9 Best ISSUU Alternatives [Only the best of the year]

UPDATED: I spent a lot of time looking for alternatives to Issuu. I found that most of the free ones lacked features I wanted. Some of the paid services had a lot of good features, but I wanted to avoid paying. After a long search of Issuu alternatives, I created this list of 3 best free Issuu alternatives.

Looking for a way to do good Web publishing without having to stick with Issuu.com and it’s pricing policy? Looking for alternatives to Issuu?

I was in the same boat as you for quite a while. I have an extensive Web publishing business that relies on having a strong presence of my content, which comes to me in the form of PDFs.

The publishing software Yumpumade a lot of promises. First of all, it looked like an awesome and free alternative to Issuu cause it had the same basic feature set that Issuu does: a publication that can be shared with social media tools and can be indexed by search engines like Google. I took a look at the kind of presentation that this platform can generate from a PDF, and it looked really good. Yumpu’s format is called ePaper, and it looks like a real magazine.

Great alternatives to Issuu’s Features

So I established that Yumpu is at least as good as the free tier of Issuu. Quickly I learned that the service would also give me one of my favorite features for publishing- embeddable documents. I could upload PDF files and then embed the resulting publication file on my own website, for free. I didn’t have to compromise on readers wandering offsite anymore- I got the best of both worlds. That alone was enough to convince me to switch over to this Issuu alternative.

With this Issuu competitor, you can embed your ePaper anywhere you want

The good news didn’t end there, though. I explored the interface some more and realized that I had a lot of customization tools for styling the digital publications and adding things like audio, video, and interactive elements.

These kinds of things are only available for the highest Issuu pricing subscription, and here Yumpu was giving them to me for free. I couldn’t believe I had spent so much time paying for Issuu when the best alternatives to Issuu – Yumpu was right here.

Right away, I canceled my Issuu subscription and started using the free Issuu alternative Yumpu full-time. I’ve never regretted switching to this digital publishing platform.

Yumpu’s site integration, SEO, and social media tools mean I can bring in my audience and keep them in my domain. On top of that, I also get the security of knowing that no matter what combination of browser, operating system, and platform the reader has, the page flip book will load correctly. Combined with the social media outreach, this has allowed me to bring in a lot of new readers for my flip book who rely on their mobile devices like iPad, iPhone, smartphones and tablets for Web access and browsing.

After my Issuu review, here’s why I love Yumpu as an alternative:

• Embed the online magazines on your favorite platform (website, facebook, online shop)
• Supports all devices. Mobile and desktop.
• Optimized for search engines like Google.
• Fully integrated with all major social networks, publications will spread like wildfire.
• Embed Video and Audio into digital publications
• Link to shop from your publication
• Unmatched support
• And much more…

I let the service handle all of my PDF publications now. With the customization options, I can do a lot. I had never even tried them before because Issuu had them locked away in the premium level of features. But it can be quite effective to embed a certain song or video along with a published piece. For an extra charge, it is possible to include signup forms. Yumpu’s ePaper can handle those too.

If you are stuck using Issuu for your publishing and you are searching for Issuu alternatives or Issuu competitors, I really do recommend trying Yumpu.com.

Not all Issuu reviews will give you the information you need to make the best decision for your publishing needs. An Issuu review should compare and contrast Issuu’s pricing and plans. When I did my Issuu Review, I found the following facts.

Issuu pricing

The basic free version of Issuu included the upload and share functions, iOS & Android apps, embed ePaper anywhere, and unlimited publishing. The pricing for the Issuu Plus version is $26/month, in which you can customize your reader with basic features, and limited analytics. You get a 14-day free trial for that plan.

Issuu’s premium version, which they recommend using, is considered the branded reader. In this package, the publisher has advanced analytics and sharing capabilities. Issuu states that this package runs $35/month.

Comparison of the Yumpu plans

The FREE version has an unlimited amount of magazines, unlimited pages per magazine, HTML5, Flash, and JS.

With the adFREE Plan for $24.95/month you get Google Analytics support, no advertisements, and Privacy settings for your magazine. If you pay annually, you can save about $84 and the monthly price is $19.95. You get a 30-day free trial for that plan. If you like the plan, the money will be debited on the 31st day. If you don’t want to, just quit before the 30st day and you will not pay anything.

The next package is a big jump to $95/month, but this is actually a WEBKiosk for your magazines. You get your own site, in your very own branding and design to showcase your magazines in an elegant and ordered way. Your WEBKiosk can also have it’s own domain or subdomain.

You can get an APPKiosk for $219/month, which includes your own native iPhone and iPad app. This is Yumpu’s most popular plan. With this plan, you can boost your publishing business to the next level by conquering the big and also growing mobile market.

And then there is the PROKiosk. The PROKiosk is an all-in-one solution. If you want to go further and monetize your magazines, you can get subscription management and inApp subscription, which is awesome if you want to sell your digital magazines in your Apps.

Issuu competitors check: Yumpu Features

• Publish documents globally
• Reach millions of readers weekly
• SSL encrypted communication
• Unlimited number of e-Papers (depends on the plan)
• Unlimited pages per e-Paper
• Perfect to embed in websites
• Read on Facebook
• Optimized social sharing
• Player: HTML5, Flash, Javascript
• Tablet and mobile player
• Add audio, video, and links
• Search engine optimized
• Content delivery network
• Support community + great support team
• Publish in 70 languages
• WordPress plugin
• Developer API interface
• Developer PHP API library
• Zoomfunction
• Publish via Dropbox from desktop

Also for a publisher looking for Issuu competitors for iPad and iPhone, this is the real deal. It’s a great digital publishing service that gives you many more features than the Issuu pricing plan. The presentation is equally aesthetically pleasing and costs nothing.

Overall, after my Issuu review, I would recommend Yumpu over the other services because I love the way I can customize my content.

I feel like I am reading a printed publication even though it is online.

The flipbook animation software service has a large community and thus you will be exposed to new readers. It is 100% free for everyone worldwide.

Just give this best Issuu alternative a try and see if you want to go back to paying! Hope I could help you on the alternatives to Issuu issue 🙂

 Best 5 Issuu Alternatives to create flip books

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