Are you looking for the best graphic design software free download? Well, you are out of luck because there isn’t any free design software. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t get some of the best graphic programs for free or at a discount. You can find some great deals on graphics applications if you know where to look. From discounted prices to full versions, there are some great deals online.
In this post, I will present you the easiest graphic design tools that you can use.
Gimp
- Platform: Windows, Linux, macOS
- Rating: 4.6/5.0 Stars
GIMP—short for GNU Image Manipulation Program—is one of the most popular free (and open source) alternatives to Photoshop. Compatible with Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems, GIMP includes a comprehensive set of tools for everything from image editing and retouching to full blown creation of artwork, icons, and other graphic design elements using layers, masks, and more. GIMP supports all popular file formats (and a few rare ones too) and is easy to use, even if it’s your first graphic design software.
GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes.
Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.
GIMP provides the tools needed for high quality image manipulation. From retouching to restoring to creative composites, the only limit is your imagination. The file format support ranges from the common likes of JPEG (JFIF), GIF, PNG, TIFF to special use formats such as the multi-resolution and multi-color-depth Windows icon files. The architecture allows to extend GIMP’s format capabilities with a plug-in.
Canva
- Platform: Browser, iOS
- Rating: 4.9/5.0 Stars
Launched in 2013, Canva is an online design and publishing tool with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere. Canva is the best free fully editing photo retouching software for the creative community, with photo manipulation, to color picker, you can design and create the most beautiful brochures, business cards, flyers or anything you can imagine. Canva is also great for creating online images for banners, ads, Facebook banner ads with just few clicks any beginner can create most beautiful graphic designs for free.
Vectr
- Platform: Browser, Windows, Linux, iOS
- Rating: 4.8/5.0 Stars
Vectr is a free graphics software used to create vector graphics easily and intuitively. It’s a simple yet powerful web and desktop cross-platform tool to bring your designs into reality. Get started immediately without the massive learning curve. Vectr’s intuitive tools let you focus on what truly matters – creating beautiful graphic designs.
Send anyone a Vectr document for real-time collaboration without the wait. Others can watch you create and edit designs live, whether you’re in the web app or desktop version. Unlike raster graphics, vector graphics are always crisp and clean. Create blur-free logos, presentations, cards, brochures, website mockups, or any 2D graphic with Vectr.
Vecteezy
- Platform: Browser
- Rating: 4.9/5.0 Stars
FREE SVG editor! Designed to allow anyone to customize Vecteezy content before they download it, or create beautiful vector designs from scratch directly in your browser. Easy for beginners. Powerful for Professionals. Built with everyone in mind for the modern web. Built directly into our website for a streamlined workflow. No need to download an app or install anything.
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.
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.
Inkscape
A strong alternative to Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape is another free and open source graphic design software program. It’s a vector graphic editor that works for Windows, Mac, and Linux with a relatively simple interface and flexible tools for print, logo, and web design. These tools allow object creation, object manipulation, fill and stroke, text formatting, and operations on paths. (Many designers find cloned objects particularly useful.) Inkscape is primarily for working with SVG, but allows for export to PNG, PDF, EPS, PostScript, and more.
- Platform: Windows, Mac OS, Linux
- Rating: 4.5/5.0 Stars
Adobe Creative Suite
If you’re serious about pursuing graphic design professionally, Adobe Creative Suite contains much of the standard software you’ll use as a graphic designer—including Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Sure, these applications might take a little extra time to learn, but if they help you land a job, it’ll be worth your investment. You can start with a 30-day free trial and then pay on a monthly basis after your trial ends. Plus if you decide to go all in and study graphic design, Adobe offers all students a 60% discount on their Creative Suite software.
Affinity
Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer are relatively new competitors in the world of graphic design software. As you might expect, Affinity Photo is focused on photo editing, while Affinity Designer is vector graphic design software great for branding work, concept art, print projects, icons, and web mockups. Affinity software is designed to be fast regardless of the size or complexity of your work. It’s also highly customizable, with an intuitive, modern interface, advanced layer controls, the ability to undo up to 8,000 steps, and standard file format compatibility. This software is available on Windows or Mac at the reasonable price of $50 each.
Sketch
While it’s only available for Mac users, the vector editor software Sketch is quickly becoming a favorite for many in the design industry, especially those focused on web, app, user experience, or interface design. Priced at $100, this graphic design software is comparable in many ways to Illustrator and, in some aspects, Photoshop as well. Features include support for multiple pages and artboards, symbols and styles that can be easily repeated and updated across a design, and the ability to edit and merge vectors without destroying their original shapes. Sketch however is not a photo editing tool or ideal for print work, so you’ll have to rely on something else for that.
Conclusion
It’s no secret (no pun intended) that designing with a free graphic design software is a tempting offer. But there are still several great alternatives available, even if you aren’t willing to pay for them. Many of these programs also have free versions so you can try them out before shelling out any money. And remember, trying and buying are two different things–you might find the perfect graphic design software in the end without spending a single penny!