Publishing · alternatives
Alternatives to Adobe InDesign
21 publishing tools sit alongside Adobe InDesign in this directory. Below is what separates each from Adobe InDesign on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 21
- With a free tier
- 15
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Adobe InDesign starts at
- On request
Why people look past Adobe InDesign
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Adobe InDesign entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for Adobe InDesign carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 15 of the 21 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Open-source desktop publishing and page layout
- Can be used without paying; Adobe InDesign cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Subscription only, single app or Creative Cloud; published on the vendor site.
Amazon-owned book cataloguing, review and recommendation app
- Can be used without paying; Adobe InDesign cannot.
- Sold on a Free, no subscription or in-app purchases; funded by Amazon as a commerce and data feeder model rather than Subscription only, single app or Creative Cloud; published on the vendor site.
Amazon self-publishing platform that is free to use, earning Amazon a royalty cut instead of a fee, with a hard price band and per-megabyte delivery cost governing the 70% rate
- Can be used without paying; Adobe InDesign cannot.
- Sold on a Free to publish; Amazon earns a royalty share rather than a fee model rather than Subscription only, single app or Creative Cloud; published on the vendor site.
Rakuten Kobo self-publishing platform paying a 70% royalty with no delivery fee deduction and no upper price cap, a materially different structure from Amazon KDP
- Can be used without paying; Adobe InDesign cannot.
- Sold on a Free to publish; Kobo earns a royalty share rather than a fee model rather than Subscription only, single app or Creative Cloud; published on the vendor site.
Ebook distribution aggregator that moved from a royalty-share model to flat-fee subscription pricing, so authors now keep 100% of the store royalty rather than splitting it with the platform
- Can be used without paying; Adobe InDesign cannot.
- Sold on a Flat-fee subscription, no commission on paid plans model rather than Subscription only, single app or Creative Cloud; published on the vendor site.
User-generated fiction publishing and reading app, owned by Naver alongside Webtoon
- Can be used without paying; Adobe InDesign cannot.
- Sold on a Free with ads; paid ad-free subscription and optional in-app coin purchases model rather than Subscription only, single app or Creative Cloud; published on the vendor site.
Every Adobe InDesign alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe InDesign (this page) | On request | Subscription only, single app or Creative Cloud; published on the vendor site | - | |
| ScribusOpen source and genuinely capable of press-ready output, without InDesign file compatibility | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Goodreads | Free | Free, no subscription or in-app purchases; funded by Amazon as a commerce and data feeder | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Kindle Direct Publishing | Free | Free to publish; Amazon earns a royalty share rather than a fee | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Kobo Writing Life | Free | Free to publish; Kobo earns a royalty share rather than a fee | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| PublishDrive | Free | Flat-fee subscription, no commission on paid plans | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Wattpad | Free | Free with ads; paid ad-free subscription and optional in-app coin purchases | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Webtoon | Free | Free to read on a delay; Webtoon Coins purchased to unlock early chapter access | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Moon Reader | Free, then $4.99/one-time | One-time purchase, free ad-supported version available | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Kotobee | Free | Per licence per year | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Affinity Publisher | Free | Free, no licence fee | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Draft2Digital | Free | 10% of retail list price, no upfront fee | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Reedsy | Free | Free tools; freelancers quote per project | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Pressbooks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| BookBaby | On request | One-time purchase per project | 3 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Libro.fm | $14.99/month | Per credit per month, credits never expire | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Everand | $11.99/month | Per user per month, unlimited | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Storytel | $14.99/month | Per user per month, unlimited | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Scrivener | On request | One-time purchase | 3 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| IngramSpark | On request | Free title setup, then per-unit print cost and revision fees | 1 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Kindle | Free | Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
| Kobo | Free | Free store and app; hardware sold separately; optional subscription | 2 | vs Adobe InDesign |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Adobe InDesign badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (15)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Scribus , Free
- Goodreads , Free
- Kindle Direct Publishing , Free
- Kobo Writing Life , Free
- PublishDrive , Free
- Wattpad , Free
- Webtoon , Free
- Moon Reader , Free, then $4.99/one-time
What you would be giving up
Adobe InDesign is most often brought in for commercial print work where the printer expects indesign files, long documents needing styles and master pages across hundreds of pages, catalogues built from a data source through data merge. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Adobe InDesign is broadly right and the question is cost, the Adobe InDesign pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Publishing category lists everything the directory holds, and best publishing tools ranks them.
Adobe InDesign runs on windows, macos. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Adobe InDesign alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Adobe InDesign?
- 21 other publishing tools are listed in this directory, led by Scribus, Goodreads, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kobo Writing Life. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Adobe InDesign?
- 15 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Scribus, Goodreads, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kobo Writing Life, PublishDrive.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Adobe InDesign?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Adobe InDesign?
- Adobe InDesign is most often brought in for commercial print work where the printer expects indesign files, long documents needing styles and master pages across hundreds of pages, catalogues built from a data source through data merge. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Adobe InDesign?
- None of the publishing tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Adobe InDesign alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Publishing, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Adobe InDesign against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Adobe InDesign covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every publishing tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Publishing category, 21 tools beside Adobe InDesign. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.