Over time, our computers have gotten smaller and more portable, and this phenomenon, coupled with fast internet speeds and online meeting services, has allowed us to work on-the-go. For those who prefer this freedom, Google Docs is surely among the most reliable products. Besides letting us take all our work online, Google Docs – as well as Sheets and Slides – also allows multiple users to collaborate and work together. It has inspired the inception of many other services that offer the same features. Even existing word processing software that offer better and more powerful editing features are also incorporating online collaboration tools now. So, if you are not happy with Google Docs, and you’ve been looking for some of the best Google Docs alternatives, we’ve listed the top 12 apps that can replace Google Docs in 2020.
While Google Docs does not lag far behind other apps offering similar functionality, it definitely makes sense for us to take a look at some of its best alternative. Especially when, a lot of these apps offer better editing environment and are richer in features. Google Docs is excellent for small projects, but if you need to handle complex writing projects, you will be better served by some of the alternatives that we have mention on this list. With that said, let’s get to our list, shall we?
Now the question holds, why you should move to Office Online from Google docs? Well, both are quite strong right now, and deciding what you should use completely depends on your needs. If you are a Microsoft Office (the Desktop app) user, then you will find Office Online to be very similar, making it easy to adapt to. All your documents are saved in Microsoft OneDrive, just like Google docs saves documents in Google Drive.
It also has a news feed feature that lists all the changes to the documents, so you could keep up with the changes. Few things that even Google documents lacks. However, the editing features it offers will not help you create some complex documents like manuals, etc. It offers basic formatting and writing features and will let you insert pictures and tables at max. Although, these tools should be good enough for writing some quick posts, articles and any document that doesn’t require much formatting.
Paper is among the simplest collaborative editing tools capable of being counted as great Google Docs alternatives. It is the successor to Hackpad which was also by Dropbox, but with the additional ability to add spreadsheets, pictures, and links to Dropbox files. You can also directly tag other Dropbox users that might be in your contacts list or add your Google account to be able to invite them to collaborate with you.
Zoho Docs offers features similar to Office Online, but still it is unique enough to ditch both Google Docs and Office Online.
CryptPad is a set of easy-to-use online applications which you can use as a replacement of Google Docs. You can use popular formats including rich text documents and presentations. Besides these two formats, users can share polls, Trello-style whiteboards, to-do lists, and even a code compiler window.
Besides this wide range of options, CryptPad can be seen as one of the preferred Google Docs alternatives for one simple reason and that is because you don’t need to sign up in order to create an online document (however, it will be needed if you want to allow others to view the contents of the documents). You get a good collection of editing tools, much like to Google Docs, and the color scheme also seems familiar. When it comes to sharing, you can share the document with others over a link or even embed the document in an online blog or article, which is an option not available in Google Docs or other substitutes for it.
Graphite Docs is a blockchain-based text editor which you can use to invite collaborators. The editor is fairly simple to use and comes with a minimal user interface with direct controls and interactive design elements. Despite the lightweight interface, you get all the useful editing options except for the number of fonts which is limited to three in the free version of Graphite Docs.
Much like Quip, Coda is more of a collaborative team planning tool than just a text editor. To begin with, you can add multiple elements in form of modular elements like graphs, table, videos etc. within a single document. The idea is to accommodate any idea that pops up in your brain, irrespective of when or how it comes up. To make your job easier, Coda allows you to initiate a new task or tag a team member by simply typing ‘@’.
The editing toolbar on the top has a mix of commonly used editing tools which will remind you of a common CMS editor like WordPress. There aren’t a lot of font styles or sizes to play with but that’s not the main utility here. Notably, there are fewer editing options compared to Google Docs, especially because the focus of the app is collaboration and not simply editing.
Bit.AI is a tool designed for higher team productivity and collaboration rather than simply keeping documents. To begin with, you get a broad catalog of templates that you can choose from but you can also create a fresh document if you prefer a custom layout.
The fact the Bit.AI has a large database of video lessons, mostly related to how the interface works, makes it more user-friendly. It is similar to Coda, but there are more options here to collaborate and segregate documents cleanly making it one of the best Google Docs alternative, in my opinion, if you want to focus on utility more than the number of editing options.
What’s more, Nuclino is also integrated with several productivity apps like Slack so that you can create and organize docs right from one stop. Even in terms of compatibility, it gives strong competition to Google Docs as the app is available on most major platforms including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, and web. While Nuclino is available for free with some limitations like up to 50 items and only 5GB of total storage, you will need to shell out $5/month if you want to break the limitations. Everything considered; it’s probably the best Google Docs alternative for technical documentation.
