Adobe Express vs. Microsoft Publisher

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Express
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
The vendor states Adobe Spark allows users to create beautiful graphics, web pages, and video stories in minutes, offering free themes, fonts, and images, as well as editing. Imagery assembled or created can be presented through Spark Post, Spark Page, and Spark Video. Adobe Spark is available through a Creative Cloud subscription, free with the Starter Plan, or on a single product license via the Team or Individual plan.
$0
Microsoft Publisher
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application available with an Office 365 subscription, or as a standalone download.
$139
one time purchase
Pricing
Adobe ExpressMicrosoft Publisher
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Premium
$9.99 / $99.99
Monthly / Annual, prepaid
Microsoft Publisher
$139
one time purchase
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe ExpressMicrosoft Publisher
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe ExpressMicrosoft Publisher
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe ExpressMicrosoft Publisher
Small Businesses
Descript
Descript
Score 9.2 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
iMovie
iMovie
Score 9.1 out of 10
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro
Score 9.0 out of 10
Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe ExpressMicrosoft Publisher
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(29 ratings)
7.5
(9 ratings)
Usability
9.4
(10 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.9
(10 ratings)
8.0
(3 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe ExpressMicrosoft Publisher
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I would recommend Adobe CC Express, especially if the colleague were an established Adobe user. The interface is designed so that anyone familiar with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or any other Adobe software products, will be familiar. This is a product that competes with Canva, but it's great to have the simplicity of Canva with an interface that feels familiar from day one.
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Microsoft
Microsoft Publisher is well suited for almost any situation. It is something that I'm sure has far more advanced tools than I use or am aware of, but it is also very simple for entry-level users to create professional documents quickly. I have used it for very involved brochures in real estate scenarios and I have also used it for very simple "Construction Zone" signs at a job site under construction. There are so many uses for this program!
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Pros
Adobe
  • Out-of-the-box templates save a lot of time and effort for designers and new users.
  • Collaboration to share resources and monitor task status centrally.
  • Great design elements bring a wow factor to digital content.
  • Single design tool for all types of content design.
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Microsoft
  • Business cards
  • Internal memos that use a logo or a little bit of design.
  • Quick and simple flyers for internal events.
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Cons
Adobe
  • Adobe Creative Cloud Express's video possibilities could be improved - I'd really like to see more options for animating text. Animoto is a great example of this. But the video is already improving, so perhaps these options are coming!
  • Sometimes images don't download properly from the web app and I have to download using the phone app and then transfer to my desktop for scheduling.
  • It would be cool if there was an approve / feedback option, so you could request feedback from a team member without having to share a link and send a separate email.
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Microsoft
  • The greatest shortcoming is large (300+ page documents) that require lots of internal hyperlinks. While it can do it, I can tell, due to the way it bogs down, that I am pushing the program to its limits.
  • I would like to be able to work better with pdf's. I would like the ability to import a pdf of a graph, picture, or some other object directly into a Publisher document. Currently, I have to first convert the pdf to a jpeg and then import the jpeg. I have not found a way around this issue.
  • At one point, I thought I had the option to automatically turn off hyphenation. Somewhere along the way, it seems as if the default for everything is hyphenation is turned on. I detest hyphenation and turning it off on every box I create becomes cumbersome.
  • More options for graphics. Particularly the defaults that allow you to place "frames" and effects around photos. More options.
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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.
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Microsoft
It has a great feature set but does not overwhelm me with its complexity. This is not an entry-level program, but it is also not one of the top of line graphic designer programs, like Abode In-Design. I can use Publisher to do 95% of what I need to get done. The other 5% I farm out to the graphics design person in the organization. It simply works and does so in a simple to use manner.
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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
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Microsoft
While I have not directly used support for Microsoft Publisher, I have used their help files and found them to be useful. I have also found that most answers that I need can be found through simple web searches and chat platforms. In all though, there are very few times when the preloaded help files have not given me the answers that I need.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I used Canva for a long time, but since we already had the Adobe Creative Suite and Adobe Creative Cloud Express was included, I went ahead and started using Adobe Creative Cloud Express, as it was more cost-effective. Unfortunately, Adobe Creative Cloud Express doesn't offer any content calendar and scheduling, so it was a difficult choice.
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Microsoft
Microsoft Publisher is more for beginners, or for basic needs, anyone with some familiarity with the Microsoft suite should be able to use it easily. If you’re looking to create something more graphic and advanced, you’d probably want to look into something like InDesign, which is not as user friendly if you’re not familiar with it at all. For basic needs the average employee should be able to use Microsoft Publisher with ease.
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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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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • I started with the free version, but I soon found that I was unable to save my custom templates.
  • With the paid plan, The number of templates and art work are greatly increased.
  • Using this subscription was a timesaver, thus saving in creative time.
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Microsoft
  • Allowed us to created our own documents/educational material for patients. In previous practices I have worked we had to buy "pamplets and brochures" which were very costly.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Express Screenshots

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