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 9.1 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
In my view, they are essentially the same.
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
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.
Chose Adobe Express
Canva seems to have way more features that Adobe Express does not have. I would say the biggest advantage of Adobe Express is the ability to have assets from other Adobe Apps inside Adobe Express.
Chose Adobe Express
That's tough as it's a purpose built tool. Based off the original. The more powerful will always be supreme however in delivering creative ability at a good price Adobe Express can't be beat
Chose Adobe Express
I think Express is a great tool for quick edits or creation. As someone who works in the more robust platforms, I do not always enjoy going into Express because of the more limited features.
Chose Adobe Express
I think Canva's interface is a little more friendly for beginners and has a lot of different aesthetics. They also cater to educators.
Chose Adobe Express
Our team was avid Canva users for 2 years prior to switching over to Adobe Express. I found Adobe Express to be much more user friendly and less complicated visually. I also LOVE the CC libraries integration. That was a game changer for our creative department. It made making …
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express is the lightweight version of the other Adobe products I have used. It allows for super fast content creation for social media and resizing to get to launch that much faster. For the work I do, it has everything I need to work quickly and efficiently.
Chose Adobe Express
I am able to take my designs in illustrator place them into Adobe Express.
Adobe InDesign

No answer on this topic

Best Alternatives
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
Small Businesses
Pexels
Pexels
Score 9.9 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Pexels
Pexels
Score 9.9 out of 10
Canva
Canva
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Pexels
Pexels
Score 9.9 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe ExpressAdobe InDesign
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(234 ratings)
8.5
(102 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.8
(5 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
7.5
(13 ratings)
7.3
(12 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(11 ratings)
5.0
(64 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.3
(1 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
I would definitely recommend Adobe Express to students in my university as they have the free access to it as our university provides the free Creative Cloud Suit in which they have all the premium Adobe product access for free
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.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
I give it a 10 because Adobe Express has become an essential part of our daily workflow. It allows us to design faster, stay on brand, and produce high-quality content without needing multiple tools. The AI features, templates, and easy collaboration make it a platform we rely on for client work, training, and internal operations.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
The overall usability of the software was strong. The application, especially relative to other Adobe services like Photoshop that can demand a lot of knowledge and skill, was highly easy to use. At the same time, that also speaks to the somewhat limited amount of customization opportunities that allow content designers to truly create content that is dynamic, engaging, and different than the standard stuff that floods our vision every day.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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
Because adobe is so widespread the community support is amazing. I have never actually used adobe support short of their website, but I go to youtube a lot to get my questions answered. You can google any problem you have and not have any issues finding an answer. In my opinion, community support is much more meaningful and helpful than support directly from the company
Read full review
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.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Attending Adobe MAX each year is extremely valuable.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Implementation was smooth and easy.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I think Express is a great tool for quick edits or creation. As someone who works in the more robust platforms, I do not always enjoy going into Express because of the more limited features.
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.
Read full review
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
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Adobe Express Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of