Scribus
Ranked 3 of 6 desktop publishing software by recommenders
Free, open-source desktop publishing app that people use for posters, resumes and print PDFs, valued for typography and longevity. Common caveat: clunky interface with many clicks.
Free, open-source desktop publishing app that people use for posters, resumes and print PDFs, valued for typography and longevity. Common caveat: clunky interface with many clicks.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 62%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Intuitive box-based layout for quick designs
“Scribus is very intuitive and with enough time I could churn out a beautiful looking effective resume on my first try”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” “Everything is a box, and you just draw a box and tell it, what to put in there.”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?” Strong for print layout and typography
“I've used it and liked it for some personal projects for years, but the improved typography in 1.6 is big.”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Justifying Text-Wrap: Pretty” “you come around the corner with a poster designed in Scribus”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?” “Scribus' export to pdf is excellent, in a pro setting”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Justifying Text-Wrap: Pretty” Free, open source, runs on Linux
“the major upside is that it is open source and runs on Linux just fine”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Discontinuing Publisher. Alternatives?” “we owe a lot to the greybeards keeping Scribus alive”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM” Stable project unlikely to be abandoned
“we owe a lot to the greybeards keeping Scribus alive”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM” “much less likely to just abruptly stop one day”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Discontinuing Publisher. Alternatives?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Clunky UI with many clicks
“The only problem that Scribus has is a clunky UI that requires a lot of unnecessary clicks”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March” “Simple things are painful in Scribus, like adding an image.”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?” “the UI is really giving me headaches”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026”
Other desktop publishing software people recommend
The four most recommended other desktop publishing software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe InDesign | 16 | 20 | 44% | 8 | — | — |
| Microsoft Publisher | 14 | 14 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
| ScribusThis page | 8 | 5 | 62% | 6 | — | — |
| Affinity Publisher | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Vellum | 6 | 1 | 86% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“weird Python 2.x running within Blender/Scribus/QGIS/etc.”
“no, scribus is not competitive”
“we owe a lot to the greybeards keeping Scribus alive”
“It is the best tool I ever used.”
“A friendlier workaround is to import the SVG into Scribus and modify the colours there.”
“the UI is really giving me headaches”
“much less likely to just abruptly stop one day”
“the major upside is that it is open source and runs on Linux just fine”
“The only problem that Scribus has is a clunky UI that requires a lot of unnecessary clicks”
“Scribus' export to pdf is excellent, in a pro setting”
“I've used it and liked it for some personal projects for years, but the improved typography in 1.6 is big.”
“Scribus is very intuitive and with enough time I could churn out a beautiful looking effective resume on my first try”
“Everything is a box, and you just draw a box and tell it, what to put in there.”
“Simple things are painful in Scribus, like adding an image.”
“you come around the corner with a poster designed in Scribus”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.