Square Online stands out as one of the best website builders, offering a hassle-free solution for setting up and managing an online store. Created from the fusion of Square point of sale (POS) software and Weebly in 2018, Square Online stands out as a rock-solid fit for small businesses seeking a powerful online presence without the headache of hefty monthly fees.

With its intuitive setup process and simple-to-use interface, even novices can navigate it without much effort. Whether you're a traditional retailer stepping into the digital world or a service-based business expanding your reach, Square Online can support you.

What makes Square Online stand out among many competitors is its ease of use. Seamlessly integrating with Square POS, it caters to businesses needing both an online store and a point-of-sale system. Plus, with its simple and functional store layout, you can start selling online in minutes - no coding skills needed. While it may lack some advanced features, Square storefront builder provides everything you need to launch your online store journey swiftly. 

In our Square Online review, based on extensive research and hands-on experience, we'll delve into key features, including the setup process, interface, integration with Square POS, and overall usability. We'll explore its strengths and weaknesses to help you make the right choice for your business.

Square Online stores: Ecommerce tools

Square Online has become a popular choice among online sellers for its user-friendly interface and pocket-friendly plans, including the Square’s free online store option. 

The platform's forever-free edition allows you to start selling online without upfront costs, although transaction fees apply. While there are no restrictions on the number of products you can sell, the free plan limits you to a Square-branded site or social media platforms. Plus, bandwidth and storage are capped at 500 MB, which will cripple the scale of your online operations sooner or later.

Square Online's seamless integration with Square payment processing is a standout feature, ensuring smooth transactions for sellers. However, it's important to note that, unlike many other of the best ecommerce platforms, that offer a whole variety of popular payment processing options, Square Online primarily relies on Square for payment processing.

So, while Square is a reliable choice for handling online transactions, the limited choice of payment processors may be a drawback for some users. Fortunately, Square Online users can integrate PayPal and Google Pay into their payment options if they have the “Plus” or “Premium” plan, providing a bit more flexibility in payment processing.

Square offers a complete set of features fit for small online stores, including unlimited item listings, multiple product types, age confirmation, password-protected pages, and item quick view. For those seeking more advanced features, such as product reviews and abandoned cart recovery, higher-tier plans are available.

Additionally, Square has recently introduced a new feature that allows customers to use Afterpay for their purchases. Now, customers can buy now and pay later in four interest-free installments, while sellers receive payment right away. It's a win-win situation that adds a new level of flexibility for both sellers and buyers.

Moreover, Square simplifies shipping management with customizable shipping rates, free shipping options, local delivery, and pickup services. The platform also provides reporting and analytics tools to track site performance and customer behavior, helping businesses make better decisions to boost their online presence. With Square's efficient shipping label printing capabilities, sellers can simplify their shipping processes and deliver products promptly to customers across the world.

Square also offers a set of convenient AI-powered tools within its online store features. These tools are made to simplify marketing tasks by automatically generating copy for various campaigns, such as emails, and even suggesting replies to customers via Square Messages. So, whether you need catchy email subject lines, engaging website content, or compelling product descriptions, Square's AI features have you covered.

Other ecommerce features locked behind Square Online's paid plans include customer accounts, password-protected pages, and custom site icons - all created to upgrade your online store's functionality. With customer accounts, your clientele is encouraged to sign in, access their order history, redeem loyalty rewards, and manage gift card balances seamlessly. Password-protected pages provide added security by concealing specific sections of your site from public view. 

Additionally, the option to create a custom site icon ensures your online store remains easily accessible to customers, allowing them to place orders with just a couple of clicks from their smartphone screens.

Other Square Online features and tools

Beyond its ecommerce capabilities, Square Online offers a wide variety of features and tools to enhance your website-building experience. Let's explore some of these below:

Square Online themes

As we write, Square Online offers a range of 28 free themes to choose from, with three of them available on the free plan, while others are accessible through free trials. When you first start with Square Online, picking a theme is your first step in tailoring your website using the editor. While you can't switch themes once you've made your choice, you have the freedom to tweak any part of your site post-selection. To further simplify the customization after picking out a theme, you can explore selecting styles that suit your site.

Once you've settled on a theme, you can dive into customization. You can tweak colors, fonts, shapes, images, individual elements, and section and page layouts to your liking. While you can't change the theme of an existing site on Square Online, you still have the freedom to alter its overall appearance by updating multiple design elements simultaneously through site style updates.

While Square Online provides an alright selection of themes to choose from, we must note that there aren't a massive number of templates overall. Also, upon exploring the themes, you may notice that many of them share similar layouts, with variations primarily in color schemes and font styles.

The platform offers both desktop and smartphone previews for themes, giving you the ability to visualize your website across different devices and ensure an enjoyable browsing experience for your visitors.

Square Online website editor

Square Online's block-based editor, powered by its acquisition of Weebly, offers a hassle-free setup process with helpful video tutorials and step-by-step guides. While the drag-and-drop functionality is extremely limited, it's super easy for beginners to dive in and start building. However, if you're aiming for complete customization, you'll likely find the options rather restrictive.

Unsurprisingly, tinkering with the code is mostly off-limits, which means you can't make any complex custom changes. Still, Square's editor provides a sufficient range of pre-made content blocks that you can easily plop onto your pages, from images and text to galleries and forms. Plus, integrating social media feeds and Google Maps is only a few clicks away.

Although Square's selection of themes is a bit on the slim side, the theme customizer packs a solid punch, giving you plenty of control over your site's look and feel. You can play around with colors, fonts, headers, footers, and more to make it look truly yours. Plus, you can create custom pages using the available sections to add that personal touch.

Let's not forget about the blog feature, or as Square likes to call it, "stories." It's surprisingly easy to add and customize your posts right within the site editor. Plus, there are built-in SEO tools to help boost your site's visibility across search engines.

