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Free software for students

Everything school, university or your dissertation asks for, without paying for licences: office suite, PDFs, notes, video calls, statistics, maths, design and AI. For each program we point out the most useful free alternative. Here are free alternatives to 10 paid programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Notion, Zoom, SPSS, MATLAB, Photoshop and ChatGPT Plus.

Updated: · How we choose the alternatives

10 paid programs and their free alternatives

Every free alternative for students at a glance

Free alternatives for students and the paid programs they replace
AlternativePricePlatformsReplaces
ONLYOFFICEOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinuxWebAndroidiOS
Word, Excel, PowerPoint
AFFiNEOpen Source
WebWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Notion
AppFlowyOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Notion
BigBlueButtonOpen Source
Web
Zoom
GIMPOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
Photoshop
GNU OctaveOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
MATLAB
GnumericOpen Source
WindowsLinux
Excel
jamoviOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
SPSS
JASPOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
SPSS
Jitsi MeetOpen Source
WebWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Zoom
JuliaOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
MATLAB
KritaOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
Photoshop
LibreOffice CalcOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
Excel
LibreOffice DrawOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
Adobe Acrobat Pro
LibreOffice ImpressOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
PowerPoint
LibreOffice WriterOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
Word
LogseqOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Notion
OkularOpen Source
WindowsLinux
Adobe Acrobat Pro
OrangeOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
SPSS
PDFsam BasicOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
Adobe Acrobat Pro
PSPPOpen Source
WindowsLinux
SPSS
Python (NumPy, SciPy)Open Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
MATLAB
ROpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
SPSS
ScilabOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinux
MATLAB
SignalOpen Source
WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Zoom
Stirling-PDFOpen Source
WebWindowsmacOSLinux
Adobe Acrobat Pro
DeepSeek100% Free
WebAndroidiOS
ChatGPT Plus
Google Docs100% Free
WebAndroidiOS
Word
Google Sheets100% Free
WebAndroidiOS
Excel
Google Slides100% Free
WebAndroidiOS
PowerPoint
Paint.NET100% Free
Windows
Photoshop
PDF24 Tools100% Free
WebWindows
Adobe Acrobat Pro
Zoho Sheet100% Free
WebAndroidiOS
Excel
Zoho Show100% Free
WebAndroidiOS
PowerPoint
Zoho Writer100% Free
WebAndroidiOS
Word
AnytypeFreemium
WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Notion
CanvaFreemium
WebWindowsmacOSAndroidiOS
PowerPoint
ClaudeFreemium
WebWindowsmacOSAndroidiOS
ChatGPT Plus
GeminiFreemium
WebAndroidiOS
ChatGPT Plus
Google ColabFreemium
Web
MATLAB
Google MeetFreemium
WebAndroidiOS
Zoom
Microsoft CopilotFreemium
WebWindowsmacOSAndroidiOS
ChatGPT Plus
Microsoft TeamsFreemium
WebWindowsmacOSAndroidiOS
Zoom
Mistral Le ChatFreemium
WebAndroidiOS
ChatGPT Plus
ObsidianFreemium
WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Notion
PhotopeaFreemium
Web
Photoshop
PixlrFreemium
WebAndroidiOS
Photoshop
WPS Office WriterFreemium
WindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOS
Word

Frequently asked questions: free software for students

What is the best free software for students?

It depends on the paid program you want to replace: instead of Word, LibreOffice Writer; instead of Excel, LibreOffice Calc; instead of PowerPoint, LibreOffice Impress; instead of Adobe Acrobat Pro, PDF24 Tools; instead of Notion, AppFlowy; instead of Zoom, Jitsi Meet; instead of SPSS, JASP; instead of MATLAB, GNU Octave; instead of Photoshop, Photopea; instead of ChatGPT Plus, Gemini.

Is there open source software for students?

Yes: ONLYOFFICE, AFFiNE, AppFlowy, BigBlueButton, GIMP, GNU Octave, Gnumeric and others are open source and free.

Which ones work without installing anything?

ONLYOFFICE, AFFiNE, AppFlowy, BigBlueButton, Jitsi Meet, Signal, Stirling-PDF and others run in the browser.

More free software for what you need

Free software for what you need → See all programs