7 Free Online Magazine Maker [Comparison]

11 min readOct 18, 2018

A few months ago, I decided it was time to get an online magazine maker to create a flipbook for my local amateur 5-a-side football league blog. So that was when my hunting process for the perfect magazine maker started. And I can successfully say that after all my research I finally found the perfect free magazine maker: Yumpu.

But more on that later on, let’s start at the very beginning.

I wanted to attract new players — and hopefully get some team sponsors too with an online magazine maker– you know how it is, got to find funds somewhere, right?

But, once I got started looking for an online magazine maker, I was worried I had bitten off more than I could chew.

How do I go from an idea of using an online magazine maker to actually creating the perfect interactive online magazine or flipbook with an online magazine maker?

And, maybe more importantly, how could I do it quick — with a full-time job and a family (as well as finding the time to be the league’s greatest midfielder) it is pretty hard to get time to complete the blog let alone use an online magazine maker.

In the end, I decided I would try out a few different online magazine maker to create digital magazines.

I ended up trying out seven different online magazine maker, so I thought I would give you my take on the online magazine maker I chose.

This should help you to discover the perfect online magazine maker for you too.

I was pretty surprised at the online magazine maker results — and you might be too!

What is a digital magazine?

So, what is such a magazine anyway?

It is an online magazine that is delivered in an electronic form and created with an online magazine maker — no print .

There are lots of benefits associated with using an online magazine maker to create a digital magazine, which is obviously why I wanted to use an online magazine maker!

But, just so we are clear, let’s take a look at some of the reasons I decided I wanted to use an online magazine maker to add an online magazine to my blog…

With online magazines, you can go much further than word-based content and images. With an online magazine maker you can include flash, video, audio, image, links and much more to draw in readers/ customers and enhance their reading experience.
But that’s not all… there is greater flexibility with content and amendments can effortlessly be made with an online magazine maker. Have you ever had a magazine printed only to realize you have made a mistake or you do not like something? I have! Luckily, an online magazine maker mean tweaks are easy.
I also knew I could reach and contact a greater number of people with online magazines which meant more subscribers, more advertisers and a bit of extra cash to spend on football training kit.

How to create an online magazine?

How to create a digital magazine with an online magazine maker?

I realized I would need a free and user-friendly online magazine maker in order to be able to easily publish stunning online magazines for my readers and customers .

So, I started looking for online magazine maker software or a magazine maker app that would give me the ability to make an online magazine with ease — boy it wasn’t simple to get the right online magazine maker, but I got there in the end.

Below, I am going to talk you through seven of the gratis online magazine maker that I tried while looking for the best free online magazine maker creator.

I will look at the different online magazine maker features they provide, so you can get a better understanding of what an online magazine maker offers.

What is an online magazine maker?

“But how to make a digital magazine? Quickly and free?”

I hear you ask.

Well, I soon realized that there were so many different online magazine maker available, yet every online magazine maker functions in the same way.

An online magazine maker gives you the tools that are needed to create and design professional digital magazines and publications, which can be shared or published online with ease through the online magazine maker — so you do not need to stress about how to publish an online magazine either.

When choosing an online magazine maker, I considered all of these online magazine maker tools and features and did a digital publishing platform comparison to determine which online magazine maker I was ultimately going to go within the end.

Trust me when I say there was more choice in online magazine maker than there are trophies in the Manchester United trophy cabinet!

What is the best digital magazine software?

When looking for an online magazine maker, the amount of different online magazine services that were available shocked me.

I needed to decide first whether I was going to pay for the online magazine maker software or not.

Of course, I wasn’t going to pay for the online magazine maker — why pay for Ronaldo if you can get Messi for free!

Why should I pay when there are gratis online magazine maker available that allow you to create online magazine free of charge?

To help you, I’ve described seven of the greatest gratis online magazine maker programs I tried while I was looking for the best online magazine maker for me. Including one very special Bonus — my all-time favorite. So stay tuned as the best always comes last!

So, let’s get going with how to start an online magazine for free with an online magazine maker …

1. Flip PDF Professional

The first online magazine maker product publisher I tried was Flip PDF online magazine maker professional from Flip Builder (works on mobile and desktop). This one you have to download as there is online version to access .

This is an easy-to-use PDF magazine creator, with not a single line of code required in the online magazine maker!

Perfect, my skills lie in the perfect cross into the box- not sat behind a computer.

With this gratis online magazine maker, you can turn static PDF magazines into interactive online magazines.

I imported PDF documents into the online magazine maker and was able to add image, flash, and video into the online magazine maker.

I also did contact their support once — really nice support team there.

I was impressed that you can pretty much embed any type of rich media in the online magazine maker, whether it is a piece of audio or a video from YouTube but I didn’t feel like it’s the most amazing online magazine maker option due to the fact that I found the interface a little clunky…

2. FlippingBook

Next on the list for me to try was FlippingBook online magazine maker publisher.

This real powerful online magazine maker has been designed for average-size digital publishers.

