Affinity Publisher vs Microsoft Publisher

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are looking to get started using a publishing / creation application, Affinity Publisher is the one to go for. With a quick learning curve on all the basic functions, you'll be flying in no time. And then there is a whole heap of great features to get into as you become more comfortable with the software. The only down side is if clients are using Adobe programs, there are sometimes problems working with imported layers, but this is minor compared to the ease of use and features.

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Paul Gully

Director

Elevated OnlineMarketing & Advertising, 1-10 employees

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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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Ashley Vogler

Executive Assistant

Spiegelglass ConstructionConstruction, 11-50 employees

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Pros

Supports just about any format you'll need for your project.
The variety of templates makes startign projects simple.
The program is just really powerful and fairly priced.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Social Media

Education Management Company, 201-500 employees

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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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Robb Auspitz

Owner

Groovy Hemp Company LLCInternet, 1-10 employees

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Cons

Menu differences can be an impediment to new users from other softwares
Some functions are not in places I would expect

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John Bergmann, MSM

Business Owner

Bergmann PhotographyPhotography, 1-10 employees

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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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Terry Goodman

Secretary of the Annual conference

Holston Annual ConferenceReligious Institutions, 11-50 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

$24.99

Affinity Publisher Editions & Modules

Edition

Affinity Publisher	$24.99

none

Additional Pricing Details

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General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

$139 one time purchase

Microsoft Publisher Editions & Modules

Edition

Microsoft Publisher	$139¹

one time purchase

Additional Pricing Details

—

Usability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Microsoft Publisher 10.0

Based on 1 answer

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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Terry Goodman

Secretary of the Annual conference

Holston Annual ConferenceReligious Institutions, 11-50 employees

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Support Rating

Affinity Publisher 8.6

Based on 4 answers

Our team typically uses other online resources instead of contacting developers/manufacturers for support. That being said, there is a forum and a growing, vibrant community of users available to answer questions and "make the switch." A simple "whatever function we used to use in Adobe InDesign," followed by "Affinity," usually gets us on the right track to an answer. YouTube and their forums are our team's go-to sources for help.

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Verified User

Director in Product Management

Internet Company, 11-50 employees

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Microsoft Publisher 8.0

Based on 6 answers

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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Kathryn Juarez

Community Relations Director

Boley Centers, Inc.Mental Health Care, 51-200 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Affinity Publisher is a more cost effective way to achieve the same goals as InDesign and Quark. I'm sure there are various differences that Affinity may lack, however we have yet to run into one that our business has needed, or even recognized. It has completely replaced any desktop publishing for our organization without issue.

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Verified User

Director in Marketing

Graphic Design Company, 11-50 employees

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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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Amanda Carpenter

Administrative Office Technician

Lebanon Campus of Harrisburg Area Community CollegeHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

I wish we could push it out to all staff but we can't quite afford the cost.
Amount of features can be overwhelming for first time users and take more time.
This program will save time once employees figure it out.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Social Media

Education Management Company, 201-500 employees

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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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Kristen Lysobey

Medical Assistant

Sound Foot and AnkleMedical Practice, 1-10 employees

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Affinity Publisher vs Microsoft Publisher