Designers used to be limited to only a few choices for professional graphic design tools.
Now the field is open, and designers can choose from a wide range of design tool options, including open-source platforms.
The dizzying array of editing tools can make it difficult to pick the best graphic design software. Our roundup focuses on some oldies but goodies, such as Adobe Photoshop, as well as some new kids on the block, like Affinity Photo.
1. Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator wrote the book on vector graphics software. It sets the standard for professionally designed logos, artwork, infographics, icons, and much more. You can work from a freehand sketch to a vector image that is scalable to any size. Adobe Illustrator works with graphics differently, using mathematical formulas instead of pixels for seamless resizing.
Adobe Illustrator offers a seven day free trial, but you have to provide a credit card to start. If you select the annual plan, paid monthly — it’s $20.99 per month. Otherwise, you’ll pay $31.49 per month for the monthly plan. Either way, it’s expensive. However, Adobe Illustrator is one of those products that will have you learning something new all the time, even if it’s not the most user-friendly software available.
Key Features:
- Adobe Sensei AI: Match the colors from a photograph with auto-extracting
- Extensive library: Adobe Stock templates, including 90 million images and icons and thousands of fonts
- Creative Cloud: Manage your projects anywhere
- Data merge: Infographic data stays current with the stats
- Social media: Tutorials to get the most out of your marketing
2. Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is an excellent choice for personal projects or novice graphic designers with its intuitive user interface. It’s a worthy competitor to Adobe Illustrator, with a similar suite of design tools and added user-friendly features. It’s a good fit for individuals who want a budget-friendly alternative without sacrificing functionality.
Affinity Designer boasts a 1,000,000% zoom, which puts it squarely in the CAD realm. If that’s too fine a resolution, you can set the levels you prefer. The other noteworthy feature is its version history. You can go back up to 8,000 steps, making it an excellent choice when working with clients. That and the zoom put you in charge of revisions.
Key features:
- Color management: Supports a variety of formats, including ICC, CMYK, and RGB
- Timesaving tools: Consistent branding in your workspace
- Real-time changes: Preview edits and blends on the fly
- One-time purchase: No subscription fees
3. Procreate
Procreate bills itself as a complete art studio, made exclusively for iPad and Apple Pencil support. It is a one-time purchase with no free trial or version available. You dive right into its vast array of templates, fonts, and customizable brushes. You can also bring your favorite Photoshop ones into the app, which will perform better with the Valkyrie engine. The developers went the extra mile to make it user-friendly.
One of its standout features is its ability to work in 3D and preview it in real time in AR. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at animation, Procreate provides an excellent starting point. However, the app has so many tools and functions that it may seem overwhelming to beginners. If you select one type of brush, you’ll find several from which to choose. You’ll learn something every time you use it.
Key features:
- Editing tools: 200 customizable brushes
- Color management: Intuitive selection of complementary colors and ColorDrop tool for fill
- Finishing filters: Unifying image management for creating the perfect look
- One-time purchase: No in-app purchases
4. Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop has long remained the industry standard for desktop publishing. It is a popular favorite with graphic designers for a reason. Its array of image editing tools supports the beginner to the pro with a user-friendly interface and a plethora of well-written tutorials. The graphic design software puts you in control, from the canvas size to the artistic filter.
Like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop offers a seven-day free trial. Interestingly, you can get Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom at a cheaper cost. The trial for Photoshop includes 100 GB of cloud storage, and Lightroom includes 1 TB. It also has some extra functionality with its paint application, Adobe Fresco, and its storytelling program, Adobe Spark. The collaboration between the programs is outstanding.
Key features:
- Suite of design tools: Includes several eye-catching effects, such as 3D and Keith Haring brushes
- Content-aware fill: Focus on your message without the distractions
- Timesaving features: Streamlines the workflow with batch operations and automation scripts
5. Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is a value-priced alternative to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator for touch-up jobs on existing images. It works with layers and filters to create stunning effects, with both vector and raster images. The software also supports the SVG file format like CorelDRAW. While you can create templates, none are included with the program. However, it is lightweight with a generous 90-day free trial.
Affinity Photo has garnered many accolades in recent years because of its versatility and functionality. It packs a lot of features for the price. You can do sophisticated editing with its 360-degree image editing, panoramic stitching, and HDR merge. It provides real-time editing without the bloat. You can work with PSD files, too. It also supports non-destructive live filter layers for the ultimate in creativity.