While Square's design palette might feel a bit constrained, its website editor is equipped with practical features that can swiftly spruce up your site's appearance.

Domains

With Square Online's forever-free plan, you're stuck with Square Online advertising on your site's footer and a domain ending in “.square.site“. So, if you're eyeing a custom domain and advanced features, you'll want to consider upgrading to one of Square Online's paid plans.

Registering a new domain on Square Online happens on a yearly basis, with no monthly options available. To purchase your perfect domain, navigate from your Square Online Overview page to “Website“ and then to “Domains“. Next, select “Connect“ domain and then “Find a custom domain”. Enter the domain name you want into the search box to kick off the purchase process.

Custom domains start at $19.95 annually, and with annual plans, you even get a free domain for the first year. But if you're aiming for a fully-branded online store free from Square branding, you'll need to opt for the “Plus“ or “Premium“ plan. Considering this step is essential for driving sustained business growth and building a recognizable online brand.

Square Online app marketplace

Square Online offers an extensive App Marketplace, where you can choose from over 200 third-party apps to add some serious power to your website. These apps cover everything from keeping your books to running marketing campaigns and managing your schedule.

Now, while some of these apps are built to supercharge your online store, others are designed to work seamlessly with the POS system. You'll find a whole lot of options in there, from apps that pep up Square's core features (such as Mailchimp's marketing automation) to ones that connect you with external platforms and services (like Shippo for easy end-to-end shipping). 

Adding apps to your website is as easy as it gets. Just browse through the marketplace, find the ones you like, and with a few clicks, you're good to go. However, keep in mind that some apps might ask you to upgrade to a paid plan before you can unlock all their features. Also, since Square's central feature is handling payments, you might not find every payment gateway under the sun in the app marketplace.

Website security

Square Online has your back with security measures like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, ensuring that your data transfers are encrypted and safe from prying eyes. Additionally, when you use Square Online, your credit card payments are encrypted too, providing an extra layer of protection. As expected, Square meets Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance standards across the board, ensuring secure handling of your payment information.

Square Online provides free SSL certificates for all the domains you add to your site. Whether you're on their free plan or a paid subscription, your payments are kept secure. For added peace of mind, you can set up two-step verification for an extra layer of security, control who has access to your account, and receive tips on creating a strong password.

All in all, you can trust that your online store and transactions are in good hands, allowing you to focus on growing your business.

Square Online pricing and plans: Is Square Online good value for money?

Square Online’s pricing structure is simple to understand with options to suit different business needs and budgets. Whether you're just starting out or looking to scale up, Square has you covered with a forever-free plan that includes essential features like site-building tools and integration with Square POS. To get the best deal, go with annual billing, which includes perks like a free domain.

As shown above, there are three main Square Online pricing tiers: “Free“, “Plus“, and “Premium“, each tailored to different business needs. The “Free“ plan is a solid choice for those starting out, but keep in mind it comes with transaction fees and severely limited customization. 

If you're eyeing an introductory rate, remember it may only last for a limited time.

Free plan

Perfect for getting started without breaking the bank, the “Free“ plan provides essential website-building tools, integration with Square POS, and options for pickup, local delivery, and shipping. However, customization options are seriously limited, and standard transaction fees apply.

Plus plan

The next in line is the “Plus“ plan. Designed to drive online growth and streamline operations, it provides expanded site customization, self-serve ordering, customer accounts, personalized ordering experiences, and much more.

Premium plan

Tailored for high-volume businesses, the “Premium“ plan includes somewhat lower processing rates, real-time shipping rates, premium customer support, and waived in-house delivery fees.

Restaurant Essentials Bundle

In addition to these three plans, Square offers a so-called “Square Restaurant Essentials Bundle“. This comprehensive, cloud-based solution is designed to streamline operations and enhance customer experience for restaurant businesses. With tools like Square Payroll, Square for Restaurants Plus, and Square Online Ordering Premium, you can efficiently manage payroll, streamline in-person and online ordering, and optimize scheduling for your team. Also, you can currently take advantage of this special offer and save 20% as a new Square customer.

Square Online: Help and support

Square Online has your back with a solid support system in place to help you tackle any technical issues or questions you may encounter along the way. Whether you're a well-versed user or just getting started, Square has enough self-service resources to guide you through troubleshooting and problem-solving.

You can reach out to Square's support team via phone, email, or live chat during specific hours on weekdays. However, response times for email inquiries may take up to 48 hours. Additionally, there's an active community forum where you can seek advice from fellow sellers.

During our experience with Square's live chat support, we found the process to be pretty smooth. After a quick chat with a helpful chatbot, we were connected with a support expert in about five minutes, and they took the time to address our questions and even threw in some handy resources for good measure.

Before signing in, however, don't expect expedited support. All in all, while there are some limitations to Square's customer support options, the help we received was pretty satisfactory.

Square Online: What’s not included? What could be better?

Despite its user-friendly design, Square Online still has room for improvement in certain aspects.

First, users could find themselves unable to access code for custom changes on Square Online. While some customization is possible with paid plans, editing template code to modify CSS is off-limits. Design flexibility is also severely limited compared to platforms like Shopify, and Square branding is unavoidable on the site footer for those on the free edition.

You can read our full Shopify review here. 

Another notable drawback lies in its selection of themes, which, while functional, may lack the visual flair and diversity found in other platforms. While this may not be a deal-breaker for some, businesses seeking a unique, eye-catching design may find themselves wanting more.

Additionally, the transaction fees associated with Square Online can quickly accumulate, especially for businesses with high sales volumes. While the platform offers convenience and ease of use, the cost-effectiveness of Square Online may decline over time as these fees begin to take a toll on profitability.

