Design: a free InDesign alternative in your browser
InDesign costs US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, billed monthly. Design is a free page layout and desktop publishing app for laying out magazines, books, brochures and print. It runs in a browser tab on your own device, with nothing to install.
Lay out magazines, books and brochures with parent pages, threaded text, styles and print-ready PDF.
InDesign and Design, side by side
Adobe’s price is from its US page on 14 November 2026.
| InDesign | Design in Madosuite | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, billed monthly | Free |
| Free option | A 7-day trial | Everything, always |
| Where it runs | Installed app | A browser tab, on your own device |
| Account | An Adobe account | Not needed |
| Your files | On your computer, or in the vendor’s cloud | In the browser on your device; not uploaded to us |
| Maturity | Mature, sold for years | Pre-alpha |
What you can do in Design today
For laying out magazines, books, brochures and print. From Design’s own documentation, version 0.15.2.
Works now
- Spreads, parent pages and layers
- Threaded text frames across columns
- Paragraph and character styles
- Tables and text wrap
- Knuth-Plass paragraph composer and hyphenation
- Baseline grid and optical margin alignment
- CMYK swatches
- PDF/X-4, PDF/A-2b and EPUB export
Before you switch
Design is pre-alpha: try it for a layout, and keep a proven tool for a print deadline.
Not in Design yet
- Its full list of gaps is long; treat it as a preview
Switching from InDesign
Open Madosuite
In your browser. The Design app starts on your own device; nothing is installed.
Bring your files
Upload your .idml files in Files. They stay in the browser on this device.
Keep the format
Design saves IDML, PDF/X-4, PDF/A-2b, so a file can go back to someone who still uses InDesign.
InDesign alternative questions
Is there a free alternative to InDesign?
Design in Madosuite is free and runs in a browser tab. It is pre-alpha, so check the list of what is missing.
Can I open .idml files without InDesign?
Yes. Design in Madosuite opens .idml and saves it back. Design also imports .indd. It is pre-alpha.
What can’t Design do yet?
Design is pre-alpha: try it for a layout, and keep a proven tool for a print deadline.
How much does InDesign cost?
US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, billed monthly, from Adobe’s US page on 14 November 2026. Free option: A 7-day trial. Prices change; check Adobe’s page.
Where are my files kept?
In the browser on your device, inside Madosuite’s own Linux machine, in its home folder. Your files are not uploaded to us. Clearing the site’s data in your browser deletes them, so download what you want to keep.
Do I need an account?
No. Sign in with a 0cloud account only if you want one; without it, your work stays in this browser on this device.