5 Free Apps That Beat Expensive Alternatives In Every Way That Matters

Why It Matters

Free, open‑source alternatives reduce operating costs while delivering comparable or superior capabilities, reshaping software procurement strategies for businesses and creators.

Key Takeaways

• LibreOffice replaces Microsoft 365 without subscription fees.
• Jellyfin offers full media server features free, unlike Plex.
• OBS provides professional streaming tools without paid tiers.
• HandBrake delivers high-quality video conversion at zero cost.
• VLC plays virtually any media format without additional codecs.

Pulse Analysis

The software landscape is increasingly dominated by subscription models that inflate operating budgets without delivering proportional value. As AI‑driven features and cloud‑centric storage become standard, many users find themselves paying monthly fees for tools that were once free. This cost pressure has sparked renewed interest in open‑source projects that offer comparable, sometimes superior, functionality without hidden charges. Companies and individual professionals alike are reevaluating their tech stacks, seeking solutions that combine flexibility, community support, and zero‑cost licensing to counter subscription fatigue. The shift also encourages vendors to innovate on value rather than lock‑in.

LibreOffice, Jellyfin, OBS, HandBrake and VLC illustrate how free, open‑source software can outmatch pricey incumbents across distinct categories. LibreOffice delivers a full office suite compatible with Microsoft formats, eliminating the $180 Microsoft 365 price tag for enterprises. Jellyfin provides a self‑hosted media server with multi‑device streaming, sidestepping Plex’s subscription tiers. OBS equips broadcasters with professional‑grade recording and live‑stream capabilities, rivaling commercial platforms such as StreamYard. HandBrake’s granular transcoding tools match paid converters while VLC’s universal codec library ensures playback of virtually any file type. Each project benefits from active developer communities that continuously add features and security updates.

Adopting these free alternatives can shave hundreds of dollars from annual IT expenditures, freeing budget for strategic initiatives such as cloud migration or cybersecurity upgrades. Because the codebases are transparent, organizations gain greater control over data privacy and compliance, a critical advantage in regulated industries. As more enterprises recognize the maturity of open‑source ecosystems, vendor lock‑in diminishes and competition intensifies, prompting traditional software providers to reevaluate pricing structures and innovate beyond superficial feature add‑ons.

5 Free Apps That Beat Expensive Alternatives In Every Way That Matters

By Max Miller · SlashGear

By now, it feels like a common observation that tech keeps getting more expensive without necessarily becoming more useful. While AI drives up hardware costs, many apps we once used for free now require subscriptions to access their most useful features. When we begrudgingly pay those increasingly exorbitant fees, we often receive a product that barely works.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Some of the most frustrating and costly apps are the most well‑known, but that's only because they have a corporate marketing budget. There are often excellent alternatives available completely for free, many of which are even better than the expensive apps they're meant to replace. The only reason you don't know about them is that they rely mostly on word‑of‑mouth for marketing. So, we rounded up five of the best free apps that will make you forget all about their expensive competitors faster than you can say, “Cancel my subscription.”

When we say free, we mean you don't spend a dime (unless you want to donate to the developer, which is always a welcome way to show your appreciation for their work). This list excludes any apps with hidden fees or “pro” subscriptions that lock important functionality behind a paywall. When you install these programs, they're yours to configure as you wish, because that's how software is supposed to work. So, here are five free apps that beat expensive alternatives in every way that matters to you.

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1. LibreOffice

If you're someone who spends a lot of time writing, working in spreadsheets, or making slideshows, there's a good chance you use Microsoft Office apps such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Microsoft Office apps are an industry standard, with decades of support and nearly endless features that keep even the most demanding users satisfied. But they have become increasingly frustrating to use over the years. The company pushes its monthly Microsoft 365 subscription heavily as the main way to access the suite, and if you go digging for a one‑time purchase, you'll find yourself shelling out $180 at the time of this writing.

Moreover, Office apps are increasingly bloated with what many users call “AI slop” through Copilot integrations. They will even default to saving your files in OneDrive, which not only makes it difficult to find documents later but also risks exposing sensitive information you may not have wanted uploaded to the cloud.

If you're tired of Microsoft's antics but need Office's professional‑grade features, look no further than LibreOffice. It's a free, open‑source way to get work done on your Mac or PC, making it a fantastic alternative to Redmond's productivity suite, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Compared to Office, LibreOffice surpasses the big‑tech option in every way that matters. Because it's open‑source, anyone who sees room for improvement and knows how to code can contribute to the project. There is even a robust library of user‑created extensions that can add functionality, such as an MLA formatting tool for academic papers.

