--- title: Adobe InDesign Reviews meta_title: 'Adobe InDesign Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 3439 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Adobe InDesign works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.6 review_count: 3439 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-07' parent_category: name: Graphic Design url: https://www.g2.com/categories/graphic-design --- # Adobe InDesign Reviews **Vendor:** Adobe **Category:** [Desktop Publishing Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/desktop-publishing) **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 3,439 ## About Adobe InDesign A professional page layout application for print and digital publishing, InDesign lets you design, preflight, and publish a broad range of content for print, web, and tablet apps. It offers precise control over typography, built-in creative tools, an intuitive design environment, and tight integration with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat. InDesign is built for designers, prepress and production professionals, and print service providers who work for magazines, design firms, advertising agencies, newspapers, book publishers, and retail/catalog companies, as well as in corporate design, commercial printing, and other leading-edge publishing environments. And because InDesign is part of Adobe Creative Cloud, you get access to all the latest updates and future releases the moment they’re available. ## Adobe InDesign Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users find Adobe InDesign to be **user-friendly and intuitive** , making it accessible for creators of all ages. (43 reviews) - Users value the **precision in alignment** and control provided by Adobe InDesign for creating complex layouts effortlessly. (37 reviews) - Users value the **seamless integration** of Adobe InDesign with other Creative Cloud apps for versatile design projects. (16 reviews) - Users love the **all-inclusive features** of Adobe InDesign, enhancing their workflow and empowering creative possibilities. (14 reviews) - Users value the **visual appeal** of Adobe InDesign, noting its polished designs and professional layouts. (13 reviews) - Cloud Integration (11 reviews) - Time-saving (11 reviews) - Fonts (10 reviews) - Users value Adobe InDesign for its **versatile design capabilities** , excelling in both print and digital formats. (10 reviews) - Users value the **versatile content creation capabilities** of Adobe InDesign, enabling professional-quality documents and multimedia easily. (9 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find Adobe InDesign to have a **steep learning curve** , making it challenging to use intuitively and effectively. (17 reviews) - Users find the **subscription pricing too expensive** for individuals and small businesses, impacting affordability. (17 reviews) - Users struggle with the **steep learning curve** of Adobe InDesign, requiring significant time and effort to master its complexities. (16 reviews) - Users experience **slow performance** with large files in InDesign, causing frustration during their design process. (13 reviews) - Users find the **expensive subscription** model of Adobe InDesign frustrating, preferring a one-time purchase instead. (8 reviews) - Users find the **learning curve steep** , particularly those without prior graphic design experience, making it challenging to navigate. (8 reviews) - Users find the **high premium cost** of Adobe InDesign burdensome for occasional use and small businesses. (6 reviews) - Pricing Issues (6 reviews) - Update Issues (6 reviews) - File Management (5 reviews) ## Adobe InDesign Reviews ### 1. Adobe InDesign as a template product **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andrea D. | Graduate Research Assistant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** Lots of templates. Minimal work needed for creating things like flyers (just change up the text you want to send). Everything is balanced nicely so no art skills at all. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** Templates could be more adaptable (compared to powerpoint's design templates that adapt based on what you initially put in the slides). Here, everything is rigid (tools provided to change up the templates make the design look worse because the tools are rudimentary, for example, the paintbrush and the eraser). **Recommendations to others considering Adobe InDesign:** If you are great at art / artistic, I would use adobe illustrator instead (provides more flexibililty with what you can make). Perhaps use InDesign to get used to the adobe interface and then switch to illustrator. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Making a flyer. I can make a flyer in like 10 seconds. The tools are also very similar to Adobe Illustrator so if you are already familiar with Illustrator, everything is a breeeze. ### 2. difficult if not a designer **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2019 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** I find this counter-intuitive as someone who is not trained in graphic design and solely hopes to do a quick project for work. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** It is hard to select things, adjust sizing, and quickly update a file I am working on **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using it for graphic design in a marketing agency setting ### 3. Too many options **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jeffrey L. | Senior Pastor, Religious Institutions, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 17, 2018 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** The Adobe suite provides an expansive platform for the creative types. With the right knowledge and time to practice it could be highly useful. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** There are simply too many tools to adequately master any of them to go from slightly creative to a master creative. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Marketing and social media promotion on a variety of platforms. ### 4. Overpriced and I have never enjoyed the interface **Rating:** 0.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Military | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2018 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** It is an acceptable program for books and larger design produced with multiple pages **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** Very very expensive for the Adobe Creative Cloud. Would never consider using this program for myself. Overpriced. Good alternatives available. **Recommendations to others considering Adobe InDesign:** Check into competitors, especially the company Serif. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Books and multiple page layouts work well in InDesign. There are alternatives for very low cost including a product made by Serif. ### 5. Challenging **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Moira S. | Marketing Specialist, Furniture, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2018 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** I like that it is apart of creative cloud **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** It is extremely overwhelming and just a more complicated form of illustrator **Recommendations to others considering Adobe InDesign:** Use illustrator **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** I truly wouldn't recommend using if illustrator is available. ### 6. Only good for making books **Rating:** 0.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Emily J. | Administrative Assistant, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2018 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** There is nothing that I like about this software. I guess it is useful for making books. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** Everything. This software is super un-intuitive and difficult to use. Adobe really missed the mark on this one. **Recommendations to others considering Adobe InDesign:** Use other software if you can. