Many organizations today rely on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace as their standard office software. Are there no European alternatives? Actually, there are—for those who look and dare.
Microsoft Office, or Microsoft 365 Copilot as it is known today, has been the standard for office software for thirty years. Globally, the application suite has more than 400 million paying users. Microsoft also has a strong footprint in the European business market.
Today we live in geopolitically turbulent times, which is making European IT professionals rethink their use of American technology. Microsoft 365 or its best-known alternative, Google Workspace, suddenly no longer seem like the best choice. American cloud providers offer sovereign cloud services, but admit themselves that when push comes to shove, they cannot promise sovereignty.
A European Microsoft or Google has not yet emerged, but that doesn’t mean there are no alternatives. The drive for sovereignty offers European software companies the chance to step into the spotlight. Those willing to take the road less traveled can show Microsoft and Google the door without sacrificing productivity.
Conflicting legislation
What exactly is the problem with the cloud solutions from Microsoft, Google, and other American providers? European companies used them for years without a care. American companies wishing to offer their services in Europe are equally bound by GDPR legislation. This stipulates that data from European customers must remain in European data centers and not be transferred to the United States for commercial purposes.
However, Washington has its own legal agenda. In discussions regarding sovereignty, the Cloud Act is often referred to, a US law that has existed since 2018. The legislation stipulates that in the context of a criminal investigation, US law enforcement can demand unilateral access to data in data centers, regardless of where they are located and which local laws are in force.
According to the letter of the law, the GDPR and the Cloud Act are at odds with each other. Although American companies say they have the necessary means to defend their customers, they cannot offer sovereignty in the strictest sense of the word. In the current geopolitical context, this creates uncertainty for European companies. In a study at the end of 2025, the European Parliament highlighted the (excessively) large footprint of foreign players in the European digital landscape as a political and economic risk.
Furthermore, the US is proving to be an unpredictable partner. It is clear which legislation is in force today, but not which rules will apply tomorrow. Unexpected trade restrictions or taxes on the export of services are no longer entirely unthinkable.
European Office alternatives: a complex open-source web
There is a choice for those who want a non-American alternative. These alternatives are less well-known, but not unloved among IT professionals. Microsoft’s European challengers mainly come from the open-source world and are closely interconnected, which makes it difficult to distinguish them from one another.
LibreOffice and Collabora: bickering pioneers
Two open-source software packages currently form the cornerstone of the European office software landscape. LibreOffice was launched in 2011 as a free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office and is developed by The Document Foundation, based in Berlin. For now, LibreOffice can be used exclusively as a desktop app on Windows, Mac, and Linux, although a web version is reportedly finally in the works.
With Writer, Calc, and Impress, it has its own versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and also supports the same document formats, albeit with slightly limited functionality and a more sober interface. The bundle also includes a 3D illustrator (Draw), a database app (Base), and an app for solving mathematical equations (Math). LibreOffice aims for a biennial release cycle.
The LibreOffice code is open-source, meaning external developers help build the software. One of the most important contributors to LibreOffice is the British company Collabora, which offers its own LibreOffice-based suite, Collabora Office. Unlike LibreOffice, Collabora’s suite is available as a web application.
Despite the close ties, the relationship between LibreOffice and Collabora has soured completely. The Document Foundation has even revoked Collabora’s membership to contribute to LibreOffice. As a result, both platforms may continue to develop more independently.
Nextcloud: office software for DIYers
With Collabora, a third party enters the open-source triangle: Nextcloud. This originally German platform offers a self-hosted version of Collabora. This can be on your own server, or on a server managed by a provider.
Nextcloud offers a total package that, in addition to office applications, also includes communication and collaboration tools and local storage. With Nextcloud, you build your own, locally running Office environment. The software itself is free, but hosting requires investment in servers and maintenance if you choose to do it entirely yourself.