If these limitations are a deal-breaker for you, consider Shopify, which offers a free three-day trial and is ideal for businesses seeking an all-in-one solution with POS, social selling, and inventory management. Still, some will prefer Square Online due to its ease of setup compared to Shopify's more complex customization process. BigCommerce, another alternative, lacks a point-of-sale system but offers powerful analytics, terrific marketing tools, and interconnected sales channels.

You can read our full BigCommerce review here. 

In short, while Square Online is a solid choice for businesses needing a simple payment solution without long-term contracts, users seeking more comprehensive features and customization options may want to check alternatives like Shopify and BigCommerce.

Square Online review: Final thoughts

After conducting an in-depth Square Online review, it's clear that this platform is designed for beginners and small businesses venturing into the online world. Its simplicity and budget-friendly plans make it a solid choice, but there's still room for improvement.

While it stands out with seamless payment processing integration and multichannel tools, its scanty customization options and transaction fees may give some users pause. However, if you give priority to ease of use and straightforward payment solutions, Square Online could be the full-on fit.

For those ready to get started, the next step is to sign up and explore Square Online's features firsthand. Take advantage of the free plan to get a feel for the platform and see if it lives up to your expectations. If you require more advanced features and a bit higher level of customization, consider upgrading to one of Square Online's paid plans or exploring alternatives like Shopify or BigCommerce.

Ultimately, it all boils down to what suits your business best.

Square Online review: FAQs

Adobe Express might not have the name recognition of Photoshop or Illustrator, but when it comes to graphic design, it’s a strong tool with a unique set of skills. It’s a lot less complex than many in the Creative Cloud toolbox, and much more relaxed in its interface and experience. 

It’s part free logo maker, part graphic design software, part video maker. Like Canva, its closest competitor, Express is an all-in-one content marketing hub for creating social media content, flyers, and other visual assets. 

Last time we tested out the tool, we were impressed - but a lot’s changed in the content creation game. Now, we’re reviewing the latest version, which has seen major improvements and, because it’s Adobe, plenty of AI tools to sink your teeth into. 

Adobe Express: Pricing & plans

• The free option is most welcome and quite extensive when you look into it. Express is included in most of Adobe packages, or as a standalone subscription. 

Adobe Express is free - well, mostly. Much like Canva, there are loads of features on offer. But certain assets, elements, and other options are locked behind a paywall. 

Still, there is a lot you can do for free and it’s a great way to explore how Adobe Express would work for you. If you do opt for a subscription, it’s available for $9.99 a month, or $99.99 a year. Express is also bundled into Adobe Creative Cloud packages as standard - so you may already have access to it.  

• Pricing & plans: 4.5/5

Adobe Express: What is It?

• An ideal service if you’re looking to quickly create various projects based off of templates, but nothing’s stopping you from starting with a blank canvas should you prefer. The social media scheduling could prove to be a powerful asset.

Adobe Express is a service designed to help you create artwork, posts for social media, marketing, documents, and video editing. This is a vast canvas, but thankfully, the interface is well designed and easy to understand.

Top of the page is a menu guiding you to the above mentioned options. To the left is a sidebar from which you can access any previously created project via ‘Your Stuff’, set up your own ‘Brand’ (for paying customers only), ‘Explore' a vast library of templates which you can use and customise at will (some are considered premium only - anything with a purple crown lower right of the thumbnail isn’t free), ‘Schedule’ lets you post your artwork directly to social media, and ‘Learn’ provides tutorials to help you understand the workings of this service.

With the built-in social media management tools and content marketing tools, this is a much better feature-set than we had before. The scheduling feature alone should attract many potential new customers. You can connect to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok. Only one account of each is available for free, but those who pay can have up to 3. Essentially, with it, Adobe Express can be your social media creative hub. 

Adobe Express: Tools

• Very well-organised interface with a surprisingly good number of tools whether you’re working on an image or making a short video. 

Exploring Adobe Express now is like working with an entirely new service.  Everything has been expanded, from the options in the Home section, to the available editing tools for each category.

We’ve already explored some of the basic features in our previous review, so we thought we’d chat about other areas we hadn’t touched on, or simply didn’t exist back then. One thing worth noting though, previously you could use a basic background remover tool (fine tuning was a premium feature). Now it seems the background remover is only free “for a limited time”, which is obviously a downside. 

On a more positive note, let’s check out the editing features. You can begin with a blank canvas or choose from a wide gamut of templates. All editing tools are on the left, while tutorials can be found on the right, with the central section devoted to your project.

Click on an object or layer to reveal all available tools for it. You can also group objects together to make it easier to move them around or edit them in one go.

When it comes to videos, even though you can only hook up to TikTok on the ‘Schedule’ side of things , templates for YouTube videos (ie, those in the 16:9 aspect ratio with 1920x1080 pixels) are also available.

All the photos and videos you can browse through in the Media menu can be used in your project, and you’re free to upload your own clips. You’re even allowed to use ‘premium’ media in your video, but you won’t be able to download the finished product unless you pay to subscribe, or replace them with free alternatives instead.

As you’d expect, clips can be moved around and trimmed, but what surprised us for what’s supposed to be a simple video editor, was the ability to work with multiple layers of video, turning this casual online video editor into a surprisingly advanced one. Stacked clips will then also appear as thumbnails to the right of your project, which you can reorder to make sure the right one is always on top and visible, for instance.

We found Adobe Express to be very capable, whatever type of project we were working on. If you’ve used these kinds of services before, you’ll find this one easy to master, intuitive, and surprisingly versatile.

• Tools: 4/5

Adobe Express: Firefly AI

• Create images, insert objects in an existing image, create templates and font styles, all based on text input.

As with most Adobe products, Firefly AI has made its way to Express. Heavily promoted on the homepage, it also has its own dedicated menu along the ribbon. Here, you can create images from scratch (Text to Image), add objects to an existing photo (Generative Fill), create brand new editable templates (Text to Template), and what has to be our favourite: create brand new Text Effects based on a brief description. 

