this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
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I’m ready and waiting for a viable alternative to indesign but I haven’t seen one yet
Have you tried Affinity Layout (formerly Publisher)?
Unfortunately, until it fully integrates with a Photoshop equivalent and an Illustrator equivalent, it won't be able to replace InDesign.
That's why Adobe beat Quark. Their layout tool integrates so seamlessly with their raster and vector image editing tools.
If you weren’t aware, that’s Affinitys top feature. The new version is one app that can seamlessly switch between Vector, Pixel, and Layout modes without changing applications. It’s Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign rolled into a single application with dedicated workflows for each.
That gives me pause. And it's not quite what I said.
When you try to integrate everything into the same application, you have to make compromises. Even if they have separate workflows, you're not optimizing a tool for a specific use. You're creating something general-purpose.
InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator are separate applications. That allows each to fully specialize in what it does best. And each one does a hell of a lot of things that would simply bog down the other two applications.
The applications need to integrate with each other. But no single application can be excellent at literally everything.
Edit: oh, Affinity is made by Canva? Yeah, I'm not touching that shit. No reason to trade one evil empire for another.
1st. Affinity is not one application that does all, but three specialized application that integrate tightly.
2nd. Affinity is made by Serif, which was bought by Canva. Serif has been around since the age of diskettes, making affordable pro graphics software.