Softwr

Publishing · head to head

Kindle Direct Publishing vs Scribus

Kindle Direct Publishing logo

Kindle Direct Publishing

Publishing

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Scribus logo

Scribus

Publishing

Open-source desktop publishing and page layout

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Kindle Direct Publishing the 70% royalty band has hard edges: pricing even one cent outside $2.99-$12.99 drops the royalty to 35%, which is a cliff, not a gradual scale, and easy to trigger by accident when adjusting price for a promotion.; Scribus the interface is dated and the learning curve steep even for people who know InDesign
  • They diverge on capability: Kindle Direct Publishing covers Free publishing, Scribus covers CMYK and spot colour.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kindle Direct Publishing and Scribus actually diverge.

Attributes where Kindle Direct Publishing and Scribus differ
AttributeKindle Direct PublishingScribus
Pricing modelFree to publish; Amazon earns a royalty share rather than a feeOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebWindows, macOS, Linux

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Publishing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Kindle Direct Publishing

  • Free publishing
  • 70%/35% royalty tiers
  • Print-on-demand
  • KDP Select
  • Delivery fee deduction
  • Pre-order and release tools

Only in Scribus

  • CMYK and spot colour
  • PDF/X export
  • ICC colour management
  • Master pages and styles

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Kindle Direct Publishing

  • A self-published author wanting free, no-fee distribution to the largest single ebook and print-on-demand marketnot Scribus
  • An author pricing a book between $2.99 and $12.99 to qualify for the 70% royalty tier rather than 35%not Scribus
  • A publisher considering KDP Select exclusivity to earn Kindle Unlimited page-read royalties, trading away distribution on other retailers for the enrollment periodnot Scribus
  • An author with a large, image-heavy ebook file who needs to understand the per-megabyte delivery fee before setting a pricenot Scribus

Scribus

  • Newsletters, brochures and books produced without a licence budgetnot Kindle Direct Publishing
  • Nonprofits and community groups needing press-ready outputnot Kindle Direct Publishing
  • Anyone who needs PDF/X and CMYK rather than screen-only PDFnot Kindle Direct Publishing

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Kindle Direct Publishing

  • The 70% royalty band has hard edges: pricing even one cent outside $2.99-$12.99 drops the royalty to 35%, which is a cliff, not a gradual scale, and easy to trigger by accident when adjusting price for a promotion.
  • The delivery fee, roughly $0.15 per megabyte, is deducted on every sale under the 70% tier, so image-heavy or long ebooks lose meaningfully more revenue per sale than a plain-text book at the same list price.
  • KDP Select exclusivity, while optional, is the only route to Kindle Unlimited page-read royalties, so authors face a real trade-off between Amazon-only reach with page-read income and wider distribution without it.
  • Public domain or primarily public-domain content is capped at the 35% royalty regardless of price, so that category of publisher cannot access the higher rate at all.
  • As a single-retailer platform, an author relying solely on KDP is concentrated in one sales channel controlled entirely by Amazon policy, which has changed royalty terms before (the July 2026 price band expansion is itself an example) and can do so again.

Scribus

  • The interface is dated and the learning curve steep even for people who know InDesign
  • No native support for InDesign files, so migrating existing layouts means rebuilding them
  • Typography controls and text handling are weaker than the commercial alternatives
  • Development is slow, and long gaps between stable releases are normal

Pricing, plan by plan

Kindle Direct Publishing

Free
  • 70% royalty tierFree
    • Applies to ebooks priced $2.99-$12.99 (expanded from $9.99 ceiling in July 2026)
    • In-copyright works only
    • Delivery fee of roughly $0.15/MB deducted per sale
  • 35% royalty tierFree
    • Applies below $2.99, above $12.99, or for public domain content
    • No delivery fee deducted
    • Applies automatically outside eligible territories for the 70% tier

Scribus

Free
  • ScribusFree
    • Full functionality
    • Commercial use permitted
    • Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Kindle Direct Publishing if

  • You need free publishing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want 70%/35% royalty tiers.
Kindle Direct Publishing review

Choose Scribus if

  • You need cmyk and spot colour.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want pdf/x export.
Scribus review

Questions people ask

Is Kindle Direct Publishing or Scribus better?
Neither clearly leads. Kindle Direct Publishing starts at Free and Scribus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kindle Direct Publishing or Scribus?
Kindle Direct Publishing starts at Free and Scribus at Free.
Does Kindle Direct Publishing or Scribus run on more platforms?
Kindle Direct Publishing runs on Web. Scribus runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Can I use Kindle Direct Publishing for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kindle Direct Publishing best used for?
Kindle Direct Publishing is most often used for a self-published author wanting free, no-fee distribution to the largest single ebook and print-on-demand market, an author pricing a book between $2.99 and $12.99 to qualify for the 70% royalty tier rather than 35%, a publisher considering kdp select exclusivity to earn kindle unlimited page-read royalties, trading away distribution on other retailers for the enrollment period, an author with a large, image-heavy ebook file who needs to understand the per-megabyte delivery fee before setting a price. Of those, a self-published author wanting free, no-fee distribution to the largest single ebook and print-on-demand market and an author pricing a book between $2.99 and $12.99 to qualify for the 70% royalty tier rather than 35% are not what Scribus is typically brought in for.
What can Kindle Direct Publishing do that Scribus cannot?
Kindle Direct Publishing covers Free publishing, 70%/35% royalty tiers, Print-on-demand, KDP Select. Scribus covers CMYK and spot colour, PDF/X export, ICC colour management, Master pages and styles.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kindle Direct Publishing: Does KDP cost anything to use?

No signup or listing fee. Amazon earns revenue through the royalty share (65% or 30% of the list price after territory and delivery-fee adjustments) rather than a subscription or fee.

Scribus: Is Scribus free?

Yes, open source under the GPL, free for commercial work.

Kindle Direct Publishing: What is the current 70% royalty price band?

As of July 2026, $2.99 to $12.99, expanded from the previous $2.99 to $9.99 ceiling that had been unchanged since 2007.

Scribus: Can Scribus open InDesign files?

No. There is no native INDD support, so existing layouts have to be rebuilt.

Kindle Direct Publishing: What is the delivery fee?

Roughly $0.15 per megabyte of file size, deducted per sale only on the 70% royalty tier, calculated from the delivered file size.

Scribus: Is it good enough for commercial printing?

Yes. CMYK, spot colours, ICC profiles and PDF/X export cover what commercial printers require.

Share

Related pages

More on Kindle Direct Publishing

More on Scribus

Keep looking

Other head to heads