As with everything to do with Generative AI, your mileage will vary. When it comes to AI tools, it’s well-implemented - as you’d expect, given it’s a star feature in the likes of Photoshop. However, we’d like to see improvements here, as we had a hard time getting ‘Generative Fill’ to properly work at times. 

Still, when the AI comes through, you’re given four options, with the freedom to generate additional ones if you’re not happy with the output. You have a handful of different styles to choose from, and of course you can go back to the text input and alter it until you’re happy with what you’re getting. You can spend a lot of time playing around with various descriptions to see what the software will come up with or fine-tuning an artistic vision. It’s a lot of fun. 

• Firefly AI: 4/5

Adobe Creative Cloud: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You’re looking for a quick and versatile way to create new images, videos, and documents, to be used either online or printed. You like stuff that’s free, and might be tempted to pay for the premium content.

Don't buy it if...

You don’t like the idea of a helping hand, and would rather work through your creativity without being guided with templates and tutorials.

• Avoiding Adobe? Try the best Adobe Lightroom alternatives and the best alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

Long ago, when the internet was young, two juggernauts fought for control of the website creation market: Macromedia’s Dreamweaver and GoLive’s Cyberstudio. 

How times have changed. Adobe acquired the latter in 1999, and the former in 2005. But with alternative web builders sprouting up all over the place these days, is Dreamweaver still the best web design software on the market, and is it still relevant to today’s online world? We tested it to find out.  

Adobe Dreamweaver: Pricing & plans

• We appreciate that you can subscribe to Dreamweaver on its own, although the full (and expensive) package is still better value considering what you get.

As with most professional Adobe products, Dreamweaver is available as both a standalone subscription or as part of the Creative Cloud All Apps package. Both subscriptions offer three ways to pay: annual, monthly, and the contract-style annual paid monthly plan.

The advantage of getting the full Creative Cloud package is you can then design assets in packages such as Illustrator or Photoshop, and easily import them into your webpages, but at that cost, it’s really something only professional creatives can justify. You can try either option free for seven days. 

• Pricing & plans: 4/5

Adobe Dreamweaver: Updates

• An excellent tool that has only received minor updates in years, doesn’t inspire confidence for its long term future.

We last took a look at Dreamweaver in 2020, and we would’ve expected some major changes and improvements since then, however, the last release was version 21.3 in June 2022 which mostly contained library updates and bug fixes. Before that, version 21.2 brought in support for Apple Silicon - a very welcome update for Mac users, granted, but not one that introduced new features. We have to go all the way back to October 2020 for the last major revision, version 21.0.

All this to say, that despite the possibility of renting this app on its own (not all Adobe apps have that privilege, which means Dreamweaver is seen by Adobe as an important part of its arsenal), the lack of major updates in years, in an ever evolving market, does not give the right reassurance.

Still, this is a major piece of software if you’re serious about wanting to design websites without having to rely on oh-so-samey templates from the plethora of website builders available today. 

• Updates: 2.5/5

Adobe Dreamweaver: Website design

• This software is incredibly flexible and versatile giving you the power to create whatever page you please… as long as you can read and understand the code that runs it.

The first thing to be aware of is this is not software for novices. Yes Adobe’s Creative Cloud website hosts a large number of tutorials, to help you understand the app’s inner workings, even if some haven’t been updated in years - another hint that the app hasn’t evolved much in a while, but the software’s features are vast and complex, starting with being able to work with the basics such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and including more modern functionalities, such as Bootstrap. 

It should be clear that unlike other website builders that do the whole thing for you, you need some knowledge of the web’s inner workings before you can start. The advantage is that Dreamweaver can help you create much more optimised code than other services who do it all for you, leading to faster, more responsive sites. It might not feel like this is an important facet of website creation these days as more and more people have access to faster connections and powerful machines, but a page that loads fast and doesn’t unnecessarily eat up your visitor’s power should still be viewed as a valuable asset, especially since an increasing number do so from a mobile device.

You’ll find a handful of templates available, although these are very bare bones if you’re used to those from other services. Nevertheless, they are most welcome and much more useful than starting with a blank page.

You’ll also see occasional tips popping up now and again to help you along the creation process, showing that although you do need some knowledge to use this app, Dreamweaver does go out of its way to do its best to help you.

Dreamweaver is adept at creating static and responsive web pages, whatever suits the type of visitor you’re after. If you select the former, you then have the ability of redirecting them to different pages depending on the screen size they’re using. Flexibility is key with Dreamweaver.

• Website design: 4.5/5

Adobe Dreamweaver: Interface

• A good and flexible interface, giving you all the tools you need within easy reach.

The interface can be customised to some degree. The thin sidebar on the left grants you access to common commands, such as opening documents, file management and comment options, and you’re free to add or remove menus from it that suit your workflow. On the right is where you manage your files and libraries.

The central and main part of the interface is dedicated to your project, which you can view either purely as source code, a rendered preview of the page you’re building, or a little of both.

You’ll quickly find that working with the code is essential (hence your need to know and understand the net’s various languages). Dreamweaver will try to ease your job in many ways: highlight some text in the preview or the code section for instance, and the same section will be highlighted in the other, helping you find what you need to change quickly. Code hints is another great tool: start typing and Dreamweaver will offer you various options to help you complete a command more quickly, which also has the added benefit of limiting typos.

There’s a lot to love with Dreamweaver, from the sheer creative freedom that’s on offer to the numerous ways the interface is designed to help you. It’s just a shame nothing radical has changed in years, making us wonder just how much longer will Adobe support this crucial piece of software.

• Interface: 4.5/5

Adobe Dreamweaver: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You don’t like to rely on templates from automatic website builders, you’d prefer designing unique websites, and have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the languages that power the web.

