Vellum
Ranked 5 of 6 desktop publishing software by recommenders
People recommend Vellum for generating fiction and literature ebooks, and a few mention it for network diagrams. One critic found the welcome screen text too small.
People recommend Vellum for generating fiction and literature ebooks, and a few mention it for network diagrams. One critic found the welcome screen text too small.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Good for fiction and literature ebooks
“The best fiction off-the-shelf option for EPUB gen is Vellum.”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “I Bypassed Adobe and Microsoft to Build a Git-Tracked Book Production Pipeline” “If it's mostly literature, you can use something like Vellum”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio”
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 | — | — |
| Scribus | 8 | 5 | 62% | 6 | — | — |
| Affinity Publisher | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| VellumThis page | 6 | 1 | 86% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the initial "Welcome to Vellum" screen has tiny text”
“This is pretty good for network diagrams as well”
“ReManager and Vellum make it a breeze”
“beats Vellum, which I quite like”
“The best fiction off-the-shelf option for EPUB gen is Vellum.”
“If it's mostly literature, you can use something like Vellum”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.