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What are the best desktop publishing softwares?

10

Options
Considered

121

User
Recs.

Sep 30, 2023

Last
Updated

10 Options Considered

Best desktop publishing softwares	Price	Platforms	License
-- Affinity Publisher	Free / paid	Windows, macOS, iPadOS	Proprietary
-- Scribus	Free	Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Unix	LGPL-2.1-only
-- Canva	Free / paid	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Web	-
-- LaTeX	Free	Windows, macOS, Linux	-
-- sK1	Free	Windows, macOS, Linux	LGPL

Affinity Publisher

Top Pro

One-off reasonable price, with no upgrades or monthly subs

Top Con

No EPub options (yet?)

SuaveNephthys's Experience

I have used some of the DTP's in this article in previous years , although Afinity is still under development, it already out performs others in its class. As with any new software there are teething issues , and it costs, not a lot, for a life time licence . If you don't want the next update XX that costs, stay with version X, it will still work. I have used Serif products in the past with mixed feelings on some of their products, but they know about DTP software. Afinity has set a fire, other software companies will have a hard time putting out. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, iPadOS

License:Proprietary

Top Pro

Very comprehensive set of features

Top Con

No Linux version available

Unfortunately, there is no Linux version available in 2021, despite of numerous requests of the users. See More

GenuineUoke's Experience

Straightforward to understand if you have used InDesign. A powerful program that is enjoyable to use. See More

Top Pro

Has become sufficiently popular over the past year that there is an excellent knowledge base

You can quickly find solutions, tutorials, etc. online when you need help. Contrast this to Scribus, which despite its rich feature set, is often unintuitive and awkward to use, and help from other users sometimes difficult to find. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Affinity Publisher free Beta version available for Windows and Mac. See More

Top Pro

Lots of Resources to Learn

Serif's forums, videos and other sites offer good resources to learn this tool, which has a very intuitive interface. See More

PrivateLoki's Experience

Ease of use See More

Top Pro

Most intuitive interface

Scribus

Top Pro

Open source

Top Con

It fails to fetch files from a server

Failed to fetch Hash Sum mismatch Hashes of expected file: SHA256:f59b543a8bd6ddc50c2889e4c74c6bd27011ccca72787cd7ff6de6aab3e4ac1f SHA1:e0415862cbf0ceb1b446143f68973c965b9b3385 [weak] MD5Sum:01697f6893a029a8e5b6d2b25d1f895a [weak] Filesize:549198 [weak] Hashes of received file: SHA256:2e71d91d41e97ec736b9e784ed9bb53d779edbe91bc6dd1413a9fd95443f22ee SHA1:be1d2e8bc6a5348fa0308c0d63f7c912ca56540a [weak] MD5Sum:e7bf3a5cb4276e651e9f7ea2a96da55c [weak] Filesize:549198 [weak] Last modification reported: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:34:29 +0000 See More

VivaciousNegoogunogumbar's Experience

stable, good performance See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Unix

License:LGPL-2.1-only

Exports:PDF, ePub 2 (via plugin)

Top Pro

Professional feature set

Yes, it's open source, but does not need to hide behind the commercial players. See More

NiceLucina's Experience

Won't install from command line or Software Manager See More

LaTeX

Top Pro

You can still read 20 year old LaTeX files

Top Con

Steep learning curve

LaTeX is not what you'd consider easy to use, and while there's plenty of documentation out there, much of it is rather opaque unless you're a seasoned TeXnician. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux

Database management:No

Project management:No

Word processing:Yes

Top Pro

Lets you focus on the content

LaTeX handles the design so you can focus on the content. See More

Top Con

Unintuitive and the instructions written in Klingon

Anything that needs to be done that is even slightly out of the ordinary takes days of searching and figuring out. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Works on every major OS and gives exactly the same quality output everywhere you go. LaTeX on macOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, and even Mac OS 9 has exactly the same output for a given set of sources. See More

Microsoft Publisher

Top Pro

Has excellent layout and typography tools

Publisher links to Microsoft Office's online template portfolio, which is regularly updated. It covers around 700 different options and crisp, clean designs that can easily jump-start your projects. See More

Top Con

Incompatible with Adobe products

It can't open or import popular file types such as PDFs or Photoshop PSDs. See More

