Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech.
Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics.
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Summary
- LibreOffice hit 9.4M downloads in eight weeks, a notable surge from under 1M/week.
- Possible drivers: Publisher's end, Europe's push for digital sovereignty, and v26.8 features.
- 2026 downloads already surpass 2025 with ten weeks left—momentum could carry into 2027.
Did you grab LibreOffice over the last eight weeks? If so, you helped The Document Foundation with a huge milestone. The foundation reported that it got 9.4 million downloads over an eight-week period, and 2026's stats already beat 2025.
LibreOffice enjoyed 9.4 million downloads over eight weeks
It's already breaking records
As announced on the LibreOffice blog, the Foundation checked how many times the productivity suite was downloaded between August 24th and October 18th. Beforehand, it was getting under 1 million downloads a week, so 9.4 million in eight weeks shows a notable improvement.
So, what caused this influx of downloads? Unfortunately, as is always the case with software downloads, there's no little questionnaire people filled out to tell us why. My personal take is a combination of the following:
- Microsoft recently pulled the plug on Publisher, with LibreOffice advertising that it could pick up the slack.
- Europe took more steps toward digital sovereignty, which may have inspired more people to embrace open-source products.
- LibreOffice 26.8 was released back in August, which included support for Microsoft Office features and a fresh "no AI features" statement.
The Document Foundation isn't so sure, either, but they believe it's because their product is working well:
We like to think that the consistency of the LibreOffice project – which has been championing the concept of digital sovereignty and standard document formats for years – and the robustness of the software, which has never sought to be a clone of the most widely used office suite on the market but has always strived to forge its own path, are two very important factors that, in the long term, represent a significant advantage over all other products.
The cool part is that LibreOffice has already seen more downloads in 2026 than in 2025, and we're still ten weeks from the turn of the year. Here's hoping 2027 will do the same.