Affordable Graphic Design Software: Your Guide to Budget-Friendly Tools
The whole digital world runs on graphic design. Fortunately, anyone interested in designing their work is in luck. It’s never been easier to get started, largely thanks to:
- The affordability of many graphic design tools
- The features for beginners that tools have
- AI prompts to speed up the design process
Most professional graphic design tools come at a cost. In some cases, they cost teams hundreds of dollars per user. However, there are also free options and extremely affordable options. In this article, we are looking at the $25 or less per month range.
Top Graphic Design Tools
Canva: 1000+ professional templates
Fiverr: Wide range of design services
Vecteezy: Web-based SVG editing software
Pixlr: Free or low-cost graphic design tool
What are the Top Affordable Graphic Design Tools?
Just because certain tools don’t have a high price tag, it doesn’t mean they don’t offer a professional result. A great graphic design tool can be cheap without sacrificing important features. Normally, the most expensive graphic design tools are the most versatile. They offer tons of features and consistently high quality for professional use. This can make them difficult for beginners.
Good, affordable graphic design tools still offer:
- Ease of use
- A well-rounded set of features
- Templates and other resources
- Customization
- Standard compatibility options (JPG, PNG, SVG, PDF)
- Collaboration on the cloud
- Stable performance
Apart from this, affordable graphic design tools are either just offered at a good price, or come with a fair, sliding pricing structure.
1. Canva
Canva is an extremely easy-to-use and multi-purpose graphic design platform. Based on simple drag-and-drop functionality, it offers an extensive list of features free of charge. It’s scalable, making it easy to upgrade your subscription if your graphic design needs to grow. More importantly, it comes with intuitive features for scheduling and publishing.
Key Features
- Over 400,000 free templates
- Easy on-the-go collaboration
- Mobile optimized
- 75 million accessible files
- Powerful AI image generator
Who is it Best For?
Canva is best for amateur graphic designers. It’s also a great tool for anyone without graphic design skills who needs to make professional:
- Presentations
- Images
- Ads
- Documents
- Invitations
- Resumes
- Posters
- Other
Pricing & Trial Options
- Free: Includes all design features with limitations on use. Adequate for individuals and recreational use.
- Pro ($119.99/year): Unlocks premium content. You get more powerful design tools and AI features. Meant for professionals.
- Teams ($149.99/year): Comes with advanced features with a focus on collaboration. Meant for professional teams.
- Enterprise (Call for quote): A customizable plan for large organizations with at least 100 users.
2. Vecteezy
Vecteezy is a vector editing software. Its standout feature is the collection of high-quality vector graphics. It’s also an online marketplace where designers sell their art with licensing agreements.
Key Features
- Customize existing vector designs
- Many image category choices
- Unlimited instant downloads
- Versatile SVG customization
Who is it Best For?
Vecteezy is good for informal designs. It is not a very advanced tool and is thus not great for professional users. But it’s particularly easy to use and create original designs with.
Pricing & Trial Options
- Free: Includes thousands of free resources to get started with.
- Pro ($14 per/month): Includes millions more resources, unlimited downloads, full access, and full commercial rights.
3. Lucidpress
Lucidpress is a brand design management software. It offers a versatile range of design features. But it stands out for its web-to-print designs and features. With its focus on business branding design, Lucidpress is collaborative, easy to use, and business-centric. Despite that, it remains one of the least expensive options for this purpose.
Key Features
- Easy to access cloud storage
- Online (cloud) project management features
- Built-in social sharing features
- Print & ship options
- Extensive design library (paid versions)
Who is it Best For?
Lucidpress was designed specifically for in-house teams. It can be used by any small business or even by freelancers. However, its focus on collaboration and distribution makes it more useful in a team setting.
Pricing & Trial Options
- Free: Includes all design features but only the basic template library. Restrictions on active projects.
- Pro ($15/month): Free design imports, smart fields, email, and web publishing.
- Team ($15/month): Admin and user roles, advanced features, automation.
- Enterprise (get a quote): An advanced and fully customizable plan for large organizations.
4. Pixlr
Pixlr is a free or low-cost graphic design tool that is generally easy to use and reliable. Over time, customers report big changes in the value proposition that the tool offers. It used to be free to export unlimited files, among other features. Now, Pixlr offers up-to-date features including a generative AI assistant.
Key Features
- Automatic grid creator
- AI generation and editing
- Simple sliding scale editing interfaces
- Supports layering
Who is it Best For?
