11 Best Free Desktop Publishing Software for Mac and Windows

Summary: An open-source and free desktop publishing software makes it easier for you to quickly create stunning brochures, magazines, books, or posters with pre-configured templates. What else can you use this software for? Find out in the article below!

People nowadays prefer to read magazines, books, or any other printed material online in a digitized form. Therefore, making the businesses create digitized copies of print assets that can be published and read online. However, adjusting their layout or graphics manually is tiresome and may take a lot of time. Instead of editing printed materials manually, you can use free desktop publishing software to edit them.

By using free DTP software, you can edit and publish print materials, adjust layout, customize graphics, and republish them in a responsive format. Additionally, it can also be used for optimizing the print materials for publishing. Get more insights on how to leverage the DTP software to create professional printing materials.

What is Desktop Publishing Software?

Desktop publishing software is used to create, edit, and publish different print materials like magazines, books, brochures, posters, etc. With it, you can easily adjust the text layout, insert media, and arrange graphics of any print asset according to its publication requirements. Additionally, the created digital material can be printed or published directly to multiple social media easily.

11 Free Desktop Publishing Software for Mac and Windows

• FlowPaper
• Scalar
• FlipBuilder
• VistaCreate
• DesignCap
• Venngage
• Canva
• Renderforest
• Scribus
• Marq
• LibreOffice Writer

There are several desktop publishing software available that you can use to create several print assets on Mac and Windows operating systems. Some of the best options you can consider include

• FlowPaper: Best for responsive digital publishing

FlowPaper helps you to convert PDF documents into images, interactive brochures, magazines, catalogues, and flipbooks. With it, you can easily create several publication types for responsive digital publishing. FlowPaper can be used for adding images, text, and animations to your publications.

Further, with FlowPaper, you can convert PDFs into different publications for better readability and text sharpening.

FlowPaper Features

• Creates unlimited publications with PDFs
• Customizes the PDFs layout for different devices
• Offers heatmaps for analyzing the user’s engagement with publications
• Republishes magazines in a responsive layout
• Protects the publications via a password

FlowPaper Supporting Operating System: Windows and Mac

Price to Upgrade: Starting from INR 6,148.99 for a one-time payment plan

FlowPaper Free Trial: Not available

• Scalar: Best for writing long-form content

Scalar is a free and open-source publishing software that helps authors write long-form content online. With it, you can integrate different media from several sources and juxtapose them with your own writing in several ways.

Scalar can also be used for structuring your essay and book length in nested, non-linear, and recursive formats.

Scalar Features

• Comes with built-in visualizations for pages or books
• Customizes the layout and design of publications
• Annotates videos, audios, text, pictures, etc.
• Supports media formats like MPEG-3, WAV, GIF, HTML, etc.
• Allows multiple authors to collaborate on projects

Supporting Operating System: Web-based and supports all major operating systems

Price to Upgrade: Free to use

Scalar Free Trial: Free to use

• FlipBuilder: Best for converting PDFs into innovative flip books

FlipBuilder helps users to convert PDFs into innovative and engaging flip books, magazines, brochures, and catalogues. It comes with a page editor to easily enrich the existing content with different multimedia content.

This free DTP software lets users publish the content online and share it via email to multiple users.

FlipBuilder Features

• Shares the content directly on social media
• Adds different media files into brochures
• Inserts QR code for customized links
• Offers multiple templates to create different publications
• Offers 90+ fully editable shapes

FlipBuilder Operating System: Windows and Mac

Price to Upgrade: Purchase it with INR 10,568.51 permanent payment

FlipBuilder Free Trial: Available

• VistaCreate: Best for designing graphics for social media and print

VistaCreate graphic design software is for generating visual content to be shared on various social media and marketing channels. This software can be used for creating unique website designs, print documents, videos, and animations for your business.

VistaCreate provides several templates like Easter, food, fashion, birthday, etc., to create and publish unique visual content.

Features of VistaCreate

• 100K+ templates for social, web, and print media
• Provides royalty free images and videos for projects
• Offers background remover and sticker maker
• Supports posting, scheduling, and printing of designs
• Resizes and customize the designs

VistaCreate Supporting Operating System: Supports all major operating systems including iOS and android

Price to Upgrade: Paid plan starts from INR 819.64/month

VistaCreate Free Trial: Available for 14 days

• DesignCap: Best for creating professional posters and flyers

DesignCap is a free desktop publishing software to develop customized designs for business cards, posters, flyers, Pinterest graphics, etc., with multiple templates. You can create high-quality graphics by selecting the required template, customizing it, and sharing them to various social media handles.

DesignCap Features

• Comes with 1000+ templates for creating infographics, posters, flyers, etc.
• Offers built-in library of fonts, background, and icons
• Provides multiple charts to represent data
• Supports content export in high resolution PNG, PDF, and JPG files

DesignCap Operating System: Mac, Windows, Linux

Price to Upgrade: Paid plan starts from INR 409.26/month

DesignCap Free Trial: Not available

• Venngage: Best for creating visual infographics

Venngage designing tool helps users to create different types of infographics with multiple pre-built templates. With the drag and drop functionality, you can easily add text, pictures, icons, and data to the design.

This free desktop publishing software can also be used for creating posters, e-books, flyers, business cards, invitations, and a lot more.

