CorelDRAW Graphics Suite vs. Microsoft Publisher

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Corel Corporation, headquartered in Ottawa, offers the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, a graphic design studio and library of tools.
$249
per year
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
CorelDRAW Graphics SuiteMicrosoft Publisher
Editions & Modules
Subscription
$249.00
per year
Download
$499.00
One Time Fee
Physical Edition
$499.00
One Time Fee
Microsoft Publisher
$139
one time purchase
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CorelDRAW Graphics SuiteMicrosoft Publisher
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CorelDRAW Graphics SuiteMicrosoft Publisher
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
CorelDRAW Graphics SuiteMicrosoft Publisher
Small Businesses
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.2 out of 10
Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CorelDRAW Graphics SuiteMicrosoft Publisher
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(20 ratings)
7.5
(9 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(11 ratings)
8.0
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
CorelDRAW Graphics SuiteMicrosoft Publisher
Likelihood to Recommend
Alludo
It is a perfect suite of applications to finish presentations and create beautiful layouts for design. It is very useful both for graphic design and for architecture design when you want to draw a realistic idea of a project without being a rendering or when you need to present both images and vectorial drawings.
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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
Alludo
  • Easy to learn - especially if you have experience with other graphic software. It is fairly intuitive which is helpful.
  • Creating high resolution graphics is a breeze with this software - and it has the ability to export into a large variety of formats!
  • I am able to import a wide variety of file formats. I have also had success with importing and editing PDF files which has been helpful.
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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
Alludo
  • The bitmap edit feature to edit images. The pop out is clunky and with it was a bit more integrated.
  • Trace - Would love to see this strengthened. We love to scan in hand drawn things to turn to vector and would love to see the accuracy increased.
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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
Alludo
Just like any design program or suite, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't do graphic design professionally. If you're not adept at learning a program or experience, it isn't a program you can just pick up and start using easily. Outside of the learning curve, it's a nice program with a decent user interface.
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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
Alludo
Overall, CorelDRAW meets all my needs as a researcher and allows me to create beautiful and clear graphics to illustrate the main ideas for publications. It does not lack any functionality for my needs; however, it has some bugs that impact productivity, such as the color drag and drop that sometimes stops working and needs restarting, and crashes, especially when working with large bitmaps.
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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
Alludo
Although other softwares are good in there field but CorelDRAW is very good when it come to ease of making the designs. We can create designs in it very quickly and efficiently and also it us Avery easy software to learn, anyone can pick it up at good pace. Also it is more widely used by vendors here for printing, so its a better 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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Return on Investment
Alludo
  • Ease of use reflects on less time to train new users, a positive impact in investment and productivity.
  • The practicality to make new designs results in less time needed to do them, again a positive impact.
  • The integration with other graphic programs could be better if needed to finish a rendering using the design made in Corel Draw it's needed to export in formats that don't carry all information and the process is not that simple.
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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

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Screenshots

Screenshot of A complete suite of applications:
CorelDRAW® - Vector illustration and page layout
Corel PHOTO-PAINT™ - Image editing and pixel-based design program
Corel® Font Manager - Font exploration and management tool
PowerTRACE™ - AI-powered bitmap-to-vector tracing (included as part of the CorelDRAW application)
CorelDRAW.app™ - Online vector illustration and graphic design via web browser
CorelDRAW.app™ for iPad – Vector illustration and graphic design iPad app
CAPTURE™ - Screen capture tool
AfterShot™ 3 HDR - RAW photo editorScreenshot of From creative professionals working in advertising and publishing, to small businesses producing in-house marketing materials, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite has the tools to create everything from stand-out brand identity assets to alluring sales tools.Screenshot of Professionals in the sign and print, and fashion industry rely on CorelDRAW® to create artwork for a variety of print outputs, thanks to a powerful color management engine and superior prepress tools.Screenshot of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite has commerce professionals covered with dedicated tools for web and print, whether you’re designing point-of-sale promotions or creating assets to enhance an online store.Screenshot of Illustrators and artists alike can combine their classic art practices with CorelDRAW’s state-of-the-art vector-illustration technology to create beautiful, sophisticated works of art.Screenshot of Get more for less! Discover the affordable, flexible way to stay up-to-date, while enjoying exclusive features, content, enhancements, and support for the latest technologies.