Updated October 14, 2026. Written for DesignCraft 0.7.1 (what changed since). Prices in USD.
InDesign costs $22.99 a month on an annual plan, about $276 a year, and there is no free tier. Three free layout programs open InDesign's IDML exchange files and export print PDFs. Which one fits depends on why you are leaving:
- You want a complete tool for daily work on Windows or a Mac: Affinity, free since Canva took it over, with InDesign files coming in through IDML.
- You want open source, or you work on Linux: Scribus, the long-running open-source layout program.
- Files have to go back to InDesign users, or you can't install software: DesignCraft, which saves IDML as well as opening it and runs in a browser tab. It is pre-alpha, so expect gaps.
| Affinity | Scribus 1.6 | DesignCraft 0.7 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for individuals (Canva account) | Free | Free |
| Runs on | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS, Linux | Browser, Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD |
| Open source | No | Yes (GPL) | Yes (MIT or Apache 2.0) |
| Opens IDML | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Saves IDML | No | No | Yes |
| PDF/X for print | X-1a, X-3, X-4 | X-1a, X-3, X-4 | X-4 only |
| Thread text between frames by hand | Yes | Yes | Not yet |
None of the three opens InDesign's own .indd files. For those, see how to open an INDD file without InDesign.
Affinity: the most complete free layout app
Affinity's layout tools began as Affinity Publisher, a paid program, and are now part of a single Affinity app that is free for individuals; you download it through a Canva sign-in. It runs on Windows and on Macs with Apple silicon or Intel. An iPad version is announced, and Linux isn't mentioned.
For everyday layout it has what you would reach for in InDesign. Text frames link with a Text Flow button, and AutoFlow adds frames for overflowing text. PDF export has PDF/X-1a, X-3 and X-4 presets and an Include bleed option, which matters if your printer still asks for X-1a.
The catch is the direction of travel. Affinity opens IDML, but its own help calls importing a one-way process: the document is saved in Affinity's format, and IDML isn't on its export list. That is fine when a job leaves InDesign for good, and a problem when a client's InDesign designer needs the file back.
Scribus: open source, on every desktop
Scribus has been around since 2001 and reached version 1.6.6 in April 2026. It is GPL software for Windows, macOS and Linux, which makes it the mature pick on a Linux desktop. It links text frames, and its PDF export writes PDF/X-1a, X-3 and X-4.
Scribus is also the widest importer of the three. Besides IDML, its source tree has import plug-ins for Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXPress, PageMaker, Illustrator and PDF files, which helps when you inherit an archive from older software. On the way out, it exports PDF, SVG and images but not IDML, so like Affinity it is a one-way door from InDesign.
DesignCraft: IDML both ways, in a browser
DesignCraft copies InDesign's layout, tools, menus, panels and shortcuts: spreads and parent pages, the Control panel, paragraph and character styles, swatches, text wrap. If you know InDesign, the menus are where you expect them.
It is the only one of the three that writes IDML. Open a client's IDML, change it, and File › Export IDML… gives them a file InDesign opens. Its developers check exported files by opening them in InDesign 2026, but haven't yet measured a round trip on a large set of real documents, so keep the original. For print it exports PDF/X-4 with bleed and crop marks (step by step: export a print-ready PDF), and it also writes PDF/A-2b, EPUB and PNG. Word files keep their style names when you place them.
It also runs in a browser tab at designcraft.run/editor, with nothing to install and nothing uploaded, which helps on a Chromebook or a locked-down work laptop. The same program is a desktop download for Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD.
Where DesignCraft falls short today
The biggest gap is text threading. You can't yet click a frame's out port and continue the story in another frame; its developers list this as the blocker for calling the app alpha. Long text still flows from page to page when you turn on Primary Text Frame in New Document, which adds pages and linked frames as the text grows, and threads that come in from an IDML stay intact. Designing a magazine spread where one story jumps between hand-drawn frames isn't possible yet.
The browser version has more limits on top: five bundled fonts (Source Serif 4, Source Sans 3, Inter, JetBrains Mono and BIZ UDPGothic), no autosave, no print command, and linked pictures in an IDML have to be placed again. The desktop app removes the font, picture and autosave limits. Its developers estimate it covers about 54% of what someone making flyers, posters, newsletters and simple booklets needs from InDesign. Today it is at its best on single pages such as flyers, on short booklets, and on editing IDML files other people made.
Which one to pick
If the work stays with you, we'd pick Affinity on Windows and macOS, and Scribus on Linux or when open source is the point. The hard case is a freelancer who receives IDML from an agency and has to send it back. Affinity is the better layout tool, but it can't return an IDML. DesignCraft can, and it is the only free option that does; the price is working in a pre-alpha app, so check its export against the client's PDF before you send it.
If you exchange native .indd files with InDesign users every day, none of these replaces InDesign yet; IDML adds a conversion step to every job.
To try the IDML round trip on your own file, open it in the editor, change a headline, export IDML and ask your InDesign contact to open it.