What Is Kingsoft? The Company Behind WPS Office

Kingsoft is a software company founded in Beijing in 1988 and the company behind WPS Office, our office productivity suite. In simple terms, Kingsoft is the company, while WPS Office is the product.

If you searched for “What is Kingsoft?” after seeing the name on an older computer, mobile device, software listing, or support article, you may be looking for information about WPS Office.

For several years, our office suite was distributed internationally under the name Kingsoft Office. In 2014, the product was renamed WPS Office for the global market. WPS stands for Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheets.

Today, WPS Office provides tools for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDF tools, cloud-based workflows, and WPS AI capabilities.

Kingsoft vs WPS Office: what is the difference?

The names Kingsoft, Kingsoft Office, and WPS Office are sometimes confused. Here is howthey are related.

If you want a full product overview, see what WPS Office is. This page explains the Kingsoft name and how it relates to WPS Office.

History of Kingsoft

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Kingsoft began as a word-processor company. In 1988, Qiu Bojun completed the first WPS word processor for Chinese DOS users. That product, Super-WPS, is where we started.

As Windows became the standard, Microsoft Office file formats became the default in many workplaces. We rebuilt the product for that environment. WPS 97 and WPS 2000 continued the word processor. In 2001 we released a full office suite in China under the WPS Office name, covering writing, spreadsheets, and slides. International versions later used the Kingsoft Office name. That is why many people still search for Kingsoft when they mean the suite.

Two product decisions still matter for users today:

• 2005: We made the personal edition free. Many people still know us as a free office option for that reason.

• 2014: We renamed Kingsoft Office to WPS Office worldwide. The developer did not change. The current product name is WPS Office.

In 2011, the office business became Beijing Kingsoft Office Software. The company listed on Shanghai's STAR Market in November 2019. We introduced WPS AI in 2023. By the end of 2025, WPS Office had 678 million monthly active devices worldwide, across PC and mobile. In Kingsoft Corporation's 2025 results, office software and services contributed RMB 5.93 billion, about 61% of group revenue. Office software remains a core part of the Kingsoft business.

What Kingsoft makes today

Kingsoft is not only an office software company. Our group is organized around office software and interactive entertainment, with cloud and AI as further areas of investment.

• Kingsoft Office / WPS Office: Documents, spreadsheets, slides, PDF, cloud, and AI. This is the product we support on wps.com.

• Seasun Holdings: Games, including titles such as JX Online 3. This is a separate business with separate installers.

• Kingsoft Shiyou: Another interactive entertainment unit in the group.

• Kingsoft Cloud: Cloud infrastructure. It is a separately listed associate company and is not required to use WPS Office.

You only need WPS Office to create and edit documents. The other businesses explain why the Kingsoft name appears in more than one industry. They are not extra office apps you should install.

Our mission, vision, and values

Kingsoft Office develops WPS Office to help people create, share, and communicate more efficiently. Our public mission and values are published on the About Us page. They guide how we design the product and how we support users.

Mission

Create with simplicity, express with ease, and promote the connection of values.

Vision

We aim to be a company that users value, employees are proud of, and society respects. Our goal is to provide office services that go beyond everyday expectations and to build a leading position in global office software.

Values

1. Customer First: We start from how people write, calculate, present, and share files, then improve the product around those tasks.

2. Perseverance in Innovation: We continue to invest in product development, from early word processing to cloud documents, PDF tools, and WPS AI.

3. Integrity and Honesty: We recommend official download channels and state clearly which features are free and which are optional upgrades.

4. Optimism and Resilience: Kingsoft has rebuilt WPS across DOS, Windows, mobile, and AI. We continue that work with a long-term view.

In practice, this means an office suite that is straightforward to use, available on the devices people already have, and designed to help individuals and teams complete work with less friction.

What we have achieved

WPS Office is used by individuals, schools, and organizations worldwide. According to our About Us page, WPS is available in more than 220 countries and regions, supports 46 languages, and is used by more than 200,000 organizations. Kingsoft Office Software has more than 3,000 employees. By the end of 2025, WPS Office reached 678 million monthly active devices worldwide.

Independent reviewers and app stores have also recognized WPS Office, including:

1. ITreview Grid Award 2021 Spring/Summer, Office software package

2. G2 Crowd Leader (Summer 2016 and Summer 2021)

3. CNET Editors' Rating, Excellent (2015)

4. Golden Bridge Awards 2016, Gold Winner, Best App of the Year

5. Software Informer Editor's Pick 2016

6. The Techies 2017, Best Mobile Tech for Consumers

7. Apple App Store Best of 2018, and official recommendation in the Mac App Store

8. Google Play Editor's Choice and Top Developer

9. App Annie 2018 Top App for overseas markets

We also support education and environmental programs. Kingsoft has donated WPS Office licenses to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria to support digital teaching and learning. WPS Office donated 10,000 saxaul trees to the SEE Foundation for desertification control in the Alashan region. The suite supports paperless work through document management, digital signatures, online collaboration, and electronic spreadsheets. Eco-themed Word posters and presentation templates on our platform have received more than 2 million views and more than 900,000 downloads.

