TOP 20 FREE DESKTOP PUBLISHING SOFTWARE PROGRAMS

Desktop publishing is a form of publishing that involves use of computer and computer-dedicated publishing software in creating various materials –pamphlets, brochures, documents, magazines, newspapers, etc.

In another sense, desktop publishing may be used in naming the industry concerned with use of computer for the creation, printing and distribution of commercial materials.

Whichever sense referred to in defining desktop publishing, it is noteworthy that “desktop publishing” literally indicates that copy creation, editing, design and certain other tasks involved in this (publishing) process can be executed from a desktop –a kind of computer.

Benefits of Desktop Publishing to Businesses

Desktop publishing benefits businesses significantly by helping them save time and incorporate a cost-effective approach into publishing. Prior to the advent of desktop publishing, publishing used to be a fund-gulping business aspect for both small and large businesses that required sale and/or distribution of published materials.

By and large, desktop publishing brings about ease and efficiency in printing copies and updating documents. Publishing, which, in time past seemed very tedious and expensive, can now be executed expeditiously and at reasonable costs, thanks to the emergence of desktop publishing.

As implied earlier, desktop publishing benefits businesses because on the one hand, it is a cost-effective publishing approach and on the other hand, it saves time. We’d look at these two ways in which desktop publishing significantly benefits small and large businesses.

Desktop publishing as a cost-effective approach

Compared to the conventional typeset method, desktop publishing enables the publisher to incur reasonable prices in order to create, print and publish materials. The conventional method would normally demand a lot of investment but with desktop publishing, the publisher can print and publish a whole lot of materials at a comparatively cheap price. This reduction in cost will benefit your business by allowing you to spend less on publishing and channel funds to other business uses.

Desktop publishing as a time-saving process

Desktop publishing helps you save time while creating and publishing content for both digital and print media. In fact, businesses can leverage desktop publishing for instant publication of materials –web content, newsletters, documents, pamphlets, etc. –thereby allowing clients, customers or prospects to have quick access to them.

The tools used in desktop publishing pave the way for swift processing time. In the long run, this saves a lot of time and quickens the delivery of published materials.

Desktop Publishing Software and Word Processing Software –Are They the Same?

It is very possible for one to subconsciously mistake word processing software for desktop publishing software. Although there are (software) programs that combine word processing and desktop publishing functions, desktop publishing software differs from word processing software.

While the desktop publishing software functions extensively, the typical word processing software functions as a tool for creating text line by line. Where the goal is to create such publications as magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, etc., the desktop publishing software is definitely what you need for easy combination of graphics with complex pages of text. The desktop publishing software is typically composed of the elements, features and/or tools that make it possible to achieve content creation, design and customization goals.

An Overview of Desktop Publishing Software

Desktop publishing software is a program –functioning as a mobile app, desktop app or web-based platform –that features the essential tools and capability for creating various materials such as posters, fliers, display banners, presentations, business cards, etc.

Both small and large businesses can adapt desktop publishing software for the creation and design of marketing materials that would aid optimum branding or communicate business offers, products or services to clients and prospects.

Despite that there are tons of desktop publishing software programs out there, you may struggle to figure out the best from the stack. To save you the stress of searching for the best DTP software, here is our well-researched list of the Top 20 Free Desktop Publishing Software Programs?

Canva for Enterprise

Canva is arguably the best software program for desktop publishing purposes. It is a widely used desktop publishing application available on iOS, Android and on the web. Canva does have a premium version but users are still certain to find the free version handy.

Canva’s free version packs a good deal of features that can help users create their intended visual content –presentations, posters and graphics –without any hassle. The desktop publishing software also boasts a generous suite of templates and design elements. Some of the design elements Canva offers include stock photos, illustrations, audio content, videos and fonts.

Not only is Canva very popular, it’s also arguably the best desktop publishing application in terms of features and capabilities. Canva is especially capable of helping you integrate Google Maps, Giphy and similar web content.

