About Apple Pages
Apple Pages is a word processor and page-layout application made by Apple for the Mac, iPad and iPhone. People use it to create letters, flyers and essays, add images or charts, and continue editing the same document on any Apple device.
Apple's support pages describe choosing a document type, adjusting page size and margins, and changing how text looks. On iPad, Apple Pencil can turn handwriting into text and be used for annotation and drawing. A table of contents view helps with navigating long documents, books can be published directly to Apple Books, and Pages for iCloud allows editing in a web browser.
Pages is proprietary software that runs as a native app, with a hosted web version through iCloud rather than a server you operate yourself. Apple also sells a subscription called Apple Creator Studio that bundles its creativity and productivity apps.
Key features
- Word processing and page layout
- Apple Pencil handwriting-to-text support
- Table of contents navigation
- Publishing books to Apple Books
- Editing in a browser with iCloud
- Syncing across Mac, iPad and iPhone
Good fit for
- →Writing letters and essays
- →Designing flyers and simple layouts
- →Publishing short books to Apple Books
- Tags
- word-processor
- documents
- apple
- page-layout
- icloud
- mac
- ios
Apple Pages: questions and answers
- What is Apple Pages used for?
- Apple Pages is the word processor and page layout application Apple makes for Mac, iPad and iPhone, with web editing through iCloud and publishing to Apple Books. It is a good fit for writing letters and essays, designing flyers and simple layouts, and publishing short books to Apple Books.
- Is Apple Pages free?
- Yes. Apple Pages is free to use.
- Is Apple Pages open source?
- No. Apple Pages is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Apple Pages include Etherpad, La Suite Docs and Collabora Online.
- What are some alternatives to Apple Pages?
- Apple Pages competes with Google Docs, Zoho Writer and Dropbox Paper. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Apple Pages alternatives.
Open-source alternatives to Apple Pages
See all
Etherpad
Docs & Wikis
Etherpad: A modern really-real-time collaborative document editor.
Apache-2.0vs Google Docs★ 19k
La Suite Docs
Docs & Wikis
Docs is the open-source document editor that turns your team
MITvs Notion★ 17k
Collabora Online
Productivity
Issue tracker only. Active development is on Gerrit at https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/
OSSvs Microsoft 365★ 3.4k
CryptPad
Productivity
Collaborative office suite, end-to-end encrypted and open-source.
AGPL-3.0vs Google Docs★ 8k
ONLYOFFICE Docs
Productivity
ONLYOFFICE Docs is a free collaborative online office suite comprising viewers and editors
AGPL-3.0vs Microsoft 365★ 7k
Typst
Docs & Wikis
A markup-based typesetting system that is powerful and easy to learn.
Apache-2.0★ 56k
SaaS alternatives to Apple Pages
See all
Google Docs
Docs & Wikis
Google Docs is Google's browser-based word processor for writing and co-editing documents in real time, part of Google Workspace.
SaaS
Zoho Writer
Docs & Wikis
Online word processor with collaboration and built-in AI assistance
SaaS
Dropbox Paper
Docs & Wikis
Dropbox's collaborative document editor with media embeds and task lists
SaaS
WPS Office
Productivity
Office suite with word processor, spreadsheet and presentation apps
SaaS
Microsoft Word
Docs & Wikis
Word processor for writing, formatting and co-editing documents
SaaS
Quip
Docs & Wikis
Salesforce's collaborative documents and spreadsheets with built-in team chat
SaaS

