Book Formatting Software 2027: Ten Tools for Print PDFs and EPUBs Compared

Which book formatting software should you use? Mostly that comes down to your computer and the kind of book you are making. For novels and text-heavy nonfiction, the two well-known paid apps are Vellum (Mac only, $249.99 once with print) and Atticus ($147 once, Windows, Mac and Linux). If you want to design every page freely, you need a layout program: InDesign (subscription, $263.88 a year) or the free alternatives Affinity and Scribus. Reedsy Studio and Draft2Digital format your book for free, and Kindle Create does too, but only for Amazon KDP. Below are all prices with sources (as of November 2026), what formatting software has to handle, and when you can skip the software altogether.

What should book formatting software do?

Formatting a book takes more than saving a Word file as a PDF. These are the details that make an interior look professionally published:

Word processors can do most of this, but you build it all yourself. Formatting software ships it as a template.

Ten book formatting tools at a glance

Prices from each maker's own site, accessed November 7, 2026. Dollar prices before tax, as the makers list them.

You can also skip the software: the Bookfairy formatting tool lays out your Word manuscript in the browser for $18.00150 tokens per book. More on that below.

Vellum: for Mac users with novels and nonfiction

Vellum is built for text-heavy books. You import the manuscript, pick a style and export ebooks as EPUB 3 and EPUB 2 plus print PDFs as PDF/X-1a. Vellum lists 24 trim sizes plus large print, for paperback and hardcover. You can download and try it for free and pay when you are ready to publish: $199.99 for Vellum Ebooks, $249.99 for Vellum Press with print. The catch is the platform: Vellum only runs on a Mac.

Atticus: a one-time purchase for every platform

Atticus costs $147 once and, according to its maker, runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook. One file exports to both EPUB and print PDF, including full-bleed images. Updates are included in the price, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

InDesign, Affinity and Scribus: full page-by-page layout

These three are layout programs rather than formatting assistants. You build master pages, paragraph and character styles yourself, and in return you can lay out anything: photo books, cookbooks, picture books, magazines.

• Adobe InDesign is the standard in publishing houses and agencies. It is subscription only; in the US the annual plan costs $263.88 a year prepaid.
• Affinity (formerly Affinity Publisher, now part of Canva) is completely free for individuals with a free Canva account, according to the maker. It runs on Windows, Mac and iPad and supports EPUB. Only the AI features require a paid Canva plan.
• Scribus is free and open source, currently at version 1.6.7 released October 27, 2026, for Windows, Mac and Linux. It exports print PDFs; EPUB export is not built in, so the ebook needs a second tool.

For a straightforward novel, these programs are often more than you need. Learning them takes time, and hyphenation, running heads and chapter openings are yours to set up.

Reedsy Studio, Draft2Digital and Kindle Create: free, with limits

• Reedsy Studio runs in the browser. Its writing and formatting features are free, with export to EPUB and print-ready PDF and a choice of trim size and theme. Add-on modules are subscriptions (Studio Essential $4.99, Outlining $7.99 a month).
• Draft2Digital converts your Word file into a paperback PDF and an EPUB for free, and you may download both without publishing through Draft2Digital. Publishing through it now costs a one-time $20 activation fee, plus $12 a year for accounts that earn less than $100 a year.
• Kindle Create is Amazon's free app for Windows and Mac. It saves KPF, an Amazon-only format, and EPUB for reflowable books. For the paperback, you upload the same file to KDP, and KDP adds margins, headers and page numbers. Amazon says this suits text-heavy books with simple layouts; tables, footnotes and endnotes are not yet supported in print books. You do not get a print PDF you could take to another printer.

Jutoh and Calibre: ebook only

Jutoh ($45 or $90 once, before tax) builds EPUB 2 and 3 plus Kindle formats. For print it exports an ODT file that you turn into a PDF yourself. Calibre is free and open source; it manages and converts ebooks and has a built-in EPUB editor. It is not meant for print PDFs.

Worked example: three books in your first year

What does formatting cost if you publish three books as paperback and ebook in your first year? Prices as above, November 2026:

To be fair about it: if you have the time and enjoy learning a tool, the free programs are the cheapest route. A one-time app pays off when you format many books in the same style. A subscription like InDesign mostly makes sense if you already use it for other work.

Formatting without software: the Bookfairy formatting tool

Bookfairy is not an app you install and learn. You upload your manuscript as a Word file and choose:

1. Template: novel, nonfiction, guidebook, cookbook or children's book. The templates come from our own book production.
2. Trim size: 12.5 × 19 cm, 14.8 × 21 cm (A5), 6 × 9 in, 17 × 24 cm or 8.5 × 11 in.
3. Font and interior: the template's font or one of five book typefaces, black and white or colour.

You see the first 10 pages in exactly that layout for free, with a watermark. If you like it, you unlock the print PDF for $18.00150 tokens: front matter, chapter openings, running heads, page numbers, justified text and clean hyphenation. Together with the EPUB, the bundle costs $26.40220 tokens.

The limit is part of the deal: you do not design each page by hand. If you want to lay out a photo book or a magazine freely, InDesign, Affinity or Scribus will serve you better.

Which tool for which author?

Before you upload: three checks

1. Page count and spine. Only the finished layout gives you the final page count, and with it the spine width for your cover. The free spine width calculator does the maths. To estimate pages before formatting, use the words-to-pages calculator.
2. Printer specs. KDP, IngramSpark and offset printers each have their own rules for margins, bleed and PDF standard. If your printer asks for PDF/X-1a, print conversion converts your PDF.
3. Print one copy. A proof copy shows what a screen hides: inside margins that are too tight, type that is too small, page numbers on blank pages.