Scribus

Scribus works in a style pretty similar to how QuarkPress and Adobe InDesign work. It comes with a whole lot of features that users can access even without subscribing to the premium (Pro) package.

As a well-built desktop publishing app, Scribus arms users with useful features including CMYK support, EPS import/export, drawing tools, PDF creation, and font embedding and scaling. It feels awesome to learn that Scribus is free to use but the snag about Scribus is that it may not be the best DTP software for newbies who can barely commit time to learning how to use it. Unlike Canva that proves a lot easy to use, Scribus may appear quite complicated to DTP newbies.

Scribus is quite similar to QuarkPress and Adobe InDesign in the sense that it features floating palettes, text frames and pull-down menus. Anyone conversant with the said DTP applications is likely to quickly master how to use Scribus.

Inkscape

Inkscape is a specialized desktop publishing software program based on the Flexible Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. While Inkscape works very much like CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator, it’s a great software program for creating leaflets, book covers, advertisements, business cards, etc. In this regard, some of the things you can use Inkscape for are text creation and graphic configuration.

Inkscape is capable of handling varying DTP-related tasks and quite interestingly, it’s a better program than the Bitmap photo program in terms of flexibility. With Inkscape being a free-to-use and open-source tool, there’s no hassle in getting access to the vector drawing DTP program.

LucidPress

LucidPress is most probably the best DTP software platform for people looking to part ways with costly premium branding. While LucidPress boasts a huge customer base with 8 million+ users, it’s a superb free-to-use platform for you to create and share branded marketing materials.

With LucidPress at your disposal, it is pretty easy to keep your brand alive by ensuring that all of your marketing materials created on LucidPress reflect your brand. LucidPress allows for customization while still offering lockable templates that ensure your brand is well reflected and protected.

QuarkXPress

QuarkXpress can pave the way for your transition to the sphere of desktop publishing. The desktop publishing application lets you access features that should make your DTP journey a success.

QuarkXpress packs a decent number of tools intended to help perform photo editing, multi-channel publishing, graphics and illustrations, and page layouts. Armed with all of these tools, users of QuarkXpress are only a few taps away from achieving their DTP goals. Standalone designers, in-house ad content creators and just anyone can get more creative, courtesy of the amazing tools that QuarkExpress offers.

Foxit PDF Editor

Foxit is a PDF-focused software provider whose PDF software can be accessed as a pre-installed file in select new PCs of brands like Acer, ASUS and HP. Not only are Foxit’s PDF solutions considered affordable, they also offer security and efficiency.

If you really want to achieve productivity in creating and processing PDFs, you can count on Foxit’s tools for optimum performance. Many consumers and businesses have made Foxit their top choice for PDF-related desktop publishing purposes.

VistaCreate

VistaCreate boasts almost everything that you need for achieving your graphic design goals. Whether you’re an expert designer or some newbie in graphic design, you’re pretty sure of making success with VistaCreate.

VistaCreate features a library of 50 million+ royalty-free resources such as videos, vectors and premium images. As a plus, the graphic design platform packs more than 50,000 well-built templates that you’ll find handy for the design aspect of your desktop publishing.

In terms of functionality, VistaCreate is probably your best bet for hassle-free customization that involves removing unwanted elements and incorporating personalized text, backgrounds, images, branding elements, music, etc. into your design.

If you don’t want to use the free images, clip art and other elements on VistaCreate, you can easily upload and use personal photos and videos. Aside from being simple to master, VistaCreate is one of the best DTP software programs in terms of customization.

PDFelement

PDFelement is a PDF-focused desktop publishing application that allows for glitch-free PDF creation, conversion, editing, etc. on both Mac and Windows platforms. As an all-inclusive PDF-focused solution, PDFelement lets you achieve unrestricted functionality in the creation and customization of PDF documents.

All categories of DTP users will find PDFelement as a worthwhile alternative to Adobe Acrobat. PDFelement is a globally recognized PDF solution with support for access in multiple languages –the software has been reportedly sold in nine languages.

