LibreOffice Base
The database part of LibreOffice. Builds tables, forms, queries and reports, and is the nearest thing to Access.
Our verdict
Base is the only broadly available free database builder on Linux with forms and reports, and it is the honest recommendation for someone leaving Microsoft Access. It is also, plainly, a big step down.
The pieces are there. You make tables, draw a form to type into, write a query and print a report. Someone starting a small database from scratch, a club membership list or a stock record, can get there.
Moving an existing Access database is a different story. Data can often be pulled across. The forms, the reports and anything written in VBA cannot, and you will be rebuilding them. If that database runs something that matters, plan to keep a Windows machine or a Windows virtual machine for it rather than convert it.
What's good
- Free, and included wherever LibreOffice is installed
- Covers the basic shape of a database, with tables, forms, queries and printed reports
- Can sit on top of other databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL if you outgrow its own
- Nothing to sign in to and nothing to renew
What to know first
- Much weaker than Microsoft Access, and anyone moving a real Access database will feel it immediately
- Access forms, reports and any VBA code do not transfer, they have to be rebuilt by hand
- Crashes and odd behaviour are still reported more often than in the rest of LibreOffice
- On some systems it needs a separate Java runtime before it will work at all
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (MPL-2.0)
- How you install it
- App store (Flatpak), .deb installer, .rpm installer, App store (Snap), AppImage download, Built-in app store
Windows apps it can replace
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