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The best alternatives to Illustrator

The best alternatives to Illustrator

best alternatives to illustrator - MacBook screen displaying Adobe logos
(Prototype credit: Unsplash)

Looking for the best alternatives to Illustrator? We've got you covered! Adobe Illustrator CC is a graphic design application for desktops and tablets. Its primary feature is the ability to piece of work with vector graphics—images that don't lose quality on scaling.

If you lot're a graphic designer or digital creative person, working with both raster and vector images is a compulsory part of your day-to-twenty-four hour period workflow. While y'all can use 1 of the all-time photo-editing applications like Adobe Photoshop to work with raster images, Illustrator is the most popular graphic pattern tool, and ranks highly amidst the best cartoon apps specifically when it comes to working with vector images.

However, Adobe Illustrator certainly isn't the only vector design tool in the market, and there are many less expensive and more beginner-friendly options. In this ownership guide, we accept a look at five of the all-time.

Just if you are looking to download Illustrator, then we've got yous covered: bank check out our guide to download Illustrator for costless or with Artistic Deject.

What are the best alternatives to Illustrator?

Illustrator may exist the most popular and versatile application in the industry, just Adobe's pivot to the deject-based subscription model in 2011 has many designers looking for a more economical selection, with a off-white number of products competing to exist the all-time alternatives to Illustrator.

If you're looking for a directly-up Illustrator alternative, your all-time bet is to go with Analogousness Designer. It has been developed by Serif, and has faithfully recreated nearly of the features present in Illustrator without any of the bloat. However, Analogousness Designer is yet complex, and has a flake of a learning curve. If you lot're looking for a simpler graphic design app that lets you chop-chop put something together for your project, Canva is an excellent choice.

For Mac users only, Sketch is an exclusive design tool that lets you work with vector images to create digital artwork and spider web pattern prototypes. Gravit Designer, on the other manus, is a powerful cross-platform culling from the creators of Corel Describe that'southward available for desktops, tablets, and the web. Finally, if you are looking for a gratuitous application, nothing beats the latest version of Vectornator.


The best alternatives to Illustrator yous can buy today

best alternatives to illustrator - Affinity Designer in use on a computer

Affinity Designer is the all-time alternative to Adobe Illustrator (Prototype credit: Serif)

1. Affinity Designer

The best alternative to Adobe Illustrator

Specifications

Platform: Windows, MacOS, iOS (iPad simply)

Developer: Serif

Price: $24.99 (Windows/Mac) / $9.99 (iPad)

Reasons to buy

+

Highly affordable

+

Similar features

+

Streamlined UI

+

Raster workspace

Reasons to avoid

-

Somewhat steep learning curve

Developed by United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland-based software visitor Serif, Affinity Designer is powerful graphic blueprint software with features to lucifer and a cost tag to compete with Illustrator. In fact, Affinity Designer tin be yours forever for the same price that would have normally bought you a unmarried calendar month of subscription to Adobe'due south software.

Analogousness Designer has most of the features graphic designers take come to know and dearest in Illustrator. It even adds a few extras, like unlimited redos, 1-million plus zoom, and a bonus workspace for working with raster images within the app. Performance-wise, Designer's lack of legacy code means that it generally runs faster than Illustrator. Some users may fifty-fifty find Analogousness Designer easier to navigate, thanks to a more streamlined interface.

Affinity Designer costs $24.99 on Windows and $24.99 on Mac. Each license is valid for unlimited use, meaning that you only pay for another subscription if y'all're using the software on a unlike platform. Analogousness Designer is even available on the iPad for $9.99, which means that yous tin also depict using the Apple Pencil.

best alternatives to illustrator - Canva's creative panel being demonstrated

Canva is a no-frills graphic design tool for beginners (Image credit: Canva)

2. Canva

A no-frills approach to graphic design

Specifications

Platform: Web, iOS, Android

Developer: Canva

Price: Free, $12.95 or $9.95 a month

Reasons to buy

+

Layer-based

+

Easy to use

+

Nugget library

Reasons to avert

-

Lacks several advanced features

-

Can't export to PSD or AI

Canva is a web-based blueprint suite that allows you to create attractive graphics quickly and hands. Unlike Illustrator or Analogousness Designer, information technology doesn't allow you lot to export files in vector format. Nevertheless, the principal draw is simplicity and ease of utilize, rather than the avant-garde graphics manipulation offered past the likes of Illustrator.

Canva lets you lot create brochures, posters, invitations, social media content, presentations, logos, infographics, and more than. The app is layer-based, allowing you to stack objects on top of each other to create a blended graphic. You lot tin can easily add text, upload images, and use preset templates to go the designs you want without a huge fuss. If yous are a paid subscriber to Canva, you lot besides go admission to a huge library of assets to choose from—including photography, videos, backgrounds, and clip art.

