The best software for school

Getting ready for a new school year means having the tools you need to be a successful student. Whether it’s your first year and you need some advice on where to start, or your third year and you want something better than what you’ve been using, we’ve got you covered with our list of the best software for school.

From writing to research, planning and more, check out these free apps. We’ll explain the features, access options and what sets them apart from the competition.

Productivity Suite: LibreOffice

When it comes to free software to download for writing papers, tracking budgets, and creating slideshows, LibreOffice is a great option. Its competitors include Microsoft Office, which can be expensive for students, even with an educational discount, and Google Apps, which is a web-based productivity suite.

If you want something you can use offline on your computer that gives you a ton of features for free, LibreOffice is the right choice. You get the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet tool, and Impress presentation creator. You also have access to Draw for diagrams, Base for databases, Math for formula editors, and Charts for charts.

LibreOffice is a powerful productivity suite that will not only give you access to a complete set of tools to help you complete your studies, but will also increase your productivity in your business or personal life.

Availability:LibraOffice is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iPhone, and also has a LibreOffice-based app for Chromebooks.

price list:Free, with opportunities for monetary donations and volunteering.

Research Assistant: Zotero

Whether you’re doing small or large studies, consider hiring an assistant to help you keep everything in order. Zotero is a fantastic tool that helps you manage, describe, cite, and share your research.

As you browse the web, Zotero identifies your research, allowing you to collect it with a single click. You can then organize your items into collections using tags and keywords. You can also create reference lists directly in Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, or Google Docs, using any of 10,000 citation styles.

With Zotero, you can sync your items and access them online whenever you need them, and collaborate with others by sharing your library.

Availability:Zotero is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, and web.

price list: Free.

Student Planning: myHomework

Often, it’s the basic organization of your studies that’s the challenge. With myHomework, you can manage everything from assignments to projects and classes, and get reminders about deadlines so you never miss a thing.

With an intuitive interface, adding items in myHomework is super easy. Add your classes with all the details, including schedule, location, teacher, and class color indicator. Include homework with due dates and times along with reminder, priority, and repeat options.

You can even search for a teacher who shares class details and invite a counselor or tutor directly in myHomework.

Availability:myHomework is available for Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, and Kindle Fire with Google Chrome extension and internet access.

price list:Free for myHomework Basic with the Premium plan which includes file attachments, external calendar access, enhanced widgets, and more.

Note Taking & Templates: Notion

There are plenty of note-taking apps to choose from, including popular tools like Evernote and OneNote. But if you’re looking for an app that offers tons of templates for students to quickly set up and sync across platforms and devices, all for free, look no further than Notion.

Use Notion templates for papers, class notes (including Cornell Notes), study guides, and flashcards. You can also use templates for the student dashboard, planner, class schedule, and monthly budget.

Notion has an easy-to-use interface on all devices, Google Calendar integration, and offers the Notion AI research tool. Notion can help you manage and organize not only your student life, but also your personal and business activities.

Availability:Notion is available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone. It offers a web clipper and web access.

price list:Free for everyone, with an Education Plan that includes unlimited blocks, unlimited uploads, 30 days of site history, and more.

Charts and Diagrams: Draw.io

If creating diagrams and flowcharts is part of your studies, check out Draw.io to get started quickly and easily. While it’s not a downloadable app, Draw.io’s robust features make it worth using on the web.

The intuitive interface is similar to the interface of Google apps like Docs and Slides. You can choose from different color schemes and easily add shapes, icons, symbols, and arrows. You can also use presets for flowcharts, entity-relationship diagrams, and Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams. You can also browse a large collection of additional shapes for software, web, business, and more.

Save your diagrams to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, GitHub, GitLab, or your device, then quickly share them with colleagues.

Availability:Draw.io is available online.

price list: Free.

Creating and Editing Images: GIMP

Maybe these are images you have to work with in school. One of the best free image editors to download is GIMP. The application is an open-source editor that has been around since 1996, has users all over the world, and offers many online tutorials created by the GIMP project community.

With image creation and editing tools, you’ll love the extensive feature set. You can do everything from basics like cropping, resizing, and rotating to using layer masks, tone mapping, and parametric brushes.

Read our GIMP vs Photoshop article to learn more about why GIMP is a comparable image editor.

Availability:GIMP is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

price list:Free, with the option of a monetary donation.

Audio Recording and Editing: Audacity

Another app you might need for your classroom is audio creations rather than visuals. Audacity meets your audio recording and editing needs for free. Whether it’s a podcast, quick music creation, or field recording, you’ll love this open-source tool.

You can record live with a mixer or microphone and quickly edit tracks with cut, paste, and smooth volume mixing. You’ll also benefit from features like noise reduction for background sounds, the ability to adjust the tempo without affecting the pitch, and editing frequencies with equalizers and filters.

With Audacity you can import, export and convert many audio file formats including MP3, MP4, AIFF, FLAC, WAV and more. You can also collaborate, backup your projects and upload them to audio.com for instant sharing.

Availability:Audacity is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

price list: Free.

Making sure your computer is ready to start class when you are is key to being prepared. With this collection of school software options, you’re sure to succeed.

If you plan on studying on the go, check out our list of the best mobile apps for students.