Pixlr is best for marketing creative design managers and professionals. They can benefit best from Pixlr’s artificial intelligence and collaborative features.
Beyond them, Pixlr can be useful to graphic designers of widely varying skill levels. It offers a moderate range of features. The features are easy to navigate through and become more proficient with.
Pricing & Trial Options
- Plus ($1.99/month): All the basics without ads, but with limited monthly usage credits.
- Premium ($7.99/month): A much higher monthly credit limit, AI tools, and their library of fonts, animations, and templates.
- Team ($12.99/month): 5 seats, unlimited saves, and many more credits.
5. Creatopy
Creatopy is a visual production platform designed for creating custom ads. Professionals, even with less experience, can use it to effectively create new banners and ads from scratch. You can use their extensive library of templates and other features to choose from.
Key Features
- Completely web-based tool
- Comes with the relevant formats and sizes
- Extensive template library
- Customize motion
Who is it Best For?
Creatopy is meant for in-house marketing teams. Anyone who has experience making social media ads will appreciate it. Professionals of varying experience levels can efficiently use it.
Pricing & Trial Options
- Basic ($32/month): Basic ad design and downloads in various formats. Animation and AI tools are included.
- Pro ($45/month): Better customer support and team templates. Far more AI credits and unlocks integration with Shopify.
- Plus ($165/month): Advanced features, roles and permissions, and user groups.
6. Insight
Insight is a full graphic design solution. It offers photo editing, vector illustration, layout design, and more. All of this comes as a part of one package. While more expensive than the alternatives on this list, you pay for a one-time lifetime license.
Key Features
- Full suite of professional-level features
- Live chat, phone, and email support for any inquiries
- Highly customizable interfaces
- Serves every business-level graphic design purpose
Who is it Best For?
Insight is good for graphic design teams and individual professionals. It is not as beginner-friendly as the other options on this list and comes with limited tutorials. But it can serve those making professional graphics of all kinds.
Pricing & Trial Options
All options come with the same design features. This is a one-time purchase that you can consider after a free 15-day trial.
- One user ($119.99)
- Business ($458.99)
- Enterprise ($656.99)
7. Adobe Illustrator
Not as low-cost as the other options, but affordable enough on its own, Adobe Illustrator is a professional-grade software.
Key Features
- Regular thorough software updates
- Vector brush
- Integrates with other Adobe tools
- Unparalleled suite of design features
Who is it Best For?
Adobe Illustrator is for professional graphic designers in many fields. It can be used to make anything from ads to novel/game/movie graphics. It is not beginner-friendly, but in experienced hands has unlimited potential.
Pricing & Trial Options
Adobe Illustrator is a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud.
As a standalone tool, it costs $22.99/month.
8. Gravit Designer
Gravit Designer is an HTML-based graphic design application. Users can create a wide range of work with the app. But it stands out when it comes to animations and presentations. While not an intuitive graphic design tool, Gravit Designer is thorough. It comes with a full suite of features to make any idea possible.
Key Features
- Auto-layouts
- Export in multiple file formats
- A full suite of regular design tools
- SVG editing
Who is it Best For?
Gravit Designer is best for product designers, animators, or others who need thorough tools. It can also be used for a wider range of less complex designs. However, it is not a beginner-friendly tool. It takes time and independent study to learn it, as it lacks tutorials or a guide.
Pricing & Trial Options
Gravit Designer has one base plan that starts at $48.79. You can take a free trial before deciding whether to purchase it.
Finding the Right Tool for You
Each of the tools we’ve gone over has one key benefit: affordability. There are many graphic design tools to choose from, including affordable options with unique value. You can empower yourself or your team to provide excellent design at a low cost. For some of the slightly pricier options, you can still try a free trial to see if it’s good for you. Read some of our comparisons between popular graphic design tools to find out more. You can then also see some demos to weigh your graphic design needs with your budget constraints.
FAQ
Q: What software do graphic designers use?
A: Professional graphic designers use programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Adobe offers a few standalone products, including one we’ve covered here.
Q: What free software is best for graphic design?
A: Many tools like Canva offer excellent functionality for free. Lucidpress and Vecteezy also offer a lot of value, even in their free versions.
Q: What is the best graphic design Software for Mac?
A: Adobe software works just as well on Mac as it does on other OS. In addition, all of the options we’ve covered are available to Mac users.
