Comparison of word processor programs explained

This is a comparison of word processor programs.

General information

This table provides general information about selected word processor programs.

Program	Developer	Initial release	Platform	Latest release		License	Cost
				Version	Date
AbiWord	AbiWord developer community, originally SourceGear Corporation	1999-05-19	AmigaOS			rowspan="10"
			BeOS
			BSD
			GNU/Linux
			macOS
			MorphOS
			SkyOS
			Unix
			Windows
			Zeta
Apache OpenOffice Writer	Apache Software Foundation	2012-05-08	BSD			rowspan="6"
			GNU/Linux
			macOS
			Solaris/Illumos
			Unix
			Windows
AppleWorks	Apple Inc.	1991	macOS			rowspan="2"
			Windows
Applix Word	Vistasource Inc.		GNU/Linux	6.0		rowspan="2"
		1992	Windows
Atlantis Word Processor	The Atlantis Word Processor Team	2000	Windows
Bean	James Hoover	2007-05-01	macOS
Calligra Words	KDE	1998	BSD			rowspan="4"
			GNU/Linux
			macOS
			Windows
Collabora Online Writer	Collabora	2019	Android			rowspan="9"
		2021	BSD	Build your own	Build your own
		2019	ChromeOS
		2019	iOS
		2019	iPadOS
		2016	Linux	Online server:
		2015		Desktop app:
		2015	macOS
		2015	Windows
CopyDesk	Quark, Inc.	1991	macOS	7	2007	rowspan="2"
			Windows
EZ Word	Andrew Project	1985	GNU/Linux	7.5	1996	rowspan="2"
			Unix
FrameMaker	Adobe Systems Incorporated	1986	macOS	15.0	2019-08-22	rowspan="3"
			Unix
			Windows
Gobe Productive	Gobe Software	1998-08	BeOS	2.0.1^[1]		rowspan="2"
		2001-12-12^[2]	Windows	3.04^[3]
Google Docs	Google	2006	Android	Rolling	Rolling	rowspan="6"
			ChromeOS
			iOS
			Linux
			macOS
			Windows
Hangul	Haansoft	1989	Android	2022	2022	rowspan="5"
			GNU/Linux
			iOS
			macOS
			Windows
Ichitaro	JustSystems	1983-10	DOS	4.3		rowspan="5"
		2004-12	GNU/Linux
		1995-07	macOS
		1993-04	OS/2
		1993-04	Windows	2022	2022-02-10
InCopy	Adobe Systems Incorporated	1999	macOS			rowspan="2"
			Windows
Jarte	Carolina Road Software, LLC	2001-07	Windows
KOffice KWord	Reginald Stadlbauer, KDE	1998	GNU/Linux		rowspan="2"
			Windows
LibreOffice Writer	The Document Foundation	2011-01-25	BSD			rowspan="5"
			GNU/Linux
			macOS
			Unix
			Windows
Lotus Symphony	Lotus Software	2008	GNU/Linux		rowspan="3"
			macOS
			Windows
Lotus Word Pro	Lotus Software	1989	Windows
LyX	The LyX Project	1995	GNU/Linux
Mariner Write	Mariner software	1996	macOS	3.7.2
Mellel	RedleX	2002	macOS
Microsoft Word	Microsoft Corporation		Android	16	2021	rowspan="10"
		1985	AT&T Unix PC
		1986	Atari ST	1.05
		1983	DOS	6.0
			iOS	2.56	2021-12-12
		1985	macOS	16	2021
		1989	OS/2	5.5
		1990	SCO Unix	5.1
		1989	Windows	16	2021
		1983-10-25	Xenix
Microsoft Works	Microsoft Corporation	1987-09-14	DOS			rowspan="3"
		1988	macOS
		1991	Windows
MonsterWriter	MonsterWriter	2020		1.4
NeoOffice Writer	Planamesa Software	2003-06-22	macOS
Nisus Writer	Nisus Software	1989	macOS	6.5^[4]		rowspan="3"
		2003	macOS	4.3 (Express)^[5]	2022-09-01
		2007	macOS	3.3 (Pro)^[6]	2022-09-01
OnlyOffice Desktop Editors	Ascensio System SIA	2016	GNU/Linux			rowspan="3"
			macOS
			Windows
OpenOffice.org Writer	Sun Microsystems Oracle Corporation	2002-05	BSD		rowspan="6"
			GNU/Linux
			macOS
			Solaris/Illumos
			Unix
			Windows
Pages	Apple Inc.	2005-01-11	iOS			rowspan="2"
			macOS
PolyEdit	PolySoft Solutions	1998	Windows
StarOffice	Sun Microsystems	1994	GNU/Linux		rowspan="3"
			macOS
			Windows
TeXmacs	Joris van der Hoeven	1996?	GNU/Linux			rowspan="3"
			macOS
			Windows
Ted	Mark de Does	1999	Atari ST			rowspan="4"
			BSD
			GNU/Linux
			Unix
TextEdit	Apple Inc.	1993?	macOS
TextMaker	SoftMaker	2012-08	Android			rowspan="7"
		1987	DOS
		2002	FreeBSD
		2003-05?	GNU/Linux
		2022-06-08	iOS
		2018?	macOS
		1994-04?	Windows
WPS Office	Kingsoft	2012-03-23	Android	16.3.7	2022-07-22	rowspan="6"
		1988	DOS
		2014	GNU/Linux	11.1.0.11664	2022-06-08
		2014	iOS	11.24.1	2022-07-14
		2019	macOS	4.2.1	2022-07-15
		1995?	Windows	11.2.0.11191	2022-07-05
WordPad	Microsoft Corporation	1995	Windows
WordPerfect	Corel Corporation	1980	OpenVMS	5.1		rowspan="2"
			Windows
Word processor	Developer	Initial release	Platform	Latest release		License	Cost
				Version	Date