Don't buy it if...

You’d rather some other service did all or most of the work for you, or you'd rather avoid a subscription package. 

• Avoiding Adobe? Try the best Adobe Lightroom alternatives and the best alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

 We were pretty impressed with Adobe Animate when we looked at the animation app just over a year ago. It's a clever repurposing of Macromedia’s defunct Flash technology, turning it into a useful and fun 2D animation tool. Has a year brought in any new and interesting advances? We put the latest version of the animation software to the test.  

Adobe Animate: Pricing & plans

• Expensive software to rent on its own, but it you already subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, then you essentially get it for free.

As with most of Adobe’s professional apps, Animate is available through either a standalone subscription or as part of Creative Cloud All Apps. Subscriptions are available as annual, monthly, or annual billed monthly (contract) plans. 

If you use three or more different Adobe apps, then the Creative Cloud option will provide a bit more value for money here, as it bundles Animate alongside other top tools like Photoshop, After Effects. and Premiere Pro.  There is no free trial of Animate, but you can cancel your subscription anytime within the first 14 days to get a full refund.

We’ve explored the different costs and discounts in our guide Download Animate: How to try Adobe Animate for free or with Creative Cloud 

• Pricing & plans: 4/5 

Adobe Animate: How it works

• A highly versatile way to easily animate 2D objects, even those not designed for animation - and it’s great fun to use.

Adobe Animate is a good and fun app to perform anything from quick to highly complex 2D animations, either using existing artwork or creating it right from within the app itself. Not to be confused with Adobe’s simple 2D digital puppeteering app, Character Animator. 

In Animate, you have complete freedom to use the software as you see fit, such as drawing each frame manually, or use the motion tween tool to automate the process (while removing a bit of individuality from the process).

In order to get started, you’re offered a series of templates, from standard 16:9 resolutions, to banner ads, various social media platforms, game consoles, web pages, the list is impressive, but if none of that suits, you’re free to customize your canvas however you see fit.

All the tools you’d expect to animate anything are there, such as keyframes, onion skinning, the works. The flexibility is quite impressive, giving you a lot of freedom when it comes to creating unique shapes, but the part we liked the best is the app’s Asset Warp tool. This allows you to add motion to an object that wasn’t originally designed for such a process - like a photo of a figurine on a transparent background, for instance. This exoskeleton informs Animate how the object’s various sections are connected to each other, enabling you to move them… within limits: if the angle means you can’t fully see one of the figure’s limbs, this method won’t magically make it appear; you can animate what you see. Nothing’s stopping you however from creating that limb from scratch, connecting that creation to the photo and controlling its movements.

When it comes to exporting your work, you’ve got a handful of options, namely sharing it directly to YouTube and Twitter (yes, at the time of review, the software still calls it Twitter), or exporting it as an .mp4 or .gif file, which you can then use anywhere you wish.

• How it works: 4.5/5 

Adobe Animate: New features

• Welcome improvements for sure, but the list is very paltry, and what’s actually changed, although ok, doesn’t feel like it’s worth a full numbered version upgrade. 

Animate was already surprisingly versatile and powerful as it previously was, so what wonders did Adobe introduce with the latest major upgrade? Well, it may depend on which platform you’re using the software on: there are three updates being advertised, the first of which is native Apple Silicon support. 

That’s right: Animate works natively on all the best MacBook Pro laptops and Macs with M1 to M3 chips. According to the advertising, not only will this lead to smoother drawing when compared with Intel Macs, but the app itself will launch faster, your project will export up to twice as fast, and your timeline will playback up to three times as fast. Very welcome, especially for professional creatives, but nothing to get too excited about. After all, the original M1 chip was introduced in November 2020. That’s a long time to wait for a native app from one of the most successful professional software developers in the world. Still, it’s here now, so mustn’t grumble, I guess.

Next up, is a “sleek user interface”. Hearing about this got us pretty excited. After all, Animate’s previous interface was excellent, and extremely customizable, letting you tear off tabs, keep them as floating windows, or dock them elsewhere in the interface. But there’s always room for improvement. So what did they give us? We have to admit, we had to look pretty closely and make sure we were actually running the latest version. Essentially, all the windows are slightly more compressed, leaving more room for the main preview section, helping you focus more easily on what you’re designing. Again, this is great, but the change is subtle. Put the previous interface next to the current one, and it might take you a few seconds to figure out which is which. But more room to preview your work can only be a good thing.

And our third tentpole new feature is the ability to reset a Warp Asset. Warp Assets are the secret sauce behind Animate’s ability to give motion to still images that weren’t initially designed for movement. Once you’ve created a skeleton frame of sorts, you can stretch and bend your image to give it the illusion that it’s moving. Subtle changes are usually best so as not to distort the image too much, which would make the motion feel unnatural, but how far is too far? There’s always been the potential for concern to experiment too much, and then having to manually move the frame back to its original settings. Until now. Thanks to this latest version, you can find the ‘Reset Warped Asset’ button to the right of a selected object’s ‘Warp Options’, in the Properties’ Object tab.

These really feel like very minor improvements, hardly worthy of a full version number upgrade. However, this shouldn’t detract you from the appeal of an app that was already pretty excellent to begin with - overall, one of the best animation software we’ve tried.

• New features: 3/5 

Adobe Animate: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You need to animate static objects in 2D, you need something that’s powerful yet easy to use, with a bunch of original tools, and ideally you already subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

Don't buy it if...

 You’re not already an Adobe subscriber, or you want even more control over effects, as in After Effects or any of the best Adobe After Effects alternatives. 

