Office share a lot of ground, but it's worth refining the details.
LibreOffice is based on the standard ODF (Opendocument Format, ISO) as a native format for text documents (ODT), spreadsheets (ODS), and presentations (ODP). The current version of the suite offers advanced support for extended ODF 1.3, including modern signing, encryption, and metadata features. It also imports and exports OOXML formats (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) with robust support for real-world use cases from Microsoft Office, in both "transitional" (the most common in practice) and "strict" modes.
It also stands out in the import of less common or outright orphaned formats: old CorelDraw, FreeHand, PageMaker, QuarkXPress files, Adobe Photoshop (PSD), MS Visio (2000-2013), MS Publisher, StarOffice, old formats MacIt supports a multitude of image formats (APNG, WebP, DXF, PBM, PCX, PCD, TGA, etc.) and audio/video formats such as FLAC, OGG, MKV, WebM, RealMedia, and more. It even allows you to insert PDFs as images and create hybrid PDFs (PDF with the ODF embedded for later editing) and convert SVG to editable shapes in Draw.
Collabora Office, being based on the same engine, It inherits almost all of this compatibility with ODF and OOXML.as well as with many of those special formats. Its stated purpose is not to "magically improve interoperability with LibreOffice," but to offer another way to package and present the same power, with a focus on stability, support, and consistency between the web and desktop experience.
In the online realm, an interesting comparison is with OnlyOffice. OnlyOffice automatically converts documents to DOCX, XLSX and PPTX When opened, they offer excellent compatibility with Microsoft Office but mean giving up native ODF support. In fact, there have been reports of data loss when editing ODT documents with comments or complex tables in OnlyOffice. Collabora Online, on the other hand, uses ODF as its native format and It is more respectful of open formats.also accepting Microsoft Office formats but without forcing that internal conversion to OOXML.
Performance, resource consumption, and technical dependencies
When an office suite is deployed in a small business or on a server for online collaboration, Load balancing between server, clients, and network is keyHere it is important to clearly differentiate between desktop suites (LibreOffice, Collabora Office desktop) and web suites (Collabora Online, OnlyOffice, Microsoft 365 on line).
On the desktop, both LibreOffice and Collabora Office work locally, without the need for a permanent internet connection. LibreOffice requires Java for some specific functions. (especially Base and certain assistants), which can be a minor inconvenience in terms of installation and maintenance. Modern Collabora Office does away with Java as a dependency, which simplifies deployments, reduces the size of the installer, and avoids having to manage a JVM on each machine.
The developers of Collabora emphasize that their new desktop suite, when using web technologies such as Canvas and WebGL, facilitates a more agile and homogeneous development with Collabora Online, and opens the door to better leveraging advanced operating system features in future versions (clipboard Advanced features include printing, presentation projection, direct access to the file system, etc.). The trade-off is that the classic LibreOffice VCL toolkit is abandoned in favor of a more modern visual layer, but one that is also more controlled by Collabora itself.
On the server side, when talking about real-time collaborative editing, the typical comparison is Collaborate Online vs OnlyOfficeCollabora Online runs the editing process on the server, while OnlyOffice offloads much more work to the user's browser, which constantly exchanges data with the server. This generally results in less CPU load In clients with Collabora Online, there is more server effort, while OnlyOffice demands more from the browser and somewhat less from the server.
Both Collabora Online and OnlyOffice have limitations in their free editionsTypically, this allows for around 10 documents to be open simultaneously or about 20 concurrent connections, with the option to purchase licenses to remove these limits. In any case, the choice between one or the other will depend on server resources, the users' profiles (more or less powerful computers), and the priority given to open formats versus maximum compatibility with Microsoft Office.
Collaborative publishing, cloud, and surrounding ecosystem
Neither LibreOffice nor Collabora Office desktop offer real-time collaborative editing from within the desktop application itselfThese are classic applications, installed on the PC, focused on local work, although of course files can be shared through systems like Nextcloud, OwnCloud, file servers, etc. Collaboration is achieved through successive saves. change controlcomments, but not with simultaneous co-editing in the style Google Docs.
For real-time co-publishing, the role is played by Collabora Online and OnlyOffice integrated with platforms such as Nextcloud or OwnCloudBoth solutions allow multiple users to edit a document simultaneously, see changes instantly, use comments, and more. OnlyOffice stands out for offering an interface very similar to Microsoft Office with a wide range of editing options and extras such as integrated chat. Collabora Online, on the other hand, offers an experience closer to the LibreOffice/ODF world, with a focus on privacy and open source.
In terms of integration, Both Collabora Online and OnlyOffice connect with Nextcloud/OwnCloud through specific applications. It is common to evaluate both, see which one best suits the organization's needs and, if there are sufficient resources, even keep both active (assuming higher CPU and RAM usage on the server) for different groups or types of documents.
If you're looking for the most integrated desktop and web experience possible, The new Collabora Office desktop has a strategic advantageIt uses the same technical foundation as Collabora Online, which enhances the feeling of "working in the same environment." Users can switch between local and remote editing with less visual and functional disruption.
