Adobe InDesign Review: Still the Industry Standard for Page Layout

For over two decades, Adobe InDesign has been the undisputed leader in professional page layout software. Boasting unmatched typography controls, powerful print publishing features, and deep integration with the rest of Adobe‘s Creative Cloud, InDesign is a mainstay in design studios around the world.

However, as we move into 2024, InDesign faces fresh competition from lower-priced rivals, emerging web-based tools, and seismic changes in the publishing industry itself. For many designers, the key question is becoming: do I still need the power and steep price of InDesign, or can I get by with an alternative?

In this in-depth review, we‘ll examine InDesign‘s core strengths and new features in 2024, and compare it to leading competitors like Affinity Publisher and Figma to help you decide if it‘s still worth the investment. No matter what the next decade brings, one thing‘s for sure – the world of publishing is changing fast, and InDesign will need to adapt to stay on top.

What‘s New in InDesign 2024?

Over the past few years, Adobe has continued to polish InDesign‘s features and performance, if not fundamentally reimagine the app itself. Under-the-hood improvements to the text and layout rendering engines have further boosted InDesign‘s prowess for long, graphically rich documents. Adobe has also responded to the growing importance of digital and accessible publishing with expanded EPUB, HTML, and tagged PDF exporting options.

Interactive designers will appreciate the updated animation tools, which are now more tightly integrated into InDesign‘s core object and layout model. It‘s easier than ever to build animated documents for digital formats. Adobe has also rolled out several new collaboration features clearly aimed at the growing trend of remote work, including asynchronous editing, version control, and an online document review service.

Here‘s a quick summary of what‘s new since the 2021 release:

• Improved text engine for faster performance on long, complex docs
• Next-gen EPUB export with better HTML/CSS formatting control
• Revamped animation panel with timeline, easing options, and web-ready output
• Accessibility checker and improved tagged PDF creation
• Asynchronous editing and version control for collaborative workflows
• Online InDesign document review service for stakeholder feedback
• Expanded template, asset, and learning content libraries
• Support for Apple silicon and Windows 11 touch/tablet input

While these are all welcome improvements, they‘re mostly incremental and unlikely to change the calculus for designers considering an InDesign subscription – which Adobe has made the only option by eliminating perpetual licenses. Speaking of pricing…

InDesign Pricing in 2024: Subscription Fatigue Sets In

As of 2024, InDesign is only available via subscription, either as a single-app plan or part of Adobe‘s Creative Cloud All Apps bundle. A standalone InDesign subscription will run you $31/month, or $25/month if you prepay for a full year. The All Apps plan, which includes access to Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe‘s 20+ other creative tools, costs $55/month or $45/month prepaid.

For design teams, Adobe also offers the Creative Cloud Teams plan starting at $84/month per user, which includes additional admin controls, collaborative features, and 24/7 tech support. Larger enterprise pricing is also available. And for students and teachers, the All Apps plan is a steal at just $20/month for the first year, then $30/month after that.

While Adobe would argue that these prices provide great value given the power and constant updates of their apps, there‘s no question that subscription fatigue is setting in for many designers. The lack of a perpetual license option means you‘re essentially renting InDesign indefinitely, which can feel like a never-ending drain on your bank account. Over the course of a few years, those monthly fees really add up.

Here‘s a full pricing breakdown for InDesign in 2024:

For comparison, a perpetual license for QuarkXPress 2024 (InDesign‘s biggest traditional rival) costs $474 – a bit more than InDesign‘s annual All Apps price. But you own it forever with no subscription. Affinity Publisher, meanwhile, costs just $57 as a one-time purchase – less than a single month of an InDesign-only subscription!

Of course, price isn‘t everything, and InDesign still offers unmatched capabilities for many publishing workflows. However, in an increasingly competitive field, Adobe may face pressure to rethink its pricing model – especially as capable, web-based alternatives gain ground.

InDesign vs. Affinity Publisher in 2024

Speaking of alternatives, let‘s take a closer look at InDesign‘s most prominent desktop rival: Affinity Publisher. Launched in 2018 by Serif as a lower-cost alternative to InDesign, Publisher has matured into a formidable page layout app with a robust set of professional publishing features.

The latest 2024 release narrows the gap with InDesign even further, adding support for IDML import, text on a path, endnotes, and complex GREP search queries. Publisher also still manages to undercut InDesign‘s subscription pricing by a wide margin, offering a perpetual license for just $57 – often discounted to $40 or less.

