You’re looking for a free illustration software, aren’t you? Is it for personal or commercial use? Maybe you need a vector graphics editor that provides powerful tools for creating illustrations, icons, or banners. If you’ve been eager to learn about free illustrator free but don’t know where or how to get them, then this article is for you. I’ll show you the best places to get free software like adobe illustrator.
Adobe are great – no doubt about that. But there are lots of alternatives to Adobe Illustrator if you’re looking for an alternative software solution or cheap Illustrator alternative. In fact, these days, there are a range of fully functional illustration software available for free download online. Here’s some of them including software like Adobe Illustrator and Best Free Illustrator Alternative.
Gravit
You’ll find plenty of your basic vector-editing tools in Gravit, including pen, line, knife, slice, bezigon, gradient editor. It also has more advanced features, such as boolean operations, symbols, international text support, and more.
Plus, it’s designed in a user-friendly interface and offers video tutorials. Gravit works from right within any browser, which means you can edit and export your files anywhere with wifi. It also supports cmyk rendering, so you can print quality images without downloading anything.
You can also import and export files in a variety of formats including pdf, png, jpg, svg, and sketch — which makes this option more flexible than Illustrator.
Best used for:
Freelance illustrators and designers who need a robust design tool
Platform:
Mac, Linux, Windows, Chrome, Any Browser
Vectr
The purpose of Vectr is to create an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It is available free of charge as a downloadable desktop app and in-browser, making it the ideal tool for beginners or those who only need to create basic designs for logos and illustrations. It has basic vector editing features, like shape creation, multiple design layers and text, among others. The resulting designs can either be saved online or exported locally.
Details:
• Price: Free
• Operating systems: web browser, Windows, Linux, Chromebook
• Project goals: Create any 2D graphic for logos, icons, illustrations, websites, resumes, business cards, greeting cards, brochures, presentations and more.
• Compatible formats: SVG, PNG, JPG
• Convert bitmap: Yes
• Core features: Super-simple vector editing. Perfect for beginners. Intuitive interface. Collaborate with multiple people by sharing a bespoke URL for each image.
Pixelied
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.
Boxy SVG
Boxy SVG is available free of charge as a desktop app for Linux, but a paid subscription gives access to a Google Chrome extension making the web app compatible on any device and operating system.
It is a very suitable tool for beginners because of the simplicity of its UI, narrowing down the list of options to only include the fundamental features. Overall, it is easier to work with than Adobe Illustrator, and its uncomplicated interface means it’s also simple to master.
Details:
• Price: 15-day free trial. Linux desktop app: Free / macOS desktop app: $9.99 / Cloud-based web app: $9.99 per year for a standard subscription or $9.99 per month for a premium subscription
• Operating systems: Linux, macOS, Windows, web browser
• Project goals: Create and stylize icons, charts, illustrations with an SVG editor.
• Compatible formats: SVG, SVGZ, PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, PDF and HTML
• Convert bitmap: Yes
• Core features: Integration with Open Clip Art Library, Pixabay stock photos and Google Fonts. 100+ keyboard commands. “Vectorize,” “pixelate,” “triangulate” and “primitivize” generators for converting bitmap images to vector artwork using various effects. Tools for web developers.
Inkscape
Inkscape is an open-source vector editor and it is available for free. It operates on Windows, macOS and Linux and supports a wide range of design formats, including Adobe Illustrator’s AI format, Boxy SVG format and CorelDRAW’s CDR format, among others. Its core format allows it to run well even on low-end computers.
Its variety of features makes it a useful tool for both artistic and technical illustrations for designers of all kinds. Also, being open-source means that technically skilled users can customize some features and incorporate the app into other software.
Details:
• Price: Free
• Operating systems: macOS, Windows, Linux
• Project goals: Object creation and manipulation. Export PDFs with clickable links and metadata. Use across a variety of industries including marketing/branding, engineering/CAD, web graphics and cartooning.
• Compatible formats: SVG, PNG, JPG, PDF, PSD, EPS, TIFF, AI and EXR
• Convert bitmap: Yes
• Core features: Open-source. Vectorize line drawings in “Trace Bitmap” dialog. Live Path Effects (LPEs) including “Offset,” “PowerClip” and “PowerMask. Node editing. Duplicate guides, corners and hairlines for technical drawings. Flexible canvas with “X-ray” and “Split-view” modes for more freestyle drawing.
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.
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.
Sketch
If need a vector drawing program primarily for digital design, then Sketch is probably the best of Illustrator alternatives, as long as you’re using a Mac. First launched in 2010, Sketch’s strong focus on UI and icon design quickly led it to become the industry’s go-to software for app and website prototyping.
It’s not a fully comprehensive drawing programme, so it doesn’t have all the features offered by Illustrator. You wouldn’t use it to create complex illustrations or art. But by the same token, it has a simpler and more user-friendly interface that makes icon and UI design quick and easy.
A Sketch licence costs $99 and will give you one year of free updates. Once your licence has expired you can still use the app for as long as you want, but you will need to renew if you want the latest updates.
Conclusion:
Adobe Illustrator is a vector based graphics creation software which has been around for a long time. It is used by individual illustrators across the globe who want to create high-quality vector art which can be used in illustrations, print media and many more. It also allows teamwork among illustrators. You can create free hand drawing in Illustrator and fill it up with colors or textures.