It should come as no surprise to anyone that MagCast isn't the only digital magazine app publishing option on the market, so I thought it might be worth taking a look at the features and cost structures of some of the others, as compared to MagCast.
I was going to start with MagPlus, but we have to exclude them because their pricing page only has a "Request a Quote" button.
There's a bunch of text in their Terms of Service related to fees and credit cards to third parties, and "subject to annual increase," and so on, but no sticker price to point to.
Next I was going to look at Zinio, but same story: You dig for pricing, and you eventually land on a "Contact Us" form.
Rule of thumb: if you have to talk to sales before you even have a hint at pricing, it's going to be expensive and have strings attached.
Okay, fine. Issuu, you're up next.
Holy smokes! They. Have. Prices! Issuu runs from free to "Contact Sales," so let's dive in.
*Dives*
Oh crud, this isn't going to work at all. A butterfly is not a cocker spaniel. Issuu is not a comparable service.
Let me explain.
MagCast is a platform for publishing digital magazine apps for Android and iOS. MagCast puts your app in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and puts your icon on your readers' home screens.
Issuu is a platform for publishing to Issuu.
Sure, with upgraded membership you can iframe your content on your website (and remove third party banner ads), but you don't come away with an app, and you don't get paid by Apple and Google for magazine sales.
(Soooo... who's magazine is it anyway??)