We tested the best laptops for graphic design - and these are our top picks

Adobe Creative Cloud is the hub of your Adobe existence. This is where you can launch any Adobe app you’ve installed on your computer (probably the most superfluous feature in its arsenal), where you can find and install new ones, review any files you’ve saved on Adobe Cloud. It's also a space where you can find tutorials for top Adobe apps, and browse the stock media libraries of Adobe Stock. The interface has had a major makeover since we last reviewed the app, so we thought it was time to delve back in there and see how this nexus of activity works in 2024.

Adobe Creative Cloud: Pricing & plans

• Creative Cloud itself is free, but you need it to manage your other Adobe software, and for that, you need a subscription. It’s not cheap, but it might offer value for money. 

In and of itself, this software is free. You will need an Adobe ID to make use of it, but that’s also free. After that, you have to choose a subscription plan to grant you access to some, most or all of Adobe’s portfolio. The prices vary depending on whether you’re an individual, in education, or a business, but for illustrative purposes, we’ll be looking at costs for individuals here. 

Most apps, the top of the line ones such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro, will each cost you $23 per month. There is some fluctuation though: Adobe Acrobat Pro is $20, Adobe Express $10. If you want access to most of Adobe’s portfolio via its ‘all apps’ package, you can do so for $60 a month.

These prices are for what Adobe calls ‘annual billed monthly’. This is effectively a 12-month contract, paid each month. Monthly subscriptions are available, but are more expensive. Annual upfront subscriptions are the cheapest way to access Creative Cloud. Certain apps offer you a free trial, but you can also get a refund, as long as you cancel your subscription within 14 days.

• Pricing & plans: 4/5

Adobe Creative Cloud: The Apps

• This is the core of the app’s purpose, and it does a fantastic job at managing your software. You can install new ones, delete others, and update them all, in a very easy to use interface.

Adobe Creative Cloud has evolved since we last visited it. Everything feels more streamlined, which makes it easier for you to find what you’re after. For instance, the sidebar’s main focus used to be on categories, letting you choose ‘Photography’, or ‘Video’, or ‘3D' for instance. There was also a dedicated Fonts section there, which was superfluous since you also had a Font button top right of the interface. So gone is the old sidebar, and in with the new.

You now start with a Home button, showing you pre-assigned shortcuts to apps you’ve installed on your machine (this is customisable), followed by current information about relevant apps, a view of the latest files you’ve stored on Adobe Cloud, and quick links to Adobe Express, and Firefly - the AI art generator and assistant that’s infused across Adobe products.

Next is ‘Apps’, where you may well be spending most of your time. Here, you can manage all your available Adobe software, from installing new ones, to removing others, and keeping them all up to date. 

We appreciate the fact you have full control over such updates, from manually choosing what gets updated, to letting Creative Cloud download and install everything as it gets released. When it comes to major updates, you can also choose to keep the old version as you install a new one, a crucial feature if you’re currently working on a project, and don’t want to risk the new changes unintentionally messing up your work, while also staying up to date.

• The apps: 5/5

Adobe Creative Cloud: Tutorials

• Having a place where you can learn more about some of Adobe’s apps is most welcome - but links force you out of the app and into your web browser.

The ‘Discover’ section isn’t new. In fact, it had its own menu top left of the interface in the previous version, although that menu was pretty subtle and easily missed. Now however, it’s much more front and centre, having its own dedicated space on the left sidebar. This makes it much easier to find and explore.

Seven apps are covered, including Acrobat, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Adobe InDesign, and through Discover, you get access to video tutorials, tips and tricks articles. You can also get support from Adobe’s community. Although most videos and live streams can be accessed from within the Creative Cloud interface, clicking on the other two will take you out of this software, and into your web browser. It’s not ideal, and we did find it somewhat disruptive, but the concept and (most of) the implementation is fine. 

• Tutorials: 3/5

Adobe Creative Cloud: Stock media

• The ‘Stock & Marketplace’ section looks great and appears to be full of features, yet everything you click on just takes you to your web browser. 

Another important facet of Creative Cloud is its link to Adobe Stock. Click on ‘Stock & Marketplace' to be graced with a busy interface. You’ve got tabs at the top representing various categories, such as Photos, Audio, Templates and Plugins, followed further down by a large search field with the ability to filter your results, and after that, a long list of featured items, represented by large thumbnails.

All this sounds great, but it’s all just a veneer: no matter what you type on, you’ll be taken to a new page in your web browser. Even the search field is window dressing, and typing anything in it also directs to the browser. It’s not the most user-friendly interaction, forcing you to juggle between two apps. Because of this, it feels unfinished, like one of those old Western movie towns, where everything is just facades of buildings, with nothing behind them.

All in all, Creative Cloud is most useful to keep track of the Adobe apps you’ve installed on your computer, but there are other features which could make it attractive for those seeking information and new media for their project. It’s a shame though that more often than not, Creative Cloud will still take you to a web browser, which is never an ideal interaction. Still, it’s an improvement over the previous version, and the sidebar, and the layout of the information is better than ever. It’s an invaluable control centre for Adobe’s apps, but it could be so much better when it comes to the additional features.

• Stock media: 3/5

Adobe Creative Cloud: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You have an Adobe subscription, need to manage its apps installed on your computer, browse for relevant information, and look for additional media. 

Don't buy it if...

You're not an Adobe user - and don't need access to all apps and tutorials.

• Avoiding Adobe? Try the best Adobe Lightroom alternatives and the best alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

Allyant is a company that specializes in providing business accessibility solutions. It can help you comply with regulations like the ADA and WCAG, which ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to your content. 

Allyant's solutions are designed to be practical and non-intrusive. They work behind the scenes to make your documents and websites more accessible without changing how they look or function. 

Some features Allyant offers include accessibility audits, document remediation, website remediation, and ongoing maintenance and support. It can also provide training and guidance to help you and your team understand accessibility requirements and best practices. Here's a look at the service and its features. 

• Interested in Allyant? Check out the Allyant website.