However, I need to get one major online magazine maker drawback out of the way first.

This online magazine maker is not free forever!

Pricing starts at €49/month.

So, it is probably a good idea to test this online magazine maker out and see if you think it is worth paying for this online magazine maker in the future.

To be honest, I do not really want to pay for online magazine maker software, so I was never going to go forward with this online magazine maker, but I thought I would try the online magazine maker anyway.

Well, firstly, you do not have to have your own website ready to make and share online magazines with this online magazine maker.

You can either self-host or use the online magazine maker cloud hosting solution and it even integrates with Google Analytics.

You then get a online magazine maker link so you can share the magazine with ease on your social network channels and via email .

The online magazine publishing maker software is also really uncomplicated to use and readers can look at your publication from different mobile devices (iPhone, Android,..), ipad, etc.

You do not need to be a pro, that’s for sure (I certainly am not!)– but again, it is not free (I’m on a theme here!).

3. Flipsnack

These magazine online makers sure like the use of the word Flip, don’t they?

The tool Flipsnack is not my absolute favorite publish online magazine maker free printable. With this online magazine maker, I was presented with two options for my publication/ catalog/ newsletter or business cards .

You can create and design a magazine from scratch online, or you can upload a PDF document to the online magazine maker and do it that way.

Some other notable features in this online magazine maker include privacy and sharing settings, website integration, page flip animation, sharing, eCommerce buttons, and HTML5 online magazine template options.

Again though, I thought it was lacking a bit of something in the online magazine maker.

4. MagLoft

This is an online magazine maker publisher to turn PDF files into a digital brochure using the online magazine maker.

I was able to create my online magazine maker account within a few minutes and create as many digital versions of my magazine/ publications as I wanted.

Social network sharing is straightforward with this online magazine maker too — just a click .

It only takes a click of a button and my magazine was published from the online magazine maker and then shared via social media like Twitter and Facebook from the online magazine maker.

The magazine design software gave me examples of the sort of digital magazines online that have been made using this online magazine maker.

But, try as I might, I couldn’t replicate them with the online magazine maker easily.

I do not know whether it is just me being a bit dense, but this online magazine maker, as lovely as it was, isn’t for me.

5. Lucidpress

Another online magazine maker solution you do not have to pay for to publish your magazine!

Lucidpress online magazine maker gave me all of the tools needed to create an online magazine/ catalog .

There is plenty of useful information on the Lucidpress online magazine maker website too about free digital magazines, which is great.

It certainly made my life easier that I was taken through the steps on the online magazine maker, from adding photos and graphics to determining why you’re using an online magazine maker.

I was given a whole host of free magazine templates to choose from with this online magazine maker, including free magazine template InDesign compatible, so I did not have to worry about the magazine layout with this online magazine maker — it was already there for me — but I wasn’t massively keen on the online magazine maker layouts provided — and couldn’t work out how to create my own easily using this online magazine maker — a bit of a shame.

6. Canva

Next, we have the company Canva, which is an online magazine cover maker service I used to make a cover page only.

It’s a great magazine cover creator.

It is designed to help you create a flip magazine cover that no one can take their eyes off.

It is also pretty simple to use online magazine maker for front page magazine covers with nice graphic design.

Start by opening the online magazine publishing software in the online magazine maker, and then select the online magazine maker design type for your cover.

You can then choose from a huge range of frames, icons, banners, and more, as well as uploading your own images to the online magazine maker.

Combining Canva with one of the other online magazine maker programs could work, but any further than a front page and I was struggling.

7. Issuu

If you’re looking for an online magazine maker that is straightforward to use and enables you to read magazines online free PDF then this is it.

With Issuu online magazine maker, you only need to follow four easy steps to create a magazine using the online magazine maker.

This starts with creating a PDF file magazine and the possibility to publish digital a flipbook with unlimited number of pages.

You then upload the online PDF magazine to the online magazine maker. After this, set up your newly made online version.

Finally, embed it into your website.

Easy, right?

It has tons of online magazine maker features, from metrics, to embedding any kind of media you like and the possibility to print magazines .

And I LOVED the interface, everything was where I wanted and sooooo uncomplicated to find on this online magazine maker.

Bonus: Yumpu

Yumpu is probably one of the best known online publishing solutions out there. They got over 20 million magazines published on their site and millions of active users.

They offer a free plan which allows you to easily convert pdf to flipbook within a few minutes. The free plan comes with some amazing features:

unlimited pages per magazine
HTML5, JS
optimized social sharing
add audio, video and links
easily embed on your website & blogs
….

They also offer some more amazing features in their AdFree plan. The AdFree plans pricing is 19.95$ per month — but there is a 30-day free trial if you first want to test things out. With this plan you get some amazing additional features such as Search Engine Optimization, Google Analytics, privacy settings, and more!

So this one is definitely worth a try!

Many of these online magazine maker programmes can be used on gratis online publishing platforms to get your online magazine maker project out to the public.

What is the definition of digital publishing?