Whether you’re starting a blog or finally getting started on that new logo design project, design software can mean the difference between a planned success and a frustrating failure. Open up your options with free graphic design software from our partners.
Free Graphic design tools, today’s computer-generation is designed with graphics at their heart. Graphics can also help your website rank higher in search engines, making it more visible to prospective clients.
Setka Editor
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Setka bills itself as “everything you need to create content that converts.” This graphic design software is primarily focused on delivering enhanced content branding across your website, ad campaigns, and social media posts — and works from within your current CMS or in the cloud.
The caveat? Although the Setka Editor is free to try for two weeks, companies will need to select a plan — Starter, Pro, or Enterprise — to unlock the full feature set and keep using Setka.
Adobe Spark
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Adobe Spark is a free alternative to the company’s popular, for-pay Adobe Illustrator. While it’s not nearly as full-featured, it does support integration with other Adobe products. It’s easy to use and it comes with a host of free templates. If you’re looking to quickly create posters or videos for ad campaigns, Spark is a great choice.
The potential drawback? A limited feature set makes this a great starting point for beginners but less useful for more in-depth projects or experienced designers. The good news is that Spark is available for both web and mobile, meaning you can design anywhere, anytime.
Gravit
Platforms: PC, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux
Gravit is a vector design application created by the makers of Corel Draw. With a host of tools for creating vector art and a self-adjusting interface, Gravit earns its place among the best free graphic design software for Mac and Windows — the tool is also available for ChromeOS and Linux.
Worth noting? When you sign up for a free trial of Gravit you automatically get access to “Pro” features, including the ability to work offline and see version history. However, you lose these features when your trial is up unless you’re willing to pay for a subscription.
Gimp
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
One of the most popular open-source design tools, Gimp is often compared to its closest for-pay competitor, Photoshop, with users on both sides making passionate arguments for one platform over the other.
Gimp gets high praise as a free design tool for its support of all file formats, ease of digital retouching, and ability to quickly create new designs from scratch. In addition, Gimp features a customizable interface that allows more experienced designers to make use of the tool’s capabilities. Worth noting? Gimp does not support any Photoshop plugins.
Paint 3D
Platform: Windows
The classic Microsoft design tool is back, free, and updated to deliver more functionality. While it can’t compete with some of the more robust design tools on our list, Paint 3D comes with realistic textures, 2D cutout creation, and a host of 3D tools and effects.
If you’re a beginner looking for an easy bar to entry for straightforward graphic design, Paint 3D is a great place to start. There’s virtually no learning curve and since it’s made by Microsoft, the tool naturally works well on all Windows 10 devices.
Adobe Ilustrator
The best graphic design software for vector editing
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, macOSTODAY’S BEST DEALSAdobe IllustratorUS$20.99/mthVISIT SITEat Adobe
REASONS TO BUY
+Industry-standard toolset+Time-saving AI features+Top vector and type tools
REASONS TO AVOID
-Requires subscription
If you’re working with vectors, Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard. First released in 1987, it allows you to create everything from simple logos and icons to detailed, multi-layered artwork.
Since October 2020, there’s been an accompanying iPad app. That means that you can also start work on a project on your iPad to get all the basics in place, then transfer your work to the desktop for fine-tuning.
Illustrator requires a Creative Cloud subscription, which may put some people off. But as a business expense, it’s a fair amount to pay. Plus, because it’s subscription-based software, you’ll get all the latest updates for free. Since July, for instance, Illustrator now allows you to rotate your view of the canvas.
Sketch
The best vector editing software for Mac
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: macOSTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Good for UI and icons+Easy to learn
REASONS TO AVOID
-Mac-only-Lacks Illustrator’s depth
Finding the best graphic design software is about finding the right tool for your needs. Illustrator and Affinity Designer might be overkill if you’re just interested in UI design, prototyping or making icons. In which case Sketch may suit you much better (as long as you use a Mac, as it’s not available for Windows). Advertisement
Sketch features a streamlined set of tools that are easy to get to grips with than more full-featured design apps. And if you need to design a website rather than create detailed vector illustrations, it’s a great fit.
Vecteezy
The best free vector editor for beginners
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: BrowserTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Easy to use+Good vector tools+Many elements to work with
REASONS TO AVOID
-Account required to save workAdvertisement
Need a painless way to get started with vectors? Vecteezy is a free, in-browser vector editor. Work with ready-made vectors that you can customise to suit your needs, or build your own designs from the ground up. Either way, this tool is easy to use and has some nice features such as advanced transformations and keyboard shortcuts. Signing up for the Pro version, meanwhile, gets you a bunch more tools and resources.
SVG-Edit
The best free vector editor for quick SVG jobs
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: BrowserTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Good vector capabilities+Intuitive interface
REASONS TO AVOID
-Short on advanced tools-Needs some code knowledge
Based in the browser, SVG-Edit lets you edit and create SVG files using a standard vector toolset. It’s not the most sophisticated of vector apps, but it doesn’t really need to be. For simple vectors, or even slightly more detailed ones, it’ll do the job just fine.
Canva
Best for: Social media graphics
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS
Canva launched in 2013 and has since become a very popular online design and publishing tool. In fact, this is the software that Team Clark uses to create a lot of the graphics we post on social media!
Canva offers a free version that includes everything you’ll need to start designing. With it, you’ll get access to more than 250,000 free templates and more than 100 design types including social media posts, presentations, letters and more. You’ll also be able to use hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics, collaborate on projects with members of your team and save your work with 5GB of free Cloud storage.
You can create a free account to begin using Canva online directly in your web browser. You can also download the desktop app for your Mac or Windows device. Canva also offers highly-rated apps on The App Store and Google Play for your iOS or Android device.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| Apps are available for iOS and Android devices which means you’ll get a better mobile experience. | Not all features are available for free. |
| There are 250,000+ templates available for free, and you can search for them by social media platform. | The Pro version of the software costs $119.99/year. |
Inkscape
Best for: Professional quality vector graphics
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
According to Inkscape’s website, the software was created for designers of all kinds including those in marketing and branding, engineering/CAD, web graphics, cartooning and for individual uses. You can get started by downloading the software to your Linux, Windows or macOS device.
When I first downloaded Inkscape, the interface reminded me of Microsoft Paint. This made it really intuitive to use, and all of the features are available for free. According to the website, those features include object creation, object manipulation, fill and stroke features, operations on paths, text support, rendering and a variety of file formats.
There are tons of resources available on Inkscape’s website under the “Learn” tab including an FAQ section, tutorials, books/manuals and a guide to how to use Inkscape for animation. Users also have access to Inkscape’s community which includes user support and discussions in the form of chat, forums and more.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| The interface is really simple to use. | There is no web browser version of the software, which means you’ll have to download Inkscape to your device. |
| There’s an active community on Inkscape’s website for support as well as resources including tutorials and manuals online. | There are no apps, which limits the mobile experience. |
Conclusion
Graphics are frequently used to attract people’s attention to certain information in an advertisement. Sometimes this is accomplished by several artists, each working on specific areas like color design, graphics manipulation or simple illustration. Graphic design is very versatile and can be used in almost any type of advertisement, from magazine ads to television commercials.