Features

Allyant offers two primary services related to accessibility: document remediation and digital accessibility auditing.

Allyant's document remediation service is designed to make your documents accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities. The process is simple and efficient. You can easily upload your documents through Allyant's portal or email system. Once received, a team of experts will organize your documents according to your requirements while adhering to industry standards. The team will also perform accessibility testing to ensure your documents comply with the latest accessibility guidelines. With Allyant's document remediation service, you can be sure that your documents are accessible to everyone.

Allyant also offers software for remediating documents in-house. This software includes the CommonLook PDF Validator, an Adobe Acrobat plug-in designed to test PDF accessibility. CommonLook PDF is another remediation software plug-in for Adobe Acrobat that allows you to test, repair, and report on accessible PDF documents. 

Additionally, the company offers CommonLook tools for Microsoft Office applications. These tools allow users to create, validate, and repair documents in programs like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

Allyant's CommonLook Online tool is a subscription-based service that aims to make the lives of administrators, educators, and those working in Disability Support Services (DSS) easier. With this tool, users can quickly upload a document and convert it into multiple formats in just a few clicks. The process is pain-free and efficient, ensuring that all students receive the necessary materials in the best format for them.

Meanwhile, the Allyant CommonLook Online tool provides high-level automation to simplify the transcription process. The tool uses guided user input to ensure the documents are transcribed accurately and effectively. CommonLook Online can transcribe documents into accessible Word, braille, PDF, and E-text formats.

Each tool mentioned above allows you to ensure compliance with various standards, such as Section 508 WCAG AA, PDF/UA, and HHS standards. You can also generate compliance reports for each document and customize checkpoints based on your organization's needs.

Allyant also offers a unique "HUB" platform, which merges project and issue management into a seamless interface. This platform facilitates real-time reporting on project progress, provides tools for understanding the impact of accessibility across roles, and allows for direct communication with Allyant's experts.

Allyant also offers digital accessibility auditing services to its clients. Customers can request a quote through the website or contact Allyant directly for this service.

Allyants' team of professionals will carefully evaluate the customer's website or web application by employing automated tools and manual testing methods. Following the evaluation, they will furnish a report containing discoveries, suggestions, and top-notch strategies to enhance the website or web application's accessibility and user-friendliness.

The company thoroughly evaluates digital assets, including websites, client portals, mobile apps, IoT devices, enterprise platforms, and kiosks. Their goal is to enable digital accessibility by identifying and addressing compliance issues with web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG).

How does Allyant use AI?

Allyant provides an enterprise-class AI solution that enables post-production accessibility tagging for high volumes of PDF documents. Its CommonLook (CL) AI automation solutions add post-production accessibility compliance to your electronic document generation systems while allowing archiving for future retrieval and on-demand access without changing your existing document workflows or software systems.

Using the company's highly advanced deep neural network AI, your document generation becomes more intelligent. Furthermore, as the solution produces files, the algorithms are continually enhanced through their quality assurance and post-processing methodology. In essence, the tool is "taught" through actual accessible sample documents how to tag PDF documents correctly. This ensures that those documents are fully accessible and work seamlessly with screen readers and other assistive technologies.

Allyant also offers a pre-composition solution that resides on top of existing databases for the author and generates accessible PDF documents in high volume. Both solutions are available via APIs for tight integration into your existing workflows and can be hosted on-premises or in Allyant's secure cloud.

Installation, setup, and compatibility

Products such as UserWay and AccessiBe are available to ensure that websites remain accessible. These providers have developed software that continuously checks company web pages for issues that require fixing. On the other hand, Allyant offers a different solution, which means that the steps to get started with their services differ.

Allyant offers various ways to get started with its accessibility solutions, depending on your needs. These begin with FREE resources such as business guides and webinars. If you need a comprehensive solution for managing your organization's accessibility efforts, Allyant offers the HUB platform. 

Finally, the company's software titles, such as CommonLook PDF and CommonLook Office, help make your PDFs and documents accessible. The company also offers self-paced training modules that tie everything together for your team. 

Plans and pricing

Allyant offers various services that cater to multiple industries, including healthcare, finance, and education. Because of its varied services, you must contact the company directly for pricing information. 

When you contact Allyant, you can expect to receive a personalized quote based on your specific needs. The company will consider factors like the size and complexity of your project and any particular features or functionality you require. Additionally, turnaround time can impact pricing, as expedited projects may require additional resources and incur additional fees.

Overall, there’s every reason to believe Allyant strives to provide transparent and fair pricing for its clients. While the company may not publish its pricing directly on its website, it is committed to working with clients to provide accurate and reasonable pricing estimates based on their unique needs and requirements.

Final verdict

Allyant is a company that offers an array of services that can benefit businesses and agencies of all sizes. With specialized software tools, Allyant provides document and website accessibility and contact with experts. These services can help companies comply with accessibility laws and regulations, ensuring their digital content is available to all users, including those with disabilities.

However, while Allyant's services are undoubtedly helpful, finding critical information on their website can be challenging. For example, upfront costs, training requirements, and long-term expenses are not always immediately apparent. It can also be challenging to know whether demos are available for testing purposes or what the software tools look like.

If you're interested in working with Allyant, your best bet is to contact the company and begin a discussion. From there, you'll better understand whether there is a good fit between Allyant and your organization. Conversation with Allyant's team can help clarify any questions or concerns you may have and provide the opportunity to discuss your specific accessibility needs. Whether you're a small business or a large corporation, Allyant's services can help you improve the accessibility of your digital content and ensure that it's available to all users.

More from TechRadar Pro

• Check out the alternative accessibility option, AccessiBe
• We've also featured the best text-to-speech software
• You will also be interested in our best web accessibility services of the year.

Intrigued by Adobe Acrobat Reader, but wished you had access to more advanced tools expected in the best PDF editors? Then Adobe Acrobat Standard might be what you’ve been looking for. 

