Are you looking for free graphic design software to use for personal or small business? If so, you have come to the right place. The free graphic design software here can be used by both beginners as well as expert designers. These applications are packed with features which includes fonts, color schemes, icons, images, shapes and lots more. They are available online and can be downloaded and installed in no time.
In this article, I will talk about whether free graphic design software is a viable option and, if so, I’ll reveal what some of the best free graphic design software is on the market today.
Krita
- Platform: Windows, Linux, iOS
- Rating: 4.7/5.0 Stars
Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to see affordable art tools for everyone. The Krita project was started by the KDE community in 1998. Krita is still part of the KDE community: all Krita contributors are KDE community members!
An intuitive user interface that stays out of your way. The dockers and panels can be moved and customized for your specific workflow. Once you have your setup, you can save it as your own workspace. You can also create your own shortcuts for commonly used tools.
Over 100 professionally made brushes that come preloaded. These brushes give a good range of effects so you can see the variety of brushes that Krita has to offer.
Use it for: DTG, Cut&Sew, Poster & Canvas printing, Sublimation, UV printing, Photo editing
Krita is the only raster graphic software on the list suited for creating seamless all-over print patterns. It’s great for basic photo editing, It does, however, need some getting used to. Since it’s made with artists in mind, it has a highly customizable Brush tool and can be linked to graphics tablets.
Klex
- Platform: Browser, Windows, macOS, Linux
- Rating: 4.8/5.0 Stars
With it’s powerful tools and brilliant effects, Klex makes it easy to create stunning and memorable designs for your business, family and friends.
Klex runs with the same powerful engine that runs Gravit Designer. This means you have the same impressive technology from a professional tool, but simplified to be accessible to literally anyone who wants to produce amazing graphics.
Professional design within your reach with just some clicks. Guaranteed headache-free, with all the freedom you need to make your perfect design. Create anything from social media posts, business cards, invitations, presentations, book covers and much more with our stunning preset layouts, or personalize them and have your professional looking design ready in just a few minutes!
Infogram
- Platform: Browser
- Rating: 4.8/5.0 Stars
Create engaging infographics and reports in minutes. More than 35 interactive charts and over 550 maps to help you visualize data, including pie charts, bar graphs, column tables, and word clouds.
Infogram is an intuitive visualization tool that empowers people and teams to create beautiful content. Take your stories to the next level with object animations. Set objects to zoom, bounce, flip, fade, and slide effortlessly into your work. Powerful analytics gives you detailed viewer demographics, average on-screen rate, and how many people shared your content.
Pixlr
- Platform: Browser, iOS, Android
- Rating: 4.7/5.0 Stars
Pixlr the Online Photo Editor that lets you edit photos and create great designs right in your browser for Free. Experience next level, intuitive photo editing and graphical design with AI-powered tools for quick yet professional edits. Our editor opens almost any image format such as PSD (Photoshop), PXD, JPEG, PNG (transparent), WebP, SVG and more. Start from an empty canvas or select one of our professionally crafted templates.
Say goodbye to boring and repetitive editing tasks with AI design tools. One click is all it takes to remove backgrounds perfectly from your photos, cut out every strand of hair and more! Let AI and Machine Learning take your photo editing and background removal to a new level!
Photopea
- Platform: Browser
- Rating: 4.6/5.0 Stars
Photopea is a web-based raster graphics editor used for image editing, making illustrations, web design or converting between different image formats. Photopea is advertising-supported software. It is compatible with multiple web browsers, including Opera, Edge, Chrome, and Firefox.
Use it for: DTG, Cut&Sew, Poster & Canvas printing, Sublimation, UV printing, Photo editing, Social media graphics
This might be the Swiss army knife of free alternatives to Photoshop . Not only does it look like Photoshop, it also has many of its features. Photopea offers pre-made sizes and templates for posters and social media graphics. All in all, it’s the perfect software for both Photoshop users and total graphic design newcomers.
Adobe InDesign
Another Adobe software, InDesign is best suited if you are in the publishing industry. Adobe InDesign is your go-to software if you want to design magazines, books, posters, brochures, etc.
As this software is not as complex to learn as Photoshop or Illustrator, it is a great graphic design software for beginners.
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Key features:
- Adjust Layout: If a designer changes the template’s text, then the graphics will adjust accordingly.
- Adobe InCopy: This feature allows you to work with your team members on the same project by sharing colors, graphics, and text.
- Sensei Technology: AI-powered Sensei technology helps with the automatic arrangement and resizing of objects.
