Adobe InDesign vs InPage
Adobe InDesign
adobe.comInPage
inpage.comSide by side
| Figure | Adobe InDesign | InPage |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $19.99/mo | $4.17/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 9 | 8 |
| Spec score · Desktop Publishing Software | 9.2 (#4) | 9.3 (#3) |
| Company headquarters | LinkedIn lists Adobe headquarters at San Jose, California. | The registered office is 111 Kala Vihar Apartments, Mayur Vihar Phase 1 Extension, East Delhi, Delhi 110091, India. |
| Licence | InDesign is proprietary commercial software distributed through Adobe membership plans rather than an open-source licence. | The support agreement reserves proprietary rights to the vendor, prohibits reverse engineering and bars transferring or sublicensing the software. |
| Limit: learning curve | Independent reviewers say the extensive interface and feature set take time to learn, especially for beginners. | G2 reviewers report that typing and page-layout settings can be difficult for beginners and less convenient than Word. |
| Mobile app | No | The free mobile app creates and edits Nastaliq and Naskh files that can be used with the desktop application and InPage keyboards. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.6 out of 5 from 3,363 reviews. | 4.5 out of 5 from 12 reviews. |
| Support | Adobe’s InDesign Help Center provides tutorials, technical requirements, troubleshooting articles, and product documentation. | The support agreement provides free support for the first three months after software sale; annual support is optional afterward. |
| System requirements | InDesign 21.x requires Windows 10 or 11 64-bit, at least 8GB RAM, AVX2 and an internet connection; macOS 12 or newer is required for current versions. | The installation guide lists a C++ redistributable and IBM-compatible Windows XP, 7, 8 or Windows Server computer; it says the product is not for Mac operating systems. |
| Typography | The app supports Adobe Fonts, OpenType and variable fonts, kerning, tracking, character styles and paragraph styles. | InPage provides automatic kerning in Nastaliq text to remove extra interword spacing. |
| What it does | InDesign creates and publishes books, digital magazines, posters, brochures, eBooks, presentations and other print or digital layouts. | InPage is page-making software for Urdu and related Perso-Arabic languages used for newspapers, magazines and books since 1994. |
Plans
Adobe InDesign
- Creative Cloud Pro for students and teachers$19.99 a month
- InDesign$22.99 a month
- InDesign$22.99 a month
- Creative Cloud Pro$34.99 a month
- Creative Cloud Pro$34.99 a month
- InDesign for teams$37.99 a month
- InDesign for teams$37.99 a month
- Creative Cloud Pro for teams$99.99 a month
- InDesign annual prepaid$263.88 a year
InPage
- Free TrialFree
- InPage LiteFree
- InPage Mobile AppFree
- InPage Tools Free TrialFree
- Conversion₹0.01, paid once
- InPage Tools conversion₹0.01, paid once
- InPage Premium Users Club$50 a year
- InPage Premium Users Club Annual Support Program$50 a year
In their own words
Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a professional page-layout application for designing, preflighting, and publishing content for print, web, and tablet apps. It can produce brochures, digital magazines, eBooks, posters, and presentations, with precise typography controls and access to Adobe Fonts. Adobe describes layout and AI features including Flex Layout, layout-aware Rewrite, PDF-to-InDesign conversion, generated alt text, and Generative Expand. InDesign integrates with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat, and includes tools for sharing assets, receiving feedback, and collaborating with stakeholders. It runs on macOS and Windows as a desktop app, not a mobile app, and is available only through a membership plan. A seven-day trial provides the full version but converts to a paid Creative Cloud membership unless canceled before it ends. The InDesign plan includes 100GB cloud storage and 25 monthly generative credits; Creative Cloud Pro plans include access to 20+ apps. For versions 21.3 and later, Adobe lists at least 8GB RAM and an internet connection for activation, subscription validation, and online services.
InPage
InPage is page-making software for Urdu and related languages, intended for publishing newspapers, magazines, and books. Its desktop product supports Perso-Arabic scripts including Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Pushto, and Hazaragi. Layout tools provide linked or separate text boxes and automatic rules between columns; automatic kerning adjusts extra word spacing in Nastaliq text. InPage 4.1 adds character style sheets, multilevel bullets and numbering, spell checking with autocorrection, and word completion. It imports AI and EPS files, exports pages to EPS, GIF, PNG, TIFF, or BMP at selectable resolutions from 96 to 1200 DPI, and can generate ePUB files. The free mobile app creates and edits Nastaliq and Naskh files for use with the Urdu desktop application. Online InPage Tools runs in the cloud without downloads, though conversion limits depend on file version: PDF conversion supports files up to version 4.0, while EPUB and TXT conversion supports versions up to 3.6. The maker says InPage has served publishing needs since its introduction in 1994. The desktop product is for Windows, not Mac.