The 9 Best Digital Scrapbooking Software
To create this list I have relied upon my own 10+ year knowledge of digital scrapbooking, plus being a long-time active member of the digital scrapbooking community. As one of the premier digital scrapbooking sites on the web, we can also rely on our community base to give us a good understanding of what programs people are actually using to create their digital scrapbooks.
1. To create an honest list, I have to put the software that I actually use at the top. Photoshop CC has always been my go to for digital scrapbooking. Pros include that it's used by many people, including most designers, so finding tutorials and getting questions answered is pretty easy. Photoshop CC is now a monthly subscription, which can vary between pro and con for people. But it's a low commitment to try it out, versus the big $$$ you had to pay in the past to get a copy. This software is a bit of overkill if you're just creating digital scrapbooking layouts, but if you have an ideas in creating your own graphics, you'll be able to create pretty much anything you can think of.
2. Photoshop Elements comes in as close second to it's big sister Photoshop CC. If you're just creating digital scrapbooking layouts and want a simpler program, Photoshop Elements will give you a lot of the benefits of regular Photoshop without unnecessary software abilities and without the monthly bill that comes with Photoshop CC. There are less tutorials specifically for Photoshop Elements, but you'll likely be able to follow along with a lot of the ones created for Photoshop.
3. The Gimp gets spot number three since it's totally free. For a lot of people getting started digital scrapbooking, the price tag is an issue, and you won't have that with the Gimp. Tutorials are available, although less specifically for digital scrapbooking. Also, it's a full service image editor like Photoshop CC, so it comes with a lot of options that may make getting started tricky. You can see our complied list of Gimp Tutorials and Resources here.
4. Paint Shop Pro by Corel has a longstanding place in the digital scrapbooking community as a preferred digital scrapbooking software. A bit less popular that Photoshop CC, it still has a community of digital scrapbookers, so finding tutorials and getting questions answered is not as tricky as it is with the Gimp. Carole, who runs the ScrapbookCampus, is a good source of help for Paint Shop Pro and digital scrapbooking.
5. Affinity Photo is another Photoshop CC alternative. Cheaper, but as usual with fewer resources for digital scrapbookers. However, Affinity Photo is a popular choice for digital scrapbooking on the iPad, so communities exist among iPad scrappers to help with your questions.
6. PicMonkey is an online image creator with a low monthly subscription. You can create simple and stylish layouts online using your computer, phone or tablet without much effort.
7. Like PicMonkey, Canva is an online image editor geared towards creating eye catching graphic design. While not designed specifically for digital scrapbooking, it can and is used by many to create digital scrapbooking pages.
8. MyMemories is an old favorite among the digital scrapbooking community. As a software created specifically for digital scrapbooking, you don't have the hassle of trying to do what you want with tools created for a different purpose, or try to wade through a lot of unnecessary tools.
9. As a physical scrapbook supplier and photo book seller CreativeMemories also has an online photo book creator that uses the "scrapbooking look." Unlike many other photo book creation sites, this one is geared towards people who want that scrapbooking look.
If you are a digital scrapbooker, please share below in the comments what program you use and let me know if I missed any key features.
And please enjoy this graph showing the breakdown of our users here at DigitalScrapbook.com
Blog By
About Me
Hi There! I’m Marisa Lerin and you’ll see me around at DigitalScrapbook.com a lot. I started this site in 2010 soon after I discovered a new love in digital scrapbooking. DigitalScrapbook.com has gone through some significant changes since that time and it’s grown into this lovely community site you are seeing now. I am daily surprised by the turn of life’s events that has led me down this path. If you're new to the site, welcome! Here are a few tidbits about me that I hope will help you get to know me better!
I’m originally from Minnesota, USA, but spent a good chunk of my childhood living abroad (in Bolivia and Hong Kong). I returned to Minnesota to attend university, got married and then moved overseas again (Korea, then Jordan and 1 year of traveling). My designs are heavily influenced by these many nomadic years. I am currently back in the USA, now living in the great state of Oregon!
I have no official training for what I’m doing, since I decided very wisely (haha) to study physics in university. I am always learning new things about digital scrapbooking, and this community has been immensely helpful for that!
If I manage to stop digital scrapbooking you will probably find me watching TV, reading or baking. I also enjoy writing for the blog here at DigitalScrapbook.com where I talk about whatever happens to be catching my fancy at the moment.
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Recent Comments
I refuse to pay for a subscription! I was using Photoshop CS6 for a while but it was really finicky with Windows upgrades, so ended up on CS3 for the most part. I also use Affinity Photo on occasion and found Luminar 4 to be a good Lightroom 2 replacement for photo editing. I'll also throw out Krita as an EXCELLENT free alternative to Photoshop (but has a bit of a learning curve). I've used Microfot Publisher and Photoshop Elements for a bit too. Doska, I also used Ulead Photo Impact a LONG time ago (in the beginning of my scrapper and designing days) but it stopped working after some Windows upgrades as well.