So can Publisher fully replace InDesign for most designers in 2024? That depends on your specific needs. For many everyday print and digital layout tasks – posters, brochures, magazines, ebooks – Publisher is more than capable. It has excellent typography controls, master pages, cross-references and other advanced layout features. Publisher also offers seamless integration with Affinity Photo and Designer, similar to InDesign‘s workflow with Photoshop and Illustrator.

However, there are still a few advanced InDesign features Publisher can‘t quite match, especially for long documents and commercial print production. These include:

• CMYK color separations and ink manager
• Advanced table styling and editing
• Footnotes, indexing and table of contents
• Conditional text and data merge for variable data publishing
• Animation and interactive PDF creation
• Collaborative editing and version control

Publisher also lacks InDesign‘s broad ecosystem of third-party plugins, scripts, templates and learning content. And larger organizations may miss InDesign‘s robust admin controls and enterprise support options.

Ultimately, Affinity Publisher is a very capable, affordable option for designers who primarily work on relatively simple print and digital layouts and don‘t need extreme typographic control or niche publishing features. But InDesign remains the standard for those regularly producing complex documents for demanding print applications.

The Rise of Web-Based Design Tools

Perhaps the biggest threat to InDesign‘s dominance is the maturation of collaborative web-based design tools. Led by Canva and Figma, this new generation of browser-based apps has exploded in popularity thanks to their easy learning curve, instant access on any device, and real-time collaboration features – not to mention affordable pricing.

Canva, for instance, offers thousands of templates for everything from social media posts to magazines, along with simple drag-and-drop layout tools and built-in stock content from $13/month. Figma, while focused more on UI/UX design, is increasingly used for print layouts and prototyping thanks to its vector editing tools and powerful component system.

Both tools have emerged as go-to options for marketing teams looking to produce on-brand graphic content quickly without relying on dedicated designers. Their web-based nature means stakeholders can easily jump in and provide feedback or edits from anywhere – a far cry from emailing PDFs back and forth. These tools have also found a loyal following among solo creatives and small studios attracted by their low cost and remote-work-friendly collaboration model.

However, even with their recent advancements, web-based tools still can‘t fully match InDesign‘s level of precision and control for professional publishing. Limitations include:

• Lack of CMYK, spot color, and color management for print
• No support for complex typography and OpenType features
• No native IDML import or Adobe file support
• Limited long-document features like indexing and cross-referencing
• Basic PDF export without accessibility tagging or print standards
• Cloud storage and sharing may not be secure enough for some orgs

For designers producing primarily digital content or simple print layouts as part of a team, modern web-based tools like Canva and Figma may indeed be a viable InDesign alternative, especially given their appealing costs and collaborative benefits. However, those working on more complex, print-focused, or text-heavy layouts will likely still find InDesign‘s unique capabilities indispensable.

Conclusion: Is InDesign Still Worth It in 2024?

As we‘ve seen, InDesign faces stiffer competition than ever in 2024, both from desktop rivals like Affinity Publisher and web-based upstarts like Canva and Figma. And with its subscription-only pricing feeling increasingly onerous for many designers, it‘s fair to ask: is InDesign still worth the cost?

For those primarily producing straightforward digital documents as part of a collaborative team, a lower-priced web-based tool may indeed now be "enough" to get the job done. And for freelancers and small studios on a budget, Affinity Publisher has matured into a highly capable choice for smaller-scale print work and an unbeatable value.

However, for professional designers and organizations with demanding publishing needs, InDesign remains the premier tool for the job, offering unmatched typography, layout and pre-press features along with its signature Creative Cloud integration and ecosystem. No other software provides quite the same level of control and assurance when producing complex print layouts.

Only you can decide if those benefits justify InDesign‘s admittedly steep and perpetual costs for your situation. If you find yourself working regularly with long documents, sophisticated layouts, and professional printing applications, InDesign‘s power may well be indispensable and worth the price of admission. But for more casual users, there are now attractive alternatives that didn‘t exist just a few years ago.

Looking ahead, the publishing industry is clearly changing, and InDesign will need to evolve to keep up. As digital-first and remote-work become the norm, expect Adobe to double down on InDesign‘s interactive and collaborative capabilities – an area where web-based competitors currently have an edge. The rise of HTML-based publishing in particular poses a challenge to InDesign‘s deep roots in print.

Still, even as our definition of "publishing" shifts, the need to combine text and visuals into engaging, attractive layouts will remain. Here, even after 20+ years, InDesign still shines brightest for those pushing the boundaries of the craft. While its price and learning curve are not for everyone, when you need the very best in page layout and typography, InDesign is still the professional‘s choice – at least for now.

Disclosure: The author has not received any compensation from Adobe or other software vendors mentioned in this review. All opinions and analysis are the author‘s own.