Adobe Express vs. Adobe InDesign

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Express
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a task-based, web and mobile product used to create and share rich multimedia content – from social media posts and stories to invitations to marketing materials like logos, flyers and banners.
$0
Adobe InDesign
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe InDesign supports creating digital and print documents such as flyers, stationary, posters, and other types of media, with rich graphics, images, and more. Adobe InDesign is available standalone or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite collection of media management and creation products.
$31.49
per month
Pricing
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Premium
$9.99 / $99.99
per month
Teams
$9.99
per month per user
Monthly Plan
$31.49
per month
Annual Plan, Prepaid
$239.88 ($19.99)
per year (per month)
Annual Plan, Paid Monthly
$251.88 ($20.99)
per year (per month)
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsContact Adobe directly for Enterprise pricing plan details.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
Considered Both Products
Adobe Express
Chose Adobe Express
I think they all have a different target audience and a different use for them. I love crafting posts with Figma but i think the "Figma look" is a bit cold and super recognizable for my taste. I think creating something with Illustrator still gives me the most options in terms …
Chose Adobe Express
I think Adobe Express is a bit behind Canva, but as an Adobe Community Expert, I try to provide as much feedback as I can to help improve Adobe Express. ADobe Express does a better job than InShot and a few other apps, but isn't quite there against Canva, I'm sorry to say!
Chose Adobe Express
Maybe because I use other Adobe products, but I find that Adobe Express is more intuitive than Canva, especially when trying to format text. As for Adobe Express versus other Adobe products, well I think there is a place for them all. There are just certain things that you …
Chose Adobe Express
I like them both equally, but Adobe Express is free because I have Creative Cloud, so I prefer it.
Chose Adobe Express
It's very easy to generate images or graphics and find them on Adobe Express.In the application, in "Your stuff" > Files section, you'll find all the creations you've made with Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator, and you can use them directly in Adobe Express. No need to …
Chose Adobe Express
I hate Canva personally. The files I receive from people annoy me to death. At least if they were in an adobe product I could do more with them.
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express is a mighty little program. To be clear, it won't do everything you can do in Illustrator or Premiere, but it will do about 75% of it, which is plenty about 75% of the time. It's not going to replace the Creative Cloud programs for pro users, but it will allow pro …
Chose Adobe Express
Overall Adobe Express offers a more polished finished product but does take a little time to learn. But worth the time spent to have more unique content
Chose Adobe Express
I like to use express since it us easier with the adobe echo system which is my wirkflow
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express has better integration with other Adobe product I use, however it is lacking in the templates area.
Chose Adobe Express
In my view, they are essentially the same.
Chose Adobe Express
Much better. Canva doesn’t have integration with other Adobe products that are industry standard.
Chose Adobe Express
It's a robust tool for a bite sized product. It's not going to go toe to toe with the CC products but that's not it's purpose. It's purpose is to be light weight, intuitive and improve creativity and it checks all the boxes
Chose Adobe Express
I've only used Express
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express is similar in functionality with Canva, what makes it better is having an ecosystem with it's other products that sync the assets as they are built so you don't have to export and upload everything everytime which makes it faster compared to Canva
Chose Adobe Express
So far I use them about the same, I am used to more of the traditional Adobe products so I'm still navigating this one.
Chose Adobe Express
I like some of Canva's included graphics and plugins more but Adobe is a more cohesive work space
Chose Adobe Express
I feel like Canva is a bit more built out in feature offerings sometimes and that their library feels a bit better to select from. However, it has been a minute since I’ve used the platform.
Adobe InDesign

