Marq (formerly Lucidpress): features, pricing and limits in 2026

Lucidpress is now called Marq. The product was renamed in 2022 and is still sold as a cloud platform for brand templates: designers build lockable templates, and sales, HR, franchise and local marketing teams fill them in to produce brochures, flyers, social posts and presentations that stay on brand. As of 2026, Marq offers a free plan, paid Pro and Team plans and a quoted Enterprise plan with data automation, integrations and AI features. It is a good fit for static, document-style content. It is a weaker fit for animated banners, video and high-volume ad production.

Marq at a glance

Item	Details
Former name	Lucidpress (renamed Marq in 2022)
Company	Marq, based in Draper, Utah (United States)
Category	Brand templating and brand management platform
Main users	Marketing teams, sales teams, franchise and multi-location networks, real estate, education
Typical output	Print documents, PDFs, flyers, social images, presentations, email graphics
Plans in 2026	Free, Pro, Team, Enterprise (custom quote)
AI features	Listed on the Enterprise plan (writing assistant, brand checks, AI agent in beta)
Main limits	Little support for HTML5 banners and video, light approval workflows, data automation reserved for higher tiers

From Lucidpress to Marq: what changed

Lucidpress was launched in public beta in October 2013 by Lucid Software, the company behind Lucidchart. It started as a browser-based layout tool, a lighter alternative to desktop publishing software. Over time the product moved toward brand control: locked templates, shared brand assets and self-service portals for non-designers.

In May 2021 Lucidpress became an independent company after an investment by Charles Thayne Capital, with Owen Fuller as CEO. In July 2022 it adopted the name Marq to reflect that shift from layout tool to brand templating platform. The Lucidpress brand was retired, and existing accounts and documents continued under Marq. If you search for "Lucidpress" today, Marq is the product you will find.

Key features of Marq

Lockable brand templates

The core of Marq is template locking. A designer builds a layout and decides which elements are fixed (logo, fonts, colours, legal text) and which can be edited (headline, photo, contact details). The free and Pro plans include basic locking. Team and Enterprise add advanced locking and custom brand templates, which is what most organisations need when dozens of people produce materials.

Drag-and-drop editor

The editor runs in the browser and is aimed at people with no design training. Users pick a template, change the open fields and export. Designers can also build documents from scratch, with multi-page layouts suited to brochures, catalogues and reports.

Data automation and smart fields

Smart fields fill templates from a data source: an agent's name and photo, a property listing, a store address or a price. According to Marq's pricing page, the Team plan includes custom smart fields for one dataset, while Enterprise allows unlimited data automations. This is useful for personalised sales sheets or local flyers, but it is designed for documents, not for generating hundreds of ad formats at once.

Asset library, distribution and integrations

Marq includes a library for approved logos, images and templates, plus options to publish online, send by email or order printing. Integrations with DAM systems, data sources, single sign-on and printers are listed for the Enterprise plan; Slack is available from the Team plan. Teams that already run a full DAM usually connect it rather than rely on Marq's library alone.

AI features

In 2026 Marq lists an AI writing assistant, a "Brand Guardian" feature for brand checks, and an MCP server with an in-app AI agent in beta. These are presented as Enterprise features. As with any recent AI release, test them on your own templates before counting on them.

Marq pricing in 2026

Marq publishes four tiers. Prices change often, so check the vendor's page before budgeting.

Plan	For whom	What stands out
Free	One user testing the tool	Basic template locking, very limited storage
Pro	One user	More storage, premium templates, web and email publishing
Team	2 to 20 users	Advanced locking, custom brand templates, one data automation, Slack
Enterprise	10+ users, larger organisations	Unlimited automations, DAM and SSO integrations, AI features, custom quote

At the time of writing, Marq's pricing page lists Pro and Team at roughly 10 to 12 US dollars per user per month depending on billing period. Enterprise is quoted. For most companies the features that matter (brand templates, automation, integrations) sit in Team or Enterprise.

