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Should you reconsider? - Docs vs Word

U.Senthil Kumar
Accesories

Unlike Microsoft Word, which can only be installed on Windows and MacOS computers, you can use Google Docs from any computer and browser, including:

  1. Windows
  2. Mac OS X
  3. Linux
  4. Chrome OS

The Google docs app is available for both iOS and Android devices—but not on Windows phones or BlackBerrys though the web version will still work on Windows phone.

Our winner in compatibility is Google Docs because you can get all its features with full access unlike Microsoft word which needs subscription just to access the full version of Word.

For word, You’ll need to pay: One-time fee that is $149.99 and Yearly fee of $69.99 / monthly fee of $6.99 (for an install on 1 computer) (or) Yearly fee of $99.99 / monthly fee of $9.99 (to install on up to 5 computers). And of course, business plans are priced differently.

On the other hand, Google charges just $5 for a complete business plan with all your needs and the remaining money is the profit. Go ahead and order a new phone for yourself instead of using Word.

But anything free comes with limitations and a lack of control. We know Google Docs is entirely online and there is no offline version of it yet.

Now, although very unlikely, Google’s servers do go down from time to time and that might render GSuite apps completely useless.
But MS office works offline and removes the dependence on online servers.
Our winner in a no internet/server down scenario is MS Word

Coming to Features, Docs has a simpler UI, but MS Word has more features compared to google docs as it is a very long running piece of software. Our winner in this category is MS Word

If you have a problem of forgetting to save things, Go ahead with google docs. It saves the document as you type :)

You can also download your docs with the following extensions: ODT, PDF, RTF, HTML, TXT, EPUB.

You can only download your Word Online documents as PDF, ODT, or DOCX files. Google is the clear winner here as it gives you more file format compatibility.

Now overall, Word is regarded all over the world as a professional piece of software and a lot of big companies and institutions use it. However, it is foolish to completely disregard Docs as it is equally functional and capable. As for me, the fact that this article is being written in Google docs clearly shows my opinion 🙂.