TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft Publisher

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application available with an Office 365 subscription, or as a standalone download.

    $139

    one time purchase

    Substack

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ASubstack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft PublisherSubstack
    Editions & Modules
    Microsoft Publisher
    $139
    one time purchase
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft PublisherSubstack
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft PublisherSubstack
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Substack Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    10 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    83%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    80%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft PublisherSubstack
    Small Businesses
    Adobe InDesign
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Adobe InDesign
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Blogger
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe InDesign
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft PublisherSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.4
    (13 ratings)
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.3
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft PublisherSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    I think Substack is better for people who want to set up a personal-facing branded website vs people who just want to post random musings every so often. Monetization is better there than any other collective publishing platform as well as organic reach via email. Substack also allows you to build direct relationships with your readers via emails and own them 100% which is great long-term if you use it to pivot to another site or another form of writing/content creation. Substack would be less helpful for someone wanting to write as a part of a group, not individually, or someone who's unwilling to put their personal brand behind their content. It's less optimized for SEO (which other platforms allow you to do) and can be harder to curate content based on your interests (you really have to go in knowing what you want vs finding it on the fly).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Microsoft
    • Design of my quarterly full color magazine: (usually 28-56 pages in length)
    • Design of the quarterly planning system used by me and others in the annual conference.
    • Design and layout of any document that requires graphics/photos.
    • Simple to use with ample flexibility and strength of features
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • Because it has a very high Domain Authority ranking relevant backlinks in a published article will help make my store more searchable.
    • Substack is very easy to work in. The toolset they provide may not be as extensive as other platforms but it is certainly enough to create a meaningful, interesting post.
    • Substack is very focused on creating a community of writers that support each other. They run an ongoing email campaign that reinforces their focus on building a community of writers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • Formatting in general. It's a pain to refine a layout in Publisher in my opinion.
    • Microsoft is so invested in their approach to software and making it look and feel like an Office 365 application that they inadvertantly cripple applications like Publisher.
    • Earlier versions of Publisher gave you a lot more latitude and creative freedom. They were also much easier to work with. Not everything has to look like it's part of Office 365. They did the same ... thing to Access.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • editor is on the primitive side - it's wysiwyg, but missing some embed options
    • integrate with google analytics
    • percentage cut that Substack takes can become a burden as your revenue grows. Problems scaling.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    We use this product 2-3 times a month and have not been able to find a comparable alternative.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Microsoft
    There are a few quirks with Microsoft Publisher that make some functions a little tricky for new users at first, but most of our employees are able to figure out the quirks and work around them to use the product for their job. It is relatively high on the scale of usability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    Medium is not so good for running newsletter. I find the mail that a user gets is very easily readable. Also as a creator it's very easy for me to track the analytics and monetise my blogs unlike Medium. Blogger is a very old technology. The kind of integrations and the support for Markdown / different media is very great in Substack.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • we have invested on our Microsoft license for our team and that has made a very big productivity for making banners and holdings for our projects as making it from third party would cost much higher and the return is very well over the comparison with third-party vendors
    • Functionality is very easy, so we don’t have to train much to get it in production and use it efficiently so we don’t have to invest much on training and learning things and we can work on it directly with a very basic knowledge as well
    • It has functionality to get stored and share things directly to the OneDrive and using curated links, which is very secure and reliable to transfer files without losing picture and banners quality and share them in lossless quality.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • I haven’t made any money from it
    • Can be disheartening when you realise you’re putting in maximum effort for minimum audience
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots