An essential tool on any home or office PC is a good word processor. But with so many available choices, which word processor should you use on your Linux device? We've got several options for you to consider that will get you creating professional documents in no time.

A True Linux Word Processor Experience

Most agree that Microsoft Word is the best word processor there is. However, installing the desktop version of Microsoft Word for Linux without the help of third-party apps remains a pipe dream (though we do have some workarounds). That leaves us with a tough question: what's the best Linux word processor?

You can find a handful of worthy options out there. Let's take a brief but thorough look at them to see all of their pros and cons. By the end, it'll be up to you to pick the one that works best for your needs.

Note: We'll only be exploring native desktop programs, which means no cloud-based word processors like Google Docs. Those are still valid options, though, so you should look into them too if you can.

1. LibreOffice Writer

Screenshot of libre office writer

LibreOffice Writer is the most notable software on this list for one reason: it's the only desktop office suite that can really contend with Microsoft Office these days in terms of features and capabilities. In fact, even though Microsoft is still the clear king, LibreOffice is almost certainly the best word processor for Linux.

New document wizards and templates make the learning curve easy. The interface is straightforward and intuitive yet customizable for advanced users. LibreOffice can open and save to Microsoft file formats, including DOC and DOCX.

There are advanced features too, like "master documents" that group multiple documents together, built-in drawing tools, tracking changes and revisions made to documents, the ability to import and edit PDFs, and more. If you're a macro user, LibreOffice has you covered.

Download: LibreOffice Suite

2. Apache OpenOffice Writer

Editing a Document With Apache OpenOffice Writer for Linux

Apache OpenOffice Writer is a close cousin of LibreOffice Writer. Both originated in the same project, OpenOffice.org (which was itself descended from other office suite projects).

They're so closely related, in fact, that they appear nearly identical and often get confused with each other. What sets them apart, however, is mainly how often they see updates.

According to their project page, the developers released updates for Apache OpenOffice between once and three times a year from 2012 to 2021. On top of that, the content of most releases doesn't go beyond a few bug fixes and security patches.

This is in contrast to LibreOffice's history which includes several major releases every year since its inception. You can see the speed of progress just in the version numbers; both were at version 3.4 in 2012, and, nine years later, Apache OpenOffice was at version 4.1 while LibreOffice sat at 7.1.

So why would you use Apache OpenOffice when it seems so far behind?

One word: stability.

New features in software virtually always bring new bugs. So while LibreOffice frequently pushes new bells and whistles, there's a trade-off in stability. Apache OpenOffice is, at least theoretically, less likely to break or otherwise cause problems.

Download: OpenOffice Suite

Read More: LibreOffice vs. OpenOffice: Which One Should You Use?

3. WPS Writer

Editing a Document With WPS Writer 2019 For Linux

WPS Office, formerly known as Kingsoft Office, is a set of office applications known for how it beautifully emulates the look and feel of Microsoft Office. The name WPS Office comes from the three applications the suite contains: Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheets. However, the suite includes a PDF viewer as well.

If you prefer Microsoft's Ribbon interface, then you'll like WPS Writer. Once you learn how to use it properly, everything is just significantly easier. And when you combine it with WPS's ability to open multiple documents with tabs, you'll fall in love.

Learn More: Getting Started With WPS Office

WPS can do what most word processors do, including format paragraphs, autosave and back up files, create templates, and more. It also supports the main Microsoft file formats, including DOC and DOCX. It doesn't support the ODT file format, though.

Note that WPS Office for Linux is a separate community-maintained build that's free to use on a personal basis. The corporate-backed version is only available for Windows and macOS.

Download: WPS Office

4. AbiWord

Editing a Document With AbiWord for Linux

AbiWord is a simple but effective word processor for Linux that's part of the GNOME Office. It doesn't come installed by default on Ubuntu, but you can easily install it by using the built-in Software Manager.

Do you remember Microsoft Works? It was a smaller, less expensive alternative to Microsoft Word with fewer features. In much the same way, AbiWord can be considered as the lighter, faster alternative to LibreOffice with fewer features.

This isn't to say that AbiWord is worse than LibreOffice. Not at all! In many cases, you don't actually need the full power of a gargantuan application and can settle for something less resource-intensive. In other words, for most home users, AbiWord is more than good enough.

AbiWord supports all industry-standard file formats (including Microsoft and WordPerfect), comes with advanced document layout options, and is extensible through separate plugins.

Download: AbiWord

5. Calligra Words

Editing a Document in Calligra Words for Linux

Back in 2010, a bit of disagreement led to a split in the KOffice community, resulting in the inception of Calligra Suite. While most KOffice applications were brought on board, KWord was completely replaced by a new program called Calligra Words, which launched in 2012.

Calligra Words, while not as feature-rich as some of the above word processors, does offer many of the basic features one would expect. It does support DOC, DOCX, PDF, and ODT, among other extensions. Beyond that, Words lags behind other word processors in its exporting abilities.

The interface, with its highly customizable toolbox layout, may seem unconventional to some users. There are movable "dockers" containing different settings and tools, many of which are to the right of your screen by default.

Since Calligra Words is part of the KDE project, you can expect full integration and rock-solid performance on a Linux Plasma desktop. It also integrates with the other members of the Calligra Suite, Sheets, and Stage.

Download: Calligra Words

Choosing the Best Word Processor for Linux

If you're looking for a powerful word processor that comes as part of an office suite, there's really nothing better than LibreOffice Writer. It sits in the number one spot by a huge margin. Its cousin, Apache OpenOffice Writer, sacrifices a larger number of features for higher reliability.

WPS Office is also earnestly fighting to be a contender, and it feels more familiar to Microsoft Word users. But if you don't care about having a lot of bells and whistles, AbiWord or Calligra Words will likely suit your needs.

Of course, if you're a Mint user, you have one more option for word processing on Linux: running the browser editions of Microsoft Word or Google Docs as a web app. You'll get a similar experience to running the app natively, but without installing anything or wrestling with Wine.