Microsoft Publisher vs. Venngage

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Publisher
Score 7.5 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
Venngage
Score 9.9 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Venngage is an infographics creation platform. Users can create inforgraphics for their marketing team from scratch or from a template.
$19
per month per user
Pricing
Microsoft PublisherVenngage
Editions & Modules
Microsoft Publisher
$139
one time purchase
Premium
$19
per month per user
Business
$49
per month per user
Enterprise
starting at $499
per month 10+ seats (billed yearly)
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft PublisherVenngage
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details50% discount for Premium and Business plans for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft PublisherVenngage
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Publisher
Chose Microsoft Publisher
It works better than PowerPoint if it is one-page sharing content or poster, as opposed to a full presentation.
It doesn't have as much functionality as Canva, but is more cost effective as it is included with the MS Office 365 Suite.
Chose Microsoft Publisher
At the time I was not impressed with Quark Xpress. I always disliked PageMaker. I always considered it over-rated. I like InDesign and have always liked InDesign, if I have a need for more complex documents I'll go with InDesign over Publisher or Quark Xpress in a heartbeat. …
Chose Microsoft Publisher
Publisher wins hand down. To be honest, In-Design can do things with more precision and perhaps a somewhat better final design. However, the learning curve is WAY too steep for In-Design. I have been using computers and publishing programs since the mid 80's. Publisher melds …
Chose Microsoft Publisher
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 …
Chose Microsoft Publisher
Not sure [why] it has a different name, but I briefly tried to create on my MacBook at home and used its version of Microsoft Word and was able to do similar things as in Publisher.
Chose Microsoft Publisher
I have also used Adobe PageMaker for desktop publishing and simple design work but have found Publisher to be so much simpler to use. The navigation is easy, the interface is clean and the program is intuitive for even the most novice of users. The templates that come along …
Chose Microsoft Publisher
I think Microsoft Publisher a correctly used to create invitation cards, flyers, and newsletters with the ability to choose from various templates. This feature is not available in Adobe Acrobat DC.
Chose Microsoft Publisher
Microsoft Publisher has a powerful editing program. I would consider it Microsoft word and outlook came together. Microsoft Publisher offers many unique features that aren’t found in either Microsoft Word or Outlook. Being able to automate templates and save email list have …
Chose Microsoft Publisher
I have used Canva and multiple other tools like Adobe express for creating same type of graphics, designing and banner designing, and it had outcome with very well and defined result, and it can compete with Publisher, and both can be stack up against each other very …
Venngage
Chose Venngage
Canva had a lot of features, which is great, but I got overwhelmed and I didn't know where to start. Adobe photoshop is great too, but I think it's better for more experienced editors/designers? I'm not an editor, I don't know a lot of stuff with editing, so it was difficult. I …
Chose Venngage
We prefer Canva but feel Venngage is easier for us. In comparison to Adobe, we prefer Venngage because of the ability to have everything in one system and not have to jump around.
Chose Venngage
Venngage was an easier-to-use platform with a very flexible pricing model. Based on project requirements, I think Venngage can be the better option if the project required limited capabilities. It's also easy to use and has a clean interface that makes it simple to find what …
Chose Venngage
All though these other programs work well, they are not as user-friendly as Venngage... I was able to do a 30min review with my team and they were all able to start producing quality infographics. The other programs were a little more complicated and were not able to ensure …
Chose Venngage
I prefer Canva. It has a greater number of free options, more flexible pricing, and a great printing package.
Chose Venngage
I think Venngage is easier to use, navigate, and fewer people know about Venngage, so I feel like when I need customer service, they are more responsive to my requests.
Chose Venngage
Venngage's template library is easier to sort through than Canva, in my opinion. I also found the templates to be more applicable and valuable to my organization (more corporate, whereas I found Canva to have more social and e-commerce driven templates).
Chose Venngage
Overall, they are pretty similar platforms. Canva is a nicer platform and more professional. Venngage is easier for people with zero experience to use, which some of the people on our team have, so we like that. Canva also offers more options we have noticed and more …
Best Alternatives
Microsoft PublisherVenngage
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.8 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Canva
Canva
Score 9.1 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.8 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft PublisherVenngage
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft PublisherVenngage
Likelihood to Recommend
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!
Read full review
Venngage works really well for basically creating any type of standard infographic that you can see when you browse the templates. We have used it successfully to communicate retention data, strategic plan information, workflows and more. It doesn't work as well though when you try to get too fancy with it. Meaning, you want a Word Cloud taking on a specific shape or reusing certain words a specific number of times. For those things, we found that it was best to use another application and then import the work as a graphic.
Read full review
Pros
  • Microsoft Publisher is just like Word, but Publisher, give much more features like multi page printing of single image and banner
  • We have faced very much difficulties for picture control in Microsoft Word, but Microsoft Publisher has much advanced picture. Control features with multiple alignment and distortion correction function.
  • We are also using Publisher for big banners for streets for promotion of our products, which is helping us on a very large scale advertisement with in-house design, designing, and printing of large banners easily
Read full review
  • Access to pictures and upload of own materials.
  • Create multiple projects at the same time.
  • Organizing designs by project and campaign.
Read full review
Cons
  • 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.
Read full review
  • They have an AI generator, but it can only generate the design once. Any modifications should be manually done. It would be great if the AI could make specific changes instead of having it regenerate everything.
  • You can't use it on a mobile phone or tablet, it would be helpful if I could use it on my tablet for work done outside my office.
  • It would be great if I could delete multiple designs at once. Currently, I can only delete them one by one.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
I use Venngage for a new project 1-2 times per week... I could not see using another program at this point.
Read full review
Usability
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.
Read full review
I find it very user friendly, straight to the point, and the minor issues I found wasn't really impacting on my role. So I think it would depend? but personally I find it perfect for me. There were lots of templates I could use, and they were very open to feedback and customer service was very accommodating.
Read full review
Support Rating
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.
Read full review
I think that the attention that I get as a small business owner from Venngage is excellent. They quickly respond to questions and provide information that helps to resolve the issue that I am having.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
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.
Read full review
Canva had a lot of features, which is great, but I got overwhelmed and I didn't know where to start. Adobe PhotoShop is great too, but I think it's better for more experienced editors/designers? I'm not an editor, I don't know a lot of stuff with editing, so it was difficult. I rely on my common sense mostly.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Don't really have a way to measure ROI in my industry (Religious organization), but let me say, Publisher is at the heart of the way that I do things. If I did not have it, then my productivity would be crushed and the ability to communicate with individuals within the annual conference would be greatly diminished.
  • Publisher allows me to produce quality, sometimes complex, documents in a simple and efficient manner.
  • It has been my go-to program for the majority of my communication needs for more than 10 years. It would be difficult to do my job without Publisher.
Read full review
  • It was frustrating to be required to purchase a full month, not be able to download into PowerPoint and edit, and not be given a refund.
Read full review
ScreenShots