Venngage Features

• Offers pre-configured infographic templates
• Royalty-free high-definition stock images
• Supports real-time collaboration to edit infographics
• Keeps files organized in a separate folder

Venngage Supporting Operating System: Web-based and supports all major operating systems

Price to Upgrade: Paid plan starts from INR 819.25/month/user

Venngage Free Trial: Not available

• Canva: Best for creating and printing graphics for products

Canva designing and publishing tool is used to create different types of graphics, visual documents, videos, image collages, and a lot more. With multiple templates available, it has made it easier to generate any content for users.

Canva can also be used for creating social media content, collaborating on projects in real-time, and also for designing and printing the brand’s products.

Canva Features

• 100+ million stock library for different multimedia
• Converts designs and presentations into documents
• Supports background removal
• Publishes or shares the content online
• Customizable templates

Supporting Operating System: Windows and Mac

Price to Upgrade: Starting from INR 499/month/user | Canva Alternatives.

Canva Free Trial: Available for 30 days

Suggested Read: Compare Best Canva Alternatives for PC & Mobile

• Renderforest: Best for generating different printables

Renderforest online graphics designer and desktop publishing software offers multiple design templates to create flyers, posters, business cards, presentations, etc.

This tool can also be used for creating business-related videos, different websites, industry-specific logos, YouTube thumbnails, and even Instagram stories.

Renderforest Features

• Adds brand’s watermarks to content
• Create and edit logos with multiple templates
• Create tutorials, promotional videos, product intros, etc.
• Offers pre-built templates for poster making, flyers, social media posts, etc.
• Prints and customizes business cards, certificates, resumes, etc.

Renderforest Supporting Operating System: Web-based and supports all major operating systems

Price to Upgrade: Starts from INR 1299/month

Renderforest Free Trial: Not available

• Scribus: Best for generating engaging magazines

Scribus is an open-source DTP software for developing professional and engaging publications like leaflets, flyers, books, posters, magazines, and a lot more.

This software can also be used for creating engaging PDFs with different graphical elements. With its simple text editor, you can also recover the damaged files in XML file format.

Scribus Features

• Supports adjusting pictures DPI (Dots Per Inch)
• Adjusts colors and gradients in images
• Creates high-quality graphs and charts
• Generates interactive PDFs
• Supports resizing and editing of images

Scribus Supporting Operating System: Windows, Mac, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, etc.

Price to Upgrade: Free to use

Scribus Free Trial: Free to use

• Marq: Best for creating the specific brand content (Formerly Lucidpress)

Marq is a free desktop publishing software helping you create amazing posters, brochures, social media content, and a lot more.

With it, you can create and save the branded templates, print the assets directly, manage custom workflow, etc. Marq can also be used to manage permissions for accessing branded content.

Lucidpress or Marq Features

• Offers a template library
• Customize the fonts and para styles
• Real-time collaboration
• Imports designs from InDesign
• Posts content directly to social media

Marq Supporting Operating System: Web-based and works on any operating system

Price to Upgrade: Paid plan starts from INR 1,228.49/month

Marq Free Trial: Available

• LibreOffice Writer: Best for adding graphics in documents

LibreOffice Writer is an easy-to-use word processor and desktop publishing software to create and edit different documents. This open-source desktop publishing is used to create memos, books, documents, etc., via with diagrams, charts, indexes, and a lot more.

LibreOffice Writer also offers AutoCorrect dictionary to easily correct typos and spelling errors in your content.

Features of LibreOffice Writer

• Multiple fonts for your documents
• Create and modify videos for different social media
• Draw and manipulate your pictures
• Supports diagramming and flowcharting
• Creates and inserts charts into spreadsheets, presentations, etc.

LibreOffice Writer Supporting Operating System: Windows, Linux, Mac

Price to Upgrade: Free to use

LibreOffice Writer Free Trial: Free to use

Features to Look for Free Desktop Publishing Software

The desktop publishing software comes with a variety of features to create, publish, and edit printing assets. With it, you can customize the font styles, adjust images colors, edit infographics, and export content in different formats. Some of the most common features you will find in the best free DTP software are:

• Layout Editor: This tool would help in adjusting the layout of the text and graphics of a particular page through rulers, object snapping, width adjusting for rows and columns, etc.
• Text Editor: Text editor can be used to adjust the font and styling of the document’s text. It can also be used to add text boxes, create bullet points, adjust letters in a paragraph or a line, and so on.
• Content Publishing: With this feature, the created content can be easily published on various channels, including social media. The publications can also be shared with other users via link.
• Multimedia Integration: With this, you can easily integrate different media types like images, audios, videos, GIFs, etc., into print media documents.
• Spell Checker: The checker will identify and correct the wrongly spelt words depending on the language rules. Further, it will also identify punctuation issues in the document.
• Version Controlling: This feature helps in keeping track of all the changes made to a file. Further, you can also restrict access to view and edit the documents.
• Real-time collaboration: The real-time collaboration would allow you to work on the project in real-time with other members.
• Pre-configured templates: The software offers multiple industry-specific templates to create different types of posters, flyers, logos, magazines, etc., quickly.
• Graphics Tool: Graphic tool helps with adding images in publications, editing its graphics, adding filters and effects to images, etc. It can also be used to develop multimedia content for images.

Final Look at Comparison of Free Desktop Publishing Software

Conclusion

The free desktop publishing software is helping businesses to save both time and money by creating professional looking printing materials under budget. Rather than relying on outside publishers, you can utilize these publishing tools to adjust the layout and graphics of printing assets through various business-specific templates.

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