- The three ONLYOFFICE products and which ones are free
- What the free ONLYOFFICE DocSpace plan includes
- ONLYOFFICE Docs Community vs Enterprise
- How to start with ONLYOFFICE for free
- Features you get on ONLYOFFICE without paying extra
- What the free ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors can do
- My advice
- Frequently asked questions
Yes, ONLYOFFICE is free in two main ways: the Desktop Editors are free for personal and professional use, and the cloud DocSpace has a free Startup plan with up to 3 admins and unlimited users. You start paying when you need more admins, more storage or the enterprise version of the server software.
ONLYOFFICE is one of the office suites I suggest to small businesses that want Word, Excel and PowerPoint style files without a Microsoft subscription. The naming confuses people, though, because "ONLYOFFICE" covers three different products with three different answers to "is it free?"
The three ONLYOFFICE products and which ones are free
| Product | What you get | Free? |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop Editors | Documents, spreadsheets and presentations installed on your computer | Yes, for personal and professional use |
| DocSpace (cloud) | Shared rooms for working on files with your team and clients | Free Startup plan; paid Business plan per admin |
| Docs Community | The editors you install on your own server | Free to self-host; Enterprise is paid |
What the free ONLYOFFICE DocSpace plan includes
ONLYOFFICE's pricing page lists the free Startup plan, as of October 2026, as:
- Up to 3 admins.
- Unlimited users and guests.
- Up to 12 rooms.
- 2 GB of file storage.
- Community support.
The interesting bit is how the paid plan works. ONLYOFFICE says only admins are paid, and your team and guests join free with no limit. The Business plan is $20 per admin a month, with 250 GB per admin shared across the space. Its own example on the pricing page is 3 admins at $20 each, $60, with 40 users and guests free.
That's a very different model from suites that charge for every seat. If you have a small core team and lots of clients or freelancers who only need to view and edit shared files, you pay for the core team only.
ONLYOFFICE Docs Community vs Enterprise
If you'd rather host it yourself, ONLYOFFICE Docs Community is free to install, configure and maintain on your own server. Its download page says to move to Docs Enterprise if you need more concurrent connections, mobile web editors or professional technical help from the ONLYOFFICE team. In plain terms, Community is free but you're the IT department.
How to start with ONLYOFFICE for free
- Decide whether you need files on your computer only, or shared online with others.
- For your own files, download the Desktop Editors. They're free for personal and professional use, so you can use them for client work.
- For shared work, create a free DocSpace account and set up to 12 rooms, one per client or project.
- Invite your team and guests. On the free plan they don't count against any seat limit.
- Watch the 2 GB storage. When you get close, that's your signal to move to the Business plan or tidy up.
Features you get on ONLYOFFICE without paying extra
ONLYOFFICE lists password protection, digital signatures, watermarks and end-to-end encryption in private rooms as part of its security features, and its desktop page says there's no forced cloud storage, so you decide where your data lives. For a small business that sends contracts or proposals, password protection and signatures on a free tool are a real plus.
If you're comparing it with other options, my guide to free office suites covers the main alternatives, and if you mainly write documents, here are free word processors worth trying.
What the free ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors can do
The free desktop app does more than most people expect. ONLYOFFICE's desktop page lists:
- Versions for Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Opening and editing DOCX, ODT, XLSX, ODS, CSV, PPTX, ODP and other popular formats.
- Editing PDFs, including text, images and layout, and converting PDFs into editable documents.
- Filling out and creating fillable PDF forms.
- Working offline, or connecting to ONLYOFFICE, Dropbox, Nextcloud, ownCloud and other clouds to co-edit in real time.
- An optional AI Tools layer that works with custom providers, for writing, rewriting, translation and data extraction.
ONLYOFFICE's own comparison table marks fillable PDF forms as a yes for ONLYOFFICE and Adobe Acrobat and a no for Microsoft Office and LibreOffice. That's the vendor's view, but if you send forms to clients, it's worth testing.
One more practical point: because the free desktop app works offline and lets you choose where files are stored, you can keep client documents on your own machine or your own cloud rather than handing them to a new provider. For businesses with strict data requirements, ONLYOFFICE also offers self-hosted options.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
My advice
Start with the free Desktop Editors for your own documents and the free DocSpace plan for client sharing. For a solo business owner or a small team, that combination costs nothing. The paid plan only makes sense when you need more than 3 admins or more than 2 GB of shared storage, and because only admins are paid, it can still work out cheaper than per-seat suites if you share files with lots of people.
Frequently asked questions
Is ONLYOFFICE free for commercial use?
The ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors are free for personal and professional use, so you can use them for business work.
What's included in the free ONLYOFFICE DocSpace plan?
The free Startup plan includes up to 3 admins, unlimited users and guests, up to 12 rooms, 2 GB of file storage and community support, as of October 2026.
How much does ONLYOFFICE DocSpace cost?
As of October 2026, the Business plan is $20 per admin a month with 250 GB per admin. Only admins are paid; users and guests join free.
Is ONLYOFFICE Docs Community free?
Yes. You can install and run Docs Community on your own server for free. ONLYOFFICE points you to Docs Enterprise for more concurrent connections, mobile web editors or professional support.
Does ONLYOFFICE work on Mac and Linux?
Yes. ONLYOFFICE says its Desktop Editors are available for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Can ONLYOFFICE edit PDFs for free?
Yes. ONLYOFFICE's desktop page says the free Desktop Editors can edit PDF text, images and layout, fill out and create fillable forms, and convert PDFs to editable documents.
Do guests count as paid users in ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?
No. ONLYOFFICE says only admins are paid, and your team and guests join free with no limit.
Which file formats can ONLYOFFICE open?
ONLYOFFICE says its Desktop Editors open and edit all popular formats, including DOCX, ODT, XLSX, ODS, CSV, PPTX and ODP.
