Microsoft has a very polished product, but Apple has improved its offering over the years.
We tested both so you might make a confident decision about which one is right for you.
Overall Findings
More formatting options for images.
Lifewire / Alex Dos Diaz
More special effects for fonts and shapes.
Sync documents to a desktop PC.
Full features require a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Ability to add charts is built-in (Office requires Excel to do the same).
Open In feature opens documents in any app that supports the format.
Free to all iOS machine owners.
Office and iWork are good productivity suites that offer a variety of apps.
Both offer fully featured word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software.
iWork is better if you create lots of charts, while Office creates splashier documents and presentations.
iWork is free, which makes it an attractive choice for iOS owners.
If you also own a desktop PC, Office offers more flexibility.
Platform Compatibility: Both Get Constant Updates
iOS 7.0 or later
iOS 12 or later.
Both Microsoft Office and iWork receive constant updates and are compatible with the current version of iOS.
Microsoft Word vs. iWork Pages: Pages Has the Advantage
Requires Excel to use charts.
More customization options for text.
Word and Pages are similar, with identical features.
Pages and Word also rank high in ease-of-use.
That means you could open your Pages documents inEvernoteor Word.
Microsoft Worddropped the ball with charts, but it does go deeper in some of the formatting options.
Both products are similar and will get the job done for most people.
Uses display mirroring for presentations.
Creates great charts without outside software.
Can show slides in full screen.
Ability to see presenter notes on the iPad screen.
One exception is charts.
PowerPoint only creates simple charts without the help of Excel.
Keynote, on the other hand, has no problem creating nice-looking charts.
The level of detail Microsoft added with fonts and shapes pays off in PowerPoint.
Keynote can do some of this, but not nearly as well as PowerPoint.
If you should probably make a splashy presentation, PowerPoint is the best choice.
But what about giving that presentation?
PowerPoint relies ondisplay mirroring, which means the iPad screen is duplicated.
Microsoft Excel vs. iWork Numbers: Excel Is Easier to Work With
Easy to work with.
Copy and paste function needs improvement.
AutoSum functions can be time savers.
Easy to use (mostly).
Finding shortcuts requires some experimentation.
Easier to use copy and paste functions.
Feature for feature, Numbers and Excel are similar, but Excel is easier to work with.
It’s the attention to detail that makes Excel a winner here.
In Numbers, you’ll need to experiment to find these shortcuts.
TheAutoSumfunctions, which predict the data you want to use, can also be time savers.
Microsoft did fumble on copy-and-paste functions.
It’s hard to get the copy and paste menu to appear when tapping a cell.
you’re gonna wanna tap, hold for a moment, then release.
This whole process seems much smoother in Numbers.
Advanced features require a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Free to download for all iOS owners.
iWork is free to download for all iOS devices.
All things being equal, though, it’s hard not to give iWork the crown.
It’s a free download, while some features in Office are locked behind a subscription fee.
