Link: https://linuxiac.com/libreoffice-hits-9-4-million-downloads-in-just-eight-weeks/?=0

LibreOffice continues to enjoy strong demand following the release of version 26.8 in August. According to new figures from The Document Foundation, the open-source office suite recorded 9.4 million downloads over eight weeks, from August 24 to October 18, averaging more than one million downloads per week.

Even more impressive, LibreOffice’s total downloads for 2026 have already surpassed the entire 2025 figure, with ten weeks still remaining in the year.

The latest numbers follow the record-breaking first week of LibreOffice 26.8, which saw 1,031,162 downloads shortly after release. Before the announcement, weekly downloads were slightly below one million but have remained above since.

And those 9.4 million downloads don’t tell the whole story. TDF explains that Windows updates are counted separately, as are downloads of older LibreOffice versions, which also continue to attract considerable interest.

To provide a broader picture, the foundation shared website traffic statistics for the same period. The main download website recorded 11.4 million visits, the Windows update website received about 90 million visits, and the site serving older LibreOffice releases registered nearly 39.7 million visits.

Of course, these figures represent website visits rather than actual downloads or installations, so they shouldn’t be added to the reported 9.4 million total.

As for what’s driving the growth, TDF acknowledges that it cannot provide a definitive answer. Since LibreOffice downloads are anonymous, the organization has no reliable way to determine exactly why more people are choosing the software.

“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.”

Whatever the reasons, the numbers are impressive. This suggests interest in LibreOffice remains strong well after the initial excitement around version 26.8. And with more than two months left in 2026, the project is on track to finish the year with substantially more downloads than in 2025.

Love LibreOffice, and have been using it on my MacBook for about a decade now… but with all the hubbub about ArtCraft’s CraftApps, I tried em out, and I gotta say, I might be switching.

Because both Microsoft Office and iWork have become so dependent upon AI and subscriptions and LibreOffice just comes out and says “hey we don’t use AI and by the way, want a free office suite that’s just like the big ones before they enshittified?”. Of course people checked it out.

Hopefully others take note.

I’ve been a Mac user for years but now that Apple has decided to add a pop up to tell me to upgrade to the subscription version of iWork (and won’t stop nagging me all the time) I’m moving to LibreOffice (and eventually full Linux).

Me too. I'm still on macOS 15 because I can't stand the mess they did with Liquid Ass on macOS 26+.

I'll just move to Linux Mint in a few months...

Only recently got the new macOS and its hideous. On iOS it is fine i think, especially as apps are more streamlined there anyways. The effect is pretty but that is the problem on macOS, its mostly used for low priority navigation buttons like the back button and completely fucks with the hierarchy. At least that is my explanation for why things look so weird there.

Switched to Debian/Android and never looked back. Best thing about it is that I can finally use standards again and dont have to go around those artificial road blocks that Apple has put up.