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2. Jellyfin

Private media servers are the perfect solution for anyone who wants to stream the media they already own on multiple devices. Plex, which lets you legally stream your media, is the most recognizable brand in the space. Its sleek aesthetics and ease of use make it quick to get your media server up and running during a lunch break. But some of its most desirable features are locked behind a paywall, and the company raised prices significantly last year. If you want to stream your media on the go, download files to other devices, stream with multiple devices at once, or let other users access your server, you'll need to pay a monthly subscription or cough up $250 for a lifetime membership.

Jellyfin is a popular alternative to Plex that works on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox, and even LG webOS. It is both free and open source, with a large number of user‑contributed clients available for download. This makes it far more flexible than Plex. There are versions of Jellyfin just for music, others for reading books and comics, and, of course, versions that let you watch your movies and TV shows. The only real downside compared to Plex is that it can be a bit tricky to figure out which configuration makes sense for your needs, and then to get all the kinks ironed out during setup. If you don't think you can handle a bit of light network configuration, you may be better off with Plex. But in terms of relative feature sets, Plex is a shallow pool next to the deep well of Jellyfin.

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3. Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)

Over the past decade, live streamers have become a new kind of Internet celebrity. Whether playing games, commenting on politics, or a potentially irresponsible mix thereof, these people broadcast themselves on Twitch, YouTube, and similar platforms, sometimes garnering enormous audiences. For the largest streamers, it's a multi‑million‑dollar business. But regardless of income level, most streamers default to using a free program to run their streams.

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is a free and open‑source application for video recording and live streaming. It provides more functionality compared to paid alternatives like StreamYard, and it is more popular than those products. In fact, the paid streaming suite Logitech Streamlabs is built on top of OBS, with its paid tier simply charging for additional features. OBS is sponsored by Logitech, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and YouTube, allowing continued development without financial pressure.

Like other open‑source options on this list, OBS has a dedicated community and a robust plugin library. For example, musicians who stream production sessions can install the atkAudio Plugin (MIDI/audio integration), while tutorial or news creators can use Zoominator to zoom in on the area around the mouse during broadcasts.

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4. HandBrake

If you've ever found yourself with a video file that your computer or smartphone can't play, you’ve likely discovered that most conversion tools are either paid or low‑quality. Adobe Media Encoder integrates with Premiere but feels clunky and is bundled with a large subscription. Wondershare UniConverter is a popular paid option but is now flooded with AI features that many users find unnecessary.

The open‑source, free alternative is HandBrake, available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Known for granular control over transcoding and excellent compression ratios, HandBrake may not use GPU‑bound processes as heavily as some paid competitors, but it hardly affects the final output. In testing, a corrupted one‑hour‑long 1080p 30 fps MP4 was transcoded in just under nine minutes on an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D system with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super GPU.

HandBrake works for users of any skill level. You can simply drag and drop, then click a single button to start encoding, trusting the software to select appropriate settings, or you can dial in specific parameters or choose from a long list of presets.

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5. VLC Media Player

If you have a large collection of digital media—movies, TV shows, or music—you know how difficult it can be to find software that plays nicely with every file type. Pre‑installed media players on Windows or macOS may look nice but fall short when faced with an unfamiliar format. For serious media consumption, one app rises above the rest: VLC Media Player by the non‑profit VideoLAN Organization.

VLC is completely free and open‑source, with the most robust codec support on the market. Unless a file is corrupted beyond recovery, VLC can probably play it. It supports DVD, Blu‑ray, and CD playback; receives and broadcasts network streams; streams Internet television; and displays live webcam feeds. It also uses hardware decoding and works great with NVIDIA graphics cards.

The VLC interface is intentionally simple, emphasizing features over flash. It includes a built‑in EQ and compressor, audio desynchronization controls, deinterlacing, and support for NVIDIA RTX Super Resolution to enhance low‑quality videos with AI. VLC is available on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android (including Google TV), and iOS.

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How These Free Apps Were Selected

Each of the apps recommended in this article was selected based on extensive knowledge of the software market for its category, hands‑on testing, and a preponderance of positive user sentiment. Testing of all recommended apps and the paid apps against which they were compared was performed on a high‑end Windows PC and, where possible, on a mid‑range Linux laptop. Given its broad platform reach, Jellyfin was also tested on an Android smartphone, a Roku TV, and a Google Chromecast with Google TV.