Summary

• Scribus is a free, open-source software alternative to Acrobat for desktop publishing.
• Scribus lacks AI tools, enhancing user privacy and data security.
• Scribus enables creating JavaScript forms, saving on Adobe's Pro subscription costs.

Scribus is a full-featured desktop publishing software, whereas Adobe Acrobat is better used as a PDF and file management tool. However, for many tasks, Scribus makes a great alternative to Acrobat, and it’s one of many open-source software that can replace part of your Adobe workflow. There are some great reasons to use Scribus rather than Adobe Acrobat for your file layout and publishing needs.

Scribus is free open-source software

Open-source means community-driven and cost-free

Some of the main reasons to consider stopping using any Adobe products are the mounting costs. This opinion differs depending on your Adobe use case, but we cannot ignore the mounting cost it takes to run Adobe software, including Adobe Acrobat. While there is a free version of Acrobat, Acrobat Reader, overall, there’s not much you can do with the free version that makes it a helpful tool.

Scribus, on the other hand, is totally free for all users and all features within it. This is due to its open-source development and community-driven background. You may voluntarily donate to Scribus’ development fund, which helps bring features and support quicker to users, but it isn’t mandatory to access Scribus. It’s free for all.

You can be free of AI tools and retain your privacy

Scribus has no AI features — which is a positive for many

Adobe Acrobat has many AI tools and features, following the footsteps of most other Adobe products. While I personally enjoy the AI tools available as an Acrobat add-on, there are plenty of people who disagree with the need to add AI to everything.

You can use Scribus with the knowledge that it will likely never have AI features built in. While it isn’t impossible for open-source software to have AI, it’s not common at all and usually requires a third-party plugin to allow for it, giving you the ultimate choice. Without AI, you know your documents and files will never be at the mercy of AI scraping, research, or data harvesting. Your privacy is important, and not using AI-based tools helps ensure that (along with using open-source software anyway).

Create JavaScript forms in Scribus

Let people fill in your forms online

There aren’t many desktop publishing tools that allow you to fill in forms digitally. Adobe Acrobat is one of few options, and you can only access this feature with the Pro subscription — setting you back around $20 per month.

Using Scribus, though, you can create fillable forms using JavaScript scripting. This opens doors for creating, editing, and filling in PDF forms for digital use. This saves so much frustration and needless paper printing just to fill in your information or share intake forms to others.

Scribus has an ugly UI

But beauty is skin deep

One major negative about using open-source software is it’s often not built to look pretty. While its visuals don’t affect its function, it can lead you to pursue more attractive software — like Adobe Acrobat — for want of something easier on the eye. You must remember that form doesn’t dictate function. Just because Scribus looks outdated and not strictly inviting, doesn’t mean it doesn’t function as a great tool to get you the results you’re after.

Once you learn the interface, its ugly exterior will soon be forgotten. You’ll learn to enjoy its simplicity — knowing where the toolbar is and not being bogged down with popup menus and floating tools that get in the way. $20 per month is a lot to pay just for the visual aesthetics that come with Acrobat. If you can get over the visuals, you’ll save a bunch of money and get incredible results from your desktop publishing choices with Scribus.

You don’t need every up-and-coming feature

Scribus does enough without frequent new tools

It can feel like using open-source software means missing out on new technologies. Adobe adds AI tools and other traditional tools to most of its software multiple times throughout the year. There are also frequent AI tools built into other productivity tools like Dropbox Dash — which lets you search within your uploaded documents — or Notion AI for better writing and file organization.

Using open-source software shouldn’t be seen as a negative or a step back. Scribus has tools aplenty that work successfully for what you need, regardless of frequent new features, AI tools, or other new gadgets being added.

The community-run nature of open-source products usually means the people developing and working on the software are also the people using the software. By that logic, most updates are due to listening to what the community of users really need in the software, and not some superfluous tools that look fancy but don’t add much to productive workflows.

Scribus is a great alternative to Adobe Acrobat

While Acrobat delivers slightly different tools and features to Adobe’s desktop publishing software, InDesign, there are enough overlapping features between the two that mean Scribus can swoop in and become your next alternative open-source software that covers both bases. Scribus lets you view, create, and edit PDFs and other file types in ways that average digital users may use Acrobat for. Save your money and constant software updates by using Scribus instead.