May 15, 2015 Affinity Designer could quite possible become a true Illustrator killer. At the moment it’s only available to Mac users and the full version comes with a small price tag of $49.99 with free upgrades for two years, but the trial version is still remarkably functional and worth a shot if you’re looking for a free editor. Review your Affinity Store order summary before finalising your purchase. These Affinity assets, free to download and use even for commercial purposes, are beautifully designed and extremely useful. Whether you want to create the look of rope, ink, leaves, or other patterns, this set of vector brushes for Affinity Designer is a great option. 7 FREE Affinity Brushes. Download premium Affinity Designer graphics, fonts and templates with Envato Elements: https://elements.envato.com/all-items/affinity+designer?utmcampaign. Apr 13, 2021 Serif Affinity Photo 2021 is a powerful and comprehensive application which comes packed with a rich set of a professional-grade photo editing and design tools allowing you to create compelling graphics and retouch images.It is an efficient application which brings sophisticated tools for enhancing, editing, and retouching your images in an.
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- Affinity Designer Vs Adobe Illustrator
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While Adobe Creative Cloud — Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe XD, InDesign, and more — may be known as the industry standard for graphic design, its expensive monthly subscription model ($20.99 per month or $52.99 per month for the entire Creative Cloud) can bruise a budget.
In this post, we’ll explore 10 best alternatives to Adobe Illustrator.
Top Adobe Illustrator Alternatives
For context, graphic designers work on two types of static image formats: vectors and rasters. Vectors are made from lines, curves, and shapes (plus some machine learning magic). Rasters are comprised of pixels.
If you’re looking for a vector editor to create digital graphics, logos, illustrations, and animations for print, web, and interfaces, you’re in the right place.
1. Affinity Designer
Built and continuously improved as Serif’s pièce de résistance, Affinity Designer is designed to be intuitive for the experienced Adobe user. With one of the most comprehensive vector design toolsets on this list, plus raster finishing, Affinity Designer might be the alternative you’re looking for.
With full compatibility with Adobe’s Suite, Affinity Designer supports standards: 10-bit, CMYK, CIELAB, and Pantone. Affinity Designer has some capabilities similar to Photoshop, like bitmap functions. Users like that the program is not too heavy and doesn’t take up too much RAM.
Compatible format: EPS, JPEG, PDF, SVG, PSD, PNG, TIFF, and GIF
Operating system/device: MacOS, Windows, and iPad
Pricing: Affinity Designer lets you try free for 90 days. After that, it costs a one-time payment of $49.99 (for both Mac or Windows) and $19.99 for iPad.
2. CorelDRAW
Compatible with other tools in the Corel graphic suite including Photo-Paint, a Photoshop competitor, CorelDRAW gives you a robust set of vector illustration tools. Get vectors ready for print fast and easy, edit multi-page documents, convert bitmap to vector non-destructively, and generate QR codes.
Check out the LiveSketch feature on touch-enabled devices to turn sketching into precise vector graphics. CorelDRAW is the go-to software for many printing industries in certain parts of the world.
Compatible format: AI, PSD, PDF, JPG, PNG, SVG, DWG, DXF, EPS, TIFF, and more
Operating system/device: MacOS and Windows
Pricing: CorelDRAW offers a 15-day free trial. You can get its annual subscription for $198 per year or a full license for $669.
3. Pixelied
AppSumo Deal: Pixelied
Create scroll-stopping graphics with a full-featured design suite that’s easy for anyone to use.
$59.00 | $480.00
Many people who use Illustrator rely on tools like Canva when they need to create graphics quickly. And one of the top Canva alternative in the market is Pixelied. While it doesn’t have the same deep vector editing features as Illustrator, the tool boasts an impressive range of assets, vector icons, templates, and ready-made design solutions.
You can upload your vector files from Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to Pixelied to use in your designs.
Operating system/device: Cloud-based web application
Pricing: Pixelied starts free and with Pro plan at $7.95 per month. But for a limited time, you can get Pixelied Pro starting at $59 for life at AppSumo.
4. Sketch
Built for UI design, prototyping, and wireframing, Sketch also gives users powerful vector graphics editing abilities. Users report that it is fairly easy to use and has strong organizational/breadcrumb features. Plus, Sketch has a diverse suite of educational resources.
Compatible format: PNG, JPG, TIFF, WebP, SVG, EPS and PDF. AI and PSD with limited support
Operating system/device: MacOS
Pricing: You can try Sketch for 30 days. After that, it’s $99 one-time payment for individual or $9 per contributor per month (or $99 billed annually) for their team plan.
For a free Sketch alternative for Windows, check out Lunacy from icons8.
5. Figma
As a collaborative wireframing and UI design tool, Figma isn’t a direct Adobe competitor, but its collaborative, web app-based approach might be worth your consideration. Share files with links, instead of exporting each time you need another pair of eyes on your work.