For the latest company overview, visit https://www.wps.com/about-us/.

WPS Office: our office suite

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If you have used Kingsoft Writer or Kingsoft Spreadsheets in the past, those tools are still here.

Today, WPS Office brings essential productivity tools together in one suite, supporting common document, spreadsheet, presentation, and PDF workflows.

The suite supports widely used Microsoft Office file formats, including:

• .docx

• .xlsx

• .pptx

This allows users to open, edit, and save commonly used office documents within their everyday workflows.

WPS Writer

WPS Writer is our word processor. It supports .doc and .docx files and provides a familiar environment for users who have experience with other mainstream word processors.

With a WPS account, multiple users can also collaborate on cloud documents in real time.

This collaboration capability is part of the WPS Office ecosystem rather than a separate “Kingsoft Docs” application.

WPS Spreadsheet

WPS Spreadsheet is our spreadsheet application. It supports formulas, charts, CSV, and .xlsx files. If you previously used Kingsoft mainly for workbooks, this is the module to open.

WPS Presentation

WPS Presentation supports .ppt and .pptx files and enables users to create and edit presentations using text, images, video, and other visual elements. WPS AI can also assistuch as generating presentation outlines from a topic or document. Users can choose to use AI-assisted tools or create presentations manually based on their own workflow and preferences.

WPS PDF

WPS PDF is included in the same suite. You can read, edit, convert, merge, compress, and sign PDF files without switching to a separate program. Basic PDF reading is free. Advanced PDF tools are available with WPS Pro.

WPS AI, templates, and devices

WPS AI works inside the same applications: drafting and rewriting in Writer, formulas and analysis in Spreadsheet, slide outlines in Presentation, and summary tools in PDF. You can also use the core editors without AI features.

WPS Office is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and the web. One account can sync files across your devices.

This is the practical difference for many users: one installation for documents, spreadsheets, slides, and PDF. For a detailed comparison, see WPS Office vs Microsoft Office.

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Why people still search for Kingsoft

The Kingsoft name continues to appear in many places, particularly on older devices, software listings, reviews, and support resources.

However, the current name of our office productivity suite is WPS Office.

There are several reasons why users may still search for “Kingsoft”:

• Older Windows folders and shortcuts may still display the Kingsoft Office name.

• Reviews, educational institutions, and pre-installed software from before 2014 may refer to the product as Kingsoft Office.

• In China, both 金山 and WPS are commonly used. Internationally, we use WPS Office.

For security and access to the latest software version, we recommend downloading WPS Office from our official website or official app stores.

Unofficial websites using terms such as “Kingsoft Office download” may not represent our official product pages.

Kingsoft and WPS Office are not two competing office suites. Kingsoft is the company behind WPS Office, while WPS Office is the office productivity suite.

Kingsoft and WPS Office are not two competing office suites. Kingsoft is the company. WPS Office is our suite.

How to download our office software

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Kingsoft Office is no longer offered as a separate international app. Please download WPS Office. That is the office suite we develop and support.

1. Open the official WPS Office download page.

2. Choose Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, or iOS. On phones and tablets, we recommend Google Play or the App Store.

3. Install the software, then open a .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, or PDF file you already have. This is the fastest way to confirm compatibility.

4. Sign in if you want to sync files across your computer and phone. You can also work locally without an account.

For Windows details, see WPS Office for Windows. Writer, Spreadsheet, and Presentation are free for personal use. WPS Pro adds more PDF and template features. WPS AI is an optional subscription. You can use the core editors without paying.

How WPS Office compares with other suites

People who search for Kingsoft are often choosing between a few common options:

1. WPS Office if you want one application for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint-type files, plus PDF, including Linux, with a free personal plan.

2. Microsoft 365 if your organization already depends on Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive.

3. Google Workspace if you prefer to work mainly in the browser.

4. LibreOffice if you need an open-source suite. A wider list is available in our article on office alternatives.

It is important to remember that Kingsoft is not another office suite competing on this list. Kingsoft is the company behind WPS Office.

Summary

Kingsoft is the company behind WPS Office. WPS Office is our office productivity suite, providing tools for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, cloud-based workflows, and optional AI capabilities.

Kingsoft Office was the previous international name used for the suite before it was renamed WPS Office in 2014.

If you are looking for the software today, please download WPS Office and use.

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• Use Word, Excel, and PPT for FREE, No Ads.

• Edit PDF files with the powerful PDF toolkit.

• Microsoft-like interface. Easy to learn. 100% Compatibility.

• Boost your productivity with WPS's abundant free Word, Excel, PPT, and CV templates.

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Algirdas Jasaitis

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