Top Pro

Great layout tool

Its custom guidelines help you align elements on the page, and master pages give you control over elements like page numbers or framing blocks of color. Publisher even has full support for CMYK-optimized printing, the printing format used by ink printers to produce clear, high quality printing. See More

Top Con

Windows only

Mac and Linux still treated as fringe. See More

Top Pro

Compatible with other Office software

It works well with the rest of the Office suite. It natively imports Microsoft Word .doc and .docx files with ease. Or if you need Excel in your next newsletter, you can import a file without hassle. See More

Top Con

Lacks graphic design tools

Does not allow you to craft logos or touch up photographs. See More

Top Pro

Commonly available

Publisher comes with Microsoft Office. It is a lightweight alternative to professional layout software such as Adobe InDesign. See More

Adobe InDesign

Top Con

Expensive

You are required to pay for a monthly art asset subscription to access everything. It can only be purchased through subscription. The cheapest is the Single App subscription plan. If you need Photoshop, Illustrator or other Adobe software, you can select the All Apps subscription plan. See More

Top Pro

Great layout options

It has as the ability to use snap-to guides, create tables and access hundreds of fonts. The master page window allows you to easily insert headers, footers and additional pages to your project. It has a guiding system that allows you to resize your image while keeping its proportional shape. It utilizes alignment lines to help you place your images and text symmetrically throughout your document. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows 10/11, macOS 11+

License:Proprietary

Exports:ePub 2/3, PDF, HTML, JPEG

Top Con

Dependent on Adobe Creative Suite

InDesign is commonly grouped with Photoshop and Illustrator, its photo editing tools are bare-bones. You can use vector graphics tools and basic effects tools such as transparency, gradients, text-on-a-path, 3D effects, and quick shapes, but you can't adjust the image color or remove blemishes like red eye in your photos. See More

Top Pro

Compatible with other software

You can import Photoshop PSD and Microsoft Word files. It lets you make changes to existing PDF files and even allows you to export InDesign files to PDF. See More

Top Con

Poor support

Hard to believe, but there are open source projects with faster and more professional support. See More

Top Con

Not on Linux

This is unfortunately not available on Linux. See More

Top Con

High learning curve

An average beginner may find this not so intuitive program difficult to use. See More

Lucidpress

LibreOffice Draw

Top Pro

Free and open source

LibreOffice is available for free with code available here. It's licensed under LGPL v3 with new contributions dual-licensed under MPL. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

License:MPL-2.0

Exports:.uof;uot;uos;uop; .dif; .swf; .xpm; .xml; .xls;xlw;xlt; .wmf; .txt; .tif;tiff;sxm; .svm; .svg; .slk; .rtf; .ras; .pxl; .psw; .ppt;pps;pot; .png; .pgm;pbm;ppm; .pdf; .pdb; .pct; .odt;fodt;ods;fods;odp;fodp;odb;odg;fodg;odf; .mml; .met; .jpg;jpeg; .html;htm; .gif; .eps; .emf; .docx;xlsx;pptx; .doc;dot; .dbf; .csv;txt; .bmp; .xls;xlw;xlt; .doc;dot; .sxm; .sdw;sgl;vor; .sdc; .sda;sdd;sdp

Imports:.wpd; .wk1; .wks; .123; .cdr; .cmx; .xpm; .xml; .xls; .xlw; .xlt; .xbm; .wps; .wmf; .wb2; .txt; .tif; .tiff; .tga; .sxw; .stw; .sxc; .stc; .sxi; .sti; .sxd; .std; .sxm; .svm; .svg; .slk; .sgv; .sgf; .rtf; .ras; .pxl; .psw; .psd; .ppt; .pps; .pot; .png; .plt; .pgm; .pbm; .ppm; .pdf; .pdb; .pcx; .pct; .pcd; .pages; .odt; .fodt; .ods; .fods; .odp; .fodp; .odb; .odg; .fodg; .odf; .mml; .met; .jtd; .jtt; .jpg; .jpeg; .hwp; .html; .htm; .gif; .eps; .emf; .dxf; .docx; .xlsx; .pptx.doc; .dot; .dif; .dbf; .csv; .txt; .cgm; .bmp; .602; .sxm; .sdw; .sgl; .vor; .sdc; .vor; .sda; .sdd; .sdp; .vor; .ase; .vsd

Webworks ePublisher

Top Pro

DITA support

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