Top 8 Desktop Publishing Software for Mac
Swift Publisher
Swift Publisher fans prefer to work with the program using one of its 500+ templates. It is easy to accomplish any design project using pre-made sample customization (for instance, adding images and text). As for the photos, Swift Publisher offers 100 image masks and 2,000 clip art images to customize your design. If you would like to achieve even more fonts and photos, you can purchase 40,000 breathtaking images and 100 fonts from the developer for just $9.99.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Affordable
- CMYK support, mail merge and other professional DTP software capabilities
- Built-in templates
Cons:
- Small ruler tick marks
- Limited design tools and fonts
- Lacks the pro publishing features of Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress
iStudio Publisher
iStudio Publisher may be very suitable for first-time users offering a set of basic but functional features like text customization functions (e.g., wrapping option), alignment, adding color shades and information styling, etc. For more experienced designers, the program offers more advanced capabilities, including drawing shapes, custom page sizes and others. With over 60 templates, iStudio Publisher is a convenient platform to start a project and individualize it in multiple ways.
Pros:
- Intuitive
- Versatile–ideal for designing a wide range of document types
- Ease of use
- Support is easy to access
Cons:
- Outdated graphics and tools
- Price
Publisher Lite
Publisher Lite offers over 40 different templates for creating documents like multipage booklets, colorful newsletters and more. Publisher also includes tools for text and images manipulation, making it a great choice for beginners.
More sophisticated Publisher Plus for $19.99 benefits from CMYK color mode, advanced typography and design tools, bigger amount of templates compared to Publisher Lite. In general Publisher Plus is designed for users who require more advanced software. Publisher Plus is available for both Windows and macOS.
Pros:
- Ease of use
- Templates
- Free
Cons:
- The same features can be provided by Word or Pages
- Basic features compared with other software
Adobe InDesign
If you need a professional app to create and publish physical or digital documents, Adobe InDesign CC is the best choice. Whether you’re looking to publish a book, magazine, poster or a simple PDF report, InDesign can take on the task.
Pros:
- Powerful layout and typography tools
- Time-saving features with layers
- Print-ready output
- Efficient workflow and integration
- Versatility
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- Cost
- Performance issues
Affinity Publisher
Price for iPad: $19.99
Affinity Publisher is professional desktop publishing software that offers a range of tools and features for creating print and digital publications. It has a customizable workspace, typography tools, seamless integration with other Affinity apps and supports a range of file formats (PDF, PSD, AI, EPS, SVG, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, DOCX, RTF, TXT). However, it may require a learning curve, and its community is only starting to develop. Despite these potential drawbacks, Affinity Publisher is a great choice for professional designers and casual users who want to create high-quality publications for Macs, iPads and Windows devices.
Pros:
- Fast and stable
- Full-featured
- Integration with other Affinity apps
Cons:
- Learning curve
- Lack of some professional features
- No cloud functionality
QuarkXPress
Perpetual License: $559
QuarkXPress is powerful desktop publishing software that has been in use since 1987. It provides advanced typography tools, including professional OpenType controls (allowing users to adjust the tracking, kerning and spacing of text). It also supports ligatures, small caps and other advanced OpenType features and has a customizable interface and flexible output options (such as print-ready PDFs, HTML5 publications, ePubs and more) to create print and digital publications. With collaborative features, QuarkXPress is suitable for professional designers and design teams. However, its steep learning curve may make it less suitable for beginners or casual users. Overall, QuarkXPress is a versatile tool that can assist enterprise users with the creation of a wide range of professional publications.
Pros:
- Ready-made templates
- Bulk files conversion
- Customer support
- The ability to open legacy QuarkXPress files
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- Performance issues
- Price
- Can’t open INDD extension files
Apple Pages
Apple Pages is a user-friendly word processing and page layout app that is part of the iWork productivity suite developed by Apple Inc. It provides users with a range of templates and themes to create professional-looking documents quickly, and its collaboration and iCloud integration features make it a great choice for teams working on documents together. While it may not be as feature-rich as some other software options, Pages is a versatile tool that can be a great choice for casual users and those who need to create good-looking documents quickly.
Scribus
Scribus is free and open-source desktop publishing software that allows users to create versatile documents, including newsletters, brochures, posters and more. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. While it may have a steeper learning curve than some other software options, it is highly customizable and extensible, allowing users to create and add their own scripts and plugins. Scribus may not have all of the features of some of the more well-known desktop publishing software options, but it is a powerful and flexible tool that can be used for a variety of design projects. As of now, Scribus does not have a version specifically designed for M1 Macs and only runs on Intel-based Macs. This may change in the future as Scribus continues to update their software to be compatible with the latest hardware.
Pros:
- Free and open source
- Offers many professional features, such as CMYK support, image packaging, PDF export feature
- Versatile drawing tools
- Supports most common file formats such as EPS, GIF, JPEG, PSD, PDF, PNG, TIFF, BMP, XPM
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- The interface is not user-friendly
- Can’t open other DTP software’s native file formats
- Sometimes images aren’t displayed correctly
- Somewhat slow exporting process