SoftMaker Office 2026: public beta of the German MS Office alternative

Nuremberg-based SoftMaker has opened a public beta of its upcoming office suite. Anyone interested can try the new versions of TextMaker, PlanMaker and Presentations ahead of the official release and report feedback.

SoftMaker Office has long been considered one of the stronger Microsoft Office alternatives — mainly for its solid compatibility with the DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats, and because it works without a forced cloud or subscription (a subscription exists, but it’s optional). The suite runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux.

The usual beta advice applies: don’t test on your production machine, or at least keep backups of any documents you edit. But for Linux users who find LibreOffice’s MS Office compatibility lacking, this beta is worth a look.