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Print design, layout design ### 7. I find Adobe Illustrator Easier to work with... **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Beatrice B. | Marketing and Content Associate, International Affairs, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 29, 2017 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** I like the page interface. It makes design easier and everything on the tool bar is useful and accessible. The dropper tool is easy to make colors the same that previously existed as different web and print materials. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** I really dislike the fact that when images are uploaded, they are encompassed by two frames. The first is the image frame, but hidden by the viewing frame. It can be a hassle to move the intended frame and I spend most of my time moving around images that actually designing. It may seem like a small issue, but is the reason that I prefer Adobe Illustrator. **Recommendations to others considering Adobe InDesign:** To people looking to use InDesign, I would suggest playing with Adobe Illustrator as well. I found Illustrator easier to navigate, but I know people who have different personal preferences. Use both before deciding. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Adobe InDesign has helped me design larger graphics and charts. I have also played around with the template for my business' email newsletter. It is easy to change typeface and colors. It's easy to combine text with graphics and logos. ### 8. Not a great design tool **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Insurance | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 26, 2018 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** It is good for making a bunch of similar pages. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** It is not intuitive at all, not really good for design work unless you are dealing with a ton of pages or versions. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Print magazine ads ### 9. Difficulty Level - 10 **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Law Practice | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 03, 2018 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** Only the ability to create high-quality looking documents. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** Extremely difficult to self-teach event the basic features and functions, even as a very adept software, coding, and computer user. **Recommendations to others considering Adobe InDesign:** Unless you have an Adobe expert, find a different program. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Previously used it to create covers and basic quick info sheets. ### 10. InDesign Beginner **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2016 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** The finished product. Clean aesthetic, ability to maintain a consistent 'brand' look across projects. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** The process of getting to the final product. I use this software infrequently and it is a challenge to use it efficiently if it is not a primary tool. **Recommendations to others considering Adobe InDesign:** If you are going to use this software make it something you use regularly. This way you don't have to relearn the process every time you open it up. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Typically I use this for resumes and for reports. Main benefit is clean and consistent aesthetic. ### 11. Not user friendly **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Real Estate | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2016 **What do you like best about Adobe InDesign?** The product that you are able to product with InDesign (if you are able to figure out how to use it!) is top notch. **What do you dislike about Adobe InDesign?** This is not an easy program to learn and is not very intuitive for me. **What problems is Adobe InDesign solving and how is that benefiting you?** Designing flyers, etc. ## Adobe InDesign Discussions - [What other things do use Indesign for, besides designing a catalog.](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-other-things-do-use-indesign-for-besides-designing-a-catalog) - 7 comments, 2 upvotes - [Will you allow users to edit images later on within InDesign](https://www.g2.com/discussions/12082-will-you-allow-users-to-edit-images-later-on-within-indesign) - 3 comments, 2 upvotes - [How can i make an image (logo text) white in Indesign?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-can-i-make-an-image-logo-text-white-in-indesign) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What would be the best way to share a book with someone who has an older version of InDesign?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/51997-what-would-be-the-best-way-to-share-a-book-with-someone-who-has-an-older-version-of-indesign) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How could you make this software so much faster?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/36422-how-could-you-make-this-software-so-much-faster) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Adobe InDesign pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-indesign/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=1§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-13+12%3A54%3A40+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=154b4781-d01d-4b3d-a2df-881b20418649&secure%5Btoken%5D=202c5316cb0bff4ec595d66c88a1ff50c5afd5c646c21f72acf42ea176405845&format=llm_user) ## Adobe InDesign Integrations - [Adobe Acrobat](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-acrobat/reviews) - [Adobe After Effects](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-after-effects/reviews) - [Adobe Bridge](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-bridge/reviews) - [Adobe Express](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-express/reviews) - [Adobe Illustrator](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-illustrator/reviews) - [Adobe Photoshop](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-photoshop/reviews) - [Adobe Photoshop Lightroom](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-photoshop-lightroom/reviews) - [Adobe Premiere Pro](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-premiere-pro/reviews) - [Canto](https://www.g2.com/products/canto/reviews) - [FlippingBook](https://www.g2.com/products/flippingbook/reviews) - [Microsoft 365](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft365/reviews) - [Microsoft Teams](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-teams/reviews) - [OpenAsset](https://www.g2.com/products/openasset/reviews) - [Shred.ai](https://www.g2.com/products/shred-ai/reviews) ## Adobe InDesign Features **Additional Functionality** - Data Visualization - Mobile App - AI Copilot - Commenting/Notes - Text Editing - Custom Brushes - Generative AI - Watermarking - Engagement Tracking - Pattern, Color & Art Storage - Version Control - API - Third-Party Integrations - Collaboration Tools - Design Templates - Search/Filter - Secure Data Storage - Workflow Management - Data Storage Management - Interactive Content - Drag & Drop Editor - Video Editing - Preview Functionality - Multi-Language - Image Editing - Content Import/Export - Customizable Branding - Content Management - CAD Tools - Content Library - Custom Fonts - 3D Digital Asset Management - Design Management - Presentation Tools - Social Media Integration - Print Management **Design** - Templates - Layout editor - Publishing formats - Saved preferences - Infographics - Asset Library **Platform Additional Functionality** - Mobile Access - File Storage ## Top Adobe InDesign Alternatives - [Canva](https://www.g2.com/products/canva/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (6,480 reviews) - [Microsoft Publisher](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-publisher/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (994 reviews) - [QuarkXPress](https://www.g2.com/products/quarkxpress/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (295 reviews)