Microsoft Publisher alternatives compared
Stephen Wheeler · 11 October 2026
The choices side by side
| Program | Opens .pub files? | Price | Where it runs | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRW Publisher | Yes, as editable pages | £24.99 once (launch price to 31 December 2026, then £29.99). 15-day free trial | Windows 10 and 11, offline | Everyday flyers, price lists and notices, and keeping old Publisher files editable |
| LibreOffice Draw | Yes | Free | Windows, Mac and Linux, offline | Opening the odd .pub file without paying anything |
| Scribus | Yes, by importing | Free | Windows, Mac and Linux, offline | Print work with professional controls, if you have time to learn it |
| Affinity | Not among the file types its website lists | Free, with a Canva account | Windows and Mac | Design work to a professional standard, starting afresh |
| Canva | Not among the file types it accepts | Free plan, or Canva Pro at £100 a year | Web browser and apps, mostly online | Quick designs from ready-made templates |
| Microsoft Word | No. Microsoft's route is Publisher to PDF, then PDF to Word | Microsoft 365 subscription, or Office bought outright | Windows, Mac and web | Text-heavy documents, if you already have it |
Prices and file support checked on 11 October 2026. They change, so check the maker's own page before you decide.
First question: do you have old Publisher files?
This matters more than anything else. If everything you make is new, any program here will do and you can choose on price and how much there is to learn. If you have years of brochures, newsletters and price lists saved as .pub files, most replacements can't read them, and you're left retyping or working from a PDF.
Whichever program you choose, try it on your own files before you rely on it. How well a Publisher file comes through depends on the file, and a simple notice is an easier test than a twelve-page brochure with text wrapped round pictures.
SRW Publisher
This is my own program. I used Publisher for over 30 years and wrote SRW Publisher as a substitute for the everyday jobs: flyers, newsletters, price lists, spec sheets and notices. It opens .pub files and PDFs as pages you can edit, with the photos, text boxes, lines and shapes as separate pieces. It's laid out in a familiar way, with tabs and a ribbon along the top and your pages down the left.
What it isn't: it's Windows only, with no Mac version, and it doesn't try to copy every Publisher feature. It also isn't free. You pay once, £24.99 until 31 December 2026 and £29.99 after that, with a 15-day trial of the full program first.
LibreOffice Draw
LibreOffice is a free office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux, and it has been able to read Publisher files since version 4.0. They open in Draw, its drawing program. If you only need to get into a few old files now and then, it costs nothing to try and it may be all you need.
Draw is a drawing program more than a page layout program, so it's set out differently from Publisher, and it comes as part of a whole office suite.
Scribus
Scribus is free desktop publishing software for Windows, Mac and Linux, and it has imported Publisher files since version 1.5. It's built for print work, with the controls a professional printer asks for.
That power comes with more to learn. It works differently from Publisher, so allow some time before your first leaflet.
Affinity
Affinity is professional design software for Windows and Mac. Since it became part of Canva it has been free for individuals, though you sign in with a Canva account to use it, and its AI tools need a paid Canva plan. Its website lists Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign (IDML) and DWG files among those it opens. Publisher files aren't on that list.
It's a good choice if you want design tools to a professional standard and are happy to start your documents again.
Canva
Canva works in a web browser and through its apps, and it's built around ready-made templates. There's a free plan, and Canva Pro is £100 a year for one person. You need an account. It accepts PDF, Word and PowerPoint files, but Publisher files aren't among the types it lists.
Canva says designs you've already made available offline can be edited without a connection for up to 14 days, but new designs, its template library and downloading your finished work all need the internet.
Microsoft Word
Microsoft's own advice was to move Publisher jobs to Word or PowerPoint. Word can't open a .pub file. Microsoft's route was to save each file as a PDF from Publisher before it was removed, then open that PDF in Word. Microsoft says the result is set up for editing text, and that the layout may differ from the original, particularly in documents with a lot of graphics.
If you already pay for Microsoft 365, Word costs you nothing extra, and it's fine for documents that are mostly text. Placing photos and text boxes exactly where you want them is harder than it was in Publisher.
Which one?
- You have old .pub files and want something familiar: try SRW Publisher's free trial on your own files.
- You have old .pub files and don't want to pay: try LibreOffice Draw first, then Scribus.
- You're starting afresh and want professional design tools: Affinity or Scribus.
- You want templates and work online: Canva.
- Your documents are mostly text and you already have Microsoft 365: Word.
- You use a Mac: SRW Publisher isn't for you. Look at LibreOffice Draw, Scribus or Affinity.
Try SRW Publisher free for 15 days
From the Microsoft Store. £24.99 launch price until 31 December 2026, then £29.99. Pay once, no subscription. Windows 10 and 11.
Related: How to open a .pub file without Publisher · Microsoft Publisher has been retired: what now?
Where these facts come from
- Microsoft: Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026
- LibreOffice: Wikipedia's LibreOffice article, for the file formats it reads
- Scribus: Wikipedia's Scribus article, for Publisher import
- Affinity: affinity.studio and Canva's free Affinity access page
- Canva: pricing, upload formats and offline access
If anything here is out of date or wrong, tell me at stephen@srwpublisher.co.uk and I'll correct it.
SRW Publisher is an independent product and is not made by, or connected with, Microsoft or any of the other companies named here. The product names on this page are trademarks of their owners.