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Price & plans

• Subscription-based software that's pricier than some of the competition

As with most Adobe products, you'll need a subscription to get the most from Acrobat. But it's not like the the Reader and Pro versions. 

As mentioned in our Adobe Acrobat Reader review, Adobe's basic PDF viewer is free, while Acrobat Pro offers you a free trial. To get to grips with Adobe Acrobat Standard, however, you have to subscribe. There is no free trial, no free anything. Thankfully, you can request a refund after 14 days, but that still requires effort on the subscriber’s part to remember to cancel in time when trying an app out.

Alternatively, you can opt to get Pro’s free trial to get a sense of the Standard offering. Aside from a handful of features such as bulk e-signature requests, and admin tools to manage teams, the toolset is virtually identical. 

If you decide Adobe Acrobat Standard is for you, you have a choice from the usual Adobe subscription plans: annual paid monthly, monthly, and annual plans are available (and, as you’d expect, paying upfront for the year is the cheapest option). 

The price is quite a lot more expensive than some of its competition, such as Easeus PDF Editor, FoxIt PDF Editor, or ILovePDF, but you get a good amount for your money if you’re a PDF power-user. 

• Pricing & plans: 3.5/5 

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Interface

• Simple, and easy to find the tools you’re after, while offering you a soupçon of customization

If you’re familiar with Adobe Acrobat Reader, you’ll feel right at home in Adobe Acrobat Standard, and the same will be true should you ever jump to Adobe Acrobat Pro. But unlike Acrobat Reader, all the tools on display actually work - rather than a bid to entice you to upgrade. It might be the one of the best free PDF readers for now, but for any real document management, Acrobat Standard or Pro are all but essential. 

Acrobat’s sidebar on the left gives you quick access to your files, those you’ve recently worked on or read, those that reside in your online Adobe Cloud Storage, any Agreements you’ve signed or requested a signature for, and files stored on your computer, some support for some of the best cloud storage services, such as Box, Dropbox, GoogleDrive, OneDrive and SharePoint.

Click on ‘Recent’ to see a handful of available tools, like ‘Edit PDF’, ‘Create PDF’, and ‘Combine Files’, but if you want to see all available options, click on the ‘Tools’ tab, to the right of the ‘Home’ tab, top left of the interface. If you’re already in the ‘Recent’ section, you also have an ‘See All Tools’ button to the right which does the same thing.

These tools are listed by category, depending on what you need to do, and their titles are self explanatory: ‘Edit & Create’, ‘Forms & Signature’, ‘Share & Review’, etc. To the right you’ll find a sidebar with another list or commonly used tools. That sidebar is totally customizable: reorder the list by dragging items up or down, remove tools you don’t need, and add some not currently displayed by selecting them from the main list. This helps you focus on the main tools you find yourself using all the time.

• Interface: 4/5

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Tools

• An example of good design - a wealth of tools are well-organized, versatile, and easy to use, coupled with a flexible interface designed to work the way you do

You may think that Adobe Acrobat Standard only lets you work on one particular function at a time, but this would be to misunderstand the underlying elegance of the software. Sure, each tool has its own icon, and you can customize the sidebar to the right as discussed above, but that doesn’t mean the functionalities are segregated.

Take the ‘Combine Files’ tool for instance. As its name implies, this is where you import multiple PDFs and merge them into one. But what if you’d like to remove some pages, or reorder others? Do you have to click on another icon for that? Well, no. Once you’re in the editing section, you are actually free to do pretty much whatever you like with your PDF. So you can reorder and delete pages from the ‘Combine Files’ section. You can also annotate, or even edit the existing text and images, without having to select another tool. All your editing options are available via the toolbar at the top.

Some tools will reveal another toolbar, like the ‘Edit Text & Images’ icon, but you can do everything you need to do without having to interact with the right sidebar… unless you want to of course.

It’s this kind of flexibility of working that we love in a well designed app: you’re offered multiple ways of performing the same action, and it’s up to you to decide which one fits your workflow best, without that being forced upon you by a developer.

So, Adobe Acrobat Standard is an incredibly well-designed and flexible software, which aims to help you manipulate, annotate, and edit PDFs. You’re able to do the simplest things, from transforming a PDF into a variety of other formats, such as Word, Excel, JPG, HTML and a few others, to creating a file from scratch, and everything in between, including filing in and signing PDFs. The list is pretty extensive and what’s best is how easy and intuitive the tools are to use. 

Considering Adobe created the format, it’s little surprise they’d design a best-in-class application to manipulate it - even in the face of some of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives. It’s obviously far better than Acrobat Reader which mostly felt to us like an advert for this software. This is Acrobat as you expect it to be, with a wide array of tools to help you work in the PDF format and achieve what you need to achieve - mostly.

There are a few limitations, most of which are covered by the ‘Pro’ version, such as converting files into the PDF format, redacting information, and comparing two versions of a PDF. Such functions are deemed by Adobe to be higher end, and should not be needed by the vast majority of its target audience, unless of course they do, which is where Acrobat Pro comes in. 

• Tools: 4.5/5

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You need a well designed piece of software that allows you to work with a PDF file, from basic management, to filing in and signing documents, to creating some from scratch.

Don't buy it if...

You'd rather save money with the best free PDF editors, or your document modifications are more modest - Acrobat is full of features, and you may not need them all. 

Adobe Acrobat Standard: Alternatives

We've tested a range of Acrobat substitutes - and our top-rated apps include:

pdfFiller, a surprisingly feature-rich web-based editing tool.
EaseUS PDF Editor, which offers a low-cost annual subscription compared to PDF24 Creator, which is our favorite, feature-filled PDF tool you can use completely free. 

We tested the best PDF readers for Windows - and here's our top picks