Adobe InDesign vs Pixlr: What Software to Choose

This detailed Adobe InDesign vs Pixlr comparison may be of interest to professional designers and graphic artists since both programs are very popular among them. The main difference lies in the fact that Adobe InDesign is more suitable for creating layouts and preparing materials for printing, while Pixlr allows users to perform various image manipulations.

Adobe InDesign is the best desktop publishing software which is designed for creating layouts and designs of brochures, booklets, magazines, newspapers, books, and other products intended for printing. What’s more, InDesign helps in creating PDF e-books and magazines as well as website and mobile app graphics.

Pixlr doesn’t have such a wide range of print layout features, but the program allows you to edit existing images, create new ones from scratch, and use the templates. It supports all common graphic formats, including JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, PSD, and TIFF.

Adobe InDesign is an excellent brochure maker that lets you use plenty of typography features and an advanced system for preparing materials for printing. It is integrated with other Adobe products, such as PhotoShop, Illustrator, and Acrobat. It makes it easier to work with images and layouts in different formats. InDesign lets you edit both single-page documents and publications with hundreds of pages. It is perfect for creating brochures, magazines, business cards, envelopes, invitations, flyers, newspapers, and printable books.

InDesign also supports formats for creating e-books, digital magazines, and other content for tablets. What’s more, it includes collaboration tools. The program also has a simple, intuitive interface, which makes it the winner in the Adobe InDesign vs Lucidpress battle. You can master the basic features on your own by simply installing the program and trying to create the layout you need.

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Nice collection of presets. When comparing Adobe InDesign vs Pixlr, it should be noted that the former is the flayers software with a collection of templates that can be found under the Preset tab. You can select any template depending on your goal, customize it, and save it for further use.

Easy form creation. Unlike many InDesign alternatives, this software allows you to create forms and fill them with images later, which makes it easy to customize the structure and layout of a page. Just create the form you need and drag and drop images there. These forms essentially function as a mask, displaying your image inside the form’s borders. You can change the size, scale, and position of the image at any time.

Comfortable work with styles. InDesign is the best book design software that allows you to define text and paragraph styles. This enables you to easily define the look of common elements on your pages and create a document in a consistent style.

You can use it to select the style for headings and text. When writing this Adobe InDesign vs Pixlr comparison, I noticed that the former allows you to change the font or color. You can do it in one click to edit the entire document. For large text fragments, you can create your own paragraph styles instead. This allows you to edit columns, text alignment, paddings, margins, and so on.

Easy to use Links, Layers, and Swatches. You can use the Layers panel (Window > Layers) to arrange the position of elements (text, graphics, and so on) or overlay text on graphics or images. Swatches (Window > Swatches) can be used to store frequently used colors, so they can be easily selected and applied to other elements. The Links panel (Window > Links) in InDesign is essentially a library of all the elements that are used in a document.

Guides adjustment feature. Adjusting guides is one of the most important features of this program which gives it a score in the Adobe InDesign vs Pixlr battle since the latter lacks the same feature. If you take a closer look at InDesign vs Publisher comparison, you will see that the latter also lacks it. This feature makes InDesign the perfect tool for creating any kind of digital design. By adding any number of columns, rows, and adjusting spacing, you can create any layout you want.

Does not support graphics. The program lacks tools for working with raster graphics.

If you don’t know which software fits you best, Adobe InDesign or Pixlr, you should understand that the latter is suitable for pro-grade photo editing and has an advanced set of tools and a rich collection of effects. Its feature set allows you to quickly improve the quality of your images, crop them, apply B&W or sepia effects, resize the canvas, and so on. It combines excellent automatic photo editors, namely Pixlr Express and Autodesk Pixlr Editor, using which you can enhance your image and adjust the lighting parameters.

This photo editing software for beginners has a user-friendly toolbar and an easy-to-use interface. It has thousands of filter combinations and free basic tools. You can assign different hotkeys and use a single account for operating on both desktop PCs and gadgets. Image editing tools in Pixlr make it similar to Photoshop. You can add your photo to a new layer and apply dozens of filters to it.

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A complete set of image retouching tools. This photo editing software for PC has a great set of image retouching tools. In Pixlr, you can crop and rotate an image, make specific areas smoother, blur or emphasize details, correct imperfections, remove small unnecessary objects, duplicate a pattern, as well as adjust the color density, saturation effects and image temperature. Each tool has advanced settings.

Great set of filters. Comparing Pixlr vs Polarr, you will see that the former has an extensive library of filters and effects.

Easy to use interface. Despite its many advanced features, Pixlr is fairly easy to use thanks to its simple icon-based interface. The UI includes an icon bar on the left containing tools for cropping, resizing, and cutting, as well as a slider system for fine-tuning contrast, brightness, saturation, highlights, and shadows. The layers panel is on the right, and the menu bar is on the top.

Simple and extensive template library. Comparing Adobe InDesign vs Pixlr, I have noticed both of them have plenty of high-quality, multi-purpose templates. Each template is pre-built but customizable at every level, so you can easily edit and personalize them, just like in Visme. There are 15 template categories to choose from for all your graphic design needs, including social media, PowerPoint, brochure, newsletter, business card templates, and more.

Creating a photo collage in a few clicks. Pixlr also doubles as a photo collage maker and allows users to combine multiple photos into one. What’s more, there are plenty of built-in collage templates for you to choose from, so all you have to do is select a layout, upload your photos, and edit them.

Requires a permanent connection to the network. If you compare Adobe InDesign vs Pixlr, you will see that the latter requires a constant network connection, and a slow connection can cause problems if you need to work with large photos.

Saves projects only locally. Pixlr does not support synchronization with third-party cloud services. In this, it is inferior to its opponent and other similar products, which can be clearly seen in the Pixlr vs Photoshop comparison. It backs up files in the Downloads directory of your browser. To change the location, be sure to go through the settings of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Vivaldi.

Adobe InDesign has the InDesign Free version which is available for 7 days. If you need to use it longer, choose between the Individual or Creative Cloud plan. The Individual plan costs $31.49/mo. It can be canceled at any time. You can also pay $251.88/yr. By paying for the subscription, you’ll get 100 GB of cloud storage.

You can also purchase Adobe InDesign as part of a Creative Cloud that includes 100 GB of storage. This subscription costs $54.99/mo and allows users to use over 20 desktop and mobile apps, including Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign, XD, Premiere Pro, Acrobat Pro, and more.

Pixlr also has a free version, but if you want to use more features, Pixlr Premium is worth checking out. You can use a free 30-day ad-free version and then upgrade at any time. If you need to purchase Pixlr Premium, you can choose between two options: PREMIUM for €4.90/mo or CREATIVE PACK for €14.99/mo.

Despite being more focused on creating pages and layouts, Adobe InDesign is the winner in this battle due to a rich variety of tools, options, and settings. It is the perfect tool for creating layouts for your design projects. It is best suited as a resource management solution and for creating text and paragraph styles for multiple pages or documents.

Pixlr includes two main products, Pixlr E and Pixlr X, aimed at advanced and novice users, respectively. It also provides an AI-based background remover tool. The program has an easy-to-use interface with simple options for applying filters and effects.

Considering both of these programs, it is worth noting that Adobe InDesign is more intended for developing design projects and preparing files for printing, rather than for photo editing and image retouching. Pixlr, on the other hand, has more tools and features fr enhancing images, but it requires a stable connection.

This premium template set makes it easy to create brochures, newsletters, business cards, magazines, and more. All the templates have a distinctive and trendy look. Using them, you can create an eye-catching design in a few clicks.