Key features:
- Powerful digital editing tools: Includes HDR merge, raw editing, and layer editing
- One-time purchase: No subscription plans or in-app purchases
- Optional overlay packs: Offers additional editing tools free with registration
6. Canva
Canva is an all-around solution for creating a variety of projects, such as infographics, web design, or T-shirts. It uses an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that is easy to use for individuals with no previous experience in graphic design. The program has a huge selection of images, templates, backgrounds, and fonts to get the ball rolling. While Canva offers a number of these items for free, many of the images and graphics require in-app purchases.
Canva shines in that it can work with a broad range of industries, thanks to its huge template gallery. The sampling we viewed was professional-looking and offered excellent starting points for brainstorming. There are three pricing plans, including a free one for individuals and small teams. The paid plans offer the full suite of goodies, albeit only 100 GB of cloud storage.
Key features:
- Drag-and-drop design: User-friendly interface to start creating right away
- Collaboration tools: Makes it easy to share projects with team folders and real-time collaboration
- Social media integration: Can create posts that go straight to popular platforms
7. Gravit Designer
Gravit Designer is more than just an image editing software — it’s also a GNU image manipulation program and vector illustration software. The best part of Gravit Designer is how customizable and user-friendly it is, as its HTML-based program is compatible with most platforms. Gravit Designer includes 500 MB of cloud storage with the free plan and unlimited storage with the pro version.
Gravit Designer supports RGB color space, adding HSB and CMYK at the pro level. With the pro version, you can work with touch-enabled devices and work offline. The pro plan includes options to export up to 300 dpi, making it more useful if you do print work. Gravit Designers also boasts the ability to assign reviewer and approval roles in the pro version.
Key features:
- Outstanding compatibility: Works on all platforms, supporting many devices, such as Apple Pencil and touch-enabled devices
- Customizable features: Includes dark theme and support for 14 languages
- Excellent user support: Includes comprehensive documentation and helpful tool tips
- Extensive free-use options: Comes with premade design assets, fonts, and POD templates
8. Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is the company’s answer to a standalone desktop publishing program. While you can use it with other Adobe programs, it speaks a different language that some may find hard to use. It’s best suited for image-heavy posters, presentations, and documents. You can create a house style on the fly, making it an excellent timesaver.
The support documentation is helpful. However, it is a resource hog, like most Adobe programs. InDesign offers a full line of tools, from resizing to subject-aware text wrapping to color location. The software certainly packs the usefulness, but it sometimes seems hard to find the right setting. Users may find that they won’t tap into all of the available functions, which is a shame, given its cost.
Key features:
- Paragraph style setup: Allows users to create a house style to ensure consistent branding
- Adobe Creative Cloud integration: Taps into the rich resource library of images, templates, fonts, and more
- Ebook creation: Offers a user-friendly setup guide and templates for creating professional-looking ebooks
9. PhotoScape
PhotoScape is a free image editing software that covers the bases with a basic toolbox of drawing tools. It’s easy to use with its drag-and-drop interface. If you just need simple tasks done, like resizing or cropping, it’ll get the job done quickly and painlessly. It also includes several batch functions to streamline your work, including minor editing and renaming files.
The developers also offer an upgraded version of the program, PhotoScape X, and a paid PhotoScape Pro X, which expands its compatibility with Mac. PhotoScape brings animation effects, more filters, macros, added frames, and a merge to HDR function to the table. It is a one-time purchase through the Microsoft Store or Apple Store.
Key features:
- Multiple language support: Available in 30 languages
- Paper print functionality: Print graph paper, lined paper, or even sheet music
- Advanced features: Includes animated GIFs, internet face search, and batch rename
10. GIMP
GIMP has come a long way as one of the first open-source graphic design software programs. Its strength is in photo editing, whether it’s a quick fix or a redesign. It’s a lightweight alternative to heavy hitters, such as Adobe Photoshop. GIMP provides much of the same functionality for free and has a customizable workspace with user-friendly navigation.
GIMP usually plays nice with Photoshop files. However, Photoshop updates its platform more frequently, causing compatibility issues. The support with GIMP is outstanding. The documentation, knowledge base, and community are very helpful. That’s a good thing, too. While it’s robust, GIMP has a steep learning curve, which is often the case in open-source software.
Key features:
- Powerful suite of tools: Offers several useful tools for photo editing, such as a channel mixer and its perspective clone tool
- Multiple drawing options: Works with 2D from scratch or templates