Check our software reviews list for Label printing and Barcode software. If you need to print labels or barcodes, you need the best software for the job. Check our software reviews list for Label printing and Barcode software. Label Flow is a label software solution for every business that needs to design, store and print barcodes, QR codes.
How to Choose Label Making Software
The top performers in our review are SureThing Disc Labeler 6, the Gold Award winner; Label Factory Deluxe 4, the Silver Award winner; and Acoustica CD/DVD Maker, the Bronze Award winner. Here’s more on choosing software to meet your needs, along with detail on how we arrived at our ranking of six label making programs.
If you enjoy burning CDs, DVDs or Blu-rays, you probably label all of your movies, photo albums and hard-copy archives with a marker or sticker. Photo albums and mix CDs are great personal gifts for guests on special occasions like weddings. For those occasions, a magic marker won't give you the style you need for favorite memories and songs.
While they are great for names and office inventory, label making machines only create text labels. Label making software combines elements of photo editing and publication programs like Photoshop and Microsoft Word to create personalized labels for discs, jewel cases, DVD cases, office supplies and mailing labels. Whether you simply burn discs or run a small business, advanced label making software adds a personal touch to any project. If you enjoy burning quality CDs and DVDs, also take a look at our reviews on CD burning and DVD burning software.
Label Making Software: Key Findings
The best label making programs have several key features that set them apart from the others. Features vary widely between programs, but there are crucial tools label makers need to get the job done right. In our review of the best label making software, we found that feature sets, design tools, label templates and support options are the most important qualities.
A feature set includes the number of preinstalled graphics, import abilities and photo editing tools a program has. The best label making programs like SureThing and Label Factory come with thousands of clipart images, background templates and other multimedia. Clipart comes in a variety of shapes and themes, including holidays, embellishments and symbols.
Some of the best features SureThing and Acoustic CD/DVD Label Maker have are the track list and image import tools. The track list import is a great feature if you love burning CDs or want to label your old albums, as it transfers track names and artist information to the disc label. This is useful for gifts like wedding albums or birthday presents. To personalize labels further, you can add your own images and edit them with simple tools. The photo editing tools in these programs aren't very advanced, so you can improve your images without much editing experience.
Design tools are also necessary for making quality labels. All label software should allow you to resize labels for discs by width. This allows you to create labels for CDs, DVDs and mini discs. Even if you're working with standard CDs, you can create thin labels or thick labels that cover the whole disc. Text tools like WordArt found in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint add an extra dimension to titles and track lists. These tools are especially good for album covers and DVD cases.
The best label making software goes beyond making stickers for your CDs and DVDs. These programs can create covers for jewel and DVD cases. Some programs can even make labels for older media formats like VHSs, cassettes and floppy discs.
For professionals, label making programs can also create name tags, address and shipping labels, and file folder labels. Beyond the office, small business owners or online vendors can print their own personal labels for their products. If you sell crafts, baked goods or cosmetics, you can create sticker labels with programs like Label Factory to show off your brand.
Label Making Software: Other Findings
If you need to make labels for a small project, there are free programs available for download. You can find these programs from trusted companies like Avery, a leader in label and office supplies. Like their paid counterparts, free programs often come with label templates, designs, clipart and the ability to import your own photos. For bigger projects, we recommend paid products like our Top Ten Reviews Award winners. These programs provide frequent updates and give you access to extra clipart, templates and graphics with a paid software license.
Our Verdict and Recommendations
The Top Ten Reviews Gold Award goes to SureThing Disc Labeler 6. This program has the most label options for discs. You can adjust label sizes and widths to fit any media, but SureThing comes with predesigned templates for 45-inch vinyl, mini CD and donut disc, CD, DVD, and LightScribe labels. In addition, you can create custom templates for nametag, address and shipping labels.
SureThing 6 has over 5,000 graphics, templates and clipart. Its modern interface makes it easy to use. Whether you're designing your own template or using one of the included designs. One of the biggest benefits of this program is its access to the Design Cloud when you purchase a license. The Design Cloud is an online collection of templates, clipart and other embellishments accessible only through the software.
If you want to go beyond disc labeling, our Top Ten Reviews Silver Award winner is the best choice for you. Label Factory Deluxe 4 is an advanced label making program with 1,500 label formats and templates for things like sticker labels, barcode stickers, nametags, DVD cases, jewel case inserts and of course, CDs and DVDs. You can also choose from over 50,000 clip art images. While this program only makes labels for standard discs, you can choose from a huge list of audio, photo, video and data templates to label your CDs and DVDs.