Limits of Marq

• Static first. Marq is built around documents and images. It does not produce animated HTML5 display banners for ad servers, and video support is limited. Teams running paid media usually need a second tool.
• Volume. Smart fields personalise documents one by one or in small batches. Producing every size of a campaign for ten markets in one run is not what the product is designed for.
• Approvals. Review and approval features are lighter than in dedicated brand management or creative automation platforms. Organisations with legal or regulatory review often add a separate workflow tool.
• Features behind the top tier. Data automation beyond one dataset, most integrations and AI are reserved for Enterprise, so the entry price is not a reliable guide to the real cost.
• Localisation. Marq handles personalised text fields, but managing translated versions of a campaign across many languages and markets requires manual work.

Marq vs Canva vs a creative automation platform

Need	Marq	Canva	Creative automation platform
Locked brand templates	Yes, core feature	Yes, on Teams and Enterprise plans	Yes, core feature
Print documents and brochures	Strong	Good	Depends on the platform
Data-driven personalisation	Smart fields (Team and Enterprise)	Bulk create, Canva API	Feeds, spreadsheets, PIM
HTML5 and animated banners	No	Limited	Yes, for most platforms
Multi-market localisation	Manual	Manual	Built in on several platforms
Approval workflows	Basic	Basic	Multi-step

For a detailed look at Canva in a company setting, see our review of Canva for business. If you are already comparing replacements, our guide to Lucidpress (Marq) alternatives lists the main options by use case.

Who should choose Marq?

Marq makes sense when most of your output is static: real estate flyers, franchise posters, sales one-pagers, course brochures, internal communications. It suits organisations where many non-designers need to personalise the same materials and where print still matters. A small team can start on the free or Pro plan and move up when it needs brand templates.

It is less suited to teams whose main problem is advertising volume: dozens of banner sizes, animated formats, video cut-downs and versions for each market and language. In that case, look at tools built on dynamic templates that output every format from one master.

Before you commit: a short checklist

• List the five to ten templates your teams use most and check that Marq can reproduce them with the right locked zones.
• Confirm which plan includes the data automation and integrations you need, and get the Enterprise quote in writing.
• Check how many people will edit, approve and only download, since this drives licence costs.
• Decide where display banners, video and translated versions will be produced if not in Marq.

Brandeploy: brand templates for static, animated and localised content

Brandeploy is a creative automation and brand management platform. Designers build locked templates, and local teams produce print, social, HTML5 banner and video variants from them without breaking the brand rules. The platform includes a DAM for approved assets, multi-step approval workflows and tools to produce translated versions for each market. Compared with Marq, it covers the same need for controlled self-service but extends it to animated display formats and multi-language campaigns. See how Brandeploy's creative automation works, or book a demo to test it on your own templates.

FAQ

Is Lucidpress the same as Marq?

Yes. Lucidpress was renamed Marq in July 2022. The product, accounts and documents carried over, and the Lucidpress name was retired. The company had become independent from Lucid Software in 2021 after an investment by Charles Thayne Capital. Today Marq is sold as a brand templating platform rather than a simple layout tool, so anyone searching for Lucidpress ends up on Marq.

Is Marq free?

Marq has a free plan for one user with basic template locking and very limited storage. It is enough to test the editor, not to run brand templates for a team. Custom brand templates, advanced locking and data automation start with the Team plan, and integrations and AI features are listed for the quoted Enterprise plan. Check Marq's pricing page for current prices.

What is Marq used for?

Marq is mainly used to let non-designers produce on-brand static materials from locked templates: flyers, brochures, sales sheets, social images, presentations and print orders. It is common in real estate, franchise networks, education and sales teams. Designers control the layout and brand elements, and users only edit the fields they are allowed to change.

Can Marq create HTML5 banners or video?

Not in a way that suits display advertising. Marq focuses on documents and images, and it does not export animated HTML5 banners for ad servers. Video support is limited. Teams that run paid media campaigns across many sizes and formats usually pair Marq with, or replace it by, a creative automation platform that generates animated and static formats from one template.

What are the best alternatives to Marq?

It depends on the main need. Canva suits broad, easy design work with brand kits. Adobe Express fits teams already on Creative Cloud. CHILI publish suits complex print and packaging. Creative automation platforms such as Brandeploy suit teams that need locked templates plus HTML5 banners, video, approvals and multi-language versions for many markets.