Designing a brochure doesn’t have to take up too much time and effort. With the help of powerful layout tools and user-friendly interfaces, you can create stunning brochures even without any design experience.
To make it easier for you to find the right design tool, we have compiled a list of the 10 best brochure design software in 2024.
Top 10 brochure design software:
- Venngage
- Adobe InDesign CC
- Adobe Illustrator CC
- Scribus
- Inkscape
- Canva
- Microsoft Publisher
- QuarkXPress
- Affinity Publisher
- Adobe Creative Cloud Express
- FAQs about brochure design software
1. Venngage
Venngage is a free online design platform with various tools and solutions for creating infographics, presentations, diagrams, and other forms of graphic design.
Venngage’s brochure templates are specifically made for non-designers and are easily customizable. With over 10,000 professional templates, you can create a perfect brochure that fits your needs.
Here is one example of a brochure from the dozens of brochure templates on Venngage that are tailored for different industries and use cases:
Its drag-and-drop editor has smart features that let you change text, fonts, colors, layout design and backgrounds with just a few clicks. Venngage’s library also provides you with access to 40,000+ icons and illustrations, as well as 3+ million stock photos that you can add to enhance your brochure design.
For businesses that want to get their brand out there, applying your brand colors to your brochures is easy with My Brand Kit. Simply upload your brand colors and logo and have them all applied to your brochure in one click:
Venngage’s takeaways:
- Main features: Free brochure maker, free brochure templates, easy-to-use editor and business-supporting features like branding or real-time collaboration
- Best for: Brochures, infographics, and data visualizations for businesses and professionals
- Price: FREE for the first 5 designs, $19/month for premium accounts, $49/month for business accounts and $499/month for enterprise accounts
2. Adobe InDesign CC
Adobe InDesign is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud software suite. It is currently the industry standard tool used for professional page and layout design for a variety of digital and print media and graphic design.
With a Creative Cloud account, you can also get access to brochure design templates and stock photos. Although it offers a wide variety of impressive and easy-to-use features and design capabilities, Adobe InDesign is typically used by designers and is not very beginner-friendly.
- Main features: Layout adjustment, content-aware fit, and advanced font and color management
- Best for: Professional print outputs
- Price: Free trial for the first 7 days then $31.49/month (for individuals) or $20.99/month (annual plan, paid monthly)
3. Adobe Illustrator CC
Illustrator is another powerful design software by Adobe. It is mostly used for creating vector art but it can also be used for doing basic designs like brochures and pamphlets.
Just like InDesign, Adobe Illustrator has the same advanced features and capabilities that are more recommendable for experienced or professional designers.
Moreover, desktop publishing software — intended for the production of printed materials — is a much better choice for creating brochures. This means that a desktop publishing software like InDesign will be much more efficient than vector graphics software like Illustrator.
- Main features: Freehand drawing, advanced color options, and shape manipulation tools
- Best for: Vector graphic design and illustrations
- Price: Free trial for the first 7 days then $31.49/month (for individuals) or $20.99/month (annual plan, paid monthly)
4. Scribus
Scribus is a page layout program originally created for Linux. It is also a desktop publishing program comparable to InDesign; however, it is open-source so it is cost-effective and offers more flexibility in terms of integration with other tools, plugins, and add-ons.
Although it has a lot of benefits and its capabilities and features can measure up to those of InDesign’s, it is still less powerful and much harder for non-designers to learn how to use.
- Main features: Advanced layout and vector drawing tools
- Best for: Layout, typesetting, and PDF presentations and forms
- Price: Free
5. Inkscape
Meanwhile, Inkscape is the open-source equivalent of Illustrator. It is a vector graphics program that you can use to create free brochures for print media.
The downside with Inkscape is that it uses SVG native files, meaning it only supports a single page or canvas at a time and lacks advanced canvas tools that you can use to simplify the design process for multi-page brochures.
