Microsoft Publisher is a user-friendly digital publishing tool designed for home users and microbusinesses. It provides an intuitive user interface and doesn’t necessitate prior graphic design or application experience. It primarily allows users to design brochures, newsletters, calendars, postcards, address labels, and other materials with a professional appearance.
However, some users believe the User experience to be very simplistic and unintuitive. Additionally, the software is incompatible with Macs and is only accessible for Windows. For these reasons, we have put together a list of the top Microsoft Publisher alternatives and competitors.
Top 10 Best Microsoft Publisher Alternatives & Competitors
- Adobe InDesign – Most Powerful Alternative
- Canva – Most User-Friendly Alternative
- Affinity Publisher – Most Customizable Alternative
- iStudio Publisher – Most Flexible Alternative
- PDFelement – Most Enterprise-worthy Alternative
- iStudio – Most Dynamic Alternative
- Lucidchart – Most Potent Alternative
- CorelDRAW – Most Robust Alternative
- QuarkXpress – Most Relevant Alternative
- Lucidpress– Most Insightful Alternative
1. Adobe InDesign – Most Powerful Alternative
PRICING: $20.99/month
InDesign is more sophisticated than Publisher, but it also has more features and flexibility. A desktop publishing program called Adobe InDesign enables users to produce publications with a professional appearance, including brochures, newsletters, and flyers.
KEY FEATURES:
- Use of multiple pages
- Styles for characters and paragraphs
- Image composition
- wrap text
- Alignment of the optical margin
- Auto-Clipping Paths
REASONS TO BUY:
- InDesign makes it easy to create posters and brochures
- Great for design requirements across several mediums
- Excellent Page Design Layout
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Not user-friendly and challenging to learn
- Pricey
2. Canva – Most User-Friendly Alternative
PRICING – Starts at $12.99/month
Canva allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, and other visual content. With a simple drag-and-drop user interface and a wide library of templates and design components such as typefaces, graphics, stock photography, video, and audio content, and the ability to add anything from the web, anyone can take an idea and turn it into something beautiful.
KEY FEATURES:
- Export as Various File Formats
- Picture Upload
- Stock Photo Archive
- Editing Using Drag & Drop
- Different Banner Types
REASONS TO BUY:
- A user-friendly design program with a ton of features
- Fantastic application for design novices
- It is quick and simple to make social network posts or other designs.
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Many flaws were found during the design
- Worst customer service ever
3. Affinity Publisher – Most Customizable Alternative
PRICING – Contact the support
Affinity Publisher is a very comprehensive toolset for design and publishing that is streamlined in operation and simple to get a handle on. It combines intelligence and reactivity into one package.
KEY FEATURES:
- Drawings in two dimensions
- Tools for Collaboration
- Import/Export of Data
- Management of Design
- Document Storage
REASONS TO BUY:
- Excellent user interface
- Outstanding and potent
- Simple to learn and use
- A wonderful, feature-rich alternative for Mac users
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Only a few features
4. iStudio Publisher – Most Flexible Alternative
PRICING – $29.99/user
For Mac computers, iStudio Publisher is a robust and user-friendly page designing program. It can design newsletters, brochures, ads, flyers, booklets, invites, menus, reports, posters, greeting cards, and yearbooks. Using a professionally made template or a blank document of any size, it’s easy to make beautiful, professional papers.
KEY FEATURES:
- Customizable Templates
- Newsletters
- Management of content
- Newspapers
Design and LayoutREASONS TO BUY:
- Excellent and simple to use
- Simple and Familiar Interface
- The most user-friendly Desk Top Publisher
REASONS TO AVOID:
- It’s challenging to use and navigate.
5. PDFelement – Most Enterprise-worthy Alternative
PRICING – Free trial is available
PDFelement is the most user-friendly application for creating, editing, converting, and signing PDF documents on Windows and Mac. It is a document management solution that lets businesses of all sizes turn different document formats and image files into PDFs that can be edited and marked up.
