Finding an Effective Alternative to Foleon
Written by Matt Berringer
April 20, 2021
Foleon 101
Foleon bills itself as a content creation platform and markets itself towards a variety of industries from healthcare to education. Officially started by its two Dutch co-founders, Daan and Joost, in 2013, Foleon initially focused on transitioning PDFs into interactive digital content.
Learn more about Digital Publishing Basics
Foleon’s single content creation platform has grown in popularity for businesses looking to create eBooks, brochures, catalogs, and other interactive digital content solutions at scale.
What Do Foleon’s Reviews Say?
Foleon has been a solution for many businesses since they launched with users enjoying the more interactive, responsive content experiences provided by the platform but the reviews are not universally positive.
What people like about Foleon:
“I like the ability to make dynamic content and collaborate with others on the platform. Our customer rep, Kyle is awesome, and always there to help us along the way. It’s been a great add for us and helped with user engagement. Also love the analytics aspect.”
“What I liked most about Foleon is the variety of features, easy to use, and I can create my clients’ digital publications without having a long proccess. With that, we save time and increase our productivity!”
What people dislike about Foleon:
The most common issues experienced by users of Foleon appear around the functionality or inability to access all features.
“The drag and drop, honestly does not work properly. I honestly don’t understand why this was introduced, it is clunky and unuseable for the most part.”
“A lot of our customers did not like the experience of the magazine that we produced”
https://www.capterra.com/p/189247/Foleon/reviews/
If you’ve considered Foleon or are looking for an alternative, there are a variety of options available.
Assessing Foleon’s Competitors
Learn more about Nxtbook’s platforms.
Finding the right content creation software is an important decision to consider when planning out your digital marketing strategy. Relevant factors to consider when searching for an alternative to Foleon include:
- Does the platform offer the full range of design tools?
- How user-friendly is the platform?
- Are the features I need included in my license?
- How many users are included in my license?
- Can I upload current PDFs to leverage current assets?
Whether you’ve worked with similar content platforms in the past or this is the first time exploring a solution, you’ll want to ask the right questions and explore how they fit into your overall brand strategy.
The Best Alternative to Foleon
Users transitioning from Foleon or simply looking for an alternative platform choose Nxtbook Media’s nxtbook or Pageraft platforms. Nxtbook Media offers multiple platforms that drive exceptional content experiences that have driven proven results. Nxtbook Media is a great alternative when looking for expertise in markets ranging from:
- B2B Enterprise Marketing
- Digital Publishing
- Sports Franchise Marketing
- Higher Education
- Non-Profits & Associations
- and Travel & Leisure
You can find a comprehensive comparison of the Nxtbook and Foleon below.
Designing Your Publication
One of the biggest contrasts between Foleon and Nxtbook Media’s platforms is that Nxtbook offers two platforms. These platforms support the full spectrum of digital publishing, from replicas of printed PDFs to fully responsive digital publications.
With nxtbook you can upload a PDF to get started and then enhance it with a variety of tools. This allows you to leverage your current collateral.You can even add responsive text using the Article View feature. PageRaft is closer to Foleon’s offering, allowing you to create a digital-first publication from scratch. So if you aren’t quite sure where to start with digital publishing, nxtbook is a great first step. But if you’re ready to jump in – PageRaft and Foleon are great options for digital-first publishing.
Uploading a PDF
If you are looking to replicate a print edition and use a PDF as a jumping off point for your digital publication, nxtbook is your only option for importing PDFs. Foleon does not support uploading PDFs. This makes nxtbook a vital tool in your overall digital toolkit.
Tiered Licensing and Features
According to Foleon’s website, not every feature is part of every license. So you will need to purchase the license level that matches the feature set your team needs. In contrast, Nxtbook licenses enable full-access to every feature. This provides your team the full range of digital resources immediately without requiring upsells to complete your job. In addition, Foleon offers a base of three user licenses while Nxtbook offers four or more depending on your business needs.
Creating a Project
Each platform has a different user interface for creating and managing projects. nxtbook4’s interface is intuitive and user-friendly with drag and drop capabilities, PageRaft is more of a blank canvas that allows for more creative freedom but takes longer to master. Foleon features drag and drop editing capabilities.
Experience in Digital Publishing
The Nxtbook Media and Foleon teams (formerly Instant Magazine) have been involved in digital publishing for a number of years. Nxtbook Media was founded in 2003. The Foleon team began working on digital publications in 2008 and formed Instant Magazine in 2013. Nxtbook’s team includes creative strategists, developers and designers to help content creators drive growth.
Design Services
If you are short-staffed or just looking for an outside perspective, both Nxtbook and Foleon offer design services to help build your digital publication.
Payment Options
Both Nxtbook Media and Foleon offer monthly and annual license options. Nxtbook Media also offers a three year license option, this option provides the biggest discount.