Characteristics

This table gives characteristics of each word processor program.

Program	Grammar checker	Cross referencing	Bibliography	Graphic editing	Mail merging	Spell checker	Smartfont typography	Math support	Conditional text	LTR/RTL
AbiWord		?	?						?
AppleWorks		?	?							?
Atlantis Word Processor			?				?		?
Apache OpenOffice Writer			?					^[7]	^[8]
Bean		?	?							?
Collabora Online Writer
CopyDesk		?	?							?
FrameMaker		^[9]	?					^[10]	^[11]	?
GNU TeXmacs										?
Google Docs
Han/Gul		?	?							?
Ichitaro		?	?							?
InCopy		?	?						^[12]	?
Jarte		?	?						?	?
KWord		?	?							?
LibreOffice Writer								^[13]	^[14]
IBM Lotus Symphony		?	?							?
Lotus Word Pro		?	?							?
LyX	^[15]
Mariner Write		?	?						?	?
Mathematica		?	?							?
Mellel
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Works									?	?
MonsterWriter							?			?
NeoOffice Writer
OnlyOffice Desktop Editors
OpenOffice.org Writer			?					^[16]	^[17]
Pages										?
StarOffice Writer		?	?							?
Ted		?	?							?
TextEdit		?	?							?
TextMaker
WordPad
WPS Office
WordPerfect										?
Word processor	Grammar checker	Cross referencing	Bibliography	Graphic editing	Mail merging	Spell checker	Smartfont typography	Math support	Conditional text	LTR/RTL

Operating system compatibility

This table shows the operating systems supported by the latest program version

Program	Windows	macOS	GNU/Linux	BSD	BeOS/Zeta	AmigaOS/MorphOS	UNIX	Other
AbiWord
AppleWorks
Applix Word
Atlantis Word Processor
Apache OpenOffice Writer
Bean
Collabora Online Writer
CopyDesk
EZ Word
FrameMaker
Gobe Productive
Google Docs
GNU TeXmacs
Groff
Han/Gul
Ichitaro
InCopy
Jarte
KWord
LibreOffice Writer
IBM Lotus Symphony
Lotus Word Pro
LyX
Mariner Write
Mathematica
Mellel
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Works
NeoOffice Writer
Nisus Writer
OnlyOffice Desktop Editors
OpenOffice.org Writer
Pages
PolyEdit
StarOffice Writer
Ted
TextEdit
TextMaker
WPS Office
WordPad
WordPerfect
Word processor	Windows	Mac OS X	GNU/Linux	BSD	BeOS/Zeta	AmigaOS/MorphOS	UNIX	Other

Import or open capabilities

This table gives a comparison of the file formats each program can import or open.