No answer on this topic

Best Alternatives
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
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Score 8.2 out of 10
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Canva
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(232 ratings)
9.0
(101 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(15 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(27 ratings)
7.5
(11 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
4.6
(12 ratings)
5.0
(64 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
4.1
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Basically, I truly find that Adobe Express is pretty much great for all professional scenarios because it offers many creative options and comes with an extremely robust collection of assets (stock photos, videos, music, and graphics) all of which can be edited and enhanced within Adobe Express if needed. One project that it was quite helpful with utilizing was creating a logo for one of our clients. I was able to create the prototype and then offer several iterations of said logo to help the client quickly decide on its official branding. By having all of my assets neatly stored right on my Adobe Express project folder it was very easy for me to remain organized when creating various outputs.
Read full review
Adobe
Adobe InDesign is very well-suited to creating professional-looking page designs. If you want a newspaper or magazine to have attractive pages that go beyond simple templates, InDesign is the best option out there, to my knowledge. It's less suited to scenarios where people without page design skills are responsible for creating pages, as it requires some training and skills to use effectively.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Brand Kit: provides quick access to approved fonts, logos, colors, and other assets
  • Libraries: syncs will with other Adobe Tools
  • Animation: provides a decent collection of modifiable motions for objects in the design
  • Social Media-ready Layouts: being able to design graphics of multiple sizes/Layouts within the same document is a GOD-SEND
Read full review
Adobe
  • Customization - With Adobe InDesign, as well as many other applications in the Adobe Creative Suite, I can fully customize my workspaces and save different workspaces. This makes it easy to navigate through my project and have the panels and tools I need easily accessible and configured based on my project needs.
  • Styles - Adobe InDesign has character styles, object styles, and tables styles. This speeds up my workflows and allows me to easily apply the same format across multiple elements. This is super helpful, especially when working with length documents.
  • File compatibility - I can easily export my files into so many different file types.
  • The Book feature - This feature is really helpful when creating books or very long documents with multiple sections.
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Cons
Adobe
  • It could have a search bar which searches through other Adobe products (esp for Stock images, videos, audio) from within Adobe Express.
  • It could make it so switching between Adobe products from within Adobe Express almost like a tab function is smooth.
  • It could partner with other companies to allow for company specific events in exchange for valuable products or programs.
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Adobe
  • Not naturally a WYSIWYG display (this is an option, and doesn't always work as intended)
  • Moving images and photos around while holding an additional key
  • Layers or objects are not easily clickable behind other objects.
  • Adobe InDesign does require some fair system resources to work smoothly
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
I foresee Adobe Express becoming the "go-to" platform for everyone except professional, high-level designers. It is a relatively easy-to-use tool that allows users to create a wide variety of visuals quickly. Because it is a template-driven tool, the in-house design team has the ability to make brand kit available to keep visuals on point
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Adobe
I've had great experiences with the product and plan to continue to use it. It has been my go-to product for designing and creating materials. I have had great luck with it and have been able to create all of the needed marketing materials that have been requested for our company.
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Usability
Adobe
The user interface is pretty straightforward to use. It has easy to navigate navigations, and the canvas UX is also pretty good. One thing i would like to add it to use shortcuts to add elements on canvas. Like if I am on canvas and I press 'T' on my keyboard the text box should be added automatically
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Adobe
If you know what you are doing it is an amazingly granular and powerful application. You can control pretty much any aspect of the design and layout of your documents and make changes globally and rapidly. But, if you don't know what you are doing...you will be staring at your screen in bewilderment for a long time. You can learn it, but be ready for a hefty time investment.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
I've needed Adobe InDesign team very little which is a bonus in and of itself.
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Performance
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
One of the advantages of Adobe InDesign is it is faster and less glitchy than Microsoft Word.
Read full review
Support Rating
Adobe
Overall, the Adobe Creative Cloud Express is worth a try and may be a good fit for many organizations and businesses. At a monthly rate, the cost is not prohibitive, but the tools are somewhat limited and not necessarily worthwhile when compared to standard applications and software that are often available free or through a package of services commonly found on workplace computers.
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Adobe
Adobe support is ok but not great. Chat support often doesn't initially understand the question at-hand and it takes awhile to get to the right agent. Phone support has long wait times, and though I've had more luck there, it does take quite a time investment if you are looking for help. However, Adobe does have some online learning solutions available as well as a knowledgebase for frequently asked questions. If you're looking to learn how to use the platform, there are lots of resources which can typically be found in a few Google searches. If you have a technical issue with the system, that's going to be a bit more of a time investment as far as getting a tech's assistance to resolve the problem.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Attending Adobe MAX each year is extremely valuable.
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Online Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
The online training works well and is not wholly necessary as it is user-friendly and you can learn by doing.
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Implementation was smooth and easy.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I think Adobe Express is a bit behind Canva, but as an Adobe Community Expert, I try to provide as much feedback as I can to help improve Adobe Express. ADobe Express does a better job than InShot and a few other apps, but isn't quite there against Canva, I'm sorry to say!
Read full review
Adobe
Microsoft products do not match the aesthetic tools that [Adobe] InDesign offers, cannot support the customizable options available for export, and do not produce documents with as high a degree of accessibility. That said, they do have their place in collaboration in a team- I'd consider Office to be the first step and [Adobe] InDesign to be the final product.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is included with an Adobe Creative Cloud account. Our company has a corporate team membership so it is nice to have a professional and powerful tool that anyone on our team can use for free. The pricing structure of giving the tool away for free will be fundamental to users utilizing the tool. Similar tools, such as Canva, cost significantly more but do not offer the same features
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Working in a cloud environment makes it easy to scale and share resources.
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Professional Services
Adobe
The professional services for Adobe Creative Cloud Express is top notch and should be highly commended. I am thoroughly impressed with how far Adobe has come. In the past, I had several issues with how something were handled, but in the past few years things have been better than ever and they get no complaints from me
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Positive: Time and working for a nonprofit with minimal staff this is essential.
  • Negative: There are certain features that I need to find in other Adobe products like layer masking.
  • Positive: It makes content creation less intimidating for our newer staff.
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Adobe
  • A great ROI for time in my small architectural practice, [especially] when a design has been updated and a report needs to be submitted. We can be submitting many reports that all look similar, clean and beautiful. We just save as the file and replace the images with more updated images. This way the client finds it easy to navigate updated reports, as many as they can be.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Express Screenshots

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