As its name suggests, Acoustica CD/DVD Maker specializes in disc labels for CDs and DVDs. It supports six disc types such as Blu-rays, DVDs, pocket CDs and standard CDs. In addition, you can print labels for the covers and cases. Acoustica is compatible with popular image formats like BMP, GIF, JPEG, RAW and PNG. Our Top Ten Reviews Bronze Award winner also comes with predesigned backgrounds and text layouts to take the difficulty out of design. Acoustica is easy to use without assistance from the manufacturer, but just in case, this software comes with a full buffet of support options if you have questions.
Related Product Reviews
Label making software comes in many different forms and focuses. Paid label makers are great for people who regularly need office labels, sticker labels for products or labels for CDs and DVDs. However, if you only need to make the occasional label for home or hobby, free software may be a better option.
Avery Design & Print Online
Avery is one of the biggest names in office, business, personal labels and stationery. Chances are good that you've seen an entire aisle of Avery label sheets at your local office supply store. The best label making software is compatible with or already has templates for Avery's labeling sheets. The only way to make the best label makers better is bypassing the price tag. Avery has free online label making services and a free downloadable program. Avery Design & Print label making software is available for free download or online.
This online label maker only requires you to create an Avery profile with an email address and password. Once you're ready to get started, you can select from a long list of label types. You can create address & shipping, business cards, cards & tags, binders & divider tabs, specialty shapes, name badges, crafts & T-shirt transfers, filing & ID labels, and safety labels.
The label editor in Avery Design & Print is a standard label editor with most of the crucial features. You can edit the text, font, alignment and graphics on any of the premade templates. Or, like in all good label makers, make your own labels from scratch. In addition, you can add images, shapes, QR codes and barcodes, and basic symbols. The Avery image gallery is full of clean, modern images divided into many categories. Unlike other label makers we encountered, you can import photos directly from Facebook or Google Plus into your labels.
Best Product Label Design Software Free
Once you're done with the labels, you can print from home or order through Avery if you plan to use them on professional materials. The professional printing option is best for business materials like business cards or labels. If your labels are a work-in-progress, you can save your designs to your computer or Avery account.
Overall, Avery Design & Print Online is slick and easy-to-use program. You can also download a similar label making program for your desktop, great for when you don't have an internet connection.
Papilio Box Making & Label Printing Software
Papilio, a print making company, specializes in inkjet media, sign-making, laminating and die-cut labels. This company also has a free label making program available online. This program downloads quickly and works for operating systems up to Windows 8.
Papilio's label program differs from others in several ways. This is the only label making software we encountered that creates folding boxes, beer bottle labels and displays entire sheets of labels, rather than showing one label. This makes this program great for small businesses, classrooms and personal use.
This program creates regular, rectangular or embellished labels from Papilio. You can print content on circular, rounded rectangles and award shapes.
Label Design Software Free
To begin editing, simply zoom into one of the labels on the sheet. You can apply changes to the whole sheet, several or only one label. Editing in this program is uniform with other programs, except for one standout feature. The text editor is simple, with the exception of the draw path tool. This unique tool allows you to create a path for your text to follow. This allows you to wrap text around backgrounds and images.
Label Joy
If you own a small business, ship products often or sell online, creating your own bar codes can help you better track your inventory. The free label making software Label Joy is designed for creating barcodes primarily. Label Joy is similar to other barcode making software, but it makes other types of labels as well.
Label Joy makes 18 types of barcodes, including QRs for smart phones. You can adjust the width and data on each barcode you make. Label Joy allows you to make entire sheets of barcode stickers or single codes. If you're creating barcodes for packages, you can add backgrounds and solid colors to your barcodes.
One odd quality of this program is the template section. Typically, label templates appear as a list of label types like address or nametags. Label Joy, however, requires you to search for templates rather than view a list. We found CD labels and several other disc templates in this program.
Label Joy has a large library of clip art sorted by topic. While you can add any of the hundreds of preinstalled images, there isn't much design freedom in this program. We had trouble with the text editor and basic image-editing features.
Product Label Software Free
Free label making software is easy to find online and often has similar tools and capabilities to their paid counterparts. While you may miss some paid perks like online communities or image databases, these programs can still help you create stylish labels for any purpose.