Pricing:
- Annual plan, prepaid – US $239.88/yr ($19.99/mo)
- Annual plan, paid monthly – US $251.88/yr ($20.99/mo)
- Monthly plan – US $31.49/mon
| Pros | Cons |
| ➕ Easy to combine graphics and text | ➖ Less intuitive user interface |
| ➕ Supports HTML exporting for websites | ➖ Best suited for professional industry use only |
| ➕ Capable of resizing multiple objects at the same time | ➖ Comparatively expensive to similar software |
CorelDRAW
Not just in this list of graphic design software to break up appearances of Adobe’s name, CorelDRAW is a design industry classic – and one which continues to be an influential and in-demand option today. See here for the latest CorelDRAW discounts.
Covering both bitmap and vector design, CorelDRAW does what Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator do so well separately in one combined package.
Key features:
Content Exchange: It is an online digital library with thousands of high-resolution pictures and digital images. It also includes templates, fonts, professionally created templates, interactive frames, gradients, vector, and bitmap fills.
Customizable UI: You get a configurable UI environment for the desktop, including icon resizing, options for how your documents open, and the color scheme for the window border.
Pricing:
- Annual Subscription – US $249
- One-Time Purchase – US $599
| Pros | Cons |
| ➕ Supports 48 different file types (HTML, TIFF, AutoCAD, JPG, PNG, etc.) | ➖ Complex, not a beginner-friendly software |
| ➕ Surface Pen works flawlessly with no lag | ➖ No complimentary mobile applications |
| ➕ You can take advantage of touch functionality, with smooth transition from desktop to tablet mode |
Sketch
The sketch is a vector-based graphic design software only for Mac users. It is basically used for app, web, and interface design. Unlike Photoshop and other image editing tools, it isn’t built for photo editing purposes.
Key features:
- Low cost: It provides significantly lower prices than other software.
- Smart Layout: This feature allows objects to resize according to the content automatically.
- Screen Templates: Sketch offers an artboard library for iOS devices as well as responsive web design layouts. Designers need only choose an artboard and a device.
- Custom Plugins: It offers hundreds of custom plugins that designers can use for a specific project.
Pricing:
- Standard – US $9 per editor, monthly
| Pros | Cons |
| ➕ Easy collaboration with teammates | ➖ Only available for Mac users |
| ➕ Save changes automatically | ➖ While accessing the cloud screen doesn’t render in high resolution |
| ➕ Requires a low learning curve and is easy to use | |
| ➕ Optimized for screen designs |
Gimp
Use it for: DTG, Cut&Sew, Poster & Canvas printing, Sublimation, UV printing, Photo editing
No list of free Photoshop alternatives would be complete without Gimp. This software has established a strong presence in the graphics editing world and has built a strong community. It’s the perfect software for editing small files and creating simple designs.
InkScape
Use it for: DTG, Cut&Sew, Embroidery, Poster & Canvas printing, Sublimation, UV printing
If you want to take things to the next level, I suggest checking out vector editing software. As such, InkScape is a handy program for creating print files of any size. That’s because vectors are made of objects such as lines, curves, and polygons and designs created on vector editors can be resized without damaging their quality. This means that each design made on InkScape can serve both for small prints — a personal brand image on an inside label — as well as bigger ones — or . IncScapes Measure tools also make it a handy program for creating embroidery designs. InkScape has no size limit and even offers options on tweaking your document file. But, similar to programs like Photoshop , it has a learning curve.
Canva
Use it for: Social media graphics, Poster & Canvas printing
might not be the most obvious choice of Photoshop alternatives , yet it’s a useful platform for any designer. Their free toolkit is quite extensive and their offer even more editing possibilities. It’s great for designing posters. It also lets you post your creations straight to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, and others. Canva for Work also offers a feature named Brand kit, which makes branding each graphic exceptionally easy.
Desygner
Use it for: Social media graphics , Poster & Canvas printing
Desygner is an online platform, which is great for creating poster designs and social media graphics — you can post designs straight to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. It has a desktop app as well as separate mobile apps (iOS and Android) for more specific design needs. Desygner Premium offers the Brand kit feature which is a great tool for establishing a uniform style for each created graphic.
Conclusion
Graphic design has become a more creative, student-friendly field over the years thanks to the development of new software and advancements in existing tools. Whether you choose to use these tools as they were intended or stretch their limits, an abundance of graphic design software is now available to help you create projects and express your individual brand without breaking the bank.