MadCap Flare 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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On this page

Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
Integrations
User Reviews

Overview

MadCap Flare

4.1

(21)

Pricing

Starting at $195.00 per month

About MadCap Flare

MadCap Flare is a technical writing software designed to simplify the process of creating technical documentation and learning programs.

This software provides advanced import capabilities, making it easy to transfer existing content from various formats such as Microsoft Word, Excel, RoboHelp, FrameMaker, and DITA. With Flare's user-friendly interface, content can be imported and reused efficiently. Additionally, it allows for the creation of interactive eLearning courses and quizzes from a single source, enhancing content reuse and fostering collaboration between technical writing and learning development teams.

In terms of publishing, MadCap Flare supports a variety of output formats including responsive HTML5 websites, PDFs, Microsoft Word, Clean XHTML, and EPUB. It comes equipped with project analysis features that help identify and rectify potential issues before publishing. These issues could range from broken links and duplicate styles to accessibility problems.

MadCap Flare offers real-time analytics on content usage after publishing. This feature provides valuable insights into how end users engage with the content, thereby aiding in improving content quality and cus...

MadCap Flare Screenshots

MadCap Flare Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $195.00 per month

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

$195.00

flat rate, per month

Plan includes:

Topic Based Authoring and Publishing

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MadCap Flare Features

Popular features found in Content Management
Access Controls/Permissions
Audio File Management
Content Library
Customizable Templates
Image Editing
Search/Filter
SEO Management
Text Editing
Version Control
Video Support
More features of MadCap Flare
API
Collaboration Tools
Content Management
Content Publishing Options
Document Classification
Document Management
Layout & Design
Workflow Management

MadCap Flare Integrations

ServiceNow

MadCap Flare User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.1

Ratings Breakdown

43%

38%

14%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

3.5

Value for money

3.9

Customer support

4.0

Functionality

4.3

Have you used MadCap Flare and would like to share your experience with others?

Amanda J.

Verified reviewer

Oil & Energy

10000+ employees

Used daily for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed January 2021

My Positive Experience with Madcap Flare

Madcap Flare helps me create interactive videos and simulations which I use as part of IT program tutorials that I make.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

MadCap Flare has made my job of creating videos with interactive content easier. It saves my content design templates. I can export my creations in different formats (e.g. WebM, MP4 and Adobe PDF). There is a large selection of visual effects available. They offer multilingual technical support to assist in solving any problems you may encounter.

Cons:

It is literally impossible to learn Madcap Flare by yourself, you will probably need to watch a lot of tutorials. Even after that you might need some assistance when it comes to complex projects but thankfully they have very helpful customer support.

Reasons for switching to MadCap Flare

Wirewax had a lot more features but unfortunately they were too overabundant for me.

Verified

Reviewer

Writing and Editing

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2025

A Transformative Tool for Technical Writers

MadCap Flare has given our organization the ability to increase the usability and effectiveness of our client documentation. We have transformed our static, linear manuals into living knowledge transfer with real-time updates distributed to multiple media outputs for information when and where the user needs it. While there may be a steep-ish learning curve for some, the payoff is having a powerful, multifaceted tool in your toolbox that makes output customization possibilities seem endless. The continued development of new features and capabilities for Flare and Flare Online, including refinements to ease-of-use and the fast, knowledgeable customer support make MadCap Flare well worth its price.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Features that give flexibility to single-source creation such as snippets, variables, and conditions and top-notch support.

Cons:

Fixing conflicts when multiple writers are working on the same project is difficult for users who do not have a coding background.

Reasons for switching to MadCap Flare

We needed to provide varied media output for improved user engagement and usability.

Verified

Reviewer

Computer & Network Security

51-200 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2023

Works well for simple use cases, but overpriced

My experience with flare was initially great, but as time goes on and you want to add more features you risk introducing complexity into the product and it doesnt handle complexity very well. The bugs I encountered were random and the errors messages provided no useful information. So many times I had to publish content and was afraid what was going to break next.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Flare makes publishing in various formats super easy and you have some flexibility on the page level for customizing content on the fly.

Cons:

Support is horrible, and you are charged for it. Git integration was bug ridden. Madcap central allows you to host a site on their platform, but its so overpriced and has limited functionality. It feels like that are working to make central cloud ready and we the customer are subsidizing the development of it.

Reasons for choosing MadCap Flare

It was easy to use and less expensive.

Reasons for switching to MadCap Flare

Flare wasn't reliable and its overpriced.

