The best self-publishing companies in 2026, compared honestly

Rather than a top 10 best self-publishing companies list, the two tables below compare 15 companies on the same facts, all checked on 18 October 2026. Platforms let you publish free and stay the publisher. Service companies sell packages. The ratings come from ALLi's Watchdog Desk, the Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot.

Self-publishing platforms: free to start, you stay the publisher

Pay-to-publish service companies

BBB grades and Trustpilot scores measure different things. BBB calls its grade "BBB's opinion of how a business is likely to interact with its customers", built largely from complaint history, and says "Customer reviews are not used in the letter-grade calculation." That is why a company can hold an A+ with dozens of complaints. Trustpilot shows on each profile whether the company invites customers to review, and a score from 20 reviews tells you less than one from 5,000. Read the count next to every score.

Who owns whom

Five of the brands authors compare are run by one company, Author Solutions. BBB's single Author Solutions profile lists Archway Publishing, AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris and WestBow Press among its names, and the privacy policies of AuthorHouse and Xlibris name Author Solutions as the business behind each imprint. Archway's site says "the actual services are provided by Author Solutions", and its FAQ answers "Am I being published by Simon & Schuster?" with "No." WestBow's footer says its packages are "managed by Author Solutions". AuthorHouse's about page now says it is "family-owned" and "under new family ownership", without naming the owner. Comparing quotes from two of these brands may mean comparing one company with itself.

Three more companies cluster on one street. Christian Faith Publishing and Page Publishing list 832 Park Avenue in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and Covenant Books lists 830 Park Avenue. Christian Faith Publishing and Page Publishing use the same royalty wording, and Covenant's published author agreement matches Christian Faith Publishing's. None of the three sites states a relationship.

This page has no affiliate links, and no company paid to appear on it. Good self-publishing companies publish their prices, say what their royalty is a percentage of, and let you leave; those are the tests here. Manuscript AI sells a $19 manuscript report, not publishing or editing services, so no company here is a partner or a rival. Each company was checked on five facts, from its own pages and three rating sites, on 18 October 2026:

1. Price: what a reader can see before a sales call. "Not published" means we looked and found none.
2. Royalty: the percentage and what it is a percentage of (list price, net receipts or profit).
3. Rights: who holds copyright, whether the license is exclusive, and how you leave.
4. Selection: whether the company says it turns books down.
5. Ratings: ALLi's Watchdog Desk rating, BBB grade and complaint count, Trustpilot score and review count.

The fifteen are five free platforms and ten paid service companies, four of them aimed at Christian authors.

The right company depends on what the book needs to do. These short lists use only the facts in the tables above.

Best on a budget

• KDP: $0 to publish, and the widest reach on Amazon.
• IngramSpark: $0 to set up, for bookstore and library orders. Use your own ISBN if the book is also on KDP.
• Draft2Digital: a $20 activation fee, for ebooks sold beyond Amazon.

The lowest published package, Xlibris's $999 Spark plan, costs less than one EFA copyedit of an 80,000-word book ($2,400–3,200). Before you buy from cheap book publishing companies, read what a low price leaves out.

Best for Christian authors

WestBow Press publishes its prices ($2,699–8,299), which Christian Faith Publishing, Xulon Press and Covenant Books do not. Its site calls it "a division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan" whose packages are "managed by Author Solutions", and it sets written faith standards for authors. It pays 10% of net receipts on print sold through distribution; Christian Faith Publishing pays 100% of profit until you recoup your cost, then keeps 50 cents a book. Xulon Press pays "100% of the net profit" after its costs, says it may decline manuscripts outside its guidelines, and lets you leave by written notice. ALLi rates WestBow "Caution" and the other three "Watchdog Advisory". Christian self-publishing companies, and the Christian houses that take unagented proposals, are compared in the guide to Christian publishers.

Best for memoir

A memoir printed for family and friends needs few copies and good photos. Lulu lets you sell from its store with no distribution fees and keeps 20% of gross profit on print. Blurb prints photo-heavy books, and IngramSpark offers hardcovers that bookstores can order. Before you print, how to write a memoir covers structure and length.

Best full-service

On ALLi's ratings, the top rated self-publishing companies in the tables are KDP, IngramSpark, Lulu and Palmetto, all "Excellent (Partner)". Among service companies, two stand out on the facts. Palmetto Publishing has ALLi's top rating, a BBB A+ with 4 complaints in three years and 4.8 on Trustpilot from 1,164 reviews; its license is nonexclusive and you can leave on 30 days' notice. BookBaby is rated "Mixed" by ALLi, 4.3 on Trustpilot from 5,499 reviews, and lets you leave on 24 hours' notice. Neither publishes a fixed package price.

Best for coffee table and photo books

Coffee table book publishers that print on demand in color are few. Blurb's calculator prices a 13 × 11 in. hardcover photo book of 100 pages on Premium Lustre paper at $145.20 a copy, before tax and shipping. IngramSpark's rate card puts a large premium-color hardcover of 100 pages at $16.72 to print, before shipping. The two are not like for like: Blurb's figure is the price you pay for one copy, and IngramSpark's is a print cost for a book you sell through its distribution.

This page names no company to avoid; it lists the ratings, with dates. As of 18 October 2026, ALLi rates eight of the ten service companies above "Watchdog Advisory" or "Caution". Run the ten-minute check on any company before you sign.

• ALLi rates Page Publishing, Dorrance, Christian Faith Publishing, Xulon Press and Covenant Books "Watchdog Advisory". It rates Archway, AuthorHouse and WestBow "Caution", noting that Author Solutions runs all three.
• BBB lists 73 complaints in three years on the single profile that covers Author Solutions and its imprints, 58 for Dorrance, 45 for Christian Faith Publishing and 36 for Page Publishing.
• Page Publishing scores 2.2 on Trustpilot, from 20 reviews.
• In court, authors sued Author Solutions in New York in 2013 (James v. Penguin Group (USA) Inc.). The judge denied class certification on 1 July 2015, and the case was settled that August, Publishers Weekly reported. A second case in Indiana was dismissed with prejudice on 15 September 2015.

Low ratings also hit platforms. IngramSpark scores 1.9 on Trustpilot and carries a BBB alert for "a pattern of complaint regarding delivery and service issues"; Blurb has a BBB D- for not answering complaints. Legitimate publishing companies can still serve some authors badly, so read recent reviews for the service you plan to buy.

The free route costs $0 to publish and $2,704–3,851 for a lean budget with one copyedit, as worked out in what it costs to publish a book. Five steps:

1. Open a KDP account: $0.
2. Choose an ISBN: KDP's free one ($0, KDP only) or your own from Bowker ($125 for one, $295 for ten).
3. Get a cover: a 99designs contest costs $299–1,199; most Reedsy cover projects cost $625–1,250.
4. Format the interior: $0 in Reedsy Studio, $147 for Atticus or $249.99 for Vellum (Mac only).
5. Edit: a copyedit costs $2,400–3,200 for 80,000 words at EFA median rates, and a developmental edit $3,200–4,000. What each edit costs compares rates by edit type.

Add IngramSpark, with your own ISBN, if you want bookstores to order the paperback.