Speaking of collaboration, Figma might be most well-known for offering real-time teamwork-friendly possibilities. This Adobe Illustrator alternative is focused in on design made for the web, so its tools for pure vector graphic creation are more basic. But you’ve still got your pen tool, vector networks, and smart components.
Compatible format:PDF, PNG, JPG, SVG, and more
Operating system/device: MacOS with cloud-based web application (no downloads required)
Pricing: Figma is free for up to 2 editors and 3 projects. Paid plans start at $12 per editor per month, billed annually.
6. Boxy SVG
Using SVG as its native document format, Boxy SVG was made just for scalable vector graphics. This tool is available across operating systems and devices.
Compatible format: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, PDF, AI, and more
Operating system/device: MacOS and Linux, but also comes with a cloud-based web application (no downloads required)
Pricing: Boxy SVG comes with a 15-day free trial. Paid plans start at $9.99 per both web or Mac version. It’s free on Linux.
7. Graphic
Graphic started as a vector drawing iPad app, but it’s since moved to iPhone and Mac OS X as well. This vector software also gives you tools like layers, editable brush strokes, and UI creation elements.
Compatible format: SVG, PDF, and PSD
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Operating system/device: MacOS and iOS (iPad and iPhone)
Pricing: You can get Graphic from Apple App Store at $29.99 for Mac, $8.99 for iPad, and $2.99 for iPhone.
8. Gravit Designer
Gravit Designer is a free vector graphic design app geared toward professional designers. Choose from a wide library of shapes, illustrations, etc., and export infinitely scalable vector graphics. The paid PRO version has even more vector graphic features, including cloud file syncing and offline mode, as well as way more file import/export options.
Compatible format: PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG, EPS, AI, and more
Operating system/device: MacOS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS
Pricing: Gravit Designer offers a free version of its app with limited features. The PRO plan costs $49.99 per year.
9. Inkscape
Free, open-source, and impressive, Inkscape gives you flexible drawing tools, embedded bitmaps, transformations, gradient editor, node editing, boolean operations. Sure, the UI is a bit dated. But with Inkscape, you can design, edit, draw in 2D, easily convert bitmap images into vectors, and create compliant SVG files.
Compatible format: SVG, PNG, OpenDocument Drawing, DXF, sk1, PDF, EPS, and more
Operating system/device: MacOS, Windows, and GNU/Linux
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Pricing: Inkspace is free
10. Vectornator
Starting as an iPad app, Vectornator is a pretty interesting free choice with some more advanced vector editing tools like boolean operations, grouping, pen tool, anchoring, and masking capabilities. Plus, this will be a tool to watch, since real-time collaboration is coming soon.
Compatible format: AI, SVG, and PDF
Operating system/device: MacOS and iOS (iPad and iPhone)
Pricing: Vectornator is free
How to pick the right Adobe Illustrator alternative
Here you go with the best paid and free Illustrator alternative. Picking a new design tool isn’t an easy feat, here are a few tips:
- Understand your needs and workflow before you decide to commit to any paid tools
- Sign up for the free trial to test a software out. You can use this time to find if the tool has a well-established tutorials to guide you through the learning process
- While you’re testing out a new tool, don’t forget to keep browsing to find the best software for yourself
Good luck! We hope you find an Adobe Illustrator alternative that you love — a tool that can scale with you!
If you’re looking for alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, we’ve also got a handy list here, along with our picks for the best graphic design resources and web design software tools.
It’s been more than three decades since Adobe introduced us to Illustrator. All this time, Illustrator has been the go-to software for vector graphics design.
Ask any expert designer and they’ll tell you how they can’t even think of switching software. Illustrator is now part of their workflow and career. Adobe used this loyalty to their advantage, by converting their software licensing to a subscription plan.
You now have to pay a monthly price to keep using the software. For some people, it’ll still be a great deal. But for others, you’ll likely ask yourself if it’s still a good investment. That’s why you’re here, right?
Affinity Designer is everything that you want a graphic design software to be. Needless to say, it’s the best Illustrator alternative available today.
But, is it powerful enough to provide all the tools you need to do your work? Does it have all the essential features of Illustrator? To answer these questions, we compared Affinity Designer against Adobe Illustrator. Let’s find out which software is best.
What is Adobe Illustrator?
Since it’s initial launch in 1987, Adobe Illustrator came a long way to become the industry-leading software for vector graphics. It’s now used for all types of vector design work from logo design to stationery design, poster design, and much more.
Affinity Designer Vs Adobe Illustrator
The latest version of Illustrator CC packs quite a lot of amazing features and tools that make it powerful enough to serve all types of creatives from freelance designers to Hollywood movie poster designers and everyone in between.
What is Affinity Designer?
Affinity Designer, initially released in 2014 exclusively on Mac devices, arrived on the Windows platform in 2016 with a promise of a better alternative to Illustrator. It was quite a bold approach to compete with an industry leader such as Adobe with decades of experience. Somehow, Affinity made it possible.
Affinity Designer offers all the essentials you need for vector graphics design and possibly more. One of the reasons it became so successful is not just because of the affordable price, there are even free Illustrator alternatives out there, but because of the quality of the app.