The self-hosted aspect sounds interesting in the context of sovereignty. After all, you have your data entirely under your own control, without having to rely on an external provider. The German government therefore chose the Nextcloud-Collabora tandem as the basis for its own software bundle, OpenDesk. This software bundles open-source components from Nextcloud and others into a modular package that users can assemble and host themselves.
OpenDesk was specifically developed with the public sector in mind. Users include the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The court has its own reasons for choosing a European solution. Last year, a prosecutor’s Microsoft account was temporarily suspended following critical remarks about Israel. This was later denied by Microsoft, but the incident fueled the sovereignty debate in Europe.
New players
The fact that sovereignty is trendy in Europe is evident from the recent launch of not one, but two new European Office suites. Established names like LibreOffice, Collabora, and Nextcloud are rarely far away. Office EU is of Dutch origin and aims to offer a fully web-based software package, built on Nextcloud and hosted from Hetzner data centers in Helsinki.
The European aspect is emphasized: every application has the EU abbreviation in its name. The interface is almost identical to their Microsoft counterparts. Office EU is currently operating with a waitlist. The bundle consists of the following applications:
- EU Drive
- EU Docs
- EU Spreadsheet
- EU Presentation
- EU Talk
- EU Calendar
- EU Email
Office EU should not be confused with Euro-Office, another open-source initiative that has March 27 as its official birth date. Euro-Office is the product of a collaboration between Ionos, OpenProject, XWiki SAS, Abilian, Btactic, Soverin, Proton, and—you’d never guess—Nextcloud. Yet, despite their confusing names and Nextcloud as a common denominator, Office EU and Euro-Office are completely different.
Euro-Office is intended as self-hosted software and uses OnlyOffice as its base, an open-source software that, for a change, is not linked to LibreOffice or Collabora. However, OnlyOffice is not happy that Euro-Office has built a fork of its software code, and a legal dispute threatens to derail the launch of Euro-Office.
OnlyOffice: open-source with a controversial edge
Speaking of OnlyOffice: that’s a story in itself. The software launched in 2009 and can be called the main competitor to LibreOffice in the open-source office world. OnlyOffice offers better browser support than LibreOffice and its derivatives. The platform was supported for a long time by European parties such as Nextcloud. That partnership recently came to an end, which may have influenced the development of Euro-Office.
There is a hint of controversy surrounding OnlyOffice. The company overseeing its development, Ascensio Systems SIA, is officially registered in Latvia, but development is said to take place largely from Russia. At least, that is what Euro-Office claims in its announcement. Euro-Office also accuses OnlyOffice of restricting contributions to the code. The final word in the dispute has yet to be spoken.
Proton: Swiss banking secrecy
A final player increasingly positioning itself as an alternative to Microsoft and Google is the Swiss company Proton. Proton wants to translate Swiss neutrality and banking secrecy into software. The Proton Workspace bundle can be used as a desktop and web app, and many functions integrate smoothly with Microsoft and Google software.
Proton started in 2014 as an encrypted and anonymized email service. Since then, the application has expanded into a full office suite, culminating in the launch of Proton Workspace this year. The bundle includes storage, Proton Sheets and Docs, a calendar app, and recently Proton Meet (which can also be used without an account). Proton even has its own Copilot with Lumo AI.
The original focus on security is baked into the entire Proton offering. Meet calls and chats are encrypted by default, as are conversations with Lumo. The Proton bundle also includes a VPN service, password manager, and even a crypto wallet. The combination of a full office suite—the only thing missing is a presentation app—with a high degree of security makes Proton perhaps the most complete European bundle for business users.
Seek and you shall find
The overview above shows that office software doesn’t have to be synonymous with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. In the shadow of the American tech giants, there is a wide range of open-source alternatives of European origin. These solutions require a bit more thought and assembly to achieve the same ease of use and scale, but in return, you gain control over your data. Those who search and are willing to take the road less traveled will find sovereignty.
The road to sovereignty is rarely the easiest one.