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12 Best Microsoft Publisher Alternatives for Mac in 2026

Explore 12 alternatives to Microsoft Publisher — vetted by our editors with real user reviews, pricing, and feature comparisons.

The 12 strongest Microsoft Publisher alternatives, side by side

Quick answer

If Microsoft Publisher isn't working out, the best alternatives are Snappa, GIMP and Adobe InDesign. Snappa ranks first with a SpotScore of 8.8 and a 4.42★ rating. See all 12 compared on score, rating, and price below.

Whether it's the bill, a missing capability, or the day-to-day friction, plenty of teams leave Microsoft Publisher. These 12 graphic design software alternatives are where they tend to land. We order them by SpotScore (real-user satisfaction and market presence), star ratings, and pricing. Editors vet each one. Skim the table, then read on for detail.

ProductSpotScoreRatingPricingBest for
SnappaUnleash your inner designer with Snappa8.8★★★★☆ 4.42(33)Freefrom $10/moteams of all sizes
GIMPUnleash Your Creativity with Advanced Image Manipulation.8.8★★★★☆ 4.22(890)FreeFreemium · Open-sourcesmall & mid-size businesses
Adobe InDesignUnleash your creativity with top-of-the-line desktop publishing.—★★★★★ 4.59(2447)Freefrom $20.99/moteams of all sizes
FlipHTML5Transform your content into captivating flipbooks.—★★★★★ 4.54(47)Freefrom $12.50/moteams of all sizes
CanvaCreate stunning visuals with ease.9.8★★★★☆ 4.39(3547)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
DesygnerUnleash your creativity with Desygner.9.3★★★★★ 4.6(5)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
MarvelUnleash your creativity with Marvel's cutting-edge design tools.9.2★★★★★ 4.52(164)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
InfogramUnleash your creativity with Infogram's graphic design tools.9.2★★★★★ 4.73(274)FreeFreemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
VenngageElevate your visuals with one-click designs.9.2★★★★★ 4.64(82)FreeFreemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
LookaCreate, share, and elevate your designs with ease.9.1★★★★★ 4.76(906)FreeFreemium · One-time license · Subscriptionsmall & mid-size businesses
Adobe IllustratorUnleash your creativity with Illustrator's versatile tools.9.1★★★★★ 4.99(551)FreeFree Trial · Subscriptionsmall & mid-size businesses
CrelloDesign made simple, with Crello.9.1★★★★★ 4.81(533)FreeFreemium · Subscriptionsmall & mid-size businesses

8.8

SpotScore

Snappa - Graphic Design Software

Snappa

Unleash your inner designer with Snappa

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

4.4

33 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Snappa?

Snappa is an advanced commercial-grade graphic design software that combines powerful features with beautiful simplicity. It's intuitive interface helps to get going up fast. With templates from professional designers and powerful tools for customizing designs stand out while keeping it simple. ...

Read more about Snappa

Snappa offers custom pricing plan

8.8

SpotScore

GIMP - Graphic Design Software

GIMP

Unleash Your Creativity with Advanced Image Manipulation.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Try for Free

4.2

890 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is GIMP?

GIMP is a cross-platform image manipulation program designed to fit users needs. Get started with GIMP by working on individual projects or participate in one of the many online user communities for aid with any problems that arise. One of the distinguishing features of GIMP is its ...

Read more about GIMP

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Adobe InDesign - New SaaS Software

Adobe InDesign

Unleash your creativity with top-of-the-line desktop publishing.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

4.6

2447 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Adobe InDesign?

Adobe InDesign is the powerhouse of professional desktop publishing. Unleash your creativity to create compelling visuals with top-of-the-line typography and imagery from Adobe Stock! Create stunning digital magazines, eBooks, and interactive online documents with audio, video, slideshows, and ...

Read more about Adobe InDesign
Free TrialTry Free →
FlipHTML5 - New SaaS Software

FlipHTML5

Transform your content into captivating flipbooks.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

4.5

47 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is FlipHTML5?

FlipHTML5 is an interactive digital publishing platform that offers an easy and effective approach to create professional HTML5 powered flipbooks. It comes with 10+ customizable templates, and supports vertical and horizontal flipping. Additionally, multimedia, such as video, audio, link and ...