Affinity Designer Vs Adobe Illustrator
Let’s take a closer look at the tools and features offered by both software.
Ease of Use
If you’ve ever gone to any sort of a design school or even learn graphic design online watching tutorials, you’ll notice that they all use Adobe software to teach you the ways of design. That’s mainly because everyone uses Adobe software. But also because of their ease of use.
Adobe Illustrator, on the other hand, has a very complicating user interface. It’s really difficult to find your way around the software without watching some tutorial videos.
The same goes for Affinity Designer. But, it has a simpler user interface than Illustrator. Probably because it lacks some of the more advanced tools offered in Illustrator, like the mesh tool, blend tool, knife tool, and the large collection of filters and effects. They are slated to be added in future updates. But of course, they are non-essential tools you can certainly learn to live without.
Unique Tools
Adobe had decades of research and development to fine-tune all its software, including Illustrator. It’s now a complete package that offers everything you need for any kind of design work. Especially the CC versions are much more advanced than it used to be.
Clearly you can’t expect that same level of tools and functionality with Affinity Designer, which is fairly new in the market. However, the software has a tool palette with all the necessary tools to make it a vector editor suitable for professionals. In a way, Affinity Designer is at a stage where Illustrator was at when the CS5 was released.
Artboards
Artboards quickly became an essential part of Illustrator. It’s especially a useful feature creative designers used to easily organize their work in one place. Illustrator has a dedicated tool for creating artboards on the fly and customizing them to your preference.
Affinity Designer falls short in this area. You have the option to enable artboards when creating a new document. However, the software doesn’t have a dedicated tool or options for better artboard management.
Drawing Pad (Tablet) Support
While vector editing apps aren’t the best option for drawing and artwork creations, many designers still use drawing tables to craft various graphic designs such as logos, typography, and hand-drawn icons.
If drawing pad support is essential for your work, Illustrator is the best choice. Adobe has made sure it supports all popular drawing tablets.
Drawing tablet support in Affinity Designer is still a work in progress. While it works well with popular tablets, many users have expressed their frustrations of tablet compatibility issues on popular forums such as Reddit.
File Types and Compatability
When it comes to supported file types, Affinity Designer is way ahead of Illustrator. Especially because of the shared file type used by Affinity Photo and Designer software. This allows you to easily edit and customize the same file on both software. In addition to all the other popular file formats, the software also supports Adobe Illustrator AI and Photoshop PSD file formats.
Affinity Designer also has a feature called Personas. Which lets you switch between vector and pixel designs. Like for working on shapes and images at the same time. It’s like having Photoshop and Illustrator in the same place.
Needless to say, Illustrator also supports all popular file types. However, having to keep both Photoshop and Illustrator opened at the same time to work on the same file can be frustrating at times.
Pricing Difference
The pricing difference is the main reason why many users lean towards Affinity Designer. It only costs a one-time price of $49. And you get to use the software for the rest of your life and get all future updates for free.
Adobe Illustrator comes as a part of Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. You have to pay $20,99 every month to use just the Illustrator software. It would cost over $250 to use Illustrator for a full year. If you want access to all Adobe software, you have to subscribe to the $52.99 per month plan.
Templates and Resources
You’ll find resources in abundance for Adobe Illustrator. There are thousands of templates, UI kits, icon packs, vector graphics available in various design marketplaces.
Affinity Designer assets and resources can also be found in abundance. But not as much as Illustrator. Since the community is still growing, we’ll surely see more support for the app. On the plus side, all Illustrator files are compatible with Affinity Designer. So you can still use those Illustrator templates in Affinity Designer as well.
Undo Mistakes
If you tend to make a lot of mistakes or prefer to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong, Affinity Designer will have you fully covered. It lets you undo your changes for up to 8,000 times. And it includes history snapshots as well.
Illustrator has a limited amount of Undo’s allowed by default. You can change this in settings.
Clearly, no one would be crazy enough to spend hours clicking the undo button for 8,000 times. But, it’s nice to know you have the option.
Affinity Illustrator Free
Which Vector Editor is Better?
Affinity Designer
Even though we absolutely love everything about Affinity Designer, we still have to award the crown to Adobe Illustrator as the best software in the vector design industry.
In terms of usability, tools, features, community support, development, and overall functionality, Illustrator is still way ahead of all other vector design apps. For professionals, it’s the best app to use and to build a career around it.
However, you can still use Affinity Designer without all those unique traits of Illustrator. It will take some time to get used to the new environment and shortcuts, but Affinity Designer is a great alternative that’s worth giving a try. Especially if you’re new to graphic design, you should get started with Affinity Designer instead of Illustrator.
A free trial is available with all Affinity software. Give them a try to see if it’s worth the investment. And be sure to read our Affinity Photo vs Photoshop comparison as well.
Affinity Designer Templates
We're covering the basics of Affinity Designer, helpful tutorials, comparisons with other apps, and the best templates and assets to use.