Canva, the base tool, is available completely free of charge. It includes admission to all the tools and a basic asset library. If yous want more features, such as more templates, fancy furnishings, and a larger asset library, you tin can subscribe to Canva Pro for $12.95 a calendar month. You can also pay annually to go the discounted price of $9.95 a month.

best alternatives to illustrator - a demonstration of Sketch and its design panel

Sketch is a UX design tool for macOS devices (Epitome credit: Sketch)

three. Sketch

An exclusive blueprint application for Mac

Specifications

Platform: macOS

Developer: Sketch

Toll: $9 per user a month / $99 per user a year

Reasons to buy

+

Simple and intuitive

+

Perfect for UX blueprint

+

Excellent collaborative features

Reasons to avoid

-

Lacks circuitous functions

-

Subscription-based pricing

Sketch was launched primarily every bit a design application for logos and websites. Information technology's immensely popular for website prototyping, but can besides exist used to create other forms of vector art. UI (user interface) and UX (user feel) designers in particular are known to swear by this software.

Sketch's intended use is wireframing and prototyping, also every bit website and app pattern. Thus, it does not contain the tools required to draw circuitous illustrations from scratch. Withal, the lack of circuitous features makes Sketch the perfect tool for web designers looking to draw a quick mockup of their website or app. It's even amend when used collaboratively, allowing a team of designers to brand changes to a design mockup simultaneously.

Sketch costs $9 per user a month or $99 per year. Currently, it'south just bachelor on macOS. If you're on a different platform, you lot can bank check out Lunacy by Icons8—which lets you open, edit, and store .Sketch files on Windows.

best alternatives for illustrator - Gravit Designer in use on a computer

Gravit Designer is an Illustrator alternative offering maximum compatibility with the largest number of platforms (Paradigm credit: Corel)

iv. Gravit Designer

Maximum compatibility graphic design app

Specifications

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, Web

Developer: Corel

Toll: $49 a year

Reasons to buy

+

Linux compatibility

+

Supports .AI and .Sketch files

+

Unlimited deject storage

+

Advanced functionality

Reasons to avoid

-

Limited gratuitous version

Gravit Designer is a diverse graphic pattern tool that allows you to design interfaces, artwork, illustrations, branding materials, and more. It features many of the traditional graphic blueprint tools found in Illustrator, including the pencil and pen tools.

Of all the applications mentioned on this list, Gravit Designer is compatible with the widest range of platforms. Information technology features a spider web-based version that can be accessed from whatever device with an internet connexion, besides as downloadable applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS. Information technology also supports the widest range of importable file formats, including .AI and .Sketch. Files can be exported as SVG, PDV, PNG, or JPEG. If y'all want seamless compatibility at less than half the price tag of Illustrator, Gravit Designer is your best choice.

There is a gratuitous version that can be accessed forever via web or app, just it'due south limited in features similar offline and touchscreen support. Gravit Designer Pro is bachelor for $49 a year, granting features similar unlimited deject storage, offline style, touchscreen compatibility, color spacing, and more than. A trial version is also available for those who desire to examination drive Gravit Designer Pro.

best alternatives to illustrator - Vectornator in use on a computer

Vectornator is a free drawing application and pattern tool for Apple devices (Image credit: Vectornator)

5. Vectornator

The ultimate free graphic design alternative

Specifications

Platform: macOS, iOS

Developer: Linearity

Price: Free

Reasons to purchase

+

Native UI

+

Layer-based

+

Touch-friendly

+

Completely free

Reasons to avoid

-

Apple tree-only

Developed by Linearity GmbH, a company founded only in 2017, Vectornator has already positioned itself as one of the most versatile drawing and illustration applications for the iPad, iPhone, and Mac. It allows you to design interfaces, create layouts, and depict entire illustrations from scratch.

Vectornator's UI is designed specifically for the macOS interface. Everything feels familiar to the operating system, to the point where yous might even mistake it for a native application. Since the launch of version 4.0, y'all get a layer-based vector design tool with features like artboards, auto trace, a colour picker, a free icon library, and much more. That's all in add-on to detailed documentation to help you go started with the software.

Vectornator is available completely free of charge for iOS and macOS. It tin can exist downloaded and used without paying any onetime or monthly subscription fee.

How to choose the all-time culling to Illustrator for you?

Adobe Illustrator is the oldest and the most well-known vector design app in the market. As with most software, the all-time alternative volition depend largely on your purpose for it. Features like touchscreen support, platform compatibility, and pricing models also take an important role to play.

Users looking for a tool that allows them to apace create unproblematic designs may prefer Canva, while those with more advanced requirements volition find the platform completely unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, Analogousness Designer is great for advanced users but not beginners. If you desire to do some freehand cartoon, Vectornator is your best bet, but UI and UX designers will find Sketch much more than useful.

Ritoban Mukherjee is a freelance journalist from West Bengal, Republic of india. His work has been published on Tom'due south Guide, TechRadar, Creative Bloq, It Pro Portal, Gizmodo, Medium, and Mental Floss. Ritoban is besides a fellow member of the National Association of Scientific discipline Writers.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/buying-guide/the-best-alternatives-to-illustrator

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