KEY FEATURES:
- Permissions and Access Controls
- Retention & Archiving
- Processing in Bulk
- Tools for Collaboration
- Commenting/Notes
REASONS TO BUY:
- Nice performance and a beautiful appearance
- Inexpensive and user-friendly
- Good balance of depth of features and ease of usage
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Poor customer service
6. Scribus – Most Dynamic Alternative
PRICING – Free
Scribus is an open-source desktop publishing (DTP) software meant to assist organizations in creating documents for print publications through the use of a page layout system. It enables organizations to control the material that is available online for a variety of operating systems.
KEY FEATURES:
- Activity Monitoring
- Tools for Collaboration
- Visualization of data
- Subscription Control
REASONS TO BUY:
- A fantastic free tool for designing publications and posters.
- Excellent and experienced
- Works well for text and graphics design
REASONS TO AVOID:
- some fonts are difficult to embed when exporting to PDF
7. Lucidchart – Most Potent Alternative
PRICING – $7.95/user/month
Lucidchart is a web-based diagramming tool that allows you to create diagrams quickly and easily. Create flowcharts, org charts, wireframes, UML diagrams, mind maps, and more in a flash. Excellent for working with clients and collaborating as a team.
KEY FEATURES:
- Permissions and Access Controls
- Alerts/Notifications
- Auto Update
- Brainstorming
- Charting
- Collaboration Tools for Chat and Messaging
REASONS TO BUY:
- A system that is excellent and extremely simple to understand
- Work diagrams are excellent for real-time cooperation.
- Easy to use and a simple product.
- an effective workflow builder that is simple to learn.
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Excessively expensive and deceptive packages
8. CorelDRAW– Most Robust Alternative
PRICING – It offers a free trial and you can contact the vendor for pricing
The creation of professional designs is made possible for users by the vector drawing, layout, photo editing, typography, and template capabilities offered by CoreIDRAW. Users can produce artwork, web graphics, and prints in the cloud, as well as access and keep them there. It is compatible with both Mac and Windows.
KEY FEATURES:
- Drawings in two dimensions
- Processing in Bulk
- Tools for Collaboration
- A color match
- Import/Export of Content
- Management of content
- Content Exchange
REASONS TO BUY:
- Extremely feature-rich, has a fantastic toolkit,
- The experience with CorelDraw and its customer service has been quite positive.
- The picture tracing and vector editing features.
- Draw Complex Designs and Produce Top-Notch Publications
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Very difficult to design
9. QuarkXpress – Most Relevant Alternative
PRICING – Entry-level price starts at $259.00/user/year
QuarkXPress is a strong content design and digital publishing program that has integrated features for enhancing graphics and illustrations as well as altering photos in a non-destructive manner.
KEY FEATURES:
- Management of content
- Search/Filter
- Tools for Collaboration
- Design Control
- image retouching
REASONS TO BUY:
- the robust desktop publishing tool
- Professional-looking writing that doesn’t have a steep learning curve
- It streamlines desktop publishing and the creation of brochures and advertisements.
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Poor customer service
10. Lucidpress – Most Insightful Alternative
PRICING – $10.00/user/month
Lucidpress is a design and brand template platform that enables non-designers to develop and distribute marketing collateral entirely on their own (without going off brand). Lockable templates ease the effort of the creative team while safeguarding the brand and enabling colleagues to make minor design adjustments and alterations.
KEY FEATURES:
- Picture Upload
- Stock Photo Gallery
- Editing Using Drag & Drop
- Format & Clip Art
- The scale of Font Selection
REASONS TO BUY:
- Outstanding Customer Service
- Powerful, user-friendly, and a great value.
- Graphic design for non-experts
REASONS TO AVOID:
- When working together, it is very slow.
Reference and Links
- https://www.getapp.com/website-ecommerce-software/a/microsoft-publisher/alternatives/
- https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-publisher/competitors/alternatives
- https://www.trustradius.com/products/microsoft-publisher/competitors