In contrast, LibreOffice, as a community project, offers a huge variety of possible integrations (CMIS for access to document management systems such as Alfresco, SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, IBM FileNet, etc.), but without focusing on a single cloud solution. It offers CMIS support directly on the desktop, allowing connection to multiple corporate document repositories without relying on a single platform.
Productivity, accessibility and advanced tools
Another aspect that needs fine-tuning is that of extra features that make a difference in a professional environment: languages, spell checkers, accessibility, PDF export, document classification, etc. LibreOffice, being a long-term project, has accumulated a huge number of features in this area.
In terms of languages, LibreOffice offers localization to over 100 languages and variantsThis includes advanced support for right-to-left writing (Arabic, Hebrew, etc.) and complex writing systems, all built on the HarfBuzz library. It incorporates dictionaries, syllabification patterns, thesauri, and grammar checkers for over 150 languages through extensions, relying on Hunspell technology, the leading FOSS tool for spell checking.
In the field of typography and fonts, LibreOffice stands out for its support of technologies such as SIL Graphite and optional OpenType features. (ligaments, small caps, old-style numerals, proportional or monospaced fonts, etc.) through its own syntax and interface. It also supports Apple Advanced Typography (AAT) on all platforms. Compatibility with font variations exists, although with current limitations in printing and PDF, and there are plans for continuous improvement.
At the PDF level, LibreOffice offers a very wide range of export optionsIt supports PDF 1.7 standard, tagged PDFs, PDF/A-1 and PDF/A-2 for archiving, PDF/UA for accessibility, full font embedding (including OpenType CFF), PDF forms, PAdES-compliant digital signatures, advanced security and permissions options, and initial view settings. It also supports TSCP-compliant document classification from Writer, Calc, and Impress.
In terms of accessibility, it has integrated accessibility checker and constant improvements in both interface and screen reader support, keyboard shortcuts and semantic structuring of documents. There are also extensions like AccessODF to reinforce these aspects, which is key if you generate documents intended for public administrations or environments where accessibility is a legal requirement.
Collabora Office inherits this functional legacy, since Its core is adapted LibreOfficeHowever, by focusing its new interface on the most common office functions, it simplifies access to key tools and relegates to the background some of that "hidden power" that is still there, but that the average user doesn't always need to see. For many organizations, this "less is more" approach is practical: what's important is readily available, and advanced features don't get in the way.
What should you choose for a small business or for non-technical users?
From the perspective of a user without a technical background who just wants escape dependence on Microsoft but continue working with their documentsAll this tangle of names (LibreOffice, Collabora, OnlyOffice, etc.) can be exasperating. The feeling of "I just want one strong option from the FOSS world and be done with it" is understandable.
In practice, LibreOffice has managed to become the most recognized name outside the technical circleThe one that gets mentioned in mainstream media and in many public administrations. Collabora, on the other hand, is less visible to the general public, even though much of the compatibility and business development work for LibreOffice comes precisely from Collabora and other companies in the ecosystem.
If you're going to use the suite primarily on desktop computers, with local documents and without large-scale deployments, LibreOffice is a very solid choiceIt's free, comprehensive, highly configurable, and offers numerous options to tailor it to your liking. If you're interested in having maximum control over documents, formats, templates, and all kinds of parameters, it offers a vast array of settings.
On the other hand, if you're interested in a more refined experience, with a modern interface that's very consistent with the web version, simplified departments and clearly professional guidanceCollabora Office (especially the modern edition) is very appealing. It's particularly interesting if you already use or plan to use Collabora Online with Nextcloud or another server, because the transition from web to desktop is more seamless.
It is also important to consider the formats: if your priority is open standards And if you work (or want to work) in ODT/ODS/ODP, the LibreOffice/Collabora Office/Collabora Online option is a perfect fit. If your clients are completely tied to the DOCX/XLSX/PPTX world and you need maximum mimicry of Microsoft Office, perhaps OnlyOffice or even Microsoft 365 continue to be a reference, although with the compromises in terms of free software that this implies.
Ultimately, the Collabora Office vs LibreOffice dichotomy is not a war between enemies, but Two sides of the same technological family with different accentsLibreOffice as a large community project and general-purpose reference; Collabora Office as a polished, corporate package aligned with the Collabora Online cloud. Knowing this helps a lot in overcoming any apprehension about the "Collabora" brand and understanding that it's not "another different Office," but rather a different way of presenting the same engine that powers LibreOffice.
This entire ecosystem of free suites demonstrates that it is perfectly viable today. Set up a complete office environment without paying for proprietary licensesMaintaining a good level of compatibility with dominant formats and committed to open standards, the choice between LibreOffice, Collabora Office, and associated web solutions will depend on how much you value customization, commercial support, ease of use, and strict adherence to ODF. However, in all cases, you're starting from a solid foundation that has been established over years in both professional and home environments.
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