- Main features: Object creation and manipulation, node editing, and other vector editing tools
- Best for: Vector graphics and illustrations
- Price: Free
6. Canva
Canva is an online design and publishing tool that offers templates for creating presentations, posters, and other visual content.
Canva offers lots of brochure templates; however, the designs are pretty basic and simple so if you are a non-designer or only want a minimalist brochure design inspiration, Canva is for you.
- Main features: Graphic templates, beginner-friendly editing tools
- Best for: Quick and simple designs
- Price: Free for basic accounts, $14.99/month for Canva Pro
7. Microsoft Publisher
If you are a frequent user of other Microsoft Office software, then Microsoft Publisher might be something you will prefer. Microsoft Publisher is also a desktop publishing program and is a handy tool to use for simple page layout and design.
Another one of its perks is that it comes with built-in templates. However, Microsoft Publisher has limited functionality and is not the best choice for creating professional designs. It also requires a subscription to the entire Microsoft Office suite, which might be a deal-breaker if you don’t really use other Office products.
- Main features: Built-in templates, basic editing tools, and document-sharing features
- Best for: Simple layout and design for brochures, newsletters, and other print media
- Price: (Microsoft 365 subscription for Businesses) Free trial for one month, then $3.00/user/month for Microsoft 365 Business Basic, $8.25/user/month for Microsoft 365 Apps for business, $10.00/user/month for Microsoft 365 Business Standard, $22.00/user/month for Microsoft 365 Business Premium
8. QuarkXPress
QuarkXPress is one of the first design and publishing tools that was made available in the market. With the latest version, it is a great alternative to other desktop publishing software.
Although it has a wide range of features and design capabilities, the software itself is pretty outdated with quite a steep price — luckily, there’s a 7-day free trial so you can test it out and see if it works for your brochure design project.
- Main features: layout design & synchronization, PDF import and output, and HTML/XHTML features
- Best for: Page layout, graphics and illustrations, and websites and blogs
- Price: 7-day free trial then a subscription of $259/year or a perpetual license of $699 one-time purchase
9. Affinity Publisher
Like QuarkXPress, Affinity Publisher is a feature-rich desktop publishing software. Compared to previously mentioned programs, it is much cheaper and easier to use.
On the other hand, some users remark that even though it has a very similar look and feel to Adobe products, Affinity Publisher has a complex interface that uses different terminology for some tools or functions, which can result in a steep learning curve. It also only offers partial compatibility with Adobe files.
- Main features: Smart master pages, custom layouts, and OpenType support
- Best for: Different types of collaterals and publications
- Price: One-time fee of $69.99 (Windows or Mac) or $18.49 (iPad)
10. Adobe Creative Cloud Express
Formerly Adobe Spark, Adobe Creative Cloud Express is a web and mobile design platform. Unlike InDesign and Illustrator, it has simple features as well as templates that allow non-designers to easily create graphics, flyers, posters, and many more.
Because it is an ‘express’ application, it functions as a basic design and editing tool and is missing important features, such as a multi-page setup which is usually needed for creating brochures.
- Main features: Adobe Stock images and templates, photo effects, and basic design and editing tools
- Best for: Social media posts, web pages, and digital marketing materials
- Price: Free for basic accounts, $9.99/month for premium accounts
FAQs about brochure design software
What is the best free brochure maker?
Venngage is still the best free brochure maker that you can use, considering all the impressive brochure design software that is currently leading in the market and how their disadvantages outweigh their benefits. Not only is Venngage free but is also easy to use and produces quality output.
Can I design my own brochure?
To design your own brochure using Venngage’s Brochure Maker, simply sign up to create an account then choose a template to customize for your brochure design. With Venngage, you don’t need to be a designer to be able to create professional, beautifully designed brochures.
In conclusion: Venngage is the best brochure design tool for businesses and professionals
Venngage’s versatile platform, complete and easy-to-use features, and convenient templates make it the most recommendable brochure maker at present. Create a brochure for free with Venngage’s Brochure Maker.