Program	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	RTF	Word [[DOC (computing)|.doc]]	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	SXW	UOF
AbiWord
Atlantis Word Processor
Apache OpenOffice Writer
Bean
Collabora Online Writer
CopyDesk
FrameMaker
GNU TeXmacs
Google Docs
Ichitaro
InCopy
Jarte							^[18]
KWord							^[19]
LibreOffice Writer
IBM Lotus Symphony
Lotus Word Pro
LyX
Mariner Write
Mathematica
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Works
NeoOffice Writer
OnlyOffice Desktop Editors
OpenOffice.org Writer
Pages
PolyEdit
StarOffice Writer
Ted
TextEdit
TextMaker
WPS Office
WordPad
WordPerfect
Word processor	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	RTF	Word [[DOC (computing)|.doc]]	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	SXW	UOF

Export or save capabilities

This table gives a comparison of the file formats each program can export or save. In some cases, omitting an export format (Microsoft Word's omission of WordPerfect export is the best known example) was a sales rather than a technical measure.

Program	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	PDF	RTF	Word .doc	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	UOF
AbiWord				^[20]				^[21]
Atlantis Word Processor
Apache OpenOffice Writer
Bean
Collabora Online Writer
CopyDesk
FrameMaker
GNU TeXmacs
Google Docs
Ichitaro
InCopy
Jarte
KWord
LibreOffice Writer
IBM Lotus Symphony
Lotus Word Pro
LyX
Mariner Write
Mathematica
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Works
NeoOffice Writer
OnlyOffice Desktop Editors
OpenOffice.org Writer
Pages
PolyEdit
StarOffice Writer
Ted
TextEdit
TextMaker
WPS Office
WordPad
WordPerfect
Word processor	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	PDF	RTF	Word .doc	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	UOF

See also

• List of word processor programs
• Comparison of spreadsheet software
• Comparison of text editors
• Comparison of TeX editors
• Comparison of office suites
• Office suite
• Online office suite

Notes and References

1. Web site: Productive BeOS. https://web.archive.org/web/20011223101948/http://www.gobe.com/storegobeproductive.html. 2001-12-23.
2. Web site: Windows Release. https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040701/http://www.gobe.com/press/pr12_12_2001.html. 2002-02-04.
3. Web site: Gobe Corporation. https://web.archive.org/web/20031004234541/http://gobe.com/. 2003-10-04.
4. Web site: Nisus Software History.
5. Web site: Nisus Writer Express - version history and archive.
6. Web site: Nisus Writer Pro - version history and archive.
7. Web site: Math Objects. 26 July 2013.
8. Web site: Developing conditional content. 26 July 2013.
9. Web site: Adobe FrameMaker 9 * About cross-references . Help.adobe.com . 2012-12-13.
10. Adobe Systems, "Edit equations," , [retrieved January 21, 2012]
11. Adobe Systems, "About conditional text," , [retrieved January 21, 2012]
12. Adobe Systems, "Use conditional text," , [Retrieved January 21, 2012]
13. Web site: Math Guide - Using the Formula Editor. LibreOffice Documentation Team. July 14, 2015. 39–46, 51–68. March 22, 2015.
14. LibreOffice, "Defining Conditions" , [Retrieved March 8, 2013]
15. http://wiki.lyx.org/Tools/LyX-GrammarChecker LyX wiki | Tools / LyX Grammar Checker
16. Web site: Math Objects. 26 July 2013.
17. Web site: Developing conditional content. 26 July 2013.
18. Requires Microsoft's free Office Compatibility Pack
19. http://www.koffice.org/news/koffice-2-2-released/
20. Web site: FaqCreatingPDFs - AbiWiki . Abisource.com . 2010-11-27 . 2012-12-13 . 2009-10-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091030153108/http://www.abisource.com/twiki/bin/view/Abiword/FaqCreatingPDFs . dead .
21. Web site: AbiWord v2.6.5 ChangeLog . Abisource.com . 2012-12-13 . 2008-12-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081217104337/http://www.abisource.com/changelogs/2.6.5.phtml . dead .