Scribus is a free, open-source desktop publishing (DTP) program. It is used to lay out pages that combine text and images for print or PDF: brochures, newsletters, posters, magazines and books. It fills the same role as commercial page-layout software and suits small organisations, schools, self-publishers and anyone who needs proper page layout without a subscription.
Stable or development version?
Scribus comes in two flavours, according to its downloads page:
- Stable: 1.6.6 (the 1.6.x series). The project recommends it for almost all production work.
- Development: 1.7.3 (the 1.7.x series), for testing new features. Things change regularly in this branch.
You can install both side by side, working in one and trying the other.
How to get the official version
The downloads page links to the project’s SourceForge file area for the installers:
- Windows: 32-bit and 64-bit installers for Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11. The 1.7.3 development build is 64-bit only, for Windows 10 and 11. A portable version is published through PortableApps.com.
- macOS: DMGs for Intel Macs (macOS 12 Monterey or higher) and for Apple Silicon (macOS 13 Ventura or higher).
- Linux: use your distribution’s packages. The Scribus wiki has instructions for Debian and Ubuntu, and Gentoo packages are listed. The development branch also has a Linux AppImage and a daily Ubuntu PPA.
Builds for FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Solaris and OS/2 are also listed. On Windows, winget install Scribus.Scribus installs 1.6.6 from the SourceForge file.
Price and account
Scribus is free software. It has no account, ads or paid edition.
Verify your download
The project publishes checksums for each release on its wiki, on the page named “1.6.6 Release”. Compare the file you downloaded before installing it. Only scribus.net and the SourceForge project linked from it are official sources.
Questions
Is there a portable Scribus?
Yes. The downloads page links Scribus Portable on PortableApps.com, a 32-bit Windows build that runs without installation.
Where is the source code?
The official repository is Subversion at svn://scribus.net, with “trunk” as the main development branch. The project says copies elsewhere, for example on GitHub, are replicas and not the supported repository.
Does Scribus work on older Macs?
The 1.6.6 DMGs need macOS 12 or later on Intel and macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon.
