By MaKenzie Hall
Written for: The Design Craft @ Hello Creative Co. Internship, 2021
Published on: The Design Craft and 4by6
It is a well known fact in the creative field that Adobe is the current industry leader in design software. However, the steep subscription based payment option has many competitors creating rival worthy alternatives for budget conscious consumers. With popular programs like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and the rest of the creative cloud suite feeling like a necessity for most creatives here are some of the current alternatives on the rise:
Adobe Photoshop Alternatives
1. Pixlr (free)
Pros:
Available on any browser and Android and IOS
Similar interface to photoshop
Some advanced tools
Plug-In Compatibility
Cons:
Better suited to non-professionals
Lack of batch editing
Intrusive advertising
2. GIMP (free)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android
Open source
User-friendly, customizable interface
Supports all file formats
Plug-In Compatibility
130 filters and effects
Cons:
Android version interface needs some work
Needs to refine some of the available tools
Lack of batch editing
3. PhotoPea (free)
Pros:
Available on any browser and Android
No sign-up required
Similar interface to Photoshop
Supports all file formats including Photoshop, Gimp, and Sketch files
Has premade templates available
Cons:
Has all the main photo editing tools, but lacks advanced features
4. Canva (free) (pro version: $119.40/yr)
Pros:
Available on any browser and Android and IOS
Up to 10 team member on free account (50 on pro)
8,000 templates
up to 1GB storage for photos and assets
Good for combining image and text for managing blogs, instagrams, etc.
Cons:
Have to have an account
Better suited to non-professionals
5. Affinity Photo ($49.99)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, and IOS
Suited for professionals but still accessible for beginners
Complete set of fine-tuning and retouching tools with instant previews, filter layers and effects, photo stitching, and more
Full file compatibility between devices so you can work on the same file on different machines.
RAW editing
All color modes
Can purchase a well-rounded program bundle (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) for a flat fee
Cons:
Lacks photo and asset management
6. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite ($500)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, IOS, and Android
Includes 7 useful applications
Excellent for vector and raster editing, layout & illustration, typography, etc
Many similar features to Adobe programs and many unique features as well
7,000 clipart and digital images
1,000 high-resolution digital photos
Over 1,000 TrueType and OpenType fonts
150 professionally designed templates
Over 600 fountain, vector and bitmap fills
Compatible with all Adobe files and other universal file types
Cons:
Pricey at first buy
Would involve learning a somewhat different software
Adobe Illustrator Alternatives
1. Inkscape (free)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, and Linux
Frequent updates
Supports all color modes
Open source
Plug-in compatible
Some advanced features
Cons:
Interface is a bit outdated
Sometimes runs slow
Lack of compatibility with Illustrator files
2. Vecteezy (free)
Pros:
Nothing hidden behind a paywall
Good choice of ready-made vector elements, but can still design from scratch
User-friendly interface with no learning curve
Cons:
In browser only
Must make free account
Large file size make sluggish
Doesn’t support many file types
Best for beginners only
3. Vectr (free)
Pros:
Intuitive interface
Easy to master
Interactive tutorials
Cons:
In browser only
Lacks advanced features
Doesn’t support many file types
Best for beginners only
4. Gravit (free)
Pros:
Good amount of tools and features
pen, line, knife, slice, bezigon, gradient editor, boolean operations, symbols, international text support, etc
Video tutorials
User-friendly
CMYK rendering
Import and export files in a variety of formats including pdf, png, jpg, svg, and sketch
Cons:
In browser only
5. Affinity Designer ($49.99)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, and IOS
Lots of tools and features
Layer effects, styles, all types of blending modes and masks,rasterizing controls, infinite zooming, a precision-engineered pen tool, automatic snapping points
Illustrator compatibility (and high compatibility with importing PSD files but can’t export them, yet)
Similar interface to Photoshop
Can purchase a well-rounded program bundle (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) for a flat fee
Cons:
Lacks important advanced tools
Image-trace
Warp, mesh fill and extrusions
Custom scripts or plug-ins
User-friendly buttons (like layer lock) you have to click through menu
Adobe InDesign Alternatives
1. Scribus (free)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, and Linux
Active community
Some press ready outputs
Ready-to-use templates
Some advanced tools
Bezier curves, selection, shapes, text on a path
CMYK colours, spot colours, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation
Cons:
Not many additional features
Software looks a little outdated
2. LucidPress (free)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, and Linux
User-friendly
Offers numerous templates
Constant upgrades
Provides great templates and tools to start your design project
Cons:
Very limited features
Can only edit up to 3 page documents
Only 25 mb of storage
Lack of fonts
Best for casual page layout
3. Desygner (free)
Pros:
Can use this tool to change text, images, fonts, etc.
Work with layers, multiple page files, and effects.
Range of professional templates.
Automatically resizes your designs.
Share your design through Facebook, email, Instagram, etc.
Cons:
In browser only
Have to have account
Best for casual (mainly social) page layout
4. Affinity Publisher ($49.99)
Pros:
Available on Windows, Mac, and IOS
Most of the Same features as InDesign
User-friendly
Can purchase a well-rounded program bundle (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) for a flat fee