Verified

Reviewer

Transportation/ Trucking/ Railroad

501-1000 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2025

Learned it and never looked back

I have used Flare for over 16 years - I was forced to learn it after barely knowing how to use RoboHelp... it was a steep learning curve for me for sure. But once I learned enough to be dangerous, I never looked back. I have brought Flare into every company I've worked at.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Provides a professional, easy-to-use end product, provides a lot of options for features, functions, and navigation, tech support is awesome.

Cons:

It does have a steep learning curve, but that's worth it. Because it's a complex tool, you must used fairly often to remember how to use some of the features.

Reasons for switching to MadCap Flare

Flare offers more features, functions, and navigation capabilities. It also enables us to keep control of content and provide an excellent source for information.

Jen L.

Verified reviewer

Information Technology and Services

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2025

Powerful, Flexible, and Future-Focused

I’ve been using Flare for nearly 10 years and my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. The product continues to evolve in meaningful ways, and MadCap consistently shows they are forward-thinking in how they support documentation professionals. It’s a mature, reliable tool that I trust.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

MadCap Flare is exceptionally powerful once your content is set up. Its flexibility across outputs is unmatched — the ability to write a single topic and have it seamlessly transform into slides, handouts, PDFs, and online help is genuinely clever and a huge time-saver. The service and support are consistently excellent. The stability within the MadCap team means I’ve had the same success manager for years, which makes troubleshooting far more efficient because they already understand how I use the software. The training resources are high quality, and the Shorts are fantastic for quick, targeted learning.

Cons:

The learning curve is steep — there’s no getting around that. But once you understand the model and get your project foundations right, the payoff is absolutely worth it.

Kristin D.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

1001-5000 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2018

Versatile help authoring tool makes print and web output easy

I use Flare every day, for a variety of projects. It is versatile and robust.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Flare allows for nearly limitless options of content output and organization. This makes maintaining print and web media, and even tablet and mobile versions of the same, easy and seamless. As a bonus, you really don't NEED to understand how XML, HTML, or javascript work in order to make help materials that make use of these languages. Once you learn Flare's user interface, which is set up very similar to many word processors I could name, authoring is simple.

Cons:

Training and education is important. Like with many intricate tools, if you don't know what's there and don't know how to use it, Flare can seem complicated and unpredictable. Training is an investment, but it is well worth it.

Verified

Reviewer

Computer Software

11-50 employees

Used other for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2019

This is a great tool but it takes time to learn

After thing are setup/configured it is a strong tool and great time saver.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

We create our own brochures for several verticals. The software is great for allowing us to create 1 brochure and then using code to hide or add sections on text depending on the vertical. We can have 1 master document which saves us a lot of time when it come to updating text that applies to all verticals. Now it did take time to create this master document, but once created it has been a great time saver.

Cons:

To really be able to use this software you should strongly consider training. In our office we have an employee who is very knowledgeable in MadCap and has used the software for years, so they were a big help. Otherwise the software would have been overwhelming.

Verified

Reviewer

Consumer Services

10000+ employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed November 2021

Great once you get used to it

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Very customizable. Easy to go from the CMS to a live website. Lots of great features like text analysis and easy to learn editing customization.

Cons:

Expensive. 15 of my teammates use this software and it costs approximately $15,000 a year for that many user keys

Vinayakrishna B.

Verified reviewer

1001-5000 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed February 2018

Very good authoring tool for structured authoring

We use Flare for end-to-end documentation purpose in our organization like user guides, release notes, online help API doc etc.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I like the following aspects: 1. Less manual work as the styles can be created and re-used to enhance the look and feel of the document. 2. Image handling is better compared to other authoring tools. Don't want to name other tools here. 3. DITA authoring is masde very user-friendly in this.

Cons:

Flaws which I encountered: 1. Sometimes, the application freezes while importing any image of heavy size. 2. More web layouts must be provided for online help.

Michele M.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

1001-5000 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2018

Flare for everyone

At first it was cumbersome because I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Now that I’ve received some training and reviewed helpfules, I feel more confident using the software.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Once you get the hang of how the software works, it’s not too difficult to use. I recommend spend some time actually learning the software before you try to implement it to make sure you’re using it to the fullest.

Cons:

If you don’t use the help files available, you may be a little lost. Sometimes figuring out which files your associated with certain content or TOC can prove difficult, it again, this all stems from lack of proper training or research before using the product.

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