This is also an interesting topic for me. I work from the beginning (2005) with Photo Impact from Ulead, now Corel, first version 8 until last update X3. It still works today on WIN 10, it is so familiar to me that I do not like to change. But I also learned PS CS3, because I got it once as a gift from a photographer friend. (Unfortunately by updates the keys lost) At present I am in a German GIMP community around also Scrapdesign, which I could arrange only in PS, to be able to continue now with Gimp. Affinity I bought right at the beginning very cheap, but there it did not work out with a German forum to learn. I learn only well in online schools.
Artisan ist for me to expensiv.
I LOVE my Artisan software. It's so easy to use, and I haven't found anything I can't do or customize with it. I do digital scrapbooking, cards, image editing, element creating, etc. I create designs with Artisan, and then send them to my Brother Scan & Cut for paper and vinyl and felt cutting. So fun!!!
I was just wondering about this, I think you read my mind, lol, thank you for the info. I am wondering what kind of computers are most popular, desktop, laptop, tablet, phone?
Another Artisan user here!
The online Creative Memories software is very clunky in my opinion.
I am surprised that you didn't mention Artisan. I love this software and use it for my digital scrapbooking.
Thanks for all the valuable info Marisa!
@Marisa Lerin Is this software more like Photoshop CC than PSE?
Thanks for all the comments everyone!
Thank you for mentioning me and the Scrapbook Campus as a resource for PaintShop Pro users.
Great info. Thank you so much for posting this. This has given me lots to look into that I haven't used before! :-)
Interesting information . Thanks
Now learning Illustrator I have found frustrating!
I remember when it cost $1,000's of dollars (or so I was told) for Photoshop and I wanted it so bad. I tried Gimp and couldn’t wrap my head around it. When Photoshop started letting you pay monthly I jumped on the chance and never looked back. I'm still astonished at the amount of things you can do with it. I still have so many things to learn and i love that.
I started out with a Polaroid Photo Max Image Maker (1998). If I can remember correctly, this was a software that would allow me to copy an image and then erase it (creating a faux layer). This may or may not be the same software that would take multiple images and piece them into one image. I moved on to PSe 2007 and 2018.
I started out with Photoshop. Bought a suite in college, and we learned most of the apps in that suite.
But, after Adobe went subscription, I pretty much dumped it. I found Serif's Affinity Photo, and am enjoying that. Still learning it.
It is MUCH cheaper than PS, and once you buy it, you OWN it. BIG plus for me. I can also go back to my previous work and make changes. Unlike PS, again, once you buy it, you own it. Adobe's subscriptions are ridiculous, if you ask me. If you no longer subscribe, you no longer have access to your files. :(
inDesign and Photoshop CS6, for me.
I use GIMP for most of my work, but like the actions available in Photoshop.
I am a bit disappointed that there is no reference to Forever.com's Artisan software. This software has been aorund since Creative Memory days and can do almost everything photoshop can but is geared to the scrapbooking audience. The only thing that I would say with it is the proprietary alphas are annoying. But it is a very very powerful digital crafting platform!
Studio by GoDaddy is an oft overlooked app that is absolutely amazing for digital scrapbooking. It is very intuitive and is available for iPhone and Samsung. I LOVE it and have tried picmonkey and canva and find it far superior in ease of use and available tools. I have a lot of tutorial on using Studio on my YouTube channel…
I still use an older version of Photoshop mostly. I have used MS Publisher in a pinch, and I used GIMP for awhile as it's free and they have a portable version that you can run without installation - good for when I was overnighting for work and wanted to get creative but only had my work laptop. Also, I recently purchased Affinity when they had a sale, but I haven't figured it out yet!
Forever Artisan is a total upgrade from what Creative Memories used to have. I use this software daily with all my scrapping and designing needs from FB posts to all my marketing collateral. Super easy to use also. https://www.forever.com/ambassador/denise-houser/artisan
personnellement j'utilise studio-scrap pour la mise en page finale d'un projet, GIMP et affinity pour préparer les photos et ces 2 logiciels pour créer des kits...j'emploie aussi ( mais plus rarement) Corell paint shop pro
I've always used Photoshop. But when I was first getting started, I was using an early 2000's version that I bought on a student discount in college. I think it was Photoshop 11 or something. That's what my earliest pages on here were created on, but I was very excited to upgrade to Photoshop Elements!
even though i was a beginner i started with photoshop 6. thankfully, there were many online tutorials. now i'm using photoshop cs6
I started digital scrapping on a free app on Android called PixelLab. That really got me going. Was simple to learn and use.
Now I used Affinity Photo for Desktop as I can used psd files and a lot of the tutorials for Photoshop can help though some menus are different and tools are called other names. So far I've managed to create what I need to.