Read more about FlipHTML5

FlipHTML5 offers custom pricing plan

9.8

SpotScore

Canva - Graphic Design Software

Canva

Create stunning visuals with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

4.4

3547 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Canva?

Canva is an AI-powered visual communication and collaboration platform that empowers users to design various visual content, including presentations, infographics, videos, documents, websites, social media graphics, and more. Canva provides access to thousands of stock images, videos, ...

Read more about Canva
Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $9.99/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.3

SpotScore

Desygner - Graphic Design Software

Desygner

Unleash your creativity with Desygner.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

4.6

5 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Desygner?

Desygner is a full-fledged graphic design software that provides all the tools to help create beautiful designs in workflow. It is easy to use and powerful at the same time, offering a complete set of professional photo editing and drawing tools in a tight and user friendly software. It will be ...

Read more about Desygner
Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $4.95/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.2

SpotScore

Marvel - Graphic Design Software

Marvel

Unleash your creativity with Marvel's cutting-edge design tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

4.5

164 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Marvel?

Marvel is an intuitive graphic software that bridges the gap between traditional drawing and digital design. Drawing tools include pencil, pen, crayon, markers, brushes, text and paint. Interface tools include ruler, grid and guides. Secondary tools are text box, table and layer manipulation. ...

Read more about Marvel
Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $8/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.2

SpotScore

Infogram - Graphic Design Software

Infogram

Unleash your creativity with Infogram's graphic design tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

4.7

274 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Infogram?

The Infogram software has been created with a purpose of helping user design graphics on computer easily by providing graphics editing toolsand templates. In the process of learning how to create a business card, for instance, also learn how to create other different types of graphics and print ...

Read more about Infogram

Starts from $19/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.2

SpotScore

Venngage - Graphic Design Software

Venngage

Elevate your visuals with one-click designs.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

4.6

82 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Venngage?

Venngage is an AI powered, browser-based design platform for creating infographics, reports, presentations, charts, diagrams and marketing materials. Its drag-and-drop editor and customizable templates help individuals and teams turn information into visual content without advanced design ...

Read more about Venngage

Starts from $10/user/month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.1

SpotScore

Looka - Graphic Design Software

Looka

Create, share, and elevate your designs with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Try for Free

4.8

906 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Looka?

The looka design suite comprises a full software environment for every stage of a designer's work. The suite enables designers to create and share a seamless style in every image. With looka, any image can have a consistent style that creates maximum impact. Looka offers the simplicity of ...

Read more about Looka

Starts from $4.99/Month, also offers free forever plan

9.1

SpotScore

Adobe Illustrator - Graphic Design Software

Adobe Illustrator

Unleash your creativity with Illustrator's versatile tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Start Free Trial

5.0

551 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is a powerful graphics tool for logos, icons, and digital illustrations. Quickly create professional quality art for web, print, video, and interactive projects. Capture ideas anytime, anywhere with the Illustrator mobile app . Work across multiple mediums—like print, web and ...

Read more about Adobe Illustrator
Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $20.99/Month when Billed Yearly

9.1

SpotScore

Crello - Graphic Design Software

Crello

Design made simple, with Crello.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

Try for Free

4.8

533 verified reviews

Add to compare

What is Crello?

Crello is a graphic design program that allows to create graphics, logos, headers and banners, business cards, social graphics, web graphics, and more. With Crello emphasize pictures by using different shapes and effects, such as shadows and 3D rotations. Crello is simple to use. It has special ...

Read more about Crello

Starts from $10/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

Who competes with Microsoft Publisher?

Buyers comparing Microsoft Publisher usually weigh it against these 12 graphic design software competitors, starting with Snappa, GIMP and Adobe InDesign. Each is compared against Microsoft Publisher on rating, pricing and feature coverage below.

Tools similar to Microsoft Publisher

Searches for "sites like Microsoft Publisher" and "apps like Microsoft Publisher" land on the same set of options as "Microsoft Publisher alternatives" — the 12 options below cover both, whether you want a like-for-like replacement or something lighter.

