Lost your Overleaf license, keep your workflow
Free LaTeX tools for life after graduation
Abstract
When you graduate, your institution’s Overleaf Premium license disappears. This note lists what you lose, what replaces each feature for free, and where to write LaTeX next. latexci gives you the tools Overleaf never had, in the browser and with no subscription: every tool is free, most need no account, and PDF export and Word to LaTeX ask for a one-click Google sign-in.
1What you lose when your license ends
And what to do instead, all free (Table 1).
| Premium feature lost | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Unlimited collaborators per project | Use Git and GitHub for version control and collaboration. |
| Track changes | Use the latexci diff to compare two .tex files side by side. Open. |
| Full project history | git log gives you the whole history: free, offline, faster (Figure 1). |
| Dropbox and GitHub sync | Work locally in VS Code with LaTeX Workshop: full power, no limits. |
| Extended compile timeout | YToTech (a free compile API, the one latexci uses for PDF export) handles most documents. |
| Mendeley and Zotero sync | The latexci BibTeX tools clean, format, and look up citations for free. Open. |
Table 1. Overleaf Premium features and their free replacements.
$ git init thesis && cd thesis $ git add main.tex chapters/ refs.bib $ git commit -m "Chapter 2: first full draft" $ git log --oneline -- chapters/methods.tex a41c9e2 Methods: answer advisor comments 7d02b18 Chapter 2: first full draft $ git show 7d02b18:chapters/methods.tex > old.tex
git log lists every version of a chapter, and git show restores an old one, ready to compare in the LaTeX diff.2The tools Overleaf never had
These work alongside any editor: Overleaf, VS Code, TeXstudio, whatever you use next. Table 2 lists them with the Overleaf feature each one replaces.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Word to LaTeX | Convert .docx files with equation detection, image stubs, and a quality report. The converter Overleaf does not have. |
| BibTeX tools | Clean messy .bib files, look up DOIs, and fetch arXiv citations. Replaces the Mendeley and Zotero sync you just lost. |
| LaTeX diff | Compare two .tex files and see exactly what changed. Replaces Overleaf's track changes for your personal workflow. |
| Instant preview | KaTeX-powered preview with no compile wait. Check formulas and structure without opening your TeX engine. |
| Templates | 28 starting points: PhD thesis, IEEE paper, academic CV, Beamer slides, and more. Open one in the live editor and copy the source into any editor. |
Table 2. latexci tools for former Overleaf Premium users. All are free.
Remark. Preview, diff and Word to LaTeX process your files in the browser. PDF export is the exception: it sends the LaTeX source to the YToTech compile service and downloads the PDF.
3Where to write LaTeX now
You do not need a cloud editor. A local setup is faster, private, and works offline. Table 3 lists four good options.
| Editor | Notes |
|---|---|
| VS Code + LaTeX Workshop | The best local LaTeX setup. Free, fast, full syntax highlighting, SyncTeX, live compile. |
| Texifier (macOS) | Native macOS LaTeX editor with live preview. |
| TeXstudio (all platforms) | Full-featured LaTeX IDE for Windows, macOS, Linux. |
| Zed / Neovim + VimTeX | For power users who want LaTeX in their main editor. |
Table 3. Local LaTeX editors. Links open the project pages.
4Keep writing
latexci’s tools are free and work in any browser; only PDF export and Word to LaTeX ask for a one-click Google sign-in. Use them alongside whatever editor you choose next.