--- title: Scribus Reviews meta_title: 'Scribus Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 28 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Scribus works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.1 review_count: 28 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-07' parent_category: name: Graphic Design url: https://www.g2.com/categories/graphic-design --- # Scribus Reviews **Vendor:** The Scribus Team **Category:** [Desktop Publishing Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/desktop-publishing) **Average Rating:** 4.1/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 28 ## About Scribus Scribus is an open source alternative for entry-level desktop publishing. ## Scribus Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **ease of use** in Scribus, enjoying its intuitive interface and helpful features throughout their projects. (1 reviews) - Users love the **easy editing** features of Scribus, making graphic design and document management effortless and efficient. (1 reviews) - Users appreciate the **robust features** of Scribus, enabling professional graphics and efficient multi-page document management. (1 reviews) - Users value the **free services** of Scribus, finding it easy to use with experimentation and practice. (1 reviews) - Users value the **professional graphics capabilities** of Scribus, enhancing their document design and printing process. (1 reviews) - Users find Scribus to be **intuitive** after experimentation, enhancing the overall user experience significantly. (1 reviews) - Layout Design (1 reviews) - Navigation Ease (1 reviews) - PDF Editing (1 reviews) - PDF Management (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users experience frequent **app instability** , leading to crashes that hinder productivity and compel uninstallation. (1 reviews) - Users face **compatibility issues** with Scribus, particularly with file formats and limited color management options. (1 reviews) - Users face **design limitations** in Scribus, struggling with manual color setups and an outdated interface. (1 reviews) - Users struggle with **limited file management** in Scribus, facing challenges with color settings and compatibility issues. (1 reviews) - Users find the **limited options** in Scribus, particularly regarding color management and file compatibility, frustrating and challenging. (1 reviews) - Poor Interface Design (1 reviews) ## Scribus Reviews ### 1. Scribus: Excellent Free Tool for Brochures, Master Pages, and Print-Ready PDFs **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Muzammil M. | Founder – Muzammil Graphic | Interior and Graphic Designer | Transforming Spaces and Brands Visually , Graphic Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 29, 2026 **What do you like best about Scribus?** Scribus is a good option for creating brochures, flyers, newsletters, and other multi-page documents without paying for expensive publishing software. I like the page layout tools, master pages, and print-ready PDF export. After spending some time with it, the workflow becomes comfortable for regular design work. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** The interface feels a bit outdated, and some tools take time to find if you're new to the software. It also doesn't feel as polished as commercial desktop publishing applications, and working with complex files can sometimes require extra adjustments. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps me create print-ready documents and simple marketing materials without needing a paid desktop publishing tool. Keeping everything in one project file makes updates easier, and the PDF export options are useful when sharing files for printing or digital distribution. ### 2. Free, Multilingual, Cross-Platform Tool for Professional Print Graphics **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 18, 2026 **What do you like best about Scribus?** It’s free, available in several languages and can be installed on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It lets you create professional graphics, manage multi-page documents, and generate executable files for printing. When saving a PDF for print, you can convert spot colors to CMYK. You can also set up master pages so the same graphic layout is applied consistently across the document’s pages. I find the Preflight button especially useful for flagging any document issues, the Preview button handy for quickly viewing the graphics without margins and crop marks, and I appreciate the option to display control characters in text frames. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** It doesn't have the Pantone swatches and spot colors need to be created manually. In the Color Management settings the available profiles are limited. The interface design is very basic and has remained unchanged for several years; it could be a bit more polished and also offer a dark mode option. It doesn't open .eps files and has issues with .ai files (it opens them, but the graphics may have some variations compared to the original, especially with complex designs involving gradients, masks, etc.). **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows me to create multi-page documents so I don’t have to make a file for each page and I can manage everything in a single file much more conveniently. It is useful for creating multi-page graphic documents where, with master pages, I can save time and easily apply the same style or elements to different pages without having to recreate the layout each time, thus saving time. It is free and allows me to create files ready for print, whether for traditional or digital printing, without having to use paid software. ### 3. Keeps on crashing **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Federica D. | Professional Reader, Interpreter, Creative Content Writer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 07, 2024 **What do you like best about Scribus?** Easy to use if you keep on experimenting on it; after a while, it becomes kinda intuitive... And it's free, which is always a pro :) **What do you dislike about Scribus?** While operating with the internal editor, it keeps on crashing. I gave it up to two days to work properly but eventually, I had to uninstall it: impossible to work with. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is a free alternative to Indesign. ### 4. Powerful Open-source Publishing Software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tim D. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2023 **What do you like best about Scribus?** Free, opensource software makes all the difference for the small nonprofit where I work. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** While there are user-made videos giving tutorials on youtube, there isn't a centralized way to learn all of the intricacies of the software. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** When our non-profit needs to design a brochure, flyer, or newsletter, this software is my go-to. While it might not be as powerful as an Adobe program (though it certainly can be in the right hands), it is LEAPS and BOUNDS beyond what you can do with Microsoft Word or google docs. Manipulating text, images, shapes, transparencies, and other objects work seamlessly to create a cohesive and visually satisfying published document. ### 5. Brilliant free home desktop publishing solution **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 11, 2023 **What do you like best about Scribus?** It's free, it "just works" and it creates booklets/magazines/really anything you want to put together simply and easily. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** You do need to read exactly *how* to do things in Scribus but once you've done it once it's easy to do again. The interface seems a bit dated (particularly on high resolution screens) but it's great for being clutter free. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used to use Adobe products for desktop publishing and to be honest, they're a mess, they cost too much (subscription? awful) and if you don't stay on top of things your files become impossible to work with. I decided to give scribus a try while working on a new project and I was able to knock up a whole booklet in matter of *hours* with none of the issues I faced with Adobe products. ### 6. A great and simple software for publications **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paolo N. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 16, 2023 **What do you like best about Scribus?** Scribus has a simple way of arranging text, and has a nice workflow in general for the design of documents and publications, both for academic and comercial work. It's easy to use and straightforward. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** I would like a bit more options in terms of customizing pages and styles. I feel that some features found on other commercial software that have the same goals are still missing. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** Providing a solution for publications that is multi platform and works for Linux users as well. It really helps me create publications with ease and efficiency. ### 7. Free, Open Source alternative to InDesign **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brian "Sully" S. | Principal, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 25, 2023 **What do you like best about Scribus?** So far, I cannot find a limitation to Scribus that InDesign offers. It is full-featured and powerful DTP software that can be used for highly layered, sophisticated, professional page layouts. The CMYK colour management tool is a standout. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** I think the GUI would benefit from some updating. Everything is in a logical order, but it has an old styling. Also, additional base templates for needs like social media banners or ebook layouts would be great. They're available online, but having them shipped intrinsic to Scribus would be nice. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used Scribus for many DTP projects--stationery, the layout of books and eBooks, cut sheet flyers, and advertising spots. It does anything InDesign can do without the proprietary software price tag. ### 8. Clunky but it gets the job done **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Justin F. | Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 16, 2023 **What do you like best about Scribus?** I was able to perform all basic design tasks and complete a project to ideal status. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** The interface is clunky and hard to work within. There were multiple crashes and it was tough to find certain settings. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** Design capabilities when I don't have access to Adobe ### 9. Scribus is a world class tool **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joel L. H. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 27, 2023 **What do you like best about Scribus?** It has an easy learning key. It is highly featured. I am able to do all my required tasks easily and efficiently. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** I find very few to nothing that I dislike. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** Magazine-ready copy. Scribus is OpenSource that brings improvements quickly & often. ### 10. Scribus: a program of multi-platform page layout, free and with good capabilities. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 22, 2019 **What do you like best about Scribus?** It is an application that offers a professional support to elaborate diverse documents and publications, in our case it was about giving support to a client that was elaborating a book for self-publishing in his University. The Scribus design presents a pleasant and orderly interface that allows the presentation of professional effects, such as: combinations of colors and creation of pdf files in a fast and dynamic way. **What do you dislike about Scribus?** It is an important detail to point out that although the program's interface is easy to understand, the use of drop-down menus nowadays (where the tape interface has become too common, practically a standard of all kinds of programs) , then, that makes the program look a bit "Old" or "Old", but that does not diminish the capacity to make very good layouts. **Recommendations to others considering Scribus:** The designer with whom I worked commented that although it was possible to import documents in ODT, DOC and DOCX format without problems, the import of HTML files forced him to make some adjustments due to limitations in that action. **What problems is Scribus solving and how is that benefiting you?** Although I used it as an operator only, in support of the designer's work, for a single recent job that was requested by a client with whom we already have time working, it seemed to me that the problem that allowed to solve this program was to lay out a material for its subsequent printing as a self-publishing book at very low cost, an issue that was decisive for his choice, because in a university context the budget is always "too small" - [View Scribus pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/scribus/reviews/scribus-review-8096824?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-10+15%3A34%3A00+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=d4402351-5dc1-41b6-80cd-53aa10778e5f&secure%5Btoken%5D=bd1be52852770161549690b549eec4ceb79e92839c62010589e881a4cfb41b18&format=llm_user) ## Scribus Features **Design** - Templates - Layout editor - Publishing formats - Saved preferences - Infographics - Asset Library **Platform Additional Functionality** - Mobile Access - File Storage ## Top Scribus Alternatives - [Canva](https://www.g2.com/products/canva/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (6,442 reviews) - [Adobe InDesign](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-indesign/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (3,398 reviews) - [Microsoft Publisher](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-publisher/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (992 reviews)