Why we picked these Microsoft Publisher alternatives

Snappa8.8Best for teams of all sizes

Easy to use interface with drag-and-drop functionality for quick and efficient design creation.

Watch for: Slow and inconsistent addition of new templates to the library, impacting design variety and freshness.

GIMP8.8Best for small & mid-size businesses

Offers a wide variety of tools and features for complete and effective digital art creation.

Watch for: Has a steep learning curve, especially for users accustomed to other software, requiring time and effort to master.

Adobe InDesignBest for teams of all sizes

Professional desktop publishing

Watch for: Steep learning curve

FlipHTML5Best for teams of all sizes

Document experience management

Watch for: Complex setup process

Canva9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Great customer service and prompt issue resolution, contributing to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Watch for: Some users find premium features restrictive, leading to unexpected costs and limitations, especially when accessing specific assets.

Desygner9.3Best for teams of all sizes

Comprehensive design tools

Watch for: May be overwhelming for beginners

Marvel9.2Best for teams of all sizes

Interface is accessible for both beginners and experienced designers.

Watch for: Feature set feels limited or basic compared to more advanced prototyping tools.

Infogram9.2Best for teams of all sizes

Easy to use platform for creating visually appealing presentations and infographics without the need for advanced design skills.

Watch for: Free plan limitations, such as fewer features and templates, may hinder full exploration and utilization of the tool.

Venngage9.2Best for teams of all sizes

Offers a wide variety of templates leading to quicker content creation.

Watch for: Monthly subscription cost can be expensive for some users.

Looka9.1Best for small & mid-size businesses

Customer service team (including staff like Sam, Ryan, and Frank) responds quickly and resolves issues directly.

Watch for: Advanced customization options beyond logo creation are limited.

Adobe Illustrator9.1Best for small & mid-size businesses

Versatile tool for creating various design projects, including logos, posters, and handouts.

Watch for: Steep learning curve, requiring time and training for new users.

Crello9.1Best for small & mid-size businesses

Easy to use and user-friendly interface.

Watch for: Limited marketplace for additional apps and connectors.

Why teams look for a Microsoft Publisher alternative

Before comparing options, it helps to name why teams leave Microsoft Publisher in the first place:

  • Limited advanced features
  • Less suitable for complex designs
  • Basic graphic design tools
  • Not as powerful as competitors

The factors that matter in a Microsoft Publisher alternative

Here's the data-driven picture across all 12 graphic design software alternatives: 12 offer a free tier; paid plans run $10–$20.99, with Snappa the cheapest entry point; and Adobe Illustrator is the highest rated at 4.99★ across 551 reviews.

How the ranking holds up.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Stuck on something? We're here to help with all the questions and answers in one place.

The top-rated alternatives to Microsoft Publisher are Adobe Illustrator (5.0★), Crello (4.8★), Looka (4.8★). Compare all 12 alternatives side-by-side above.

When evaluating alternatives to Microsoft Publisher, prioritize: Templates, Import-Export Option, transparent pricing, free trial availability, and integrations with your existing tools. Use the filters above to compare by feature, budget, and team size.

Microsoft Publisher starts from $5 /User/Month. Many alternatives offer similar functionality at different price points — some with free tiers, others with more flexible per-seat pricing. Use the filters above to narrow by budget.

Migration difficulty depends on how deeply Microsoft Publisher is integrated into your workflows. Most alternatives offer data export/import tools and dedicated onboarding support. We recommend narrowing to 2–3 options, running a free trial, and checking each vendor's migration guides before committing.

How to match a Microsoft Publisher alternative to your team

  • On a budget / just exploring: start with a free tier — Snappa, GIMP and Adobe InDesign let you evaluate without paying upfront.
  • If real-user ratings matter most: Adobe Illustrator has the strongest star rating (4.99★) among the options with verified reviews.
  • Want the safest pick: Snappa has the highest Spotsaas Score (8.8) in this list — a strong default if you're unsure.

Your migration plan from Microsoft Publisher

Switching from Microsoft Publisher doesn't have to be painful. Begin with a data export and verify the new tool imports it. Confirm feature parity, pilot the change on a trial, and keep Microsoft Publisher running in parallel until you're sure. Many tools above let you test for free first.

Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].