GNU Image Management Program (GIMP)

GIMP is something you may like to include in your armory of DTP tools especially if you engage in lots of image editing.

Not only is GIMP a nice alternative to Photoshop, it’s also a superb open-source DTP program for handling light image editing tasks. For the latter reason, you’re unlikely to consider GIMP fantastic for design tasks with heavy text.

GIMP is a free and widely used bitmap photo editor that anyone can find suitable for mini image editing uses.

Venngage

Venngage is a trusted design platform you can rely on for the handling of the organizational content design needs you’d normally hire a designer for. With Venngage, you can access a decent rage of visual materials that help bring your content design goals alive.

Venngage features B2B-specific templates thereby facilitating the creation of excellent visual content for strategic business communication. With such templates at your fingertips, you can easily create compelling visual content for communicating both simple and complex information about your company.

Ease of transforming data insights, ability to leverage B2B-specific templates and creation of high-performing visual content are just some of the reasons you won’t regret choosing Venngage for your DTP uses.

Designrr

Designrr is a specialized software program best suited for individuals looking to create e-books and flipbooks from varying files including videos, audios, PDFs, podcasts, Google docs, Word docs and blog posts.

If your business marketing strategy relies extensively on use of compelling e-books to attract customers, you’ll likely find Designrr very handy for creating e-books. Particularly, Designrr furnishes you with all that you need for creating attention-grabbing reports, lead magnets, e-books and white papers.

With Designrr, your chances of transforming ready-to-use content –videos, audios, blog write-ups, Word docs, etc. –into sales-driving e-books are pretty high.

Adobe Creative Cloud Express

This desktop publishing software has got you covered for everything you want to create ranging from thumbnails down to logos, flyers, business cards and posters. Adobe Creative Cloud Express can be accessed via the web platform and on mobile devices.

Previously known as Adobe Spark, Adobe Creative Cloud Express lets you select from tons of seasonal images found in the royalty-free Adobe Stock Photo library. You’ll also have unrestricted access to the Adobe Fonts library which houses 18,000+ licensed fonts.

If you’re looking for where to get dozens and tons of templates for your social media or business designs, rest assured that Adobe Creative Cloud Express has got you covered.

PubHTML5

PubHTML5 is a DTP application with an excellent easy-to-use interface. All categories of DTP users will find the application convenient for leveraging HTML5 toward creating online textbooks, magazines, newsletters, catalogs, etc.

Most particularly, PubHTML5 works the magic of converting less attractive PDFs into amazing flipbooks. While HTML5 is available to users of varying devices (tablets, desktop computers and smartphones), the publishing software lets you create interactive online content that can help push up customer engagement in the long run.

It’s hard to deny that you don’t want to waste effort and time while trying to build online content –newspapers, flipbooks, newsletters, etc. PubHTML5 comes to the fore as a dependable software program for quick and hassle-free creation of flipbooks and certain other materials intended to be hosted online.

iStudio Publisher

iStudio Publisher is distinguished as a Mac-dedicated and robust page layout application. It is designed to execute DTP tasks on Mac computers and in that wise, the DTP software lets you create a range of marketing/business items including posters, reports, brochures, newsletters, greeting cards, invitations, adverts, etc.

iStudio Publisher facilitates the creation of quality documents that meet the professional standard you may require for your business’ or company’s marketing/communication purposes. The desktop publishing software also has high-quality templates that will likely give you a head start as regards your varying design tasks.

With iStudio Publisher touted as an intuitive and powerful publishing solution for users of Mac computers, it could be the best Mac-dedicated DTP software for you.

Lyx

Lyx is a desktop publishing application that allows for easy customization enabling you to directly include sections, paragraphs, addresses, subparagraphs, lists, citations, authors and other textual elements.

This desktop publishing software, Lyx, supports various document types and for DTP experts who use mathematical symbols extensively, it may just be the perfect software for incorporating mathematical letters, operators, formulas, etc. into designs.

Lyx’s functionality transcends other capabilities such as file insertion, document import/export, and insertion of notes, comments, indexes and labels. While using Lyx, you can as well open multiple tabs and integrate different sizes or shapes of fields into your works. All of this functionality lends credence to the fact that Lyx is such a versatile desktop publishing software program.

Xara Cloud

Xara Cloud is an easy-to-use DTP application that allows for drag-and-drop editing. With Xara Cloud, you really don’t need to have strong design skill before you can churn out excellent customer-tailored designs for your business.

This DTP software program, Xara Cloud, is efficient in creating various marketing materials including display banners, posts, e-books, etc. While using Xara Cloud, you needn’t worry about how to import elements such as logos, colors and font styles. Interestingly, the drag-and-drop editing tool will do the job by itself. The beauty of this is that since Xara Cloud automatically integrates the said design elements, you’ll have enough time to concentrate on your message.

Based on verifiable findings, Xara Cloud is one of the most efficient easy-to-use DTP applications for creating professional or branded marketing materials.

OpenOffice Writer

This application is an open-source program more commonly used as a word-processing tool. Beyond functioning as a word processor, OpenOffice Writer can alternatively serve as a desktop publishing tool.

Since this post hovers around desktop publishing software, we’d have to focus on the desktop publishing capability of OpenOffice Writer. Basically, the desktop publishing tool features several wizards that let you easily create varying documents.

OpenOffice Writer is suitable for creating a broad range of marketing materials (or branded contents) including business cards, letters, databases, documents, templates, spreadsheets, presentations, agendas and faxes.

Sesimi

Sesimi is a desktop publishing program that operates in the style of a platform for effective brand management through creation and distribution of branded content. With Sesimi, it is pretty easy to distribute whatever marketing material you have created for your brand via the publishing platform.

On the one hand, Sesimi arms you with automated templates that allow you to swiftly create lots of marketing or branded content. The brand management platform, on the other hand, offers the sort of optimization that saves you a lot of energy and time.

While Sesimi boasts a global support team, the brand management platform promises to offer assistance to clients at every stage (of their brand management). Picking Sesimi for brand management –through overall content creation and distribution –might just be your passport for breaking into the market with your brand marketing.

Kotobee Author

Kotobee Author is an award-winning publishing tool notable for having won the Academics’ Choice SmartMedia Award in 2016. The publishing software works pretty well for EPUB editing and e-book creation.

Kotobee Author is good for e-book creation and customization such that it lets you incorporate elements –widgets, 3D, audio, video, etc. –into your e-book. The e-books you created using Kotobee Author can be exported to any of various formats such as EPUB3, desktop apps, web apps, etc.

If you desire full functionality and customization for your e-books, you’ll likely have to subscribe to Kotobee’s base license. At a cost of $150, this license gives you access to absolute customization such that you can prevent Kotobee’s logo watermark from appearing in your content.

Besides being a great desktop publishing tool, Kotobee Author can be adapted for training and education. This makes it a comprehensive software package you’ll enjoy not only for e-book design but also for other purposes.

Spring Publisher

Spring Publisher is a free-to-use desktop publishing software program. It offers a decent number of features and works for creating differing materials including postcards, letterheads and business cards. The downside to this free publishing software, however, is that you’re likely to end up with documents that are poor in quality and functionality.

Spring Publisher features elements –such as rotation, opacity, filters, frames and shadows –that allow you to create desired image effects. You can as well incorporate extra elements –such as maps, logos, text, barcodes and shapes –into the content you’re creating with Spring Publisher.

Conclusion

At this juncture, finding the best desktop publishing software for your publishing needs shouldn’t seem any difficult. While we’ve thoroughly discussed the top 20 free desktop publishing software programs, we expect you to conveniently select the one that would work best for you.

We tagged the listed desktop publishing software programs free but for some of them, it’s